A Dance Workshop student has been chosen to take part in a Cecchetti competition.

Coached by Theresa Lungaro Mifsud, Keith Micallef competed against 45 dancers from the UK, Italy, Spain, Malta, the US, Australia, Canada and Japan.

This was the third time that this competition was organised and the first time it was held in Europe. The competition took place at the Lowry Theatre in Manchester, UK.

Micallef got through the preliminary round of auditions which led him to the semi-final in Manchester. The competition entailed taking part in two adjudicated classes, one in contemporary dance presented by Sharon Watson, artistic director of Phoenix Dance Theatre, and another in classical ballet presented by Anita Young, who teaches at the upper school of The Royal Ballet.

In the evening the competitors presented their variations in both dance genres. On the first evening, Micallef presented a contemporary solo choreographed by Francesca Abela Tranter, contemporary teacher at The Dance Workshop. On the second evening, he interpreted the Blue Bird variation coached by Lungaro Mifsud.

The international jury was made of six experts in the field all with an extensive career in dance.

The Maestro Cecchetti Award was won by Ashleigh McKimmie from Australia.