Dancers from New Cottage Dance Centre in Ystrad Mynach wowed Britain’s Got Talent judges and viewers alike, as they stormed through their audition.
The 16-strong Ystrad Fawr dance troupe performed a compelling routine to a Michael Jackson medley, and were rewarded with rapturous applause from the Birmingham Hippodrome audience in the show, which was broadcast on Saturday April 30.
The judges were roundly impressed with Amanda Holden suggesting there was much more to come from the group.
Simon Cowell, notoriously hard to please, was less than complimentary about the backing track to the routine.
He said: “You’re very talented. I love the idea that you kind of did something we weren’t expecting, but the music tape was so jumpy, the way that one went into the other.”
While the dancers told Mr Cowell the editing had fallen to their teacher, Carol Perry, she claimed otherwise, saying: “I was actually slightly unfairly blamed for the edit, which Ant and Dec found funny, but it’s all okay.
“We had very good comments from the judges, and Simon’s remarks were no reflection of the dancers themselves.
“He didn’t have too much to complain about because the guys were fantastic. They did brilliantly.”
The group received a “yes” from each of the four judges, and move on to the live shows, with a date yet to be confirmed.
Mrs Perry said: “It was a lovely day.
“We put in a lot of hard work during the build-up to the audition, so there was anticipation mixed with the excitement.
“We got a coach to Birmingham for the audition, and with a fair bit of waiting around, it was a long, but entertaining day.
“The guys were absolutely elated as they came off stage. All our hard work paid off, they did brilliantly to get unanimous yes votes, and we now can’t wait for the next stage.
“We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response since the audition aired.
“We’ve been inundated with some very positive messages of support. Obviously it’s lovely to know that we have support, and we look forward to performing again.”