Lachlan Valley United Physical Culture Club has achieved outstanding results at the recent annual Western Area BJP Physical Culture School of Dance Zone Championships. The championships were held in Bathurst on October 19 and 20 with club from around the Western area including, Wagga Wagga, Bathurst, Bourke, Dubbo, Orange and everywhere in between. Lachlan Valley Physie walked away from the championships with seven of the possible nine overall zone champion titles. The club had 57 dancers compete and 28 earned themselves a place in the National Physie grand finals this month at Sydney Olympic Park. Zone Champions from Lachlan Valley Physie included Amity Dunn (5yrs), Lylah Smith (6yrs), Harper Taylor (8yrs), Aleigha Hornery (9yrs), Danielle Hornery (11yrs), Emily Riches (12yrs) and Maddison Hornery (12yrs). Emily and Maddison are having a standout year after beginning the year competing in the semi finals of the national competition. Since then both girls have won every competition they have competed in this year and are looking to make their mark again in the national competition. "They're doing extremely well this year, both girls have been working above their age groups," teacher and Head Associate for the club Louise Donnelly said. As well as zone champions there was also a number of second, third, fourth and fifth place achievements at the zone championships for the club with each place also going through to nationals. Ariah Smith (7yrs), Scarlett Barnes (9yrs), Lucy Miles (10yrs), Willow Frost (11yrs), Deniesse Donaire (12yrs) and Karla Osborne (15yrs) placed second in their age categories. Third place achievements saw Cammi Bridge (6yrs), Ava Charters (8yrs), Charlotte Miller (9yrs), Anabel Allen (10yrs), Grace McDonald (13yrs) and Lacey Osborne (15yrs). In fourth place, Audrey Merritt (8yrs), Molly Betland (9yrs), Gemma Orr (10yrs), Stella Jarrick (11yrs) and Melinda Jean (novice ladies). In fifth and the last place to make it through to nationals was Annabelle Barrass (8yrs), Cleo Whiley (11yrs), Ashleigh Donnelly (U/O33 open ladies) and Rachelle Hornery (novice ladies). Thirteen members were also picked in the finals which saw them among the top 10 for their categories. This included Sadie Makwort, Stephanie Hornery, Adella Slone, Addi Crammond, Lila Walsh, Rachel Bilsborough, Charlotte Orr, Tayla Venables, Zone Bilsborough, Kaylee Walsh, Beth Betland, Kate Bilsborough and Nakeria Clark. Teams also competed at this event with Lachlan Valley placing first in three of the four competitions. Physie is a safe and unique dance sport. "The girls do jumps, lifts and spins but they never go past 180 degrees on their split lines and kick lines so it's safe for developing bones and hips in kids," Ms Donnelly said. "What also makes physie unique is we actually do all styles of dance. We do jazz, contemporary, hip hop and ballet. We also do a bit of pilates and yoga for strength and core as well." Each physie age group around Australia learn the sane five dances. "If you were nine, every nine year old in Australia learns the same five dances choreographed and they compete on the floor against each other and it's about who's go the best performance, technique and style," Ms Donnelly said. The club have also just been away with their senior teams where the 13/14 team came away with first the their 15s first years came away with second. Last weekend ladies went away to competed and this weekend senior champions girls away heading away to compete. Following these competitions the junior national finals will be held. When the seniors and ladies head away to competitions like these they can be competing against up to 200 other dancers in their category. The Lachlan Valley Physie Club is run by senior associate Lousie Donnelly and travels to forbes twice a week as well as holding lessons in Condobolin. The club is a non for-profit organisation and is run totally by volunteers. "Everyone has done really well this year, it's pretty exciting especially for the size of the towns of Condo and Forbes," Ms Donnelly said. "These are tiny little towns compared to Bathurst, Wagga, Dubbo and Orange so for the size of the pool of kids we are pulling from for how well they did is pretty amazing."
