FRESH from their triumph at The Oxfordshire Street Dance Championships, street dance duo Josie Beer, front left, and Alicia ‘Lil’ Mederick, front right, are preparing to rock the boards at Oxford’s New Theatre. Josie, 15, from Didcot and Lil, 13, from Oxford, became dance partners after joining Step 2 Dance school, based in Cassington, three years ago. Other members are pictured behind them.

Now, as well as practising twice a week with their troop Pink Noize, they spend most of their spare time coming up with dance routines to show off in competitions – like the ones which scooped them first prize in the duo category at the Oxfordshire Street Dance Championships, at Oxford’s Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre last month. More than 900 competitors and fans from across the UK attended the Championships on January 27. Josie, who attends Didcot Girls School, said: “There were around 25 duos including us in the intermediate under-16s class, and we had to dance in heats before being whittled down to the last seven.

“When they called out our names as winners we just went mad, we couldn’t believe it and we were thrilled to be presented with our trophies.” Lil, a pupil at Matthew Arnold School in Botley, said: “When Josie and I aren’t practising together, we are coming up with moves wherever we are. “We try to dance at exactly the same time and practise in front of mirrors. Our look is also very important and I think that really impressed the judges at Blackbird Leys too.” The girls’ teacher and founder of Step 2 Dance, Nadia McPherson, 26, said: “We are all now excitedly preparing for our annual show, which this year will be the New Theatre on March 16.”