PERFORMERS in Flintshire have celebrated their success following their appearance on a new television show.

Harry Smallman, 17, of Connah’s Quay, has appeared on the Greatest Dancer with his dance partner Eleiyah Navis and said the experience has been overwhelming.

The Greatest Dancer aired on BBC earlier this year and will see dancers of all ages competing for the chance to perform on Strictly Come Dancing and a cash prize.

Harry told the Leader: “It has been an exciting experience. It’s overwhelming because it all happened so quickly.

“It’s really exciting and we are very grateful for the experience and support from everyone.

“I used to try different sports like football when I was younger but I never enjoyed it that much so my mum took me to dance class and from then that’s all I ever wanted to do. At first it was about singing and it escalated to dance.

The Leader:

“All the family support has been amazing. As soon as the audition episode came out our social media account has gone crazy. We wasn’t expecting it.”

Harry, who has also been trained by Jennifer Ellison at Jelli Studios, has previously won Mold’s Time2Shine competition with his performance of I have nothing by Whitney Houston.

Mum Claire Smallman told the Leader that Harry and Eleiyah’s audition tape had more than 1.2 million views in less than a week.

She added: “It’s lovely to read the messages from people he has never met. It’s quite surreal. It’s been an amazing experience so fingers crossed it won’t end there.”

Also appearing on the show was Maddy Spencer, of Mold, who is a member of the Dane Bates Collective, contemporary jazz dance group.

Like Harry, Maddy has also won the Mold’s Time2Shine competition, once as a solo artist and once as part of a duet and she has performed at many events in the town.

The latest performance aired on BBC One and both acts were through to the next stage - which will be the live shows airing on Saturday.