The owner of a Clydebank dance school admits she was overcome with emotion when her team of Irish dancers returned from a recent world championship with a world champion.

And Alana McLaughlin, who runs the Alana Rose Irish Dance Company, says she is so proud of the dedication her four performers showed in preparation for the competition held in Germany.

The group of Meghan Grieves, Georgie Anderson, Iona McRae and Nathan McRae all enjoyed a form of success in Düsseldorf with Nathan becoming world champion in the solo under-19 category.

And, speaking to the Post, Alana revealed Nathan wrapped it up in style and had those in attendance on their feet with his performance.

She said: “He was actually the last competitor to dance at the competition, the very last competitor, and it’s called a modern set dance what he did and he raised the roof with it.

“Like everybody was just screaming and cheering him because it was such an amazing dance and that’s what won him it.”

The format of the championships means the dancers get up on stage and perform three dances before the judges recall the top half of performers called to return and perform another dance.

And under-15 Iona, sister to Nathan, not only earned her first-ever recall at this level but also managed to achieve a third-place overall finish, much to the delight of Alana.

She added: “We were all crying when Iona got her recall, that was just pure joy.

“Just getting the recall, but then coming third on top of that is just a bonus, it was amazing.”

The youngest members of the group Meghan and Georgie, despite not getting a recall finished a respectable 17th and 16th in their age categories and Alana explained she is teaching the girls to learn from every competition and every experience.

“It’s just about not giving up and just, you know, you never got it this time but you work harder and you got back next year and try again,” she continued.

And she praised all her performers for juggling their academic education and training for the April event.

Alana said: “The run-up to, just so so proud of their hard work.

“Like the extra classes they attended. Trying to eat well, trying to sleep well.

“It takes a lot. That’s in with doing school as well and Nathan is at university.

“So, just so proud of their hard work before they even got on the stage.

“And then seeing them up there putting that hard work into those 90 seconds they are up on the stage for each time.

“And just seeing them up there looking amazing and showing off their hard work, you just feel pure joy, and proud and nervous.”

The school has been going for six years and currently has 28 members with Nathan being the only male.

And Alana conceded it had been a tough few years with the Covid pandemic reducing her numbers due to lack of interest.

She said: “A lot of them lost motivation during Covid. I used to have a bigger class but they kind of gave up.

“I was doing online classes for them; they were dancing in their living rooms and bedrooms.

“But I think they could only do that for so long before they got bored of it.”

The world championships were the first in-person live events since 2019 and Alana had one last group to thank - the members of the bowling club she runs classes from.

She finished: “We had a fundraising night for Germany and we did a bingo night and got lots of support from that, and whilst we were doing the bingo night, the Dalmuir Bowling Club members gave us a £500 donation to help us get there.”