Director of Northampton’s Born To Perform school ‘on cloud nine’ after David Walliams pushes golden buzzer on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent

The Chronicle & Echo caught up with one of the directors of the Born to Perform dance school in Northampton after the group won the nation’s hearts on Britain’s Got Talent in an episode aired on Saturday night (April 23).

Fourteen members of Born To Perform dazzled judges with their performance to You Can’t Stop The Beat from the musical Hairspray so much that it prompted judge David Walliams to push the coveted golden buzzer, sending them straight to the Britain’s Got Talent semi-finals.

Director of Born To Perform, Clemmie Milnes, said: “It has been an absolute whirlwind. I feel so overwhelmed with it. It happened back in January for us when we filmed.

“It is something we all had to keep in for such a long time and now all the emotion has come flooding back to us.”

Ms Milnes described how the group practiced their routines tirelessly throughout “intensive long rehearsals” over six months for what they thought was an ordinary local performance.

This was until just two days before their televised audition when the group were finally told they would be performing for none other than the judges of Britain’s Got Talent: Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alisha Dixon and David Walliams.

Recalling the group’s reaction, Ms Milnes said: “They were absolutely blown away and so excited with happy tears and they could not believe they had been asked to be on the show.

“They just performed brilliantly.”

In the latest episode of BGT, judge Simon Cowell told the group after their performance, “I just loved the fact you were having such a good time. It was actually one of my favourite auditions.”

The now famous Born To Perform dance group are in for weeks of vigorous rehearsals as they gear up to the highly anticipated semi-finals of BGT, which will see winners walk away with a cash prize along with the opportunity to perform for The Queen at the Royal Variety Performance.

Ms Miles promises that their second performance will be “bigger, better and very exciting” as the young stars plan to “crank it up a notch.”

She continued: “If we won, that would be the absolute dream. It would just be life changing for all of us.

“We always wanted to get this message across for people with learning disabilities to have the same opportunities as anyone else.”

The Born To Perform dance school opened in February 2020 shortly before the first national lockdown and it is run by three directors: Clemmie Milnes, Charlotte Ashby and Kim Carey.

It specialises in Special Educational Needs and Disability. Students at the school have a mixture of additional needs such as Down Syndrome, Autism and Turners Syndrome.

Classes benefit students by improving their confidence, communication skills and overall mental and physical well-being.

The dance group has grown to around 80 members aged from three to 50 years old.

Classes take place on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9.30am to 3.30pm at the Deco Theatre and then on Saturday mornings at The Bee Hive in Kingsthorpe with three different age groups (minis, juniors and over 16s).

To find out more, visit https://borntoperformdanceschool.co.uk/.