DANCER Rosie Howell has tapped her way to two bronze medals at the world championships.

The 15-year-old spent a week in December competing in the IDO World Tap Dance Championships in Riesa, Germany, with the England tap dancing team, Tap Attack.

It was the first time the South Wilts School student had competed at this level and she wowed the judges, beating competition from more than 30 countries with teams coming from as far as Hong Kong and New Zealand to take part.

In her solo performance Rosie got through three heats but narrowly missed out on a place in the final, coming eighth overall out of 40. In the small group category, Rosie and six of her teammates impressed the judges to earn themselves third place, and in the formation category, which involved 22 of the Tap Attack company, the team also won a bronze medal.

Rosie said: “It was amazing, nearly every country competes for that one; it’s the big one, so to get on the podium was great. We had no idea at all, you watch all the other countries dance and they are just so amazing you don’t realise how good yours was.

“The standard is extremely high and it was quite scary when I first got up on the stage, but once I finished the dance I didn’t want to leave.”

As well as training with the Tap Attack team, Rosie takes tap, ballet, modern and jazz classes at Salisbury Dance Studios in Wilton Road and has been dancing for about nine years.

Her mother Jane said: “Katy and Kim at the studios are so supportive of what Rosie’s doing outside of the dance studios and we really appreciate it.”

Everyone in Tap Attack has to audition each year to stay in the team so Rosie is now working towards that and preparing for a dance exhibition in Olympia in March.

The family are constantly fundraising to cover travel and other expenses and anyone interested in sponsoring Rosie can email rosiehowell97@hotmail.com.