CARDENDEN Primary School's top dancer took a bow when he went back after the festive holidays.

Jacob Hendricks, who is in P7, took part in Strictly Kids – in aid of the STV Children’s Appeal – after successfully auditioning for the event.

And the young dancer produced a superb performance throughout the competition to land the top prize with his partner.

Held annually by BlueStar Productions, Strictly Kids allows youngsters from across the country to audition for a place in the final, which was held in Glasgow, and saw them coupled up and trained in Latin and ballroom dancing.

A total of 46 children were selected for the final event, where they learned their routines, chose costumes and were treated to VIP treatment.

They took to the dancefloor in front of an audience of 500 people and a panel of guest judges and the Cardenden dancer was simply outstanding.

Jacob explained this week: "My mum entered me into a workshop for ballroom dance with not a lot of explanation to me. It was a competition but my mum just said it was a place to have fun, and that I had to smile!

"I got to meet Otlile Mabuse and I was really happy because she was my favourite Strictly Star and it encouraged me to really give this a go.

"A couple months later my mum called me downstairs and she was sitting on the sofa crying, I got a bit worried. She explained that it had been a competition and over 800 people auditioned and that I was one of only 46 people who managed to get through".

The organisers matched boys and girls together and Jacob started dancing with a girl called Abbie.

Jacob added: "Later on we got partnered up. I was really excited and we started practicing every week for about two hours with a teacher called Linda. Then we moved onto a different teacher called Ellen and we had a completely different routine, we just kept practising until we got it perfect.

"On the day of the performance, at the Double Tree Hilton, Abbie and myself danced and everyone was speechless about our Argentine Tango. We got the first standing ovation!

"We got amazing results and made it to the dance off finale. The other couple was amazing but we managed to win, quite remarkable".

The young dancer went on: "The experience was fantastic and a lot of people supported me and this was all for a good cause and a charity for children in poverty.

"Altogether the Strictly kids competition raised over £14,000 for The STV’s Kids appeal, it was a truly amazing time.".

Jacob has been practising Latin and ballroom dancing for many years and he loves it and he is now taking lots of extra classes in lots of other areas of dance because he likes dancing so much and he he is going to keep on working at his techniques.