A DANCER from Chester hopes to represent one of the biggest drum and bugle corps in the US at the upcoming World Championships, after being scouted at a training camp.

Emily Edmonson, 19, was approached by a member of the Blue Stars Drum & Bugle Corps during a ‘Spintastic’ session at her local club, based in Ellesmere Port. She is now hoping to raise £5,500 in just one week, to make her dream a reality.

Emily performs with Commodore Colour Guard, a charity organisation who last month took home the Winter Guard United Kingdom (WGUK) British Championship in the ‘A’ Class division.

Colour guards are a team of performers who execute finely choreographed dances and flag spinning to the music of a marching band or drum and bugle corps show.

Wirral Globe: Commodores Colour Guard won the British Championships in the 'A' Class division.Commodores Colour Guard won the British Championships in the 'A' Class division. (Image: Amy Pritchard)

A member of the Commodores since the age of nine, the 19-year-old says that the group is one of her passions.

“I love it so much. The creativity side of it and working with teammates motivates you and you want to get better for everyone else [in the group].

“I grew up in a dance household, my mum was a ballet dancer when she was younger, but this is the first dance group that I’ve been a part of.”

The group is staffed by volunteers, many of whom give up their weekends to help train and organise events for the dancers.

Emily says that the chance to ‘spin’ with the Blue Stars, one of the founding members of the Drum Corps International (DCI), would be a dream come true.

“It would mean so much [to perform with the Blue Stars]. It’s shown how much I’ve grown and made me believe that I have the skill, the talent and the determination to go forward with it.”

Upon being approached by the US group, Emily added: “I was really shocked, actually, because I’d been nervous for the weekend as there are a lot of different people performing with different groups.

“We’d just won [the British Championship] so I wanted to make sure I felt good and looked good.

“It made me really happy and surprised when they asked. I never thought that I would get the chance to spin with them.”

But time is of the essence, with the World Championship event set to take place in around a month’s time, Emily is hoping that she can fly out to the US as soon as possible.

For more information and to view her GoFundMe page, click here.

More information about Commodores Colour Guard can be found on Facebook.