Friday night saw the culmination of Queens Arcade and the Cardiff Blues' search for the winner of their 'Xmas Factor' competition. Hundreds of shoppers enjoyed the entertainment provided in the Centre by 26 acts as they sang, shimmied and strutted their stuff attempting to be crowned the champion and win the opportunity to perform in front of 20,000 at Cardiff City Stadium on New Year's Eve.
Performers came from Aberdare and Caerphilly, Newport, Rumney and Swansea as well as many from Cardiff to compete for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and they did not disappoint. But there could only be one winner and in an incredibly close-fought competition, local streetdance troupe Pic 'n' Mix took the title from singer Michael Platt.
Now they have had time to calm down and reflect on the girls' achievement, we have finally caught up with the mother of one of the girls for a chat. Debbie Pinkard is mother of Hayley who is 12, and like all the groups' mothers is cheerleader, taxi and costume adviser rolled into one.
We started by getting a little background on the girls: there are seven of them, aged between 11 and 15 and they have been dancing together for two years now, taught by Leyton Wall at Farenheit Dance Studios in Rumney. The girls are Regina Munganga aged 11, Brody Fynn aged 14, Hayley Pinkard aged 12, Amy Jones aged 13, Lauren Spillane aged 14, Lucy Greenslade aged 13 and Sophie Hawkins aged 15 who travels from Mountain Ash for training.
The Pic 'n' Mix girls train together three times a week for between two to three hours at a time, which is a big commitment. But that hard work is really starting to pay off for the group, who are the current Welsh U18 intermediate champions and who came 3rd in their group in the recent world championships. They also busk in order to raise funds to continue dancing and competing and somehow find time to dance at charity events, such as a recent fundraiser for Cancer Research.
So you think they might be blasé about winning the Xmas Factor. But according to Debbie this is far from the case, "They were so excited about winning; they couldn't believe it on the night and haven't stopped talking about it since! It has sunk in a bit now and they are getting back into training for the European Championships next April and of course for their performance on New Year's Eve.
"They can't wait for their chance to perform in front of 20,000 at Cardiff City Stadium but can't quite believe they will have such a huge audience. They are a little nervous as well! But we think it will be good for them to perform in front of such a large crowd.
"I think we mums were more excited and happy for them than they were! They've worked so hard for it and they are great friends away from dance as well. It was great for us to see them get recognition for the work they do and all the parents are very proud of them."
Ceri Brockway, Queens Arcade Marketing Manager was delighted with Pic 'n' Mix's win but confirmed that it was not an easy decision, "Thankfully we had judging sheets and we could allocate points for performance, interpretation and how well the acts engaged the crowds, as otherwise I don't know how we could have chosen a winner!
"There was not one poor performance on Friday night. Indeed all the acts can be very proud of themselves for getting up in front of the crowds we had as it can be quite daunting - I was glad that Arnold and Marcquelle were able to represent the judges on the dance floor as I am not sure whether Annabelle or I could have done as well as the contestants did! We really did uncover some fantastic talent and I can't wait to see some of them again next year. I'd like to thank A3 and Marcquelle who performed a couple of superb, acrobatic dances and for taking the time to judge the event. Their encouragement for the performers was superb and much appreciated by them all."
Annabelle Harries of the Cardiff Blues made up the fourth judge on the panel and agreed with Ceri, "It was almost impossible to choose between the acts that performed; there were some real stand-out performances but they were all of a very high standard. It only came down to one point in the end, but the judges all agreed that Pic 'n' Mix were fantastic. I can't wait until New Year's Eve to showcase them at the Cardiff Blues game with the Ospreys - I know they'll do us and Queens Arcade proud."