The future took a bright turn for a dance troupe this weekend when they were crowned champions of the Has Reading Got Talent? competition.

Vanquish wowed the judges with their street dance routine at Broad Street Mall on Saturday, taking the title from more than 500 hopefuls.

Vanquish win Has Reading Got Talent?

The group were delighted to have won the competition and said they would be spending the £1,000 prize money on new costumes and putting on a show for people in Reading.

Dan Little, 29, who set up Vanquish in 2007 in Twyford, said after winning: “This is just unbelievable. We are so delighted and it means such a lot to us.

“I set up the group because there was nowhere to go for contemporary dance in Reading and we wanted something a bit different.

“We perform across the country and have about 20 members.

“We’re holding more auditions in September for new members and we’ve already had so much interest.

“This is something we’ve worked really hard on so to be making it a success is a dream.”

Singers Bethany Bianga and Justin Chilvers took third and second places respectively out of the 11 grand finalists chosen from the 40 who performed that morning. They entertained a crowd of hundreds in the third year of the competition’s history.

Steve Fawke, manager of Broad Street Mall, said: “The amount of talent we had enter this year was just phenomenal.

“We asked the question – ‘Has Reading Got Talent? The answer is definitely yes.

“At first we were a bit concerned because there were just lots of singers who entered but then we had an influx of entrants including Vanquish who have just proved themselves to be exceptional. There is no doubt in my mind that we made the right decision but in truth, to us everyone is a winner.”

Hilary Scott, deputy editor of the Reading Post, added: “To get up on stage and perform in front of hundreds of people takes a lot of bravery and we were very impressed with everyone who took part this year.

“Vanquish are a fantastically talented group of dancers and we hope to see a lot more of them in Reading in the future.”

- The top 10 acts will perform at the Showcase evening at the pentahotel in Oxford Road on Friday, October 1.

Tickets are £5 or £20 with dinner included from the information desk at Broad Street Mall – cash only sales.

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