A local dancer found the national spotlight in Niagra Falls.
16-year-old Blake Johnson competed recently at the Tarpsichore national top dancer title competition.
She made it to nationals by winning the provincial event.
"It felt amazing," Johnson said. "I was super excited. I never thought something like that would happen, so I was just very proud."
She surpassed her goals at the national competition by finishing 4th in the part-time 13 and over category.
"My goal was to try and make it top 10," Johnson said. "I was top 7 and then I thought maybe top 5. Placing 4th overall really made me happy. I was very excited and proud of how I did."
Dance is in the family for Blake.
"When I was 6 years old, I was watching my sister dance and I heard that there was another girl in the younger group and her name was Blake," Johnson said. "I just really wanted to get to know her because she had the same name as me."
That inspired a dancing career that still has some goals left.
"I've always wanted to compete like on a college team for dance," Johnson said. "Up until this year, I've always wanted to compete at a national competition, and finally being able to do that this year was just a goal that I met in life."
Johnson credits her instructors and her family for helping her reach this milestone.