WATCH: Dance routine gets niece of bomb victim from Sheffield through to next round of Britain's Got Talent
RISE, the dance troupe including 13-year-old Hollie Booth, appeared on ITV last night performing an emotional number to Ariana Grande's anthem One Last Time.
It marked Hollie's first return to Greater Manchester since she was badly injured during the bombing following a Grande concert last May. Her aunt Kelly, 32, was killed during the explosion, heroically shielding the teenager from the full force of the blast which took the lives of 22 people.
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Hide AdAudiences learned that Hollie broke her right knee, as well as breaking her left leg and left foot. She suffered nerve damage, and cannot walk on her left leg without wearing a splint. She has had 11 operations so far, with more to come.
Hollie's mother Claire Booth said: "We'd seen Ariana before and she was really good. It was just an amazing, happy day that ended so badly. We'd just got up to leave and as we got into the foyer that's when the bomb went off. It took 23 hours to find out Hollie's aunt had died. She died at the scene in the arena."
Her daughter 'fights every single day', she added. "She takes my breath away. She loves to dance, it's everything to her."
Hollie said: "A couple of days after it happened I was saying 'When can I go back to dancing?' I was even saying it to my doctors and they didn't know whether I could."
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Hide AdClaire said Hollie had been part of RISE for 'a couple of years'. "They dance really well but they are friends as well, which I think is a great thing."
All four judges - Alesha Dixon, Simon Cowell, David Walliams and Amanda Holden - gave Hollie's troupe the thumbs-up, getting to their feet along with the rest of the audience at Salford's Lowry Theatre to give RISE a standing ovation.
"You are all remarkable women and that was probably one of my favourite routines ever on this show," said Alesha. "I think the whole of Manchester is proud of you and the whole of the UK is too."
David said the performance was 'beautiful and moving', while Amanda observed: "It's so important not to be defined by tragedy."
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Hide AdSimon concluded: "To get through what you went through, come out here and turn a negative into a positive is quite unbelievable. What these people did, they are cowards. I salute you."
The dancers wore T-shirts emblazoned with Manchester's worker bee logo, a reference to the city's industrious past. After their performance a number of the girls burst into tears before the four judges ventured backstage to congratulate them in an unprecedented move.
Host Declan Donnelly said: "I don't think we've ever had two standing ovations on this show."
After all the auditions are complete, the judges whittle down the chosen acts before the live semi-finals take place. The overall winner of Britain's Got Talent receives prize money - £250,000 for the past five years - and is given the chance to appear at the Royal Variety Performance.