In early January, twelve of our Silver Swans attended a workshop hosted by Matthew Bourne's New Adventures, at The Lowry in Salford.

The workshop was based on the current production of Matthew Bourne's Cinderella - the timeless love story, set in the Second World War. 

We were delighted that seven of our Silver Swans were chosen to join a performing company for a collaboration between Matthew Bourne and the Imperial War Museum.

The Silver Swans (aged 57-80) will integrate with primary school children, responding to wartime stories and photographs in the museum's collections that evoke themes of family, evacuation and community.

They will attend regular rehearsals, creating and learning dance choreography for the performances on 17th March 2018 at 11am, 12pm, 1.30pm and 3pm at the Imperial War Museum North, Manchester. 

Six of our Junior and Senior students had a fantastic time yesterday at the ISTD 'Nurturing Talented Young Dancers' day, held at The Lowry in Salford. Students experienced:

• Ballet classes by the Royal Ballet School
• Contemporary classes by Centre for Advanced Training
• Jazz classes by The Hammond School

Students then stayed to watch performances by The Hammond School and CAT scheme, plus the ISTD Bursary Awards. 

Teachers attended a day of teacher seminars, updating and furthering their training through Continuing Professional Development (CPD). CPD's are standard practice for members of professional dance organisations in order to continue to deliver dance training safely, and to the highest standard.

We were delighted to host a one-off Silver Swans® ballet class for the Royal Voluntary Service. This was part of their First Time for Everything scheme, sponsored by Prudential. The ladies experienced a gentle ballet class, incorporating barre work, centre work and some chair based exercises as this was their first ever ballet class. 

As part of this event, BBC Radio Manchester visited to cover the story of our Silver Swans® classes in Bury, and it was featured on Chelsea Norris's Drive Time show at a little before 6pm. You can listen to the broadcast here (available only for 1 month) at 2:53:00:
Silver Swans on BBC Radio Manchester

Local community news channel That's Manchester TV also came to film the one-off ballet class:
Silver Swans on That's Manchester TV

Special thanks to three of our regular Silver Swan® attendees who gave demonstrations and interviews for both TV and Radio,

Congratulations to students on another wonderful set of exam results – 100% Distinctions for ISTD Imperial Classical Ballet exams.

​The highest mark was 98/100 for Grade 3 Ballet, achieved by a nine-year-old student – a fantastic achievement.