Blog Archives

ISTD Imperial Classical Ballet Junior Awards 2019

28/10/2019

Congratulations to our students who performed beautifully on Sunday 27th October at the annual ISTD Imperial Classical Ballet Junior Awards.

Qualifying for this competition earlier this year, our students danced on the huge stage at The Venue in Milton Keynes. They performed three set exercises and a set dance in front of a panel of senior ISTD examiners. Students were then chosen for the finals, and performed again.

The classes had over 70 competitors from 44 schools from across the UK and Europe.

Congratulations to our students who danced and gained a place in the finals:

From a section of 78 dancers, gained a place in the final 23.

From a section of 72 dancers, all three girls gained a place in the final 22.

UK Dance Class Championships - Sheffield

20/10/2019

Congratulations to our junior students on a fantastic day at the UK Dance Class Championships in Sheffield.

Students had to progress through three elimination heats, with each student learning and performing a short dance in front of a large audience and three adjudicators.

We were delighted that all eight of our students reached the semi-finals in ballet. The results from the finals were:

Ages 6-7 (out of 44 competitors)
3rd place

Ages 8-9 (out of 71 competitors)
2nd place
3rd place
6th place

Ages 10-11 (out of 74 competitors)
1st place
5th place

Nutcracker Success - Birmingham Royal Ballet

16/10/2019

We are absolutely thrilled to announced that one of our 11-year-old junior students has been successfully cast in Birmingham Royal Ballet's professional production of The Nutcracker at the Royal Albert Hall in London, this Christmas.

This is the second student we have had cast as one of only 16 children in BRB's production (8 boys, 8 girls) at the Royal Albert Hall since they began offering open auditions three years ago. She will be performing alongside 70 professional dancers from Birmingham Royal Ballet and a full symphony orchestra.

Places were highly sought after as hundreds of children from all across the UK (ballet students, and under special invitation, Elmhurst Junior Associates and Royal Ballet Junior Associates, too) auditioned for just sixteen parts over two weekends.

We are so proud of her achievement!

Swan Lake Dreams - Birmingham Royal Ballet

12/10/2019

Lady in Waiting and Lady of the Court

Huge congratulation to two of our Silver Swans® and three of our junior pupils who have all been cast in Birmingham Royal Ballet's production of 'Swan Lake Dreams'.

Auditions were spread over two weekends, with hundreds auditioning for Birmingham Royal Ballet's special production of Swan Lake.

Queen

We sent three of our junior students to the audition and all three students were successfully awarded roles in the production as 'Little Swans' and also in the Act I 'Waltz'. They will now regularly rehearse in Birmingham for the production.

For our Silver Swans®, we are delighted that one lady has been cast as a 'Lady in Waiting' and 'Lady of the Court', and another has been cast as the prestigious lead role of the Queen!

They will all be performing with a live orchestra at the beautiful Birmingham Hippodrome alongside professional principal dancers from Birmingham Royal Ballet in February.

Three 'Little Swans' and Act I 'Waltz'

Silver Sunday UK - 2019

7/10/2019

On Sunday 7th October we were delighted to participate in Silver Sunday – a day of free and fun events across the country, celebrating older people. Our Silver Swans ballet class culminated in tea and cakes and a lovely chat!

We hosted a fully booked event and were honoured to welcome the Worshipful the Mayor and Mayoress of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Councillor Trevor Holt and Mrs Evelyn Holt.

It was an enjoyable event, with such kind comments from all the participants. We were thrilled that the Mayor even joined in dancing for part of the session!

That's Manchester TV

4/10/2019

On Thursday 3rd October, our Silver Swans® were featured on That's Manchester TV (Freeview Channel 7).

The feature was about our Silver Sunday event this weekend, which is fully booked for the third year running. We are delighted to have participants coming from across and Lancashire and Yorkshire to our event.