On Friday 22nd November, our online Silver Swans and online adults were treated to an early Christmas present – a presentation given by Amanda Hall from the Royal Ballet and Opera's costume department! Amanda has recently released a book 'Making Tutus' and so alongside sharing amazing behind-the-scenes stories from the costume department, she also showed us step-by-step how tutus are professionally made. Amanda was so warm and friendly and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the evening!

At this event, we also welcomed ballet teachers from our new partnership school, Above Ballet Company in Nigeria.

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us!

In the UK, talented dancers have so many opportunities to develop their skills – weekly associate programmes, intensives, private coaching. For any aspiring dancer in Nigeria, this is simply not the case (not to mention the extreme financial limitations). It was devastating to see Ayomi's cries of help for donations for his talented dancers to assist with tuition fees, examination fees etc.

We are therefore excited to announce our International Ballet Development Programme. From January 2025, two gifted dancers from Above Ballet Company will enter into one year of training in our online school to further develop and enhance their ballet training and opportunities. We will also provide an online ballet workshop twice a year for the school's other students.

We are excited for the future of this programme and its development. Make sure you follow both ours and Above Ballet Company's social media pages for updates!

In 2019, our children's school and Silver Swans began raising funds for a defibrillator in our hired hall at Blackford Bridge URC. This defibrillator was to be purchased through the Oliver King Foundation.

After the covid lockdowns and our decision to remain as an online-only school, the money raised by our school was saved for its original purpose. This meant that the church and other hirers could continue raising the final few hundred pounds towards the goal of a defibrillator for the building. With the sad closure of the church, we have donated the £856.00 raised by our school directly to the Oliver King Foundation to help with their amazing work.

The Oliver King Foundation was set up in January 2012 following the tragic death of 12-year-old Oliver King. The foundation works tirelessly to install defibrillators in schools, public buildings and asking for ECG Screening for over 12s. Their goal is to make defibrillators as commonplace as fire extinguisher's in all public places and to have their own ECG Testing & Wellness Centre to prevent cardiac arrest.

Huge congratulations to our Ballet for Sports athletes who have competed with great results in September and October!
Thank you to everyone who shared their results and photos with us for inclusion in our September/October competition round up. We love being able to share and celebrate all of your achievements. We are very proud of you all!

𝓝𝓲𝓬𝓸𝓵𝓮 – Bolton Opens 1st Senior Solo Dance 1st in the inter-bronze and over duo teams
𝓔𝓶𝓶𝓪 – World Skate Games (Rimini, Italy) – competing against 33 of the highest level skaters from 22 countries, Emma finished 18th!
𝓐𝓷𝓷𝓲𝓮 – ROLLER CUP CHAMPION 🏆 – Compulsory dance 2nd 🥈, Free dance 1st 🏆, overall 1st 🏆
𝓙𝓾𝓭𝓮 – ROLLER CUP CHAMPION 🏆 – Compulsory dance 1st 🏆, Free dance 1st 🏆, overall 1st 🏆. Medway Competition Solo dance 1st 🏆. Couples dance 1st 🏆
𝓔𝓸𝔀𝔂𝓷 – ROLLER CUP CHAMPION 🏆 – 1st overall 🏆, compulsory dance 3rd 🥉, free dance 1st🏆, overall 1st🏆. Medway Competition – 3rd in compulsory dances 🥉, 2nd in 2x team events 🥈
𝓡𝓾𝓫𝔂 – ROLLER CUP VICE CHAMPION 🥈  – 2nd free dance 🥈, 2nd overall 🥈
𝓝𝓪𝓷𝓬𝔂 – 2nd overall 🥈 – 3rd compulsory 🥉, 1st free dance 🏆 (and huge congratulations on being the youngest in elementary and doing so well!). Medway Competition Solo dance 1st 🏆, Couples dance 1st🏆.
𝓙𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓬𝓪 – Bolton Opens 1st free dance 🏆, 1st duo team🏆, 2nd senior solo dance 🥈, 2nd quartet🥈.
𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝓿𝓮 – Maidstone Opens Preliminary Solos 2nd place 🥈, Preliminary Duos 3rd 🥉. Medway Competition 6th place ⭐️, preliminary teams 2nd place 🥈
𝓔𝓼𝓶𝓮 – Bolton Competition – 1st solo dance 🏆, 2nd free dance 🥈
𝓔𝓻𝓲𝓷 – Bolton Competition – 3rd solo dance 🥉, 2nd free dance 🥈
𝓔𝓼𝓶𝓮 – Figures and Free championships – new PB 🎉 and 6th place ⭐️, plus an enjoyable skate at Maidstone opens ⭐️
𝓖𝓮𝓸𝓻𝓰𝓲𝓪 – Figures & Free Autumn Nationals – 2nd place 🥈
𝓖𝓮𝓸𝓻𝓰𝓲𝓪 – Figures & Free Autumn Nationals – 2nd Mini ladies figures🥈, 5th Mini Ladies Free ⭐️

A special mention to Georgia and Jessica who have competed internationally – Georgia at Interland Cup who finished in 12th place. And Jessica who competed at Cup of Europe finishing with a new PB 🎉 in 9th place. This is Jessica's 3rd top 10 finish at an international in 2024!

Congratulations to all skaters, clubs and coaches! Gloucester Artistic Skating Club, Maidstone Roller Dance Club, Stalham Artistic Roller Skating Club, Evolution Roller Figure Skating Club, Bolton Artistic Roller Skating Club, Ipswich Skating Club.

Introducing our performance for the Royal Academy of Dance Silver Swans Celebration 2024 – 'A Silver Swan's Dream'. We hope that you enjoy watching!
This video features dancers from across the UK, Isle of Man, Ireland, France, Spain and USA. A huge thank you to all the friends and family who helped to film on location.
🩰 Original Coppélia choreography, adapted by Johanna Hadley
🎥 Video editing by Johanna Hadley
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Feeling inspired to join Silver Swans after watching the video? Find out more here
Our friendly community of dancers that you can see in this video join us from across the world every week in live online classes. Everyone is welcome at our Silver Swans and we run online classes, live on Zoom, for complete beginner to those with previous ballet experience (on Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesdays and Saturdays). Why not give it a try and join us?

To our past students, returning for another year of full-time training – Eliana and Denis to Year 8 and Year 13 at the Royal Ballet School, and Emily in Year 11 at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, we hope you all have another fantastic year!

And also, to the full-time ballet school students we work with in the holidays, we hope you enjoy another great year!