Cabaret Theatre School

EVENTS

2008

Christmas Productions: We had pupils in three professional performances this Christmas. Amy went back to Nottingham Playhouse for the second time to appear in ‘Aladdin’ and Hannah danced in ‘Snow White’ at Stoke’s Regent Theatre. Josie and Emma acted as reserves for these two productions and Josie was lucky enough to perform four times during the run. Ten year old Natalia was chosen to dance with the Birmingham Royal Ballet in their annual production of the ‘Nutcracker’ at the Hippodrome.

Christmas Productions
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Heart of Christmas: The children at our Stretton school were invited to decorate a large wooden heart this year as part of the ‘Heart of Christmas‘ festival at St. Mary’s Church. Our theme was Christmas and dancing! We decided to cover the large heart with lots of smaller ones and we had some really gorgeous, sparkly hearts created by children of all ages - thank you to everyone who took part.

Young Performers: Fourteen pupils performed at the Shaftesbury Theatre in November in a show organised by Young Performers who raise money for children’s charities. We performed a medley from ‘Me and My Girl’ and ‘You Can’t Stop The Beat’ from the musical Hairspray. It was an amazing opportunity for the girls to perform in the West End at such a young age. We had a wonderful day - the children spent the day at the theatre rehearsing whilst parents had free time in London and then watched the show in the evening. This is the sixth time our school has been asked to appear and it is a great honour to have been invited back so many times.

Presentation Days: We had three presentation days this year for all our Littleover exam sessions. We had very good results as usual this year and everyone was presented with their certificates and rosettes. Trophies were given to the girls with the highest mark in each dance subject. Well done to everyone - it was nice to see so many children receiving their awards.

Sound of Music: In October around 50 of our Mums and Daughters went to see Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music at Derby Assembly Rooms. We watched the classic film musical and sang along with all the songs aswell as joining in with audience participation such as booing the Baroness, wooping at every mountain, cheering Maria and letting off party poppers when she kisses Captain Von Trapp!! It was a really fun night out - we even had our very own Maria and a few Nuns too!

Defying Gravity: In May our Stretton School presented their show 'Defying Gravity' at the Brewhouse in Burton. It was a truly amazing show with georgeous costumes, fabulous Song and Dance routines and a show-stopping finale. All our performers were wonderfully enthusiastic and incredibly professional - congratulations!

There are now pictures from the show in the Gallery!

BADAC Bursaries: Congratulations to five of our pupils who were awarded bursaries from Burton and District Arts Council this year. Amy and Natalia both danced ballet solos at their audition whilst Emma did a modern jazz routine and Josie performed a song and dance number to ‘Good Morning Baltimore’ from Hairspray. Laura sung ‘Popular’ from Wicked and was trained by local singing teacher Coral Gould. The awards will be used to fund additional training and performance oppurtunities.

William Shrewsbury School Gala
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William Shrewsbury School Gala: We performed four routines at this year’s Summer Gala: Oklahoma, Boys and Girls, Jailhouse Rock and You Can’t Stop the Beat. The weather was lovely so we were able to dance in the outside arena and as always it was a very nice occasion.

English Youth Ballet: Hannah and Amy appeared with the EYB this summer in productions of Giselle and The Nutcracker in Nottingham and Wolverhampton. Hundreds of young dancers audition each year to join the English Youth Ballet and it’s a great achievement to be selected. Well done girls - what a lovely experience it was to dance in a full scale ballet.

Boogie Nights: Congratulations to Louise, Amy and Josie who all successfully auditioned for the 70’s musical ‘Boogie Nights’ at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, beating over 800 young hopefuls. The cast of young performers age 9-24 had 2 weeks of intense daily rehearsals with a professional musical director and choreographer, and performed for 4 nights in August.

Ballet: Louise, aged 16, was invited to join the Associate programme of the New English Contemporary Ballet Company and now takes classes in Nottingham every other weekend. Nine year old Natalia is in her second year of Associate classes with the Royal Ballet School in Birmingham and has also been accepted on the pre-vocational dance programme at Elmhurst Ballet School.

Ballet Scholarships: In February Josie and Amy competed at the IDTA International Theatre Dance Awards. They were nominated by IDTA examiner June Gill based on their performance in their Grade 5 Ballet exam. There were over 50 students in their section and we had a lovely day in Manchester. It was a real honour for them to be nominated - congratulations!