Newsletter
Exams
Fantastic Royal Academy of Dance exam results were achieved from the July Session-55 exams taken in all - 46 Distinctions and 9 Merits. Special congratulations to our Grade 7 students on achieving superb marks-Dominic Harrison 98 & Eleanor Allbones 96.
Special congratulations also on the exeptional results achieved in the IDTA summer sessions-
Major & Professional Exams-
Elizabeth Smith 93 for Advanced 1 Tap
Catherine Makin 88 for Pre Associate 2 Tap
Naomi Cox 92, Becky Lancaster 87, Alyssia Bailey 82, Madeleine Kinnear 78, Olivia Jennings 78 for Intermediate Modern Jazz
Caroline McGorrigan 86, Kate Farrell 86 for Advanced 1 Modern Jazz
Madeleine Kinnear 87, Emily Haighton 87, Lucy Walker 83, Jenny Routh 82 for Intermediate Tap
We are very proud of you all-very well done indeed!
Apologies to Ellie Sheldon for missing her result off the last newsletter - 90 for G3 tap!
Nominations for International Theatre Dance Awards
The school is continuing in its successful tradition of attracting many nominations through the high exam results that we achieve – the following students have all been nominated this year for the February 2009 Awards.
Rebecca Lancaster, Naomi Cox and Charlotte Dowd for Theatre Craft Intermediate,
Helena Sandford for Tap Gr5 and Lois Howarth for Tap Intermediate
Panayiota Soutis for Theatre Craft Gr5
Lily Olpin for Modern Jazz Gr4 and Theatre Craft Gr5 and Rosie
Smith Theatre Craft Gr5
Dominic Harrison for Modern Jazz Gr5 and
Naomi Cox, Sophie Knights and Sarah Walker for Modern Jazz
Intermediate
Lizzie Smith for Advanced 1 Tap
IDTA Congress
Fiona Whittaker, Sarah Walker, Sarah Hardy and Naomi Cox went to Congress in Southport and enjoyed dancing for the choreographer from Hairspray, they all had a great time!
Full time Courses
Dominic Harrison is at the Central School of Ballet in London. Sophie Knights is at the Northern Ballet School in Manchester and Lucy Haighton at the Leeds School of Contemporary Dance. Eleanor Allbones came to us 2 years ago to help prepare for full time dance education and has successfully gained a place on the Dance, Theatre and Professional Practice Course at Coventry University. She has been offered a performing arts scholarship for this course. Georgia Usborne is now in her 2nd year at Central and Jessica Clyde in her 2nd year at Elmhurst and Hannah Manterfield in her 3rd year at Middlesex University. It is wonderful that our pupils are enjoying success in such wide ranging fields, confirming that Bailey- Cox Dance Academy is truly providing training of excellence and diversity.
English Youth Ballet
We were very pleased and proud to hear that Helena Sandford and Jay Olpin were two out of the four children who received a special commendation from English Youth Ballet in the summer.
RAD Performance Course
Anastasia Pascali had fun at the RAD Performance Course in the summer holidays and thought you might like to hear about it-
"There were many different girls from all over the world, and you get to make great friends all sharing the same love and interest in dancing.
We took part in 4 lessons a day (Ballet, Jazz, Repertoire and Contemporary) each lesson lasted about 1 hour 15mins, with 15mins breaks in between to change our shoes and a chance to get a drink!
In the performance we did 3 dances (Repertoire,Jazz and Contemporary)
For our Jazz piece we did Do You Love Me? from Dirty Dancing (we also went to see Dirty Dancing in the west end, it was amazing!)
For Repertoire we did a piece from Romeo and Juliet (in the market square)
and in Contemporary we did a dance about being Zombies and suddenly we all die, but when we wake up we become human and we discover our own bodies. It was very different but i really enjoyed it!
It was Great doing all the dances especially Contemporary since i don't normally do that type of dancing but it was good fun!"
NBT
We were thrilled to see Lisa Elston, Katie Wilson, Tilly Chandley and Martha Clarke perform in the new production of ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ by the Northern Ballet Company at the Lyceum Theatre. These little ones excelled themselves and had a truly memorable time!
Panto
Lily and Jay Olpin, Sarah West and Emi Haffety have successfully auditioned for ‘Aladdin’ at the Lyceum and will be appearing at Christmas. Naomi Cox, Alice Campbell, Nicky Duffy and Sarah Hardy got through to the final and Sarah & Mia Rhodes are on the reserve list. Well done everyone!
Scholars
We have new scholars who have successfully auditioned for the Yorkshire Ballet Scholarship Centre in York; Emi Haffety, Lily Olpin and Jonathan Walker. Existing scholars Brogan Hume, Matthew Sheldon, Joe Wilson, Ben Walker, Alex Allen, Helena Sandford and Naomi Cox have been awarded a place again this year. Naomi has decided to concentrate on teaching and helping out with the little ones instead this year.
Performance
As most of you will know, the Crucible will be closed this year due to the massive refurbishment taking place. This means that we cannot use the theatre in 2009 for our school production. We are also very concerned that many of our families will be financially struggling due to the current world economic crisis. While we consider it of great importance that our children have the opportunity to perform in public, we don’t want to increase the financial pressure.
With both of these factors in mind, we have decided to use the Octagon facilities of Sheffield University to host a school performance which will be more low key; with less extravagent, cheaper costumes and staging but with the usual excellent standard of dancing and entertainment!
The Octagon is not a theatre, but has lots of space both to perform in and backstage which means that all our pupils can dance in each performance.
We are excited at the prospect of trying something new, and feel very liberated by the lack of restictions this large space will bring.
We have booked the following;
Sunday 21/6/08 for dress rehearsal
Monday 22/6/08, Tuesday 23/6/08 and Wednesday 24/6/08 for performance.
There will also be rehearsals at Bannerdale to be confirmed at a later date.
We would be very glad to hear your views about our decision and do look forward to your support in this new adventure.
We are determined that our pupils will thoroughly enjoy this “Chance to Dance” and that parents, friends and family will be enthralled.
Maternity Leave
Mrs Drew, whose baby is due in January, will be taking maternity leave but will return in 2009 when baby is well established. We send every good wish to the whole family and pray for a safe and happy delivery. We take this opportunity to thank Mrs Drew for giving our pupils such excellent tuition delivered with so much love. Miss Fiona and Miss Lizzie will be covering Mrs Drew’s classes.
Acceptance Policy
All pupils should receive a copy of the academy’s new acceptance policy this term. We would be grateful if you could return the slip giving your consent as soon as possible to the administrator (152 Carr Lane, Sheffield S18 8XD). If any one has any issues which arise from the policy then please contact Cheriene or Karen and not the teachers during class time. We hope that the policy will provide greater clarity on what it means to belong to the academy and will give parents and pupils guidelines of what to expect on joining. Please take time with older children to discuss points which are relevant to them.
Security
A reminder to keep 153 locked as students leave their belongings in there. Please remember to take mobiles and other valuables with you in the dance studios. When entering through the green side door with the security code, please do not to let other people in with you.
Holidays
Christmas – Monday 22nd December to Saturday 3rd January inclusive
Half term – Monday 16th February to Saturday 21st February inclusive
Easter - Thursday 9th April to Wednesday 15th April inclusive
May Day - Monday 4th May
Spring Bank – Monday 25th May to Saturday 30th May
Summer – Tuesday 28th July to Saturday 5th September
Exam Dates
IDTA – 18/19/20 December, 29/30/31 January
RAD – 28 March
