Meet Shannon…

one of our new bloggers.

Hi my names Shannon, I’m 16 years old, I have grown up dancing at Centre Stage School of Performing Arts and have loved every minute of it! I do every class the school offers, these include: ballet, contemporary, pointe, modern, jazz, street, tap, acro, singing and drama.

At Centre Stage we are not just a school, we’re a family and that’s what makes it so amazing to be a part of. I aspire to dance professionally and therefore feel it is beneficial that at our dance school, we compete regularly which gives us the views of other people who are in the dance industry as this helps us improve as dancers.

To sum up, Centre Stage is a huge part of my life and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I look forward to bringing you more stories and info about our school soon.

Shannon x

April Competitions

Well, what can I say, April has been one successful month here at Centre Stage. I couldn’t be prouder of our students, we’ve been working hard preparing for the competition season and it most certainly started with a bang.

First 3 of our dancers took a trip to London and competed in Starz UK London. It was a great weekend, dancing is both the Broadway Theatre and the Albany Theatre. Shannon Todd and Amelya Chappell kick started our Saturday, both performing 2 solos each. Amelya her acro and contemporary and Shannon her lyrical and contemporary.

After catching up with a few friends from other dance schools, the girls go themselves ready and started to warm up. Both girls performed brilliantly, and held their own in the elite category, in a competition of such high standard. After a long day of dancing (and watching our friends too) it was time for presentation. Both girls were awarded 4 star awards for their performances and received medals for this recognition. Shannon also received trophies for scoring the 9th and 5th highest solos for her age category in the whole competition.

We then moved onto the Sunday, with Nicole Stone starting the day. She performed 3 solos, lyrical, Modern and acro. The first thing Nicole said as she walked off the stage from her first performance was ‘i really enjoyed that’! What more could we ask for. She performed beautifully, with such confidence (especially as she hasn’t danced as long as some of our other girls). We had such a lovely day together, and we all enjoyed looking through the action photos to see lots of smiles, stretched legs and pointed toes. Again Nicole achieved her 4 starz in presentation and received her medals. She was also awarded a second place trophy for her acro solo.

We finished the Starz UK London competition with the judges freestyle section, which Shannon came back to compete in. It was a really tough category, you are taught a routine on the stage by 1 of the judges and it can be any style. You are expected to learn it in 5 mins and perform it to everyone straight after. Shannon was in the senior section and was given the style of commercial, a type of dance she’s only ever had a few lessons on, but she stuck with it and learnt quite a tricky routine. She gave it her all and I am very proud of her for giving it a go.

Following Starz UK London, we moved straight into our second competition, which was local festival Blain Merrison. The majority of our team took part in this one, with the competition spread out over 4 days. We were there every day from 9am-7pm. Some kids performed one or two dances others competing in as many sections as they could. Every single one of our students, who were representing the school that week, worked incredibly hard, lots of prep went into this competition, with many hours being spent at the studio (and their own time at home practicing) and i must say it paid off.

We came away with a total of 22 gold medals, 21 silvers and 12 bronze! Also 6 trophies were awarded to our students in the overall presentation;

Jodie McNamara – highest Scoring Drama // Abbie Smith – Highest scoring Own Arrangement // Abbie Smith – highest scoring Character // Megan Griffiths – highest scoring contemporary // Will Green – most promising boy // Lily McNamara – Outstanding Novice Allrounder

I am incredibly proud of you all, it truly shows that hard work and dedication pays off. Also your love and support of one another, and encouragement definitely plays a key part to your success.

Here’s to a couple of weeks rest (or prep) and onto Teen Star and Chelmsford Festival.

Hoop + Silk Workshop

Yesterday we were joined by the lovely Jen Ashton for an aerial skills workshop. The children were split into three groups and taught skills using the Hoop and Silks. We were amazed at just how much these students could do on their very first lesson, some of them as young as 6 years old.

Its great to see these students using their dance skills in different ways, aerial work takes such a lot of strength (as does dance) and the kids sure proved that they have plenty of that. Holding themselves with just one arm, or holding their whole body weight in a handstand in mid air – I was well and truly impressed and proud of our students.

Our seniors girls were taught more of a routine on the hoop, linking together the different moves they had been taught and using the appropriate mounts and dismounts. Many of our older students wish to go into a career in dance and having extra skills, such as aerial hoop, makes them more employable and widens the jobs available to them.

I’m sure many of our younger students will follow in their footsteps and so its great they are learning this skill so young.

The feedback from the kids was great on the day, they couldn’t wait to show their parents pictures and videos of what they had learned, many already asking when the next session will be.

Safe to say, we will most definitely be inviting Jen back to teach us more.

Check out some of your videos and photos from the day below;

hoop video

hoop video 2

hoop 3

New website

Hello and thank you for visiting our all new website. Over the next couple of weeks we will be adding more content and information. In the mean time if you have any questions please contact us and we will be happy help.