Come Dancing at Bedales

Come Dancing at Bedales

06/03/2009

With television shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars attracting millions of viewers, dance has become enormously popular. Children all over the country dream of the glamour and stardom success in dancing can bring. However, professionals in the dance sector agree that if the UK is to produce great dancers, a stronger emphasis needs to be placed on dance in our schools with more dedicated teachers and better facilities.

At Bedales Schools, this comes as no surprise where there has been a long-standing commitment to developing the skills of dance students. The school's latest event, the Youth Dance Platform, is an emphatic confirmation of this.

The show involved performances from over 130 dancers aged 11 to 20, from Churcher's College, the Petersfield Academy of Dance, Flex of Basingstoke, Hampshire Youth Dance as well as Bedales and Dunhurst Schools.

'This is the twelfth year we've organised the Youth Dance Platform and it really is a great opportunity for students to share and enjoy their work' explains Jo Alldridge, teacher of Dance at Bedales. 'This year, for the first time, the show was extended from one to two performances, to satisfy the growing demand, and to allow students to watch and learn from their peers.'

The event took place in the Olivier Theatre, with rehearsals for the Bedales students taking place in the gym hall which has a sprung floor, and has recently had new dance mirrors and barres (horizontal bars) installed. The dance classroom uses especially designed equipment for students to study dance theory. These facilities, together with a choreographer, lighting technicians and dance teachers, ensure students flourish and develop.

Some of the pieces performed by the Bedales dance students will form part of their Bedales Assessed Course (BAC); the BACs enable pupils to study subjects to a deeper level than GCSE, and encourage individual exploration within a clear syllabus.

Former Bedales Dance student Kate Gillespie has just finished a London run of Hairspray and is just about to open in Priscilla Queen of the Desert; two other former Bedales students run their own dance companies and another is completing her training at the prestigious Laban, the Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London.

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