September 2010

End of Year Review

Phew, what a year!!!!!!  There has been an awful lot happening, here’s a short (or is that long?) summary.  This was intended to be sent out at the end of the last academic year, however the July IDTA results only came in recently and I wanted to include them.

 

On the whole, I believe this year was a massive improvement on last year, so well done to everyone.

 

Exam Results

 

Amazing successes this year, here are a few of the superstars. 

Natalie Alleston	RAD Intermediate	78% Distinction
Grace Anelay	Street Silver	86% Highly Commended
Jemma Appleson	Classical Award	90% Honours
	Gold F/S Pairs	91% Honours
	Grade 5 Tap	85% Honours
Courtney Armstrong	Bronze Street	90% Honours
Emily Bailey	Bronze Modern	90% Honours
	Classical Award	86% Honours
	Grade 4 Tap	82% Honours
	Street Silver	90% Honours
Ashling Baines	Pre Juv Ballet	Highly Commended
Olivia Barstow	Street Silver	86% Highly Commended
Billie-Jo Blake	Bronze Street	90% Honours
Rebecca Bonthron	Gold F/S Pairs	91% Honours
	Classical Award	85% Honours
	Grade 5 Tap	85% Honours
	Silver Tap	88% Honours
	Silver F/S solo	93% Honours
Ruth Bonthron	Grade 3 Tap	80% Highly Commended
Emelia Bradbury	Grade 2 Ballet	80% Highly Commended
Skara Brae Butterfield	Pre Juv Ballet	Highly Commended
Molly Brown	Grade 1 Tap	80% Highly Commended
	Prep. Modern	82% Highly Commended
Johanna Bullamore Brown	Grade 2 Ballet	83% Highly Commended
Elle Colbeck	Grade 4 Ballet	80% Highly Commended
Chloe Connah	Bronze Street	90% Honours
Faye Cowdell	Bronze Street	90% Honours
Jessica Cowling	Bronze Modern	87% Honours
	Classical Award	83% Highly Commended
	Bronze Tap	80% Highly Commended
	Silver Street	90% Honours
Loren Dent	Bronze Street	90% Honours
Whitney Downing	Bronze Street	90% Honours
Lucy Ford	Grade 1 Theatre Craft	83% Highly Commended
	Grade 3 Tap	85% Honours
Molly Gaunt	Bronze Street	90% Honours
Abigail Hall	Silver Street	86% Highly Commended
Bethany Hall	Silver Street	86% Highly Commended
Darcy Hall	Pre Juv Ballet	Highly Commended
Mae Hunter	Silver Street	90% Honours
Ella Jenkinson	Silver Street	86% Highly Commended
Caitlin Jewell	Prep Theatre Craft	80% Highly Commended
	Bronze Street	86% Highly Commended
Sophie Kellett	Pre Juv Ballet	Highly Commended
Bethany Lister	Grade 5 Tap	86% Honours
Nicole Lee-Conlon	Bronze Modern	85% Highly Commended
	Bronze Street	90% Honours
Rebecca Monk	Prep. Modern	81% Highly Commended
Rachel Norwood	Classical Award	80% Highly Commended
Kylah Paul	Prep. Tap	85% Honours
Sophie Payne	Bronze Modern	87% Highly Commended
Hollie Reed	Prep. Tap	80% Highly Commended
Caitlin Rose	Classical Award	91% Honours
	Bronze Modern	91% Honours
	Bronze Tap	83% Highly Commended
	Silver Street	90% Honours
Kiera Rose	Grade 1 Theatre Craft	85% Honours
	Grade 3 Tap	86% Honours
	Grade 4 Ballet	80% Highly Commended
Emily Scholes	Bronze Street	90% Honours
Lydia Scholes	Bronze Street	90% Honours
Emily Sykes	Prep Theatre Craft	81% Highly Commended
Esther Smyth	Bronze Tap	85% Honours
Jamie Snellgrove	Bronze Street	86% Highly Commended
	Silver Street	86% Highly Commended
Jessica Taylor	Grade 1 Theatre Craft	83% Highly Commended
	Grade 3 Tap	85% Honours
Samantha Taylor	Prep Theatre Craft	82% Highly Commended
	Silver Street	86% Highly Commended
Elise Thompson	Bronze Street	86% Highly Commended
Lauren Tillotson	Bronze Street	90% Honours
Sophie Turner	Grade 4 Tap	86% Highly Commended
	Bronze Tap	86% Honours
Bria Westcarr	Prep. Modern	81% Highly Commended
Seren Williams	Grade 1 Theatre Craft	80% Highly Commended
	Prep. Modern	80% Highly Commended
Ella Woodhead	Silver Street	86% Highly Commended

 

I think it is fair to say that these are some of the best set of results that the School has ever received.  Mostly I have only published those students who achieved Honours or Highly Commended as this is clearly what everybody should be aspiring to.  This does not mean that I am only praising the brilliant few.  As you can see from the list, the brilliant are quite a number, and some in that list have made huge increases in marks this year, such as Jessica Cowling, Emily Bailey, Sophie Turner, Esther Smyth, Sophie Payne, Jessica Taylor, Lucy Ford, Kiera Rose, Emily Sykes, Rachel Norwood, Nicole Lee-Conlon and Emelia Bradbury than in previous years. 

 

Natalie Alleston was our only RAD major examination candidate this year, and I believe requires special mention.  She currently studies with Northern Ballet Theatre for approximately 12 hours a week.  On top of that she made the commitment to come back to us to study her RAD Intermediate.  She came in early mornings, worked at home, and took private lessons with me on top of her Northern commitments and as a result received a fantastic mark.  RAD major exams are notoriously difficult to pass and to get a Distinction is superb.

 

The 90% Club is growing ever bigger.  Our Street/Freestyle faculty is going from strength to strength with a lot of honours and highly commendeds – so much so that I have decided to add them to the 90% Club retrospectively.  So now our 90% Club looks like this.

 

 

 

A massive massive amount of praise to Becki Bonthron who achieved the school’s highest exam mark EVER with a staggering 93%.  Well done.

 

I also want to take this opportunity to praise our baby ballerinas who took their first exam – IDTA PreJuvenile Group Award – and all got Highly Commended – fantastic.

 

Finally, I wish to make special reference to Grace Mellor, who I believe to have made the most progress this year, and has shown superb commitment and dedication to improving her technique – well done Grace, keep it up.

 

Audition Successes

 

This year saw us performing with Northern Ballet Theatre in Christmas Carol.  This was the most amazing experience for all concerned.  We took the opportunity to use as many of our older students as chaperones as possible.  We all got the once in a lifetime opportunity of seeing a real ballet company in action.  Not only were we transfixed by the amazing dancing, but by the backstage crew, the wardrobe ladies, and the stage managers.  I hope that the performers and helpers saw a different world that they may wish to be part of one day.

 

This year some of our students auditioned and will be performing with Northern Ballet Theatre in The Nutcracker at Leeds Grand Theatre at Christmas.  So well done to Darcey Tillotson, Jacob Cassidy and Mia Curley.  We look forward to seeing you on stage soon.

 

Caitlin Rose was successful in her York Scholar assessment, which means that she has been offered a further year with the program.

 

Natalie Alleston and Richard Johnston continue with Northern Ballet Theatre’s Centre for Advanced Training programme.

 

Edward Myhill continues another year with Hammond School in Chester.

 

Heather Irving has been offered another year with the Northern School of Contemporary Dance Centre for Advanced Training.

 

Former students have been offered the following places in full time vocational schools:-

 

Rachel Myers                  Central Ballet School in London

 

Laura Myers                   White Lodge, Royal Ballet Junior School

 

Emma Caplan                  Northern Ballet School, Manchester

 

We wish every one of those students all the luck in the world, we can’t wait to hear about their experiences.

 

Competition Success

 

This year saw our competitive students build on their past successes with bronze and silver medals being regularly received.  However, I am delighted to announce that Caitlin Rose received Gold for her ballet at the final set of competitions in Batley.  Well done Caitlin.

 

And now the not so good stuff……..

 

Drighlington

 

Midway through the year we decided to close our Drighlington Centre.  There were many reasons behind this, but the main ones were that the hall provider’s admin was a total nightmare.  Often they would refuse us entry to the hall, despite having received all the required paperwork.  Clearly this left us in a very embarrassing situation.  Once we were in the hall, we were then plagued by local youths with exceptionally anti-social behaviour, which was exacerbated by the Centre’s isolated location.

 

In addition to the logistical nightmare, there was the questionable behaviour of some of the children themselves.  Whilst we do not let our students dictate to our teachers, there does come a time, when several teachers in succession have raised the same concerns, that we decided in the end to call it a day.  We were very sad to do this, as obviously some of the children and parents will be sadly missed.  Thankfully some of the Drighlington students had already moved to Morley of their own accord, where they continue to excel. 

 

Branded Goods

 

At the beginning of the year we thought we had found the ideal solution – an internet based printer who could offer a wide range of garments in a wide range of colours combinations.  However, a cumbersome order process, lengthy delivery times and erratic quality of items has meant that we have decided not to use them again.  We offer our sincere apologies to anyone who ordered goods and not received them.  No cheques were cashed, and these we had have now been destroyed, and any cash refunded.  We are looking to source an alternative printer as we know that the items were wanted.

 

Communication

 

As always, a thorny subject.  We continue to find it totally baffling that the same information is available to all, yet not everyone receives it.  Please can you ensure that we have your up to date email addresses and mobile phone numbers.  We are trialling a new email delivery system, and a new texting facility.  As always the main Centres will continue to have notice boards, which please check regularly – we do know that some information was on Alwoodley notice boards for three months and yet still was not seen!!!  We will also look at the feasibility of handouts in Centres where communication seems to suffer, and especially those Centres where we do not have access to notice boards.  Absolutely EVERYTHING goes on the websites, so these should always be your first port of call.  Obviously the frequency and relevance of information is up to us, and we will endeavour to get better.

 

September 2010 onwards

 

There will be some changes to the timetable in September.  I want to introduce pointe work classes.  There is never sufficient time to focus specifically on pointe in traditional ballet lessons and therefore it tends to get shoved in at the end, which means that it is rushed and the possibility of injury is greater.   The lessons are specifically designed to take away the fear of pointe work, prepare the legs and feet for the task and, most importantly, take away any possibility of injury.  I would urge everybody wanting to take classical ballet seriously, and certainly those studying Intermediate Foundation/Intermediate to sign up for these classes.   Students must be at least 10 years old before going en pointe.  Please do NOT buy pointe shoes without speaking to me first as many students turn up with inappropriate shoes which have been sold to them based mainly on the amount of profit the shop makes, rather than whether the shoes are appropriate for the type of foot wearing them.

 

There will be new classes on Wednesdays at AMC and some of the Saturday classes at EACC have been moved to Thursday.  Otherwise there are not too many changes to the existing timetable.

 

New Capped Fees have been introduced of £175 and £200, hopefully the last newsletter will have made sense.  If you have any queries get in touch with Phil on phil@dcdanceschool.co.uk and he will be happy to explain.

 

General

 

I have been really thrilled with the way that the evening students have embraced the IDTA work.  I feel that the “year out” studying the alternate syllabi has really worked, and has given them the opportunity to mature and improve their general technique.   I am now looking forward to recommencing the RAD ballet work next year.

 

There have been some mild grumblings that children are being held back.  Again I can assure you this is not the case.  I spend quite a lot of time with other dance teachers and dance organisations and am constantly comparing the ages and achievements of their children.  On the whole, our students take their exams at least one year earlier than most, and in the past have taken them possibly two years earlier.  It is difficult to compare one student against another, but please rest assured that I constantly assess the requirements of each individual student and am confident that they are at the correct stage in their development.  What does seem to be a problem is that students want to run before they can walk.  We need to work together to constantly reaffirm that dance study cannot be rushed, and that constant practise is required – as held out by the exam results this year.   Jumping a grade just because the student decides they are bored with it is not good for their general dance education.  Those students that do this, generally quit further down the line as they can’t do the harder work and start to feel inadequate.  So please trust me, your children are precisely where they should be.  If they wish to move on quicker than their contemporaries then they should demonstrate this by knowing all of their work and performing it better than anyone else – there are no short cuts in dance.

 

The new RAD Pre-Primary in Dance and Primary in Dance were started in September 2009.  Initially both syllabi appear quite untechnical and easy.  However, as we have explored the new work, it is clear that they are much more complex than they initially appear.  The work is designed to stimulate the child’s love of dance whilst developing their natural ability.  Some parents think that there is insufficient detail to the work, but I can assure you that is not the case.  Our first students will be examined early next year, so we will have more to tell you then. 

 

New Stuff

 

We are looking to introduce Glee Clubs; Troupes and Zumba some time this year, here’s a brief explanation of each.

 

Glee Club – this is being thought about/compiled at the moment.  In the past we have done workshops during the summer and they have always been a fantastic success.  We know that there are children who just want to do the “fun stuff” without the exams and structure of a traditional lesson.  So we intend to set up such a Club.  The idea is that the Club will operate for 2/3 hours and will incorporate singing, dancing, acting, set designing/building and costume design/making.  Each session will run for 10 weeks on  given theme/show and will have a mini performance at the end of each 10 week block.  We are currently looking at times in the timetable and teachers availability, and as soon as this is sorted out we will get back to you.  We do anticipate this to be extremely popular so please let us know if you are interested.  N.B. students will not be encouraged to drop regular classes and swop!!!!

 

Troupes – again, this is something which we have been investigating for a while.  Again, it works on the premis that there are no exams.  Students join a troupe and compete.  So it will appeal to all those show offs out there.  It is a really exciting arena which will build on student’s confidence.  Again, we have one or two slots in the timetable where this can work – initially at East Ardsley on Thursday evenings at 5pm and Morley on Tuesday evenings at 7pm.  Entry will be via audition.  As the onus is on competing there will be a requirement to buy costumes and be available for the scheduled competitions, which are generally held on a weekend.  If you want to be considered for audition please get in touch.

 

Zumba – very exciting.  Our very own Becki has recently qualified as a Zumba instructor and classes will start in Alwoodley and East Ardsley after half term (see timetable).  Zumba is an excellent way of keeping fit, huge amount of fun and a great workout.  We have Saturday mornings (bring your child with you) and Tuesday evenings at Alwoodley and Saturday afternoon at East Ardsley.  Again, we expect these to be very popular so register your interest quickly.

Here's to this year


Deborah