As usual our Berry Babes did not disappoint at this 4-day festival of dance. New dances, old favourites, there was all to play for at this South Yorkshire competition. Unfortunately we can’t list all the achievements of our pupils or we’ll be here all day, but to give you a taste of our high achievers, take a look at the write-up below! Also lots of fab pics of all our pupils right at the bottom.
Earning her spot at the Trophy Presentation, one of our younger pupils, Abbie Braithwaite won Baby Modern right at the beginning of proceedings. Leila Steer won her Ballet section while Maisie Ganley won her Tap.
Two of our Miss Dance nominees, Rebecca Hanneman and Bree Quinton, teamed up to take 1st place in Senior Modern Duet, with Jack Skelton and Ewan Revill taking 3rd place. Sticking on the theme of duets we were also pleased to see Eva Cadet and Eleanor Jackson win their Song and Dance Duet.
Our younger dancers held up their end with Neve Francis taking first place in A Modern and Coen Quinton taking second place. We were also very proud of Halle Ferguson, competing in her first ever dance festival and earning a 4th place in Baby Song and Dance, while big sister Missy took 3rd place with her Character.
Quite a few new Berry Babes were welcomed into the dance festival fold, we were thrilled to see the following dancers making their first appearances on the stage: Leila Arslan, Millie Boynton, Evie Bradford, Neveah Brook, Summer Griffin, Tiana Lewis, Evie O’Connor and Gracie Rogers. Well done girls!
Maisie Ganley took home rather a lot of gold medals, including Ballet, Modern and Tap while in Modern we took a straight gold-bronze sweep with Isabel Adshead, Niamh Thompson and Abi Bridger winning medals respectively.
Ewan, full of character in real life and also on stage, won first place with his Character dance, while the original bendy Wendy Emily Gay took first place in Senior Acro with Rebecca taking 4th. Our inter acrobats also did well with Megan Thorpe earning silver, Bridey Bonnett taking 3rd place and Aliyah Xaba taking 4th.
Not to be outdone, our other seniors took 1st, 2nd and 4th places respectively for their Tap section, well done to Jack, Charlotte Stones and Alexandra O’Brien. Also one of the highlights of the weekend was F Modern, which was a clean Berry Sweep: 1st place for Rebecca, 2nd Eve Wainwright, 3rd Jack Skelton, 4th Bridie Thorpe and Alex.
Winners of Intermediate Bursary & Outstanding Performance
Troupes and trophies:
We were thrilled to win the Senior Classical troupe section, while the Senior Acts category, the closing act for the festival, saw our pupils compete with a Michael Jackson number and the school favourite, Jai Ho. We were pleased that Jai Ho was awarded a silver medal and it was a wonderful colourful watch thanks to the new costumes worn by the pupils.
It was great to see so many Berry Babes on the stage at the Trophy Presentation, particular mentions however must go to our very own Aliyah Xaba who not only won her Ballet and Modern but was also awarded the Intermediate Bursary Prize! Congratulations Aliyah.
The final prize of the night was for Most Outstanding Performance and to great cheers our Rebecca Hanneman won this award for her F Modern performance. Well done Becky.
As usual, festivals are only successful as a group effort, so a huge congratulations to the teachers for their fab choreography and hard work, thank you to the mums and nans and dads who act as make-up artists, tailors, chauffeurs and number one fans, and well done to all of our pupils for representing the school so well.
On Friday 28th October some of our pupils represented the school at Danum White Rose Championships. After successfully making it through to the semi-finals the previous day, the following pupils performed fantastically:
Bree Quinton made it through to the finals of Senior Ballet and was awarded a fantastic 5th place and also performed in the semi-finals of Senior Song & Dance.
Aliyah Xaba also made it through to the finals of Junior Modern taking 6th place.
Maisie Ganley won places in the semi-finals in three categories; Junior Song & Dance, Tap, and Ballet.
Jack Skelton was a semi-finalist in Senior Tap at Danum and also represented the school earlier in the week at the West Ridings Championship, taking 5th place in Senior Tap.
Congratulations to all our pupils who competed in this hotly contested championship – we’re very proud of all of you!
Well well well… we have been busy! We’ve achieved rather a lot in the first week of June and the month’s main even, Miss Dance of Great Britain, hasn’t even happened yet! Here’s what the month of June holds for Sharon Berry School of Theatre Dance:
Two Counties Dance Festival Our Berry Babes did us proud last week at the Two Counties Dance Festival. There were trophies galore as nine of our pupils were invited to dance in the Bursary competition at the end of the week’s activities (some of them were nominated more than once!).
Well done to Rebecca Hanneman, Alexandra O’Brien, Bree Quinton, Ewan Revill, Gabriel Sharrock, Jack Skelton, Eve Wainwright, Aliyah Xaba and Laylah Xaba for earning their spot in the Bursary section. An even bigger congratulations to Rebecca Hanneman for winning Senior Bursary prize!
There were too many medal wins to count but a few highlights are the Junior Character section, in which our pupils swept the board from 1st-4th place with Eva Cadet, Megan Bridger, Gracie Smedley and Maddison Buckley. Abigail Bridger took a 1st place in her Tap while our seniors and their Top Hat troupe also took a gold brushing off their white coats.
Well done to everyone who represented the school, working hard and always with a smile!
IDTA Scholarship Nominations A big congratulations to Ewan, Gabriel and Jack for being nominated for their Grade 4 Theatre Craft examinations – they will be dancing at the 2017 IDTA Theatre Dance Awards in Manchester next year.
Staff Success Well done to Miss Rebecca Akers who has achieved the position of Fellow of the International Dance Teachers’ Association through her qualifications in Modern Jazz. We’re very glad all the hard work paid off! Miss Rebecca and Miss Marie Horner also won awards at Two Counties Dance Festival.
Singin’ In The Rain Our lovely former pupil and guest teacher Matt Croke is assuming the lead role of Don Lockwood at Singin’ in the Rain – which this month will be performed at Bolton’s Octagon Theatre for a month! Tickets are nearly sold out so book soon to avoid disappointment.
All Good Things Preparations are now well underway for our school production, All Good Things. We have now sold out for Saturday’s evening performance and are nearly sold out for the matinee! If you would like tickets please get in touch with Pete Berry at 0114 246 6126 or by email at psberry43@gmail.com
Miss Dance of Great Britain 2016 Well… this hardly needs an introduction as one tenth of the competitors of this prestigious event are homegrown Berry Babes! Sunday 12th June and Blackpool won’t know what hits it as hundreds of Team Berry pile into the Winter Gardens Theatre to cheer on our fantastically talented girls, Rebecca Hanneman, Alexandra O’Brien, Bree Quinton, Charlotte Stones and Bridie Thorpe. We can’t wait to see you on that stage girls, best of luck, we know you don’t need it.
So stay tuned! Lots of exciting things happening at the Sharon Berry School in the coming weeks…
Another fabulous weekend in Dearne Valley – well done to all pupils who performed and of course to their fantastic teachers and supportive mums and families. Here are a few of our highlights:
United Nations Berry Babes did very well in their National sections this weekend; We had a lovely 1st, 2nd and 4th in C National for Leila Steer, Aliyah Xaba and Eva Cadet, while our seniors swept gold, silver and bronze for Bree Quinton, Rebecca Hanneman and Bridie Thorpe.
Making a Song & Dance about it… Congratulations to Eva and Aliyah for taking first and second place in their Song & Dance category. Also showing off their lungs in different age groups were Neve Francis and Maisie Ganley, who took home gold medals for their efforts! Charlotte Stones, Rebecca, Bree and Alexandra O’Brien took home 2nd, 3rd and joint 4th for their performances.
All That Modern Jazz Our E pupils took their fair share of medals home with Eve Wainwright, Emily Gay, Liberty Shepherd and Jack Skelton winning 1st, 2nd and joint 4th. There were lots of prizes in other age groups as Lilli Walker and Maisie took home a gold each, while Gabriel Sharrock and Megan Thorpe received 3rd and 4th. Well done to Alycia Mayfield for achieving 2nd place in her section.
It Takes Two… Our Juniors did very well with their Modern Duets, Fred & Barney (a.k.a Megan Bridger and Evie Wright) were placed 2nd, while our Aladdin team (Isabel Adshead and Abigail Bridger) tied for 3rd place with Lazytown (Isabel & Laylah Xaba), and the lovely Coen Quinton and Neve rounded it off with 4th place.
Ballerina Girls Well done to Isobel Moseley and Lilli for taking gold and bronze with their Ballet routines.
In Character Our Inters did very well this time round, with 1st, 2nd and 4th being awarded to Eleanor Jackson, Eva and Megan. A big well done to Coen for taking 2nd place in his category!
Tapping Away Channelling their inner Freds & Gingers, we saw Charlotte, Rebecca and Bridie receive 1st, 2nd and 4th while Jack received 2nd for his section.
Three Musketeers Sometimes you need triple trouble. Well done to our Junior Modern trios, Megan, Niamh Thompson and Evie took gold medals, while Abigail, Niamh and Laylah took a silver medal home with them.
Baby Steps Holding up the adorable end of the dancing school were our youngest performers. They danced very well and we were so proud! Well done to Maisie Berry for taking part in her first ever dance competition… we’re sure Nana was impressed. Another well done to Hannah Braithwaite and Hebe-Rose Burton who took home 3rd place in Modern, not forgetting little sister Abi Braithwaite, who wasn’t left out – she took 4th place.
Teamwork makes the dream work
Our comp highlight this year have got to be the following. Following a win from the Inter troupes last week, our Seniors made sure they rounded off the festival in style! Performing in rather diminished numbers due to a little asthma attack, our Berry Babes not only achieved 4th place with Jai Ho, but won this main event with their fantastic performance of Too Darn Hot. Well done everyone.
And the winner is…
No trophy ceremony is complete without some Berry School representation! Congratulations to Bree Quinton for Most Outstanding Performance and to Ewan Revill for taking home Most Promising Boy. The cherry on top of our weekend however was the very talented Miss Emily Gay, who won the festival’s Senior Bursary prize! Very well done.
As usual the Berry Babes have been performing with grace, hard work and beautiful smiles at in the Dearne Valley this weekend.
Our Inters not only danced a lovely Trolley Song and Hairspray in the troupe section but took home the first prize gong for their fabulous performance of Comin’ Home.
Well done to our younger pupils, particularly Hannah Braithwaite who earned a 2nd place for her Character dance, and Alycia Mayfield who took 1st place for her National. Our bendy wendies in the Gym section, Aliyah Xaba, Maisie Ganley & Megan Thorpe took 2nd, 3rd & 4th places respectively. Well done to Lilli Walker for winning her National section!
We were very strong in many Modern sections this weekend, with Eva Cadet and Bridey Bonnet taking gold and bronze in their category and Lucy Holcroft and Kayla Barnes doing the exact same in their age group. Sunday saw a clean sweep of medals in two Modern sections; Junior Modern had Megan Bridger in first place, with Abigail Bridger and Niamh Thompson tied for second place, Isabel Adshead in third and Libby Rogers in fourth, while F Modern saw Bree Quinton, Alexandra O’Brien, Rebecca Hanneman and Charlotte Stones grab 1st-4th respectively.
Our seniors also filled the podium for F Character with Rebecca in first place, Bree taking second and Alexandra receiving third place. The same goes for our ballerinas in E Ballet, as we saw Emily Gay, Liberty Shepherd and Eve Wainwright take gold, silver & bronze.
Keep on doing what you’re doing kids! See you on Friday for more comp action!
Good luck to all our pupils taking part in Goldthorpe Dance Festival over the coming weekends! The competitions begin tomorrow morning and span across this weekend and the next.
We would appreciate Grade 3 & 4 Theatre Craft pupils still attending class during this time.
The address of the theatre is below, and if you encounter any struggles, please don’t hesitate to contact us via Facebook.
Dearne Playhouse
Washington Road
Goldthorpe
Rotherham
South Yorkshire
Well, what a year 2015 has been – perhaps one of the best? While Christmas has been creeping up on us we’ve been getting into the mood with some fantastic events; special mention for the Christmas Fayre organised by our fabulous Fundraising Committee and not forgetting the fandabbydozy Christmas Concert! We were thrilled to sell out all the tickets and see so many friends and family there to support us, and well done to the pupils and staff for putting together a brilliant show.
In the spirit of the new year we’re reflecting on this one. So here goes, we hope you enjoy looking back. In 2015 we’ve been…
Raising the roof at Miss Dance 2015…
Three of our very talented cohort, Misses Rebecca Hanneman, Bree Quinton & Bridie Thorpe performed in the Final of Miss Dance 2015 held at the immense Winter Gardens Theatre in Blackpool.
Bursting with pride at Billy Elliot’s latest cast member…
This year our pupil Bradley Mayfield took on the role of Michael, Billy’s best friend, in the smash hit Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre in September. After an extremely successful 11 years on the West End, the show will close its doors in April 2016 – we’re very proud to say that the very first Billy was a Berry Boy and so is the last Michael!
Backing up Gary, Howard & Owen to 40,000 people…
In June Mrs Berry was given a very special mission: Get together an ensemble, a troupe if you like, of adults to perform on the stage with Take That during their 3 dates at Sheffield Arena. Like with most challenges, Mrs B tackled this one with aplomb, and the choreography was learned, the songs already tattooed into our brains, and the performances were smashed.
Strutting to Burlesque success…
Our former pupil, Miss Alice Wilson, alias Didi Derriere, stormed to victory in the national grand final of Miss Burlesque Idol 2015. Congratulations!
Getting engaged…
Congratulations to Miss Alicia and her new fiancé Dan on their engagement! We can’t wait for the wedding.
Waving off (temporarily we hope) a very talented young man…
One of our pupils, Frankie Beetlestone, had his talent recognised by the clever folks at Sylvia Young Theatre School; after a competitive entry process, Frankie was invited to carry out intensive musical theatre training alongside his studies at the school in London.
Frankie and Mrs Berry
Training the teachers of tomorrow…
Our class helpers undertook their first teaching qualification exams and passed with flying colours (Honours). Well done to Molly Barrrowclough, Megan Clixby, Elle Longden-Lyons, Charlotte Stones & Leah Tucci for achieving their Pre-Associate Theatre Craft Part 1.
Continuing to represent on the West End…
Former pupils and part-time teachers Matthew Croke and Devon McKenzie-Smith continue to divide their time between musicals in London and our pupils up here in Sheffield. Matt finished his second stint in Wicked as understudy for Fiyero and has gone on to join Sheridan Smith in Funny Girl at the Chocolate Menier Factory. Dev has been performing alongside Beverley Knight in Memphis, a brand new musical which took place at the Shaftsbury Theatre.
Enchanting audiences in a little place in France…
One of our biggest achievements this year was transporting a group of 36 very excited young dancers to Disneyland Paris in the summer to perform to park guests on the Videopolis stage. The children performed magically, the staff put together fantastic routines, and as per usual, the fans (mums, dads, nans, grandads, brothers, sisters and friends) were their usual, enthusiastic (if a little wild) and noisy selves. What a wonderful few days, we hope you treasure the memories as much as we do.
Sparkling in Blackpool (again)…
A little group of our pupils this year took part in Northern Star, a talent competition held in Blackpool incorporating the disciplines of dance, singing and musical theatre. Not only were we thrilled to see all our pupils put through to the final, we were incredibly proud to see Eleanor Jackson take runner-up!
Oh no you don’t-ing across South Yorkshire…
This year our pupils make up the Junior performers in three pantomimes in the area. At Rotherham Civic, going to the ball with Cinderella, are Abigail Bridger, Megan Bridger, Grace Mitchell, Leila Steer, Lilli Walker, Evie Wright & Laylah Xaba. Back in Sheffield at the Lyceum, Eva Cadet, Maddie Dunn, Maisie Ganley, Lucy Holcroft, Eleanor Jackson, Megan Moore, Megan Thorpe, Renée Warren and Aliyah Xaba are performing in Aladdin. Up the road at City Hall are Ewan Revill and Jack Skelton, also performing in Cinderella.
Competing at dance festivals around the region…
Whether at Goldthorpe, Cantley, Two Counties or Penistone Festival – we’re very proud of our pupils in the hard work they put in and the good sportsmanship showed throughout these competitive events. Particular mentions to Miss Isabelle Sykes, winner of Senior Bursary at Two Counties Festival.
‘Working’ overseas in places exotic and beautiful…
Miss Lois was missed this year as she took up her 9 month contract in the Costa del Sol working as part of the hotel entertainment team. Our former pupil Hollie Glossop was also the dance captain on a 6 month contract in Malta. Since then she has embarked upon the Marco Polo as part of the cruise ship’s entertainment, recently checking in from Portugal.
Channelling our inner Kate Moss…
Four of our pupils, Abigail Bridger, Maisie Ganley, Rebecca Hanneman and Jack Skelton were selected by to appear in Images Dance Costumes’ 2015 catalogue. Further to this, Jack, Rebecca, Bridie Thorpe and Conner Povey have been modelling for the 2016 catalogue, which is out now.
Dancing our socks off in Manchester…
At the International Dance Teachers Association’s Theatre Dance Awards, pupils who were specially selected during their grades exams danced in front of adjudicators and choreographers at the Dancehouse Theatre. Emily Gay, Liberty Shepherd and Eve Wainwright were beautiful in their Grade 5 Ballet section. Meanwhile, Rebecca Hanneman, Alexandra O’Brien, Bree Quinton, Charlotte Stones and Bridie Thorpe were fantastic in both Intermediate Modern Jazz and Intermediate Theatre Craft. We were especially thrilled when Rebecca, Bree and Bridie were awarded special commendations for their Theatre Craft, and Bree and Bridie also received the honour for their Modern Jazz performance.
Breaking records left right and centre…
Bridie Thorpe has smashed the record previously held by Rebecca Hanneman for IDTA grade exam results; our extremely talented young lady achieved her Advanced 1 Modern Jazz qualification with a stunning 96 marks.
Ramping up for a spectacular 2016…
Our pupil Jack Skelton has two nominations under his belt for Grade 4 Modern Jazz and Grade 5 Tap, while Rebecca Hanneman, Bree Quinton, Charlotte Stones and Bridie Thorpe were nominated for their performance in their Intermediate Tap exams. These four girls and Alexandra O’Brien were also nominated for their Advanced 1 Modern Jazz exam – so we’re looking forward to Scholarships next Spring.
Alexandra, Bree, Bridie, Charlotte & Rebecca are also working towards Miss Dance 2016. Bree, Bridie & Rebecca have won heats and already secured their places in the final next June, while it can only be a matter of time for Alex and Charlotte; we wish you all the best girls.
Well there you have it. Coming up in 2016, All Good Things, our bi-annual school production – stay tuned for more details. We wish an incredibly happy and prosperous new year from our family to yours.
Our Berry Babes took so many medals at this festival that we can’t report on all of them, so here are some of the highlights!
Our pupils took the Dearne Valley Dance Festival by storm, with the Xaba sisters swiping the first two golds of the festival (all before 9am, their tired mum might add)! Laylah and Aliyah both won their Modern categories, with Leila Steer taking fourth place. Well done to our youngest ballerinas Laylah, Abigail Bridger, Gracie Howsham, and Niamh Thompson who danced beautifully according to Miss Marie, with Niamh and Laylah tying for fourth place. In the Junior Cabaret Trio section, Megan Bridger, Aliyah, and Evie Wright performed their Tap dance, Positivity, for the first time and took second place. Meanwhile, Isabel Adshead, Abi and Laylah danced all the way down the yellow brick road to third place.
Missy
Congratulations to our Berry Babes in C Modern who took first, second and fourth place! Respectively, the medals went to Eleanor Jackson, Lilli Walker and Isobel Moseley. In C Tap Maddison Buckley took gold while Maisie Ganley took bronze. In the Intermediate National section we were thrilled to see Eleanor take another gold while Megan Moore and Courtney Smith were placed third and fourth respectively. Sticking to Nationals, Leila Steer came first in her age-group with Megan Bridger and Grace Mitchell also taking third and fourth place respectively.
Jodie and Ewan
We saw Kayla Barnes as Jack Frost and Alana with her Decorator’s Dilemma in the Inter Character section, with them taking second and fourth place respectively. The Steer sisters got their fair share of medals too: Leila won third place for her Ballet and Jodie took fourth place with her Greek dance, Autumn to Spring.
Briony
On gold and silver in their National category was Isabel Adshead and Abigail Bridger! Well done girls. Liberty Shepherd won her Character section and Alexandra O’Brien also placed third. The lovely Trolley Song group performance got a silver medal in the Intermediate Troupe category, and following on shortly from that our bendy wendys Rebecca Hanneman and Emily Gay won first and third place in the Senior Acro section.
Eva, Eleanor, Maddie, Kayla and (cheeky) Coen
In their different National sections, Evie Wright took second place and Aliyah Xaba came fourth. In E National, Bridie Thorpe also took a silver medal, while Alex O’Brien and Charlotte Stones tied for fourth place. Charlotte and Bree Quinton won first place with their Song and Dance duet while Alex and Rebecca Hanneman took fourth place.
Megan and her gold medal
Congratulations to Abigail Bridger on her silver Modern medal, and in that same section Isobel Adshead and Niamh Thompson tied for fourth place – Niamh also won fourth place for her Character! It was silver medals all over the place for Leila Steer with her Tap and Coen Quinton with his Song and Dance. Big sister Bree Quinton took second place with her Character.
Leila, Aliyah, Coen & Neve
One of the highlights of the festival was our sweeping the medal board in the E and F Ballet sections. An extremely proud Miss Lucie was thrilled to see Liberty Shepherd step forward to receive gold, Emily Gay taking silver, Charlotte winning bronze and Alex taking fourth place in the E age-group, and then to Bree and Rebecca carving up gold and silver between them in the F age-group! Well done girls.
We like the look of this line-up!
In E Song and Dance, we were delighted to see Charlotte Stones perform her way to first place. Not one to be left out, Megan Moore also won her Modern section! Aliyah Xaba took fourth place with her Character while Grace Mitchell stormed her way to gold in the same section – well done to you two! Grace also received fourth place for her Ballet while Alana O’Connor took a bronze medal for hers.
Grace and Megan
Maisie Ganley and Megan Thorpe took care of gold and silver in their National section while first, second and fourth went to Bree Quinton, Isabelle Sykes and Rebecca Hanneman respectively for their Song and Dance category. Well done to Maddie Dunn who took fourth place with her Character, A Girl in Every Port.
Some very happy medalists – ballerinas Liberty & Emily
Some extremely high marks were achieved in the Senior Duets section, with Rebecca and Bree attaining a score of 90. The girls won the section and Alex and Bridie came in fourth out of a group of 32 entries – an impressive result! In another big section, Alex won gold with Bridie and Charlotte Stones on fourth places respectively for their Modern solos.
Rebecca and Bree
Congratulations to one of our newer pupils, Connor Povey, who tapped his way to the podium and claimed first place! There were a few Berry Babes dancing for the first time at this festival, and they all did marvellously! Hannah Braithwaite (whose mum many former pupils will know as Lindsay Hardman) took third place in Baby Classical while Coen Quinton took fourth place. A big well done to Missy Thorpe, Briony Plightling, Hebe-Rose Burton and Alycia and Bradley Mayfield who performed for the first time at their very first dance competition! We were all very proud of you.
Proud Miss Rachel & Hebe-Rose
Another highlight of the festival was the E Tap section… there were many strong competitors in this category, many of them our own pupils, and you can imagine our delight when the very popular Mr Jack Skelton danced out of his skin to a well-deserved first place. The biggest cheers were from his friends up on stage with him, and when Charlotte was awarded second place, the first thing she did was walk up to Jack and congratulate him. We were proud of Jack and proud of our Team Berry spirit.
We say this at the end of every Comp Report, but the success of our pupils could not happen without the hard work of our staff and the unfailing support from mums, dads, nans and granddads. Well done to our pupils for continuing to do their best, and thank you to that backstage team who make it all possible. We can’t wait to see what we’ll do at Two Counties… see you then!
Berry Academy of Dance 
