Category: News

Last weekend, 7 of our Berry Babes enjoyed a 2-day workshop with industry professionals at the Zoe Birkett Academy in Hartlepool. Isabel Adshead, Helin Arslan, Abigail Bridger, Megan Bridger, Niamh Thompson, Evie Wright and Laylah Xaba, fresh from their run in Rotherham Civic’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves took part in singing, dancing and acting classes which were then transformed into a performance for parents at the end of the weekend.

Zoe Birkett, (of Pop Idol fame) who starred as Snow White herself in Shone Productions’ Christmas favourite, taught the singing class herself, while the dance class was taught by Christabelle Field, choreographer for Sky 1’s Got to Dance, and the acting class was led by Game of Thrones’ Junade Khan.

The girls were split into age groups and performed a scene from Men in Black, complete with singing, dancing, and American accents!

Hot on the heels of their last successful production, Jack and the Beanstalk, our friends at the Manor Operatic Society are pulling out all the stops for their next show, Singin’ in the Rain, and we can’t help but be pleased with their taste in leading actors.

A huge congratulations to Isabelle Sykes who has won the part of Kathy Selden, the tap-dancing love interest of Don Lockwood, and another well done to Jack Skelton, who will be assuming the role of Cosmo Brown, Don’s lovable and goofy best friend.

We’ll also be pleased to see more Berry Babes taking roles in the show, with Conner Povey, Ewan Revill, Megan Sayles & Gabriel Sharrock soon to be acting, singing and dancing their hearts out in this classic musical.

The performance will take place 10-13th May at Sheffield City Hall, and tickets can be found here.

All of our pupils who will perform in Singin’ in the Rain are no stranger to the City Hall stage, including Isabelle who took the lead part of Manor’s production of Annie in 2010.

Well done to everyone, and we can’t wait to see you all in action.

A very happy birthday to our gorgeous Rebecca Hanneman who becomes an adult today!

Becky joined us over 10 years ago, taking part in her first show in 2006, A Kinda Magic, experiencing the first of many quick costume changes with Miss Lisa! The dance festival roller coaster began at age 8 for Rebecca when she had varied success; falling first on her bum with her Ballet solo but then achieving 4th place with her Modern.

Rebecca is no stranger to Sheffield Theatres, playing Louisa in the Sound of Music in 2012, and then joining the dance troupe of Kes in 2014. This last performance was pretty traumatic and Becky’s trooper spirit came through as she was rushed to hospital to have her appendix removed a week before opening night. She still made it though!

In 2014 she won the South Yorkshire Tap Championship and in 2015 and 2016 she appeared in the IDTA’s prestigious Miss Dance of Great Britain competition. She has already won her place in 2017’s Miss Dance.

Over the years she has secured many great exam results and was first nominated to compete in the IDTA Theatre Dance Awards in 2012 with Modern Jazz. Since then she has been nominated many times, most recently in 2016 she was nominated for Advanced 1 Modern Jazz and Intermediate Tap, the latter for which she was awarded a Special Commendation.

Rebecca had her first professional job only a month ago, appearing as a magical doll for Cbeebies’ Nutcracker festival!

We hope you have a wonderful day and we cannot wait to see what your future holds.

 A huge congratulations to our lovely Miss Marie Horner who has achieved a well-deserved Distinction in her latest teaching exam for Licentiate Tap.

With the help of Eve, Jack, Liberty & Megan in the practical elements, Marie carried out 3 exams in 4 parts to add to her repertoire of qualifications. Well done Miss Marie!

If you’d like to find out more about our staff, please click here.