Congratulations are in order for our pupils Jack Skelton and Charlotte Stones who have two sets of very different and very good news. Both of them successfully auditioned for Tap Attack, a tap performance and workshop company with the likes of West End favourite Graeme Henderson on the bill! Having attended their workshops, Charlotte and Jack were invited to audition for the performance company – and we are very proud to say they got in!
In addition to this, Jack was also nominated to dance in the IDTA Scholarships 2016 for his outstanding performance in his Grade 4 Tap exam. Charlotte on the other hand has also discovered that she has been chosen for the role of Head Girl at Stocksbridge High School in the coming year.
We’re delighted to announce that our school production:
All Good Things
Will take place next summer at the Montgomery Theatre in Sheffield. All our pupils get the chance to dance on a full-sized stage right in the city centre in front of hundreds of people every night. There will be four performances and children dancing in the show will be required in the evenings of the whole show week to attend technical and dress rehearsals. The details of these will be released nearer the time.
Please make a note of these dates in your diary:
Tuesday 12 July 2016 – Technical Rehearsal
Wednesday 13 July 2016 – Dress Rehearsal
Thursday 14 July 2016 – Evening Performance
Friday 15 July 2016 – Evening Performance
Saturday 16 July 2016 – Matinee Performance & Evening Performance
There will also be full-class rehearsals that take place at St Thomas More Community Centre on the following dates:
Thursday 30 June 2016
Saturday 2 July 2016
Details regarding tickets and costumes will be released in due course.
A pirouette down memory lane…
This year’s show theme is a special one, as it celebrates the very best of Berry. As we sashay towards our 35th birthday as a school, we continue to enjoy a long history of achievement and friendship. As the daughters of our first ever pupils learn their shuffle hops, nieces, brothers, twins, grandchildren of our community come together to make a school that is incredibly special. Expect to see old favourites and new showstoppers, danced by our pupils as only they know how, with stretched feet and a foot-long smile!
We now begin the difficult task of narrowing down a shortlist of crowd-pleasers, and we look forward to seeing you in July 2016.
I started dancing at Sharon Berry School from the age of two. During my 16 years there, I made some truly amazing memories. The people I met there are friends for life, we used to have so much fun in class!
When I got older, I was able to help on Saturday mornings with the younger pupils. I used to love pretending to be fairies and butterflies with the baby class!
Pennies From Heaven – Hollie Bottom Right
Competitions were the best part of the year, and Doncaster Civic was my favourite. I used to love getting up so early and having to put full show hair and makeup on. (And I was normally allowed a McDonald’s breakfast on the way – bonus!)
When I was 18 I moved down to Essex to study at Performers College for my National Diploma. I enjoyed three great years there and met some lovely people. During my time at college I was lucky enough to have some amazing opportunities like dancing at the FA Cup Opening Ceremony at Wembley Stadium and performing in a tribute to the tiller girls at the London Palladium.
Showgirl!
Since graduating in 2014, I am now part of a showgirl company called Showgirl Entertainments with whom I have performed in different venues all over the UK. In September 2014, I also worked in Scotland with Circus Vegas as a showgirl. I then went on to perform in Dick Whittington pantomime in Birdwell as part of the ensemble over Christmas 2014.
I am currently soaking up the sun in Malta, working as Dance Captain in a hotel show team.
I went to Mrs Berry’s for 13 years and my favourite classes were Gymnastics and Modern Jazz. Before I left I reached the final of the very prestigious Miss Dance competition. It was a brilliant experience in which I performed my favourite dance of all time. I did all the competitions!
I left Mrs Berry’s age 18 to go to Phil Winston’s Dance College in Blackpool where I completed a three-year course. After leaving there I came to Tenerife to dance in various shows touring hotels. I’m still here 10 years later! I’m now performing in a show called The Sound of Musicals. My own daughter Kaci has started dancing.
I had the best years at this dancing school and without Mrs Berry I would not be where I am today.
James began dancing at Sharon Berry School of Theatre dance a couple of weeks before his 13th birthday after being told at school he would need the three disciplines of dance, singing and drama to fulfill his dream of performing in the West End. It was Mrs Berry’s idea that he should go for his first audition to London for the new musical Billy Elliot. After successfully beating 3,000 other candidates, James became one of the three original Billy Elliots to play the part in the West End’s Victoria Palace Theatre. He was involved in the development of the role of Billy from the very beginning, and contributed to the success of the show with critically acclaimed performances in acting, singing and dancing. The show opened on 31 March 2005. In that year, he won the Variety Club’s Outstanding New Talent Award and also the Theatre Goers’ Choice of Most Promising New Comer. He also jointly won the prestigious Sir Laurence Olivier Award in 2006 for Best Actor in a Musical.
James as Billy
James was featured in Strictly Dance Fever performing part of the musical finale and in several TV interviews and short clips related to the musical. In July 2006 he played the lead role of young blind Nicholas Saunderson in the new musical No Horizon in Penistone, and was well received for his performances. After leaving the show in 2006, James won a place at Millennium performing arts school in London, where he completed his National Diploma in Musical Theatre in 2009. After graduation, he went on to perform in the West End production of Dirty Dancing at the Aldwych Theatre. He then joined the national UK tour of Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat, playing Joseph on several occasions. He spent a deal of time in Bochum, Germany, performing in Starlight Express.
In costume for Starlight Express
James is now part of the band Gypsy Queens who are based in Nice in the south of France, where he now lives. They perform at private parties all over the world.
James (far left), performing with his band the Gypsy Queens
Devon started at Mrs Berry’s when he was 12 when he and Matt came from the Maureen Law School of Dance. During his time with us he was nominated for the IDTA Scholarships many times and won special commendations in 2003/4 for Grade 5 Tap and Theatre Craft. He was also the winner of the Ken Dodd Tap Award.
In 2006, at the age of 16, he came third in Dance Master UK, performing at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Later that year he went on to study for his National Diploma in Musical Theatre at Laine Theatre Arts College. While there both he and Matt competed in a tap competition held at the college, and Matt, feeling generous, used one of his old routines and choreographed a new one for Devon… he regretted it in the end because Devon ended up beating him with it!
After graduating in 2009 he went on tour to Germany with the musical Hairspray for two years, managing to resist the urge to learn any German while he was there. He performed in Aladdin at the Royal & Derngate in Northampton in 2011.
In 2012 Devon taught classes and workshops in London and performed in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympic Games.
Since then he has played a Shark on the national UK tour of West Side Story which began in Liverpool in 2013 and ended in summer 2014. In his spare time he has come back to Sheffield to teach our pupils exciting new routines and give them insight into the life of a professional dancer.
Devon was very excited to be joining the cast of Memphis, a new musical which arrived in London’s West End in October 2014. The starring role is taken by Beverley Knight, and the production won Best New Musical at the What’s On Stage Awards.
Last Saturday evening with a mixture of happiness and sadness, we joined our pupil Frankie Beetlestone and his family and friends for his leaving party. Frankie, 14, has been offered a place at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London. The school for performing arts boasts former pupils such as Denise Van Outen, Rita Ora, Tom Fletcher and Billie Piper.
Frankie will start his new school on Monday 20th April, and although he hasn’t been with us for too long (since autumn 2014), we have loved teaching him, developing his skills and supporting him through the application process. We wish him all the best, our loss is their gain!
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!
I started dancing in 1992 at the Maureen Law School of Dance when I was five, and when I was 14 I came to Mrs Berry’s with Devon. I have loads of dancing memories but my favourites have to be English Tap Championships at Manchester with ‘Messy Bessy’ in 2003, and also dancing at the IDTA Teachers’ Congress at Southport with Linzi Thompson. I was also lucky enough to win Dance Master UK aged 15, dancing to ‘New York State of Mind’ by Billy Joel.
Private lessons were always a stressful business, and so Mrs Berry kept me calm and chilled by taking me to McDonald’s afterwards! The most gruelling part of my life was the preparation for my tap exam with Miss Rebecca. The only way I can describe it is torture, and I still have nightmares about it now!
When I was 16 I attended Laine Theatre Arts College where I trained for my National Diploma in Musical Theatre. I met some great friends at college and had some brilliant experiences dancing at the Royal Variety Performance in 2005 for Shirley Bassey and Missy Elliot. I also performed on ITV’s Discomania, Abbamania, Elvismania and Madonnamania, and graduated aged 19 in 2007.
Straight from college I went on to dance in Grease at the Picadilly Theatre for a year. After this I danced in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria for a year, Shall We Dance for Adam Cooper at Sadler’s Wells for three months and then Irving Berlin’s White Christmas at Manchester at the Lowry Theatre.
From 2010 for nearly two years, I performed in Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre, and from February 2012 to June 2013 I performed in Singin’ in the Rain at the Palace Theatre.
Between September 2013 and September 2014 I appeared in the national UK tour of West Side Story as a Jet. This was an amazing experience because I got to dance alongside my childhood friend and former Berry school pupil, Devon, who played a Shark.
Since October 2014 I have rejoined the cast of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria and I am enjoying every moment! I am especially delighted to be understudying the character of Fiyero, and was thrilled to spot Mrs B in the audience cheering me on when I played him.
I still love coming back to Mrs Berry’s when I can, teaching the pupils a routine from the West End or appearing on the show itself as I have done for the past four times. They just can’t keep me away!
Matt as Fiyero in Wicked, at the Apollo Victoria, London
In September we launched our Fundraising Committee, made up of parents of the school and staff members, who have been working tirelessly to raise money for the school for the subsidy of show costumes and a trip to Disneyland Paris in summer 2015 where 30 pupils will travel to perform there.
Through many clever initiatives, ranging from collecting 20 pence pieces in Smartie tubes to a Weekly Bonus Ball we are very proud to report a rather fruitful four months from the Fundraising Committee!
A Bonfire Party held by the Jackson family at Greenhead Housefarm helped begin the fundraising, we had a great time with special visitor Mr Claus at our Children’s Christmas Disco and we also enjoyed a fantastic Christmas Craft Event. Many of you attended our Christmas Concert, with over 220 adult tickets sold (and over 250 people squeezed into St Thomas More Community Centre). To round it off there was what Miss Marie has described as “the best hour of my life”, carol singing at Parson Cross Asda. Our pupils, staff and parents gave shoppers some musical cheer and the festive mood helped raise lots of money from the very generous people who passed by.
These events are only the highlights of course, and with lots of different scale projects, our Fundraising Committee has raised a fantastic amount of money so far. Corporate sponsorship has also been secured from Crucible Homes and Lettings, who will be providing the kit for the pupils travelling to Disneyland Paris.
The committee met last Saturday, and they have lots planned for 2015. Watch out for events, including a race night planned for the end of February.
Congratulations to the Committee leaders Andrea, Gemma, Charise and Lindsay and the rest of the Fundraising Committee, what a way to start! A huge thank you to parents, staff and friends of the school who are supporting us in our activities, either through donating raffle prizes or attending our events. Your time and generosity are greatly appreciated and will help us to provide a more affordable dance experience for each pupil.
We can’t wait to see what happens next… onwards and upwards!
I started dancing at Sharon Berry School from the age of two. During my 16 years there, I made some truly amazing memories. The people I met there are friends for life, we used to have so much fun in class!
James began dancing at Sharon Berry School of Theatre dance a couple of weeks before his 13th birthday after being told at school he would need the three disciplines of dance, singing and drama to fulfill his dream of performing in the West End. It was Mrs Berry’s idea that he should go for his first audition to London for the new musical Billy Elliot. After successfully beating 3,000 other candidates, James became one of the three original Billy Elliots to play the part in the West End’s Victoria Palace Theatre. He was involved in the development of the role of Billy from the very beginning, and contributed to the success of the show with critically acclaimed performances in acting, singing and dancing. The show opened on 31 March 2005. In that year, he won the Variety Club’s Outstanding New Talent Award and also the Theatre Goers’ Choice of Most Promising New Comer. He also jointly won the prestigious Sir Laurence Olivier Award in 2006 for Best Actor in a Musical.
Berry Academy of Dance 
