You can imagine our delight on Saturday night as we watched our very own former pupil, Devon McKenzie-Smith, breeze onto the Jonathan Ross Show on ITV1!
Dev looking fantastic on the far left
Devon appeared to promote the West End’s latest fabulous production, Motown: The Musical, written by legendary Motown record producer and songwriter, Berry Gordy.
Performing as 1/5 of one of the most famous and popular Motown acts ever, the Jackson 5, we were thrilled to see Dev donning an afro and flares – it took us back to our own great 70s show numbers!
Keep your eyes peeled for Devon and the cast of Motown: The Musical on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.
To watch Devon in action, take a look at Motown: The Musical‘s segment on the show on Saturday. Dev makes his appearance at 12:00.
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, not one to be outdone, our very own Miss Alexandra O’Brien took today’s Miss Dance heat by storm! A huge congratulations to Alex on securing her place in Miss Dance of Great Britain2016.
Alex is through to Miss Dance 2016!
So, let’s count it up: Rebecca Hanneman, Bree Quinton, Bridie Thorpe & now Alex! We didn’t think it possible to top our excitement from last year when we had 3 of our pupils in this prestigious competition, but here we are: the Fantastic Four.
Rebecca, Bridie & Bree will be joining Alex in Blackpool
Miss Dance takes place in June at the Winter Gardens Theatre in Blackpool, and is a national competition hosted by the International Dance Teachers’ Association, whose syllabus we follow. After competing in heats across the country, 50 young dancers are brought together on this immense stage to perform in front of a whopping 3,500 people.
Get your sandwiches packed and your best cheering voices warmed up because this year’s Miss Dance is going to be pretty special! 4 down, 1 to go, can we make it the Famous Five? No pressure Charlotte!
As always, we were incredibly proud of our Berry Babes who danced in the International Dance Teachers Association’s Theatre Dance Awards at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester last weekend. To be nominated to dance in the scholarships is huge achievement in itself, and pupils who demonstrate excellence in their grade exams are invited to dance in this prestigious annual event.
Rebecca, Bree, Bridie, Alexandra, Jack, Charlotte & Eve
Our young dancers were nominated for the following grade exams:
Grade 4 Modern Jazz – Jack Skelton, Eve Wainwright
Grade 5 Tap – Jack Skelton
Grade 5 Theatre Craft – Eve Wainwright
Intermediate Tap – Rebecca Hanneman, Bree Quinton, Charlotte Stones & Bridie Thorpe
Advanced 1 Modern – Rebecca Hanneman, Alexandra O’Brien, Bree Quinton, Charlotte Stones & Bridie Thorpe
We were delighted to see our students perform as marvelously as ever with, of course, lots of support from their number 1 fans, Team Berry! Congratulations to all of our pupils who performed, particularly Rebecca Hanneman & Bridie Thorpe, who were awarded Special Commendations in the Tap Performers category.
Rebecca & Bridie with their Tap certificates
The highlight of our weekend (and quite probably the month, at least) was the Modern Jazz Performers category. You can imagine our delight when our very own Bree Quinton was announced as winner!! Cheers and screams all round from Team Berry. A massive well done to Bree and her teachers & family, particularly mum and former pupil Stacy – a hard-earned victory.
Bree and the very proud Miss Rebecca & Mrs Berry
Of a possible 6000 pupils across the IDTA network, 300 are nominated to dance in the scholarships. The standard is incredibly high, and our girls & boy lived up to that. Well done to all of you, not to mention your teachers for their hard work! Thanks to the mums, dads, nans, aunties, siblings, cousins, friends (etc.!) who continue to support the children and the school in every new exciting chapter.
We’re looking forward to getting back into the swing of things tomorrow, Monday 4th January, and would like to let you know that some class times have changed.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via Facebook (www.facebook.com/SBSOTD) or email at sharonberryschool@gmail.com
Please note that all private lessons are not running the first week back, and will begin week commencing 11th January.
Saturday Timetable – First Class Back 9th January 2016
10.00-10.30
Juveniles
Prep Theatre Craft
Primary Theatre Craft
10.30-11.00
Prep Tap
Primary Tap
11.00-11.30
Grade 1 Ballet
Prep Ballet
Primary Ballet
11.30-12.00
Grade 1 Modern
Prep Modern
Primary Modern
12.00-12.30
Stretch
12.30-1.15
Grade 1 Theatre Craft
Grade 2 Theatre Craft
Grade 3 Theatre Craft
1.15-1.30
Lunch
1.30-2.15
Grade 1 Tap
Grade 2 Tap
Grade 3 Tap
2.15-3.15
Grade 4 Theatre Craft
Intermediate Theatre Craft
Advanced 1 Modern
3.15-4.00
Intermediate Tap
Advanced 1 Tap
Monday Timetable – First Class Back 4th January 2016
Please find below our timetable for Saturday class. Term commences 5th September at St Thomas More Community Centre.
If you would like to begin dancing with us for the first time, please call Mrs Berry to arrange on 0114 246 6126. We will be delighted to welcome new pupils.
For any clarifications or questions, please contact Mrs Berry on the number above.
Berry Academy of Dance 