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!
Thanks to your continued support and the mammoth efforts of our fabulous Fundraising Committee we have been able to purchase these mirrors for class! Mirrors help dancers perfect their technique – a nice enhancement for our lessons!
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
Book the coaches, start on that packed lunch, because we’re off to Blackpool again next June! A huge congratulations to our very own Miss Rebecca Hanneman who performed her heart out in Loughborough to secure a place in the Grand Final of Miss Dance 2016.
After doing us tremendously proud this year (along with Misses Bridie and Bree of course), Becky has been back competing for a place in this prestigious competition, and we’re so looking forward to cheering her on once more. Well done!
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.
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.
We enjoyed beautiful sunshine for our Easter Fun Day – we all know Mrs Berry is capable of organising anything, even the weather! The Jackson family were our hosts for the day and did a fabulous job, thank you so much.
The first of our 150 guests began to arrived at 10am and were straight onto the bouncy castle, zip wire or busy with craft activities in the party barn. Sarah and Karen Burton were kept busy all day face painting and the kids looked fabulous.
Hard at work at crafts in the barn
We started the Easter Egg Hunt at 11am and all the children (including some big kids!) had a booklet and went off searching for clues in the garden, field and the woods while the adults enjoyed a cuppa and a bun in the sunshine. When they had found all the clues and completed their Easter words they collected their prize of an Easter egg.
The grown-ups getting pretty serious about that egg and spoon race
The prize draw for the bunny came up next, with Jack being overwhelmed with his prize that was bigger than him! It was soon time for lunch which we all agreed was the best BBQ food in South Yorkshire and we spent some more time relaxing and enjoying the facilities. It was a real family atmosphere with everyone chipping in to serve food, clear up and help wherever needed.
Mrs B showing the girls how elevation gets done properly.
All that changed with the highly competitive egg and spoon races which culminated in the teacher’s race, won by Mrs Berry. We also had an expert judge, Suzanne Leech, for our colouring competition with many wonderful entries.
The day ended with a visit from an ice cream van and everyone left happy after a thoroughly enjoyable day. When the gazebos were put away and all was tidy, myself, fellow Committee members Andrea and Charise and also Mrs Berry decided it was our turn on the zip wire – we were very proud of ourselves.
Aliyah, Laylah, Eleanor and Grace make a new friend
It was a fantastic day. Thanks to all who came, a big thank you to everyone who helped out before, during and after the event, and of course a massive well done and thank you to the Jackson family.
Mrs Berry and her staff would like to thank Gemma and the Fundraising Committee, not to mention the Jackson family and everyone else who helped make this wonderful event possible. We are very grateful and impressed by the Fundraising Committee’s activities and the generosity of the friends of the school who continue to support it time and time again.
If you would like to find out more about our Fundraising Committee, please click here.
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!
Berry Academy of Dance 