Tag: Urdang

Over the course of these summer holidays, 12 of our pupils were lucky enough to attend the summer schools of professional dance colleges, Urdang Academy in London and Phil Winston’s Theatreworks in Blackpool.

Alexandra O’Brien, Jack Skelton & Bridie Thorpe spent the week at Urdang. Every morning there was Ballet & Jazz on the menu and in the afternoons the students had a choice of workshop. As the girls will tell you themselves:

We had a warm up every morning, which killed me! Then every day, everyone in the class one by one had to do a triple pirouette on each leg… by the end of the week we mastered it! We did corner work and freestyle/improv every lesson. I loved it. My teacher, Regan Shepherd was amazing.
My favourite part was the whole aura of London life, when we weren’t dancing in class, we were in the studios just dancing around – it was so easy to just be yourself and everyone was so friendly.
Bridie

This week was so good, I enjoyed every minute of it and it gave me a chance to see what it was like before I audition next year, and now I can see myself training there. I loved it, I made so many new friends and it made me very excited for the future.
Alex

Maddie Dunn, Maisie Ganley, Lucy Holcroft, Eleanor Jackson, Megan Moore, Gabriel Sharrock, Charlotte Stones, Megan Thorpe & Aliyah Xaba attended Phil Winston’s Theatreworks.

I had a great time in Blackpool sharing a hotel with around 80 kids from all over, including Greece. I loved commercial and contemporary as I had never tried these before. We travelled to the class on a private double decker bus and we had so much fun together. My body ached like never before and I felt exhausted but I can’t wait for next year!
Aliyah

It was a very busy week!! We went from 9 in the morning until 4 at night, starting with warm up, corner work, stretching and then a routine in these workshops. We’d then start rehearsing for our show dances which were featured in our end of week production of ‘The Works – Summer School’! My favourite dance would have to be the ballet – I got specially chosen by the Ballet teacher (as well as Gabriel!) and we danced to a slow violin version of Robert Miles! I also really enjoyed the commercial dance because it’s not something we do often – a nice challenge.
All the summer school went to the south pier on Thursday night and went on the rides! It was the best week ever, we all learned so much and it was very inspiring.
Charlotte

We stayed in a hotel in Blackpool and the owners put on a disco two of the nights we were there. They even took us to the circus and south pier, it was really nice!
Maddie

We’re very glad all our pupils enjoyed their times at summer school so much. We were particularly delighted that Gabriel Sharrock and Aliyah Xaba were awarded scholarships for the holiday school at Phil Winston’s next year! We’re looking forward to seeing what you’ve all learned.