SWAN LAKE WORKSHOP
Friday 21st March, 5.30 - 7.45pm @ Plumpton village Hall
Kate Snowden, former ballerina will teach students aged 11+ repertoire from Act II of Swan Lake.
£17.50 per pupil
Many of the seniors will remember Kate, who came to give a non-syllabus class last summer and is keen to be a guest teacher for Summer School this year.
Now is your chance to become a swan!!!
On Saturday 1st February, Turning Pointe dancers took part in a Chinese and English Cultural Festival at the Corn Exchange in Brighton to celebrate Chinese New Year. The event was well attended, including by the Mayor and Mayoress of Brighton, and as always our dancers rose to the occasion and performed beautifully on the large stage space. It was lovely to see some tradtional Chinese dancing just before our two pieces, and great fun was had by all backstage!
In the first term of this academic year, Turning Pointe students were treated to two exciting and diverse workshops. The first one in September was hosted by Zu Aerial, one of the founders of which is Naomi Giffen, a former Turning Pointe pupil and teacher. Our students were lucky to have the unique opportunity to learn to fly using Silks and Trapeze, and expertly guided by Naomi and Hazel Maddocks, were amazed at what they could achieve within a couple of hours, as were the parents who themselves seemed keen to have a go. Maybe next time!
The second workshop was a 'Grease' Musical Theatre workshop run by Daniella Crockford who appeared in the West End Revival Production of Grease, as well as several other West End shows including Singin' in the Rain. On the cold Sunday morning in November it was great to see how Daniella's infectious energy soon warmed up our dancers who learnt routines to 'Born to Hand Jive' and 'Grease Lightning.' A particular highlight was seeing some of our more balletic students let themselves go and rock out their air guitar moves!
This term Turning Pointe students can look forward to a Ballet Repertoire workshop and a Salsa Workshop from Island Dance Wizards (and Turning Pointe Royalty) Amanda Fyles and Basil Barrett. Our workshops are open to everyone, whether you are an existing Turning Pointe pupil or are interested in seeing what we do. For more information please use the contact form on this website.
On Tuesday the 3rd of September a group of students and Miss Carter headed to London to take part in a commercial jazz class at Pineapple Dance Studios. While we were waiting for the class to start we were all buzzing with excitement as some of us had never been to the Pineapple studio before. The warm up included lots of sit ups, stretching and leaps from the corner of the studio which exhausted us before the class had even properly begun! We then moved on to learn a dance routine; it was very energetic and involved crawling on the floor which made me feel like I was in a scene from the Lion King! The choreography was set to ‘Roar’ by Katy Perry which is a really up beat song; this really helped us put a lot of energy and enthusiasm into the dance. Although we were very hot and tired after the class we had all really enjoyed ourselves and were rewarded with a trip to Covent Garden to look around the shops and have some lunch. I really enjoyed my first trip to Pineapple and the experience of doing a class there. I would really like to go back again sometime soon!
Written by Izzy Moors.
"Lianne Carter, Assistant Principal of the dance school worked tirelessly to direct and produce this stunning show. Her passion for dance and infectious energy inspires all the performers to be the best they can be. It is little wonder that Turning Pointe School of Dance continues to turn out bright young stars, underpinned by their excellent record of success of helping students achieve places at prestigious institutions such as White Lodge, the ENB and the Brit School, as well as roles in the West End."
Go to the GALLERY page to read the full review of RAZZLE DAZZLE.
About 2 months ago I found, along with some others from English National Ballet Youth Company, I would be performing in Petrushka, which is part of 'A Tribute to Rudolf Nureyev'. I was so excited when I found out that we would be performing at the London Coliseum with the rest of the English National Ballet company! There are 5 performances, 2 on the 25th July, 1 on the 26th and 2 on the 27th. We have 7 rehearsals in London starting on the 19th, of which, 2 finish at 10pm!
I have been dancing since I was 3 and joined Turning Pointe when I was 4, doing mainly ballet at first, until I was introduced to contemporary dance, which I now really enjoy and started Intermediate Modern in January. I am currently attending Central School of Ballet's associate program on Saturdays where we do contemporary and ballet, and in September we are going to be starting Pilates and character dance as well. On Friday nights I go to ENBYouthCo where we do ballet and contemporary from 6:30 - 8:30pm which is quite tiring but great fun! In March (aged 15) I gained a Distinction for the Grade 8 Ballet Award.
Polly and Kester Parish are bored of first days. This is their fifth new school in five years thanks to Mum’s job. This school seems a bit different though. Every student seems to have suffered a random freaky accident. Some of them enjoy snapping their limbs and slamming their fingers in doors. That Head Mistress is definitely not all there, not to mention the creepy caretaker. Welcome to The Other School - once you’re part of the system it’ll never let you leave!!
A 'psycho'logical new musical from the writer of Departure Lounge and the associate director of Matilda.
Lizzie trained in Ballet, Modern and Tap with Turning Pointe from the age of 2 to 18, achieving her Grade 8 Ballet last year with Distinction. Having done Musical Theatre since the age of 6, she has played many memorable roles including Wendla in 'Spring Awakening' at the Brighton Fringe Festival, Tracy Turnblad in 'Hairspray' and Dorothy in 'The Wizard of Oz'. She now studies Ancient History and Egyptology at UCL and continues Musical Theatre as a hobby, having just played Florence in 'Chess' with UCLU Musical Theatre Society. As a member of the National Youth Theatre from the age of 13, 'The Other School' will be her first performance with the National Youth Music Theatre and she is absolutely thrilled to have gained the lead role of Polly in this new musical.
Summer School 2013 will be held at Plumpton village hall from Monday 19th - Friday 23rd August. An energetic and inspiring week of dancing and fun from 10am - 3pm, culminating in a performance of your work on Friday 23rd August. Students will be able to work on the different styles performed in our Summer show 'Razzle Dazzle'.
Students from age 6 are invited to apply, with older, more experienced pupils and past pupils being grouped according to age and experience. Classes will be held in a variety of dance styles with the emphasis on performance. So come along if you would like to be part of the creative process, learn new skills and have fun with your friends, teachers and NEW GUEST TEACHERS.
£135 for the week.
If you would like to book a place at Summer School 2013 please contact Julia Canneaux.
Aged just 12, Mirabelle Seymour has been chosen by resident Royal Ballet choreographer Wayne Mcgregor to create a solo role in his new ballet ‘Raven Girl’, on stage at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Raven Girl is a collaboration between Author Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveller’s Wife) who has written the modern-day fairytale, Choreographer Wayne Mcgregor (‘Machina’ from Metamorphosis, Chroma) and Composer Gabriel Yared (The English Patient, The talented Mr Ripley). It tells the story of a Raven Girl – her father is a Postman, her mother a Raven he rescues after falling from the nest as a fledgling bird, he takes her home and they fall in love.....
Mirabelle has been rehearsing with Wayne McGregor and her partner Ed Watson (Principal dancer with the Royal Ballet) for 3 weeks to prepare for the role of the fledgling bird. The World Premiere was performed last night to a sell –out audience and Miss Canneaux was there to watch in awe as Mirabelle appeared from beneath a cloak at the foot of a huge rock, a terrified, tiny, weightless, bird, lifted tenderly in one arm by the postman (Ed Watson) who takes her home to recover. She sits watching the postman striking a series of beautiful, frightened, birdlike poses. Gaining in confidence she performs a series of intricate, delicate steps and movements moving up to the table she balances posed on one leg before appearing to flutter around the postman’s head as he throws her expertly around his neck before letting her fly away.
At the end of the ballet Mirabelle stood in line with Royal Ballet stars Sarah Lamb, Eric Underwood, Olivia Cowley, Ed Watson and Thiago Soares, she was the first soloist invited forward to take the first of many curtain calls until Wayne McGregor appeared onstage to take his bow, holding her hand and inviting her forward to receive her applause once again.
CONGRATULATIONS MIRABELLE – you are the most beautiful young ballerina we have ever seen!
Mirabelle will be dancing in 3 more performances of Raven Girl – Wednesday 29th May at 2pm, Monday 3rd June at 7.30pm and the final performance on Saturday 8th June at 7pm, tickets are available from the Royal Opera House.
Julia Canneaux
One Monday in April, Kevin Ellis was invited along to the studio in Barcombe to take photos of the youngest children during their ballet class with Miss Carter and assistant teacher Jessica.
Go to the gallery page to see how adorable they were.