On Friday 7th November the Dance Department held its intra school So You Think You Can Dance competition. The students had the opportunity to choreograph their own group dance or solo based upon a stimulus provided by the Leicestershire Schools Sport Partnership. This year all of the dances had to be inspired by famous people who had passed away during 2016, David Bowie, Mohammed Ali, Terry Wogan, Prince, Victoria Wood and Gene Wilder to name just a few. The dances were a tribute to the celebrities and the standard of choreography was exceptional. Congratulations to the solo category winner Mary Francis Ezeh 8BER and the group category winners Kalaia Hill 7CHM and Shaniya Rayarel 7BEM who will represent Rushey Mead Academy against other schools and academies from Leicester in the city wide competition at Hamilton Community College, on Wednesday 30th November at 6pm. Well done and Good Luck.
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Well done to everyone who attended the audition, the standard of dance was incredible. Congratulations to the following students who have successfully earned a place in the Dance Academy.
Bhangra Dance Workshop 11th JulyOn Monday 11th July Shivanie Sachdev an ex Rushey Mead BTEC Dance student came into school during Period 5 to deliver a bespoke Bhangra Dance workshop for our current Year 10 BTEC Dance students. The workshop was great fun. All students were fully engaged throughout and the energy and commitment to the workshop was fantastic. It was such a good experience for our students to work with and speak to an ex student who went on to study dance at A-level as they could see a route for progression. Overall the workshop was a great success and it was lovely to have such a talented ex-student return to Rushey Mead. ‘I loved coming back to Rushey. Its so great to see that dance is still thriving here and that the students are so enthusiastic about dance. I hope to come back in the future.’ Shivanie Sachdev Addictive Dance Workshop 12th JulyOn Tuesday 12th July, Laura Del Grosso came to Rushey Mead Academy to lead a dance workshop for our Dance leaders. Laura is a member of Addict Dance Company who are based in Leicestershire. She has had much success in her dance career, performing on X – Factor and making it through to the final of Britain's Got Talent. The students engaged in an hour workshop in which they developed their contemporary technique, learning about how to perform with balance, control and fluidity. It was a great opportunity for the students to work with someone from the dance industry and develop a real understanding about the demands of the dance profession. One of our BTEC dance students Priya, was truly inspired by this experience. She stated
“I am so glad that I was given the opportunity to be part of this workshop. It has given me lots of ideas for my solo choreography which I am currently preparing for my year 11 assessment in BTEC Dance”. On Thursday 26th May Rushey Mead Academy held its annual Dance Showcase. This year the event contained 17 different dance pieces, from approximately 50 students across the school and in a variety of different dance styles including, hip hop, Contemporary Dance, Indian Dance, Bollywood, waltz and Street Dance. The majority of the dance pieces were performed and choreographed by our Year 10 BTEC Performing Arts Dance students, however we saw a range of other dances from our Dance Leaders students, the year 7 and 8 dance company, the dance academy, Vibrant Beats Dance club and our Boyance dance company containing all boys from KS3. All of the students involved in the show should be extremely proud of themselves for all of their hard work, commitment and dedication to putting on such a fantastic show. Thank you to everyone who came to support the dance students in the event. Hope to see you again next year. The Big Dance Pledge is now in its 10th year and to mark this as an extra special event Akram Khan was commissioned to choreograph a piece to inspire people to dance at the same time all over the world. On Friday 20th May 2016, 35 of our Year 10 Dance Leaders students and 30 Year 5 Mellor primary students participated in the world wide BIG Dance Pledge at 1pm at in Rushey Mead Academy’s theatre. All 65 students performed at the same time to the same music but with different choreographic interpretations. Then each group performed individually for the others to watch and appreciate. This performance was a great success and paved the way for another fantastic performance at 7pm in Leicester with lots of other dancers from all over Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. In the evening our Dance Leaders students had the opportunity to perform the Big Dance outside Leicester Cathedral, in the grounds with other dance companies, professionals and schools. The whole day was fantastic for our students and they experienced dancing in unusual venues and collaborating with different schools. Well done to everyone who took part. If you would like to know more about the Big Dance Pledge you can go to their website http://www.bigdance.org.uk/big-dance-pledge/ New Creations79 was set up by Ellie Phillips at Studio 79 to allow schools, colleges, Academies and youth groups in Leicester and Leicestershire the opportunity to celebrate and share dance work and to experience what it is like to perform in a professional venue.
‘Congratulations on a fantastic show!!!We hope that everyone had a wonderful time yesterday and thank you so much for all your hard work and support. Your students were a credit to you, both on and off the stage and were professional at all times. Our main goal was that all the students were given a wonderful and enjoyable experience – we hope this was the case!’ On Monday 7th March 22 Rushey Mead Academy students had the fantastic opportunity to participate in a Hip Hop Dance workshop provided by the Curve with Oliver Andrews from Studio 79 who is on their development programme and Carrie-Anne from Zoonation Dance Company. The workshop was based upon Zoonation’s famous dance performance Into the Hoods which uses Hip Hop to explore the theme of fairy tales and fairy tale characters like Little Red Riding Hood, The Big Bad Wolf and Cinderella. However the Company have added a Hip Hop flavour to the characters so Cinderella is a DJ called ‘Spinderella’. During the workshop students participated in a Hip Hop style warm up and learnt some Hip Hop specific dance moves called ’The Rebok’, ‘the Steve Martin’ and the ‘Kriss Kross’ the students then had the opportunity to work in groups to create their own Hip Hop choreography based upon one of the Characters from the show. Overall the workshop was a great success and gave the students the experience of working with professional artists in a new and different style of dance. Some of the students who took part in the workshop are also going to watch the performance at The Curve on Tuesday 14th March. ‘The workshop was so much fun and has given me lots of ideas for characterisation for BTEC Unit 2 and I am really looking forward to watching the performance at the Curve next week’ Suniti Panchesra This term the dance department has been working with De Montfort University to give two DMU dance students the opportunity to gain teaching experience with KS3 students. The DMU students Katherine James and Lucy Markham came into Rushey Mead and observed a Year 7 Dance lesson, got to know the students and talked to the dance teacher about suitable themes and ideas to teach. On Monday 8th and Thursday11th February, the DMU students taught two KS3 Year 7 Dance lessons and were observed and marked by the dance teacher and the students. The lessons were based upon the stimulus Alice in Wonderland which linked with this year’s school production. The lessons were fun and interesting, giving our pupils opportunities to learn set movement created by the DMU students and to create their own movement to form their own dances. The Year 7 students really enjoyed the lessons and the dance teacher is looking forward to working with DMU next year. ‘Very many thanks for having Katie and Lucy at Rushey Mead and for the very fulsome feedback you provided for them. They have really enjoyed the experience and say they have learned a lot. We really appreciate your hosting our students.’ Jane Stevens, Head of Dance, De Montfort University. This year’s school production was a complete sell out. Staged in a promenade fashion, the performance took place in various spaces around the school and the audience was guided from scene to scene by the characters such as Alice and The Cheshire Cat on a journey through ‘Wonderland’. On route, the audience was able to see wonderful art work that had been produced by KS3 students in art lessons e.g. ceramic toadstools, large scale banner art and 3D cake for the tea party. Some of the art work dressed the scenes and some was worn as costumes to enhance the beautiful dances performed with such energy and skill. Students in Year 10 and 11 took on directing roles for the dramatic sections, focusing on an aspect of Alice's personality. They were given artistic freedom to interpret and develop the scene as they wished. The quality of the work was excellent, imaginative and showcased some fabulous talent. Students working behind the scenes showed outstanding organisational skills and worked in such a professional manner, taking rehearsal photographs, acting as stage managers and providing technical support in lighting and sound. I congratulate all the students for all their hard work and creativity and thank the staff who have supported them. Ms Hunter
On the 20th May, we saw the return of the annual Dance Showcase. This years’ set of performances, showcased not only year 11 BTEC students but a range of young up and coming dancers within KS3. All the students have been working exceptional hard in the build up towards the show, but for the year 11’s, they have been having to balance GCSE study, choreographing and rehearsing their performance pieces for exams and the show, and leading other groups that also performed on the night.
the debut performance of Rushey Mead’s first all boy dance company, Boyance, who took to the stage in an energetic display of style and acrobatic styled dance moves.The rest of the show consisted of solo’s and small group pieces, choreographed by the students involved or by their teacher, Ms Mayes. They covered a wide range of styles from contemporary, to Bollywood, to ballet, and even some tap dancing.
The show was also used to raise funds towards support for Nepal. Through ticket sales and programmes, we managed to raise £510 to go to SOUL, helping to make lives better for those affected by recent earthquakes. All the students involved with the show, should be very proud of themselves, for putting on a great evening of performances. |
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