Dance Production: Pictures in Motion
Miss F. Smith, Subject Leader: Dance, writes:
It was the ‘Longest’ show!
On Thursday 8th March, our dance students performed in this year’s Dance Production ‘Pictures in Motion’.
The production showcased the talents of a wide variety of Stanborough students not only by our BTEC dancers but this year also included a large number of dance club pieces, which have all been run by our Dance Captains. The performances included different genres of dance, including contemporary, sassy commercial and street dance. The first club piece was ‘The Greatest Show’, a Year 7 piece choreographed by Holly Milliken and Ruth Morgan in Year 10 which was the perfect opener to the production. A particular highlight of the show, and a real crowd pleaser, was ‘You will be Found’ a Year 8 and 9 club piece choreographed by the very talented Lucy Connolly, 11A. This year we also saw a Musical Theatre piece choreographed by Fran Hall, 11O, to ‘A Night to Remember’ from High School Musical. It included several sections and use of props. Steph Conder brought a real sense of fun and humour to the show with her interpretation of Shaun of the Dead danced by her Year 10 club.
As with previous years, the Year 5 and 6 Gifted and Talented students from our local primary schools also performed a number. This year we saw them as characters from the film Trolls. This was a real crowd pleaser and was choreographed and led by Jess Elsley and Abby Mortimer in Year 12.
Several students also took advantage of our audition process and there was a particularly memorable duet by Belle Awad, 9B, and Tilly North, 9A, in their interpretation of the film Twilight. Ciara Keenan, 7BM, and Amelie Ware, 7H, also impressed the audience with their confident duet debut ‘Tale as Old as Time’ and Anasteija Armani performed a confident solo to ‘Listen’ from Dreamgirls.
Other highlights of the show were the Year 10 and 11 BTEC assessment pieces. The Year 10s performed ‘Emancipation of Expression’, an original repertoire from the dance company Boy Blue. The piece is in response to Kung Fu films and looks at abstracting Hip Hop movements in a contemporary way. Both Year 10 groups worked tirelessly in rehearsals and I must congratulate them on their phenomenal performance of the professional work, their efforts truly paid off. This was the Year 11’s final production and it is fair to say that they went out in style. Their first piece was a horror piece in response to the film Annabelle, in which their clever use of motif and development saw a creative and innovative work. The audience were sufficiently scared as the dancers performed amongst them during the piece and demonstrated excellent characterisation throughout. The second whole class piece from Year 11 was a montage of all their work to date since Year 9 and it perfectly displayed their journey and talents over the three years… a bit emotional if I’m being honest!
Our Year 13 dancers performed a work in progress based on Dali’s artwork ‘The Persistence of Memory’. They have created a sophisticated work so far including a dance film combined with live dance and this piece was very well received by the audience. Year 12 dancers performed ‘Steam Heat’ from The Pyjama Game and all students managed to perfect and execute the ‘Hat Trick’ –well done! Year 12s also performed a piece based on Austin Powers with the man himself! However, you may know him better as Mr Moore.
Another piece perhaps worth a mention is ‘Jurassic Teachers’ in which Miss McLean and Miss Bowen portrayed scientists looking through a Jurassic world before the dinosaurs invaded the space. Mr ‘T-Rex’ Harris made a grand entrance to the stage as the scariest dinosaur of them all but as it turns out, a bit of dinosaur ballet was all that was needed to save the day!
Lily O’Keeffe and James Atkins narrated the show adding their usual sense of fun and humor to the production. As usual, their duet in the finale was also very well received! They will certainly be missed next year.
Our dance students took full advantage of performing on a professional stage at the Weston Auditorium with professional lighting and sound facilities, this truly enhanced their overall performance and helped make this production a memorable one.
All our dance students were a credit to themselves and the school throughout the day and during the evening’s performance. They worked extremely hard and should be very proud of all they have achieved. I couldn’t be prouder of them all and am delighted with their continued commitment to dance and all our shows.
Well done to you all.
