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You are here: Curriculum & Courses > Performing Arts > Performing Arts - News > Pirouetting for the Pride o...

Pirouetting for the Pride of the Potteries

A Level Dance Students from the City of Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College “Do Stoke Proud!” At this year’s National Dance Teachers Association Conference.

On Saturday 22nd November, Forty Four A Level Dance students from the City of Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College journeyed to Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham.

The students had been selected to perform the work ‘Northern Grit’ as part of the National Dance Teachers Association Conference. All of the key stages of dance in education were represented in a forty minute performance. The dancers from the college were the only group in the whole of the country to represent the A-Level band.

For the students this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to perform in front of over 200 of the most prominent dance teachers and prolific choreographers in the United Kingdom.

Co-ordinator of Dance at the Sixth Form College, Richard O’Brien, said of the performance:

“We were honoured to be chosen to perform at this prestigious event. It was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the huge amount of talent that we have in the college, and to gain national recognition for the high standard of dance of the student’s performance. The number of students choosing A-Level Dance at the college has grown significantly in the past five years, now one of the largest centres for A-Level Dance in the country. It was breathtaking to see such a large amount of dance students performing with such confidence, clarity and power. From the applause and cheers that resounded through the theatre as they took their bow it was clear that they all, “did stoke proud!” As their teacher, watching all the students dance with such power and strength was quite simply the best experience of my teaching career.”

A Level Dance student Charlotte Thomas, formerly of Blurton High School, said:

“My future ambition is to become a professional dancer and I am currently in the process of applying for Dance Degree courses at renowned institutes including the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Laban. Gaining a student place in these institutes is highly competitive and it is important that applicants stand out in some way. This experience of performing in front of such major figures in the world of dance has increased my confidence significantly and I now feel ready for the intensive audition process ahead.”