Newsletter 01 - Starbrite news, September 7th–October 24th, 2020

Show preparations

Well, it has been an amazing seven weeks of show preparations with all of our Show Stars bubbles learning two different styles of routines ready for our red carpet affair, 'A Night at the Movies'.

We have routines from The Descendants, Flashdance, James Bond, Dirty Dancing, Teen Beach and Fame to name but a few.

You may have noticed that we have been quiet on our social media pages as all our spare time has been dedicated to show preparations. We have been extremely busy sourcing costumes, editing music, putting in extra stage lighting and generally just setting up our theatre space ready for what should bring some positive memories to 2020.

Each of our Show Stars bubbles will be invited to their own show day so we can make a fuss of them and make them feel like a true celebrity as they enter the studios down the red carpet. Each student will also have an allocated costume for them to wear for their photo shoot as well as for the filming of their show routines.

Have you purchased your show package from our online shop here to secure your involvement in the show? Don't forget that the deadline for this is 18:00 on Saturday November 14th.

Further information on how the show will run this year can be found here.

Starbrite celebrates its 18th birthday

Back in September, Starbrite celebrated eighteen years of dance and drama. We can't quite believe how quickly the past eighteen years have flown by, but what an amazing time it has been!

Starbrite first opened its doors in 2002, running dance and drama classes in church halls in both Market Weighton and Upper Poppleton. Fast forward ten years and Starbrite then opened its doors within its own dance and drama studios, incorporating green screen, recording studio, theatre space, and café space, really fulfilling the performance experience of attending a dance and drama class.

We are extremely proud of the space we have lovingly put together and the successes Starbrite has experienced within this time.

Principal, Miss Emma, still remains the highest qualified IDTA dance teacher in all theatre subjects (ballet, tap, modern-jazz and theatre-craft), IDTA freestyle teacher, LAMDA, Estill Vocal Coach and Acrobatic Arts (insert logos for each) within both of our catchment areas. She is also fortunate enough to offer Royal Ballet training to her students as she is part of their 'Inspire' programme. You can rest assured that the training your child receives at Starbrite is of the highest standard.

Starbrite has seen students go on to achieve very successful careers within the industry in both dance and drama, so we really have become renowned for our #allinonestudio tag. Our successes include:

• Junior Royal Ballet Associates
• Northern Ballet
• Northern Ballet Associates
• Triplestar College of Performing Arts – 2 year BTEC Dance Level 3 Diploma
• Phil Winston's Theatreworks – 3 year training course
• Stella Mann College of Performing Arts – 3 year full musical theatre scholarship
• Renaissance Dance College – 3 year training course
• Northern School of Contemporary Dance
• York Dance College – 2 year BTEC Dance
• York St. John University – Dance Degree Course
• IDTA Teacher Training – Level 4 Diploma trained by Miss Emma
• IDTA Teacher Training – Level 5 Diploma trained by Miss Emma
• Dancer on board Costa Cruises
• Dancer on board MSC Cruises
• IDTA Theatre Dance Scholarships in Tap, Modern-Jazz and Theatre-Craft

The key to a successful career within the performing arts is to train hard in all disciplines and we look forward to nurturing the next generation of future performers.

You are invited

Help us celebrate turning 18 by attending our virtual family party on Saturday November 28th between 17:00 and 18:00. This invitation is for all our current members and their families to have some lighthearted entertainment, including dance, drama and virtual games. The party is free of charge but we still need you to RSVP by adding the class to your enrollments from the Starbrite Customer Portal (instructions can be found here).

Starbrite wins an award

During lockdown we were super excited to win two awards from the highly regarded York Mumbler. They are renowned for being the best source of information for the parent community within York and the surrounding areas. These awards were for:

• Virtual Class, Activity or Event Award - This was nominated by members of the York community in recognition of our fantastic virtual classes.
• Star Teacher - This was nominated by members of the York community in recognition of going above and beyond during the Coronavirus lockdown.

We were over the moon with winning these and would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to those who took the time to nominate us.

Zoom classes for all

What does Zoom mean? Verb: to move or travel quickly. At Starbrite, that is exactly what we have done. We have made a commitment to our members so they never have to miss a dance class or fall behind in choreography again by offering a full virtual timetable alongside our studio timetable.

We are thrilled with the positive response to these classes and not only have they been used by students having to self isolate but for cars which won't start as well as parents being delayed getting home from work.

To access a virtual class, members just have to visit the Starbrite Customer Portal where they can find all the Zoom details needed to access their class within their class enrolments.

Thank you to Mrs H. Audin for sending in this lovely review:

"I just wanted to say thank you to Miss Destiny for a great Zoom class today between 4 and 5. My daughter loved it, and I thought Destiny was an amazing teacher, especially considering the additional challenge of working in the studio and across Zoom. I struggle to use Zoom for meetings with adults, so keeping 4 young children involved and engaged in two different settings was miraculous. Just an amazing teacher. Thank you for adapting to such unusual times."

Success stories

• Congratulations to Jaia who entered a singing competition with New UK Musicals and came second in her category. The judges were blown away by her performance.
• Well done to Phoebe-Sophie, who secured herself a place with the East Coast Dance Championship workshops, to learn choreography from West End musicals.
• Have you spotted Verity on CITV's new programme, 'Unleash the Beast'? We have spotted her on the trailer and can't wait to watch her episode.

Starbrite says goodbye

Our students' safety is absolute paramount to us and of course we have followed the new restrictions so strictly to keep everyone safe and to become a COVID-19 secure venue. Unfortunately, our drastically reduced student numbers has meant that we have had to say goodbye to two of our dear team members, Miss Kirstie and Mr T.

It has been a decision that both Miss Emma and Mr P were hoping they wouldn't have to make but with the restrictions becoming tighter and areas of Starbrite not being able to reopen, the difficult decision was made for us.

Miss Kirstie and Mr T worked so hard at Starbrite for seven years in their respective roles as Studio Manager and Front of House Assistant. We are extremely saddened to have to bid them farewell but we wanted to take this opportunity to thank them for their loyalty and dedication to the business and for always going above and beyond their duties. They will always be Miss K and Mr T to us and we have continued to have a close relationship with them away from Starbrite and of course Miss Phoebe still remains heavily involved within Starbrite both as a dancer as well as her role as a Classroom Assistant.