What a fabulous three weeks of the new year we have had! Everyone has adapted to the virtual classes brilliantly and on a personal note, we have loved creating the new lesson plans to suit this world and to continue bringing smiles to the faces of our Star Dancers.

Introducing visual aids

We strongly believe in using visual aids as class material to spark curiosity and maximise learning retention. Matched with imagery to something the students are already familiar with gives our dancers confidence as they start to understand the mechanics behind the skill.

The ballet alphabet

The approach this month has been the ballet alphabet and so far we have worked on the following letters:

• A = Articulation - to further strengthen the use of the legs, feet and insteps.
• B = Ballet positions - there are 5 positions of the feet and 7 positions of the arms and we have had fun learning and including these within our work.
• C = Circular, Croix and Compound. This was a great week and testament to how brilliantly our dancers are developing to take on these new skill sets with great results already.

Rhythm and musicality

You may have heard, but we have also introduced rhythm work within the theatre craft part of the lesson. 😊

No matter the age, or skill level, teaching and instilling musicality is an integral part of dance, it deserves a place in their training. The aim of the rhythm work so far has been to recognise the different note values, crotchet, minim and quavers and begin to choreograph to them using different musical styles.

2021 show choreography

We have also started new choreography which is for our 2021 production of ‘A Night of Musicals’. This year we will be filming the show in two parts to allow the exam work to continue throughout the calendar year. Filming of the theatre craft routines will take place in June 2021 as we work to create another DVD spectacle.