THE YEAR IN REVIEW 2008/09 – You can read The Year in review from previous years here
October 2008: Our first festival after returning back from the Summer break was in Coventry, our pupils did very well, winning 28 Gold Medals, 15 silver and 9 bronze. We also won a number of trophies, including school cups for Choreography, Senior Classical group, Senior Modern group and Junior Classical group.
November 2008: Modern & Tap Exams were held in November, with all pupils successfully passing their exams.
December 2008: Ballet Exams ran into December, again all pupils did very well, passing their exams. A number of LHTS pupils again performed in Panto at the Library Theatre in Luton. We provided the juvenile, teen-steppers and Mummy and baby bear roles in Goldilocks and the 3 bears. Well done to Olivia Woodward, Jo Pollitt Evans, Chloe Phillips, Heather Frost, Sophie Wallace, Gabriella Gee, Emily Hewitt, Lilly Hewitt, Madeliene Storey, Emily Hart, Alex Hart, Christina Storey, Emma Flodman, Sophie Gray, Caitlin Harrison, Eleonora Bindi, Isabella Fagan, Frankie Gee, Scarlett Hewitt, Daniella Harris, Rhianna Baker, Megan Crabtree, Katie Whitcomb, Alison Dancer), Appearing in Panto requires a lot of dedication and hard work over the festive period, but is also lots of fun.
Adam Lewis, Cordelia Braithwaite, Leah Fitzgerald and Christina Marks started auditioning for full time dance colleges, at a number of prestigious vocational schools around the country.
We were very sorry to lose our Ballet teacher, Miss Katie after a number of years with us. We were thrilled however to welcome Miss Debbie Bolam onto our team, taking over the the baby and major Ballet grades.
February 2009: We are delighted that Emily Hewitt successfully auditioned for a part in Billy Elliott the musical, in London’s west end, after a number of rounds of auditioned. Sam Harris continued performing in Oliver, having been promoted into Fagins gang!!
We performed at Milton Keynes Festival in February, achieving 16 Gold medals, 9 silver and 12 bronze, and a number of cups and trophies. We also qualified 50 dances for the All England Semi Finals! Well done to you all…..Adam Lewis was awarded £100 bursary towards his future dance training. Adam Mitchell and Peri Skeggs were both awarded scholarships to attend summer courses at Arts Educational in London.
March 2009: In March Miss Leanne was invited by Chris Hocking, head of Musical Theatre at Arts Educational, to attend their graduate musical theatre production in London. This was a great day out!
April 2009: We held a number of days of examinations in Ballet, Modern and Tap in April, our last exam sessions of the year. All pupils did us proud, passing their exams with flying colours – many pupils gained marks over 90%.
We were invited to take part in a Dance collaborative at The Grove Theatre, Dunstable where our senior modern group performed “Sam’s Town” to a very warm reception.
Our winter show became a summer show, as rehearsals started for ‘The Olde Curiosity Shop’
May 2009: We again performed to large enthusiastic crowds at the Leighton Buzzard May Fayre, and have once again been asked to return next year. This is always good fun, as long as the rain stays away!
A number of pupils performed at Leamington Festival, where we gained 15 Gold medals, 12 silver and 8 bronze. We also won numerous cups and awards. Cordelia Braithwaite, Adam Lewis, Adam Mitchell and Emily Hart were all invited to dance in the end of festival championships. Over 50 dances got through to the All England Semi Finals, with Emily Hart, Adam Lewis, Cordelia Braithwaite and Leah Fitzgerald successfully getting through to the National Finals.
June 2009: Show rehearsals continued throughout June, with last minute preparations and
prop-arations being made!
July 2009: Our bi-annual show this year was The Olde Curiosity Shop, written by Jayne Gildersleve. The show was hugely successful, with around 1000 people coming to watch over the course of four performances. Well done to all pupils, teachers, helpers, parents and everyone else that was involved in making it a success, we couldn’t do it without you.
We somehow managed to fit in Mid Bucks festival, where we won 23 Gold medals, 6 silver and 4 bronze. We also won 18 cups! Alex Hart started at London Ballet School, where she will attending weekly classes alongside her sister Emily.
We had brilliant results at the All England National finals, held at The Peacock Theatre in London. Adam Lewis came 3rd with his Modern Solo, and 1st with his contemporary duet with Leah Fitzgerald. He also came 3rd with his character trio with Cordelia Braithwaite and Emily Hart. Cordelia Braithwaite came 1st with her Modern Solo, 3rd with her Greek Solo and was a finalist in The Young Dancer Of The Year, meaning she is in the top 12 dancers in the country! I couldn’t be prouder of you all for your performances and hard work!!
Some of our former pupils successfully graduated from their professional dance training – Kiri Fitzgerald graduated from Laine Theatre Arts. James Jenkins and Jess Reeves graduated from Performers. Well done to you!
August 2009: A number of our pupils successfully auditioned to dance in the English Youth Ballet production of Coppelia. Well done to Katie Whitcomb, Megan Crabtree, Scarlett Hewitt, Alex Hart, Cordelia Braithwaite and Emily Hart. Cordelia and Emily were awarded full scholarships to the English Youth Ballet.
September 2009: The start of the new term saw a number of familiar faces absent as many of our Senior pupils moved on to full-time dance colleges and universities. Adam Lewis accepted a place at Laine Theatre Arts, having also being offered places with funding at Bird College and Performers. Leah Fitzgerald also accepted place at Laine Theatre Arts, where ger and Adam are currently running riot! Cordelia Braithwaite accepted a place on a full scholarship at Laine Theatre Arts, having also being offered places with funding at Bird College and Performers. Christina Marks accepted a place on a partial scholarship at Masters College. We wish them all the best x
Miss Leanne accompanied Adam Lewis and his parents to the Château de Reignac in France for 3 days, where Adam Lewis performed 3 solo dances at a private birthday party.
It has been another extremely successful year for LHTS. For the first time we have won at the All England National dance finals, which is a huge achievement for our school. Our show was again a sell-out, and we would like to thank all of you for your wonderful comments.
We have a lot to look forward to, with our Xmas Bazaar on 13th December. We hope to be able to announce a move within the next year to new, modern premises and funds raised from the bazaar will be going towards this. We have exam sessions booked in for the new year in January and March, will be holding our choreographic competition in April, and are delighted to announce that Summer School will be back next year – on the 26th to 30th July.
Finally, I would like to thank my teachers, helpers, Mum and Danny for your continued support, and of course all pupils and their families for helping to make our school a happy, hard working and successful one.
