Year 10 and 11 GCSE Dance students watch Balletboyz live at Richmond Theatre

On Tuesday 1st February 2011 the year 10 and 11 GCSE Dance students had the opportunity to watch one of the leading all male dance groups in the UK, ‘Balletboyz´. They performed their latest trio of dance choreographies at Richmond Theatre for one night only. It was wonderful to be able to get tickets to this sell out event. The dancers were amazing; the sheer strength and physicality of the movements were masterfully performed and the dances were characterised by the use of contact improvisation and lift work that only Balletboyz can make look so magnificent and effortless.

Several of the year 11 students who are auditioning to follow a professional dance career came out of the performance enthused and full of inspiration for their
audition pieces that need to be created. The male dance students were particularly motivated and encouraged by seeing the all male dance company. 
The trip was booked for a variety of different reasons; the GCSE course requires students to write about dance performances of different styles in terms of the way they use the technical elements of lighting, costume, sound, props and staging, and how all of this matches the movement and meaning of the dance. All three balletboyz pieces were exceptional in their use of technical elements, in particular the use of lighting and projection, giving the dance students lots to write about in their future critical appreciation essays. The trip however was also booked to give the students an opportunity to watch a professional dance company the day before they performed at the Hampton Academy Dance Showcase. All students in the interval and after the show talked of how to make final finishing touches to their performances ready for their own show for the next two evenings. It was great to see the students really using what they had seen and applying it to their own work.

An added extra of the trip was that the year 10 students from the Royal Ballet School who we are working with on the joint dance project were at the show. It gave the students lots of time to talk about the performance and relate it to the workshops and performances that they are working on together.

Miss L Wasley, Assistant Programme Leader: Dance