All of us here at DC hope you have had a fantastic summer break! We are so excited to welcome you back through the studio doors from Thursday 25 August. We have so much news to share with you including our summer challenge, intensive courses and student' success:
Summer Dance Challenge
We challenged our students to send in their best summer holiday jump photos to share on our social media platforms. From the Canada to the UK and Spain to Greece, have a look at some of these brilliant photos below. Follow our social media pages on Instagram and Facebook to see more of the Summer Dance Challenge photos and keep up with all our Danscentre news:
Facebook: Danscentre
Instagram: @danscentre
@danscentrevenues
DC Summer School 2022
We had a jam packed week here at our DC summer school in July. The children had so much fun and took part in various activities from arts and crafts to dancing and singing. We also hosted a variety of different themes and musicals including Mamma Mia, Six, The Lion King, Sing and Trolls! Check out some of the pictures below we captured during the week.
Dance Leadership
What a fantastic week with our teens learning leadership, communication and organisation skills to gain the Sports Leaders approved Dance Leadership Award at Level 4. This year the sessions were led by Charlotte Summers and Georgia Murray - lots of hard work and lots of fun! Well done to all involved.
SQA Higher and Nat 5 Results
It's straight A's all round for our 11 Nat 5/Higher Dance pupils! Huge congratulations to them all for these well deserved and hard earned results. Special mention to those achieving these awards ahead of schedule. National 5s are typically taken in S4 and Highers in S5/6. Morven (S2), Eilidh, Lidia and Lois (S3) have done brilliantly completing Nat 5 Dance earlier. Scott and Keira (S4) also completed Higher Dance alongside all their Nat 5 academic subjects.. We are so proud of all our students and staff - maintaining Danscentre's incredible level of A passes with more than 90% over the past 14 years.
Student News
Many of our students attended various summer schools both in the UK and Europe this summer! They all had wonderful experiences meeting new teachers from all over the world, making new friends and gaining insight into what is offered at these schools.
Lily-Bell Gill
Lily-Bell attended two different Musical Theatre based summer schools this year down in London. The first being ArtsEd and then onto Bird College, where she gained a scholarship to attend the Bird College Summer School for 2023! This is a great achievement as very few of these scholarships are awarded. Well done Lily-Bell!
Kiera Hair
Kiera travelled to London to attend the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Summer Intensive course this year and had a fantastic time training and learning from their teachers.
Ewan Smith
Ewan had his very first summer school experience in Glasgow with The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He also got to see RCS tutor and former DC teacher Lucy Barnes who now lives in Edinburgh!
Abigel M'Cartney
Abigel attended Northern Ballet in Leeds this summer and thoroughly enjoyed her first intensive course experience.
Scott Milne
Scott successfully auditioned and attended The Royal Ballet School in London this year for his choice of summer school. Located in Covent Garden in central London, he had a great time learning from the teachers and meeting students from all around the world.
Morven Aitkenhead
Morven also successfully auditioned to gain a place at the Paris Opera Ballet summer school this year and travelled all the way to Paris for this unforgettable experience. Morven also attended the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars, which she has previously attended and always enjoys her time there.
Daisy Cleland
Daisy attended The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Modern Ballet's summer intensive in Glasgow and had a wonderful time meeting the faculty and other dancers from across the UK!
Erin Eastaugh
Erin went to the Malvern Ballet Seminars summer school this year. Whilst attending, she was delighted to also meet and receive tuition from current Principal Dancer with The Royal Ballet, Mayara Magri!
Lyndsaymay Duncan
Lyndsaymay headed down to Edinburgh to attend The MGA Academy of Performing Arts summer school . This was Lyndsaymay's first summer intensive experience and during the week she took classes in many different styles including Musical Theatre and aerial work!
Morea Performing Arts
It was so lovely to see five of our students attending Morea Performing Arts' - The Dance Summer School in Perth. Millie, Ava-Lily, Mia, Lois and Florrie had a wonderful week learning a variety of choreography within different dance genres. Ava-Lily and Lois were also chosen for the two scholarships available! Congratulations girls.
DC Alumni Success
Alex Mulcahy
Congratulations to former DC student Alex Mulcahy who graduated with a BA (Hons) Degree in Ballet and Contemporary Dance after completing three years of training at Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary. Considering a great deal of the learning took place online due to the pandemic, this is a great achievement! All of us here at DC are so proud of him and are excited to follow his journey into the profession.
Kim Francey
A big well done and best wishes to Kim Francey on her current contract working with UK contemporary company Motionhouse! Kim recently performed in their latest show 'Henge' bringing so much energy to the performance.
Alfie McPherson
Alfie McPherson travelled back to Aberdeen from Hamburg this summer and it was so good to see him and back where it all began at DC! Here he is pictured with Miss Berry after taking class with her to prepare him for heading back to Hamburg to start his first apprentice contract with the Hamburg Ballet Company! We are wishing you all the best Alfie as you begin your first professional contract and we can't wait to hear all about it.
Harris Beattie
It was brilliant having former DC student and Northern Ballet dancer Harris Beattie back in the DC studios to teach some of our students and prepare them to embark on various summer intensives across the UK and Europe! Huge thank you to Harris for taking the time to offer our students the opportunity to take class with him and offer great advice.
DC Staff Updates
DC teachers Michelle Whyte and Jillian Louis had an incredible week of training at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London as part of the first cohort of The Royal Ballet School's brand new teacher training programme. A system of training that will revolutionise dance training and challenges every aspect of teaching practice and methodology. Both came away truly inspired as the week involved learning the importance of body conditioning, classical technique, repertoire study, teaching pedagogy and child psychology. They are so excited to implement what they have learned within Danscentre classes and enable our students to learn this new system too.
The Affiliate Training and Assessment Programme 'ATAP' takes a uniquely holistic approach to dance training and offers an innovative alternative to the current models of examination study offered in most recreational schools. At Danscentre, we are delighted to be the first school in the North East to offer this training programme. Watch this space!
Larissa Hancock
We are delighted to be welcoming Larissa Hancock onto the DC teaching team this year! Larissa brings many years of experience within the dance and performance industry which she is delighted to be able to share with our pupils. After gaining her RAD Vocational qualifications at Danscentre Larissa trained at London Studio Centre and Northern Ballet School with a Jazz Theatre focus. Larissa has taught in the Grampian area for the past 8 years including delivering community dance sessions to increase access to the arts for rural primary school students. For the past 6 years Larissa has also taught at a Performing Arts School.
See below the dates for the upcoming term. We can't wait to see you all soon!
Term Starts: Thursday 25 August 2022
Mid-Term Break:
Friday 23 September to Monday 26 September 2022 inc.
Term Ends: Saturday 15 October 2022
October Holiday:
Monday 17 to Saturday 29 October 2022
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