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Junior
Summer School
I'm a Junior school teacher, not a busman! Yet every year, at the beginning
of the school summer holiday, I actually close one classroom door and
drive to open another one!
The
reason is quite simple - the chance to teach and accompany at the Cecchetti
Junior Summer School at Tring in Hertfordshire. I've worked at many
different summer schools, each with its own attributes and plus points,
but to me the Cecchetti experience is the essence of everything the
perfect summer dance school should be - Malory Towers with ballet shoes!
The
setting and accommodation are enchanting. Its only serious contender
in the fairytale stakes would be White Lodge, but Tring is far better
placed for guilty shopping of the dancer's staple diet...chocolate!
At Tring there is a relaxed atmosphere that enables the children to
feel they can run about and let off steam following months of classroom
lessons in the extensive, beautiful, yet safe, landscaped park grounds.
The
teachers were yet again of the highest calibre, and the variety of classes
taught was inspiring and well balanced. The prograamme included daily
Classical Ballet and Jazz classes, supported by a fantastic variety
of other dance and related sessions. The other lessons, which were Spanish,
Greek, Contemporary or Character dance, make-up lessons, contact improvisation
or music and movement, fuelled the enthusiasm for dance and the whole
dramatic experience. All students worked on individual or group choreography
pieces culminating in a competition and performance with Richard Slaughter
adjudicating.
Looking
exhausted at the week's end, the students left happy with a sense of
achievement, with that muscle aching state of contentment. As a teacher,
I've found that children produce their most exciting work when they
feel they are working with a sense of purpose and understanding. The
Cecchetti Summer School reminds the students that dance and the other
performing arts are passed down through shared experiences and that
the children have their own personal place in the lineage of dance history.
Stuart
Marsden
2002
Award Recipients
Full
Scholarship
Emily Mercer (Kate Bowers)
Half
Bursaries
Sophie Fairweather (Jayne Chidlow) and Verity Knight (Debbie Jellis)
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Scholarship
winners:
(L-R) Emily Mercer, Verity Knight and Sophie Fairweather Photograph
by Alison Jenner |
Barbara
Geoghegan Award for contributions to the course
Danielle Robinson (Katy Inigo-Jones)
Haidee
Laye Musicality Cup
Claire Bugeja (St Michael's School, Malta)
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