On Wednesday 10^th May, professional choreographer, Paul Chantry delivered an action-packed dance workshop to keen pupils in Years 7-10.

Pupils were led through a contemporary warm-up and were taught repertoire from the company’s recent production of Beauty and the Beast which they went to see earlier in the academic year.  Paul retold the tale and set the scene to allow pupils to consider characterisation to enhance their performance quality. 

Paul’s company also choreographed the stage shows for the David Walliams children’s books and the dancers were fortunate to experience contrasting repertoire from the notorious Gansta Granny, again having being given a helpful synopsis . 

Pupils were given a useful question and answer session at the end of the workshop where they were interested in finding out about routes into the dance industry and particularly Paul’s personal journey to his current profession.  Paul finished by sharing a sneak preview of a dance film starring himself and female dance partner, Rae Piper, in collaboration with another well known choreographer.

Joshua – Year 7
I really enjoyed the Dance workshop, although it was not my usual Dance style, I learnt a new technique, that was fun and easy to follow. It reminded me of the Beauty & The Beast show we attended in the Autumn.

Florrie – Year 7
The dance workshop was very fun and I enjoyed it very much. My favourite dances were definitely the ones from Beauty and the Beast. I really liked how he spent a lot of his time doing a good warm-up and also some corner work. Paul was really nice and told us all about how his dance career started. 

Lucy – Year 10
Having a professional artist come to the school was an essential and exciting experience. It helped me gain knowledge about the industry of professional dance and choreographing for shows. It was a good follow up from the Beauty and the Beast trip because it allowed us to understand the characterisation of the of the original dances used in the show.

Hannah – Year 10
I very much enjoyed meeting and spending an hour and a half of my day with a professional dancer. My favourite part was the last dance phrase we learned. I liked the freedom he gave us towards the end and the energy of this choreography.

Keelan – Year 7
I loved the workshop a lot and I thought that the dancing was a mix of jazz and contemporary.  Paul was nice and the dancing was fun and tied in with the story of the vain villagers in Beauty and the Beast.

Colombe – Year 10
I liked the fact that I met a real dancer who was super friendly and cheerful and that he talked about his dance experience since school.

Amy – Year 10
The workshop was extremely enjoyable because it was different from what we have done in school before. It was very interesting to have a male professional come in to teach us some phrases from his dance works after seeing his work on stage. Being able to learn repertoire from a professional who could give me pointers and tips was really special.