Workshop Week fun!

After our 4 week lockdown block, we held a 'workshop week' with events for all ages...

This was our first ever Workshop Week and we welcomed guest tutors from across the UK, and even America! All the events were held over Zoom and students of all ages enjoyed lessons from home. Over the course of the week we held 16 different events with a total of 401 participants. Here is a little summary of the programme:

• Small Foot themed Lyrical Jazz: Professional dancer and CSBS teacher Kristina lead a lyrical jazz workshop for ages 7-11, teaching a routine to 'Wonderful Life' from the movie Small Foot. The children loved the emotive choreography!
• Contemporary with Serena McCall: International dance star and former CSBS student Serena taught a contemporary workshop. It was very popular and the 40 dancers really enjoyed the challenge of learning her choreography.
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• Ballet Goes Pop: CSBS teacher Amanda jazzed up the Adult Ballet class with a pop soundtrack, mking the class even more fun than usual! It was great to welcome back some former students to join in the lesson.
• ToyStory: Guest tutor Rachael joined us from Essex for a wonderful Toy story session which has us signing and singing, dancing, making props and playing games and meeting Lotso too! Our dancers were dressed up too which added to the fun!
• Tik Tok: Almost 40 dancers aged 7-15 learned 3 tik tok routines with guest tutor Anya Brown. We had lots of fun, although they were quite tricky!
• Stage Makeup Masterclass: Professional make up artist and former CSBS student Dayna Lipski took us step-by-step through make up suitable for the stage. Everyone looked fabulous by the end of the session and we hope to have another workshop at dance display time.
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• Nutcracker Ballet: CSBS teacher Sammy lead our younger ballet students through a Nutcracker themed ballet lesson where they learned the story, made props, learned some repertoire and also watch guest Sugar Plum Fairy, Ailey Meikle, perform the famous solo fully costumed from home.
• Classical Ballet: Former CSBS dancer Lucy Hutton has graduated from Northern Ballet School. She lead two open classical ballet lessons with some challenging settings and lots of revision of technique.
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• Hairspray: Guest tutor Stefanie Eadie is a professinal performer having graduate from Bird College. Prior to full time training she trained at Dance School of Scotland, Stenhouse School of Dance and CSBS. She lead a fun musical theatre workshop teaching an excerpt from the musical 'Hairspray'. 
• Grease: Guest tutor professional performer Rebecca Stenhouse has an impressive performing CV having performed around the world. She taught the students a routine from a touring production of Grease the Musical... it was extremely fast but so much fun!
• Virtual Big Top: Dancer Susan Vance joined us live from inside the Big Top at the Do Portugal Circus in Texas! Susan is a former CSBS student and has been performing in the Circus for 7 years as lead dancer and choreographer. The students learned a showdance routine before getting to see a tour of the big top and a video of Susan performing some amazing aerial routines, as well as a fascinating Q&A session.
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• Yoga: We had 30 families join in a yoga workshop with former CSBS student Anthea. Anthea is also a former world champion highland dancer and has graduated as a performer from Bird College. She recently qualified as a yoga instructor and it was lovely to see all ages take part from 3 to 53! 
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• Cheerleading: Guest coach Chelsea Tough put our starshine cheer team and some of our dance students through their paces in 2 fun and challenging cheer workshops.

In addition to the dance workshops, we held 2 fun sessions to give the students a chance to chat, chill, and have fun. Amanda lead a "Pyjama Party" for our little dancers aged 3-8 and their families with dancing, stories, games and a scavenger hunt. Our Senior students were invited t a "Ballet Blether" with lots of chat, a quiz, some challenges and some dancing. It was great to be able to see everyone, albeit virtually! Finally, we ended the week with a pin board on Valentine's Day for staff, students, and their families to post message for each other. Please go and leave your message or view the board!

Thank you to everyone who supported our Workshop Week, we hope you enjoyed the experiences! Our regular dance lessons resume online from Monday 15 February until Easter while we await further updates from the government on when we can safely reopen the studios. Hopefully workshop week has inspired you to keep dancing through lockdown!