Disneyland Dance Experience
Forty-eight CSBS dance students travelled to Disneyland Paris to perform onstage in the Park... What an amazing experience!
Audition and rehearsals
The group aged 9-17 auditioned in January for the experience and were delighted to be accepted by Disneyland to perform in the famous Park. They had an intensive 2 weeks of rehearsals prior to the trip, on 5-7 July, to create, rehearse and costume the dance piece which was choreographed especially for the trip by CSBS teachers Amanda and Sammy Clark and with additional choreography by Claire McAlister. You can view a small gallery of rehearsal photos on our CSBS Facebook page.
In total, we had almost 100 in our group as we travelled by plane, train and automobile across Europe! We enjoyed time in the Park, very early mornings, an 8am rehearsal outdoors, cool CSBS Disney t-shirts, lots of rain, lots of food, occasional sunshine, rides, photos, shows and late nights. Brilliant!
Performance in Videopolis
Our half hour performance was in the Videoplois Theatre as part of the Disney Performing Arts programme which brings groups from across the world to perform in Disney Theatres. Amazingly, when we arrived, Lochaber Pipe Band was playing onstage! One of the other 2 dance schools performing on the same day as us was from Glasgow too! With all the Scottish accents, pipe music and rain, we felt quite at home!
This was the first time any of the parents and friends who had travelled with us had seen the dance piece which began with a solo dancer, Sarah Leslie, finding a golden key. She uses the key open a mysterious chest and finds a magical book; as she reads through the book, she meets Fairies, Evil Spirits, Elves and Guardian Angels before all the magic is released culminating in a massive group Finale. During the performance, the large audience swelled until there was no room for any more people, from backstage, we were amazed that the applause continued long after the dancers left the stage.
One of the most memorable parts though, was coming out from the dressing rooms 15 minutes after the show to be greeted by sustained applause and cheering, parents smiling, crying and completely speechless about what they had watched. A memory that we will all treasure for a long time.
Photos and video
Amanda, Sammy and Mrs Clark had to remain backstage during the performance but many parents have taken photos and video which we will gather together to share over the next few weeks. You can view a gallery of photos from the experience on our CSBS Facebook page.
Many congratulations to everyone for an outstanding performance.