Birkenhead Sixth Form College A Level Dance students have received praise for their performance and choreography skills, which were on par with those of university-level students, while showcasing their classwork at an esteemed theatre in Higher Education.
Liverpool Hope University’s Creative Campus is home to the Capstone Theatre, where Birkenhead Sixth Form College was invited to showcase their dancers alongside undergraduate students and other dance schools from Merseyside.
‘We Love Dance’ was a student event management project that included groups from toddler to the over 50s, and involved working with other choreographers, lighting and sound technicians, videographers and more in a professional environment for hands-on experience.
The A Level students’ performance was so impressive that the Dance lecturer at the university compared their skills to those of undergraduate students. This is a positive indication for their future university pathways and beyond.
The Year 1 Dance students performed their repertoire to Regina Spektor’s ‘Laughing With’, while the Year 2s were accompanied by a fusion of Beyonce, James Blake’s ‘Forward’ and Olafur Arnald’s ‘This Place Was Shelter’.
Dance teacher at Birkenhead Sixth Form College, Kirsty Thornton, said, “This was a fantastic opportunity for the dancers to experience the full spectrum of elements for a large-scale show, and soak in what it would be like to be a professional. They performed exceptionally well and to get such positive feedback from the experts was really pleasing but also well deserved.”
Kirsty explained, “The students also got the chance to work with current university students who were doing a range of different courses, combining Dance with other disciplines such as Education, Media, Film and others, which really opened their eyes to the possibilities of taking dance forward in terms of university and careers.
“Dance at A Level is fun, challenging and rewarding, and taking part in shows such as this is such a brilliant opportunity to expand their learning and personal development. The training and performance elements involved prepare students for so much more outside of just dancing too, developing confidence, organisation, planning, teamwork and so many other transferable skills that broaden their horizons in every way.
“Both year groups deserve huge credit for their choreography and performance, but also for the way that they conducted themselves in a professional arena.”
Image: BSFC
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