Once again, we have all experienced yet another extraordinary year! We have seen our students return to the studio twice over the past 9 months and when at home, continuing their learning via our e-learning platform. If this year has taught us anything, it is that the only thing we can be sure of is uncertainty itself. However, it’s been astonishing to see how our students have managed to quickly adapt to this new way of learning and how, since returning finally in April, they have accelerated through this Term’s objectives.

Term 1

Started the term on Zoom before returning to the studio on Sept 14th!

Staff Updates

• Miss Fraser was a teacher at Danscentre since 2016, and left us at the beginning of the year to pursue her full time teaching career at RGU Nursery.

• Miss Hutcheson joined the DC team for the year, teaching at Danscentre on Tuesdays and Saturday. Next year she will be moving to Edinburgh to work at a gym/studio - we wish her all the best!

• Ex-pupil Murray Williams joined the DC team as a Hip Hop teacher and coordinator.

• We were delighted to announce the safe arrival of Miss Weston’s baby girl Harper in November!

• Michelle turned 40 and Sue turned 60!

Tracksuits

Our new Danscentre tracksuits were a big hit and it has been lovely to see so many pupils of all ages wearing them to class.

New website

We were delighted to have launched our re-designed website at the end of 2020 - check it out at the link below! Take a look at our exciting selection of photos in our gallery, and videos on our video page! www.danscentre.com

Create and Connect Programme

Our Create and Connect Programme ran throughout February and March, delivering a series of events including our Junior Dance Competition, Senior Choreography Competition and our Digital Performance Week which have been a great success!

Junior Dance Competition

Our Junior Dance Competition took place in the final week in February with all classes up to Grade 2 level taking part by learning a solo, creating a costume and choreographing an addition to their piece. We had such a brilliant week of classes, with amazing performances and costumes from all of the students.

Overall Class Award: Boys P1-4 Hip Hop

Solo Competition Winners:

1. Charli - Grade 2 Ballet DC Sat

2. Hannah - Grade 2 Modern KW Sat

3. Jack - Boys P5-7 Hip Hop DC Fri

Senior Choreography Competition

Our Senior students took part in the Senior Choreography Competition, with Angela Towler and Adam Cooper judging their entries.

The winners in each category were:

Group A - Grade 3-5 Primary School aged children:

1st Place - Ava-Lily Reid

2nd Place - Erin Eastaugh

3rd Place - Ruth Makoni

Group A - Grade 3-5 Secondary School aged children:

1st Place - Tiegan Blackhall

2nd Place - Eve Mitchell

3rd Place - Layla Wild and Alicja Marulewska

Group B - Grade 6 & Above Secondary School aged children:

1st Place - Marcus Burns

2nd Place - Daisy Cleland

3rd Place - Suzanne Hair

Digital Performance Week

In the last week of March, all of our classes performed in front of a selected audience of family and friends - audiences have been enjoying prepared exercises and dances that students have been working on over the term. It was such an exciting week to share their work with family and friends from all over the country!

Exam Success

Summer 2020 - Vocational Exams

An incredible 37 Vocational exams were studied for during the first lockdown including: Intermediate, Advanced Foundation and Advanced 1 Ballet as well as Advanced 1 & 2 across Modern - gaining well deserved results of 1/3 with Distinction and 2/3 Merits - all achieved through e-learning!

November - RAD Ballet Exams

After a very long wait our beautiful Pre-Primary and Grade 1 pupils finally got to sit their RAD Ballet exams in November. These were filmed at our studios on Hutcheon Street and teachers were so proud of the hard work and determination shown by pupils to stay focused through lock down and beyond!

- Modern Awards

Well done to all attended the Danscentre Modern Awards in November, it was brilliant to see the students show the results of their hard work and leaving with big smiles on their faces.

April - Intermediate Modern

Huge congrats to our 19 Intermediate Modern pupils who received exam reports in April - all gained marks 70% and above with the highest mark a huge 96%! This is an astonishing achievement with only 12 weeks studio time in the past year.

- ISTD Modern and RAD Ballet Exams

We had a busy end to term 3 with filming of both RAD Ballet and ISTD Modern exams - well done everyone!

June - P1 Ballet Awards

Congratulations to our wonderful P1 Ballet Award pupils for dancing so beautifully on Sunday! All thoroughly enjoyed their experience and were delighted to receive their medals 🏅🥰💜

- G1, 4, 6, 8 Ballet

A huge well done to these Grade 1, Grade 4 and Grade 6 pupils who sat RAD exams in June, and Int & Adv 2 Modern ISTD exams! We are immensely proud of these young people - their hard work and resilience in overcoming the many challenges this year make this exam session very special.

YDance Reconnect Success

Huge congratulations to DC pupils Lily-Bell, Lola-Mae, Tiegan, Daisy, Abbie, Agness, Emmy and Kiera whose pieces were selected for the YDance Reconnect 2021 Performance - and especially to Lily-Bell and Daisy who were in two pieces! We were so proud to have DC pupils performing in a quarter of the pieces.

RAD Dance Challenge 2021

We were absolutely delighted to announce that our three Danscentre students, who took part in the national competition - 2021 RAD Dance Challenge, won all three awards available! All candidates were judged on a solo performance by Gerard Charles the Artistic Director of RAD. This years’ Dance Challenge competition was held virtually, and students also had the chance to participate in a Masterclass with Céline Glittens (Principial dancer at Birmingham Royal Ballet) and Hubert Essakow (ex Royal Ballet and choreographer). The prizes awarded were the ‘Antoinette Sibley Scholarship’ presented to the overall winner of each level:

• Level 1: Scott Milne - Choreographer Karen Berry

• Level 2: Morven Aitkenhead - Choreographer Michelle Whyte

• Additionally, a Choreographic Award, made available by the Lynn Wallis Bursary Fund was awarded to Ava-Lily Reid from Level 1 with Choreographer Lorna Scott.

Huge congratulations to all – a real celebration for Danscentre acknowledging the hard work and continued training throughout the past year.

Summer Celebration Filming Project

Support our fund: https://gofund.me/38d6b3f0

Danscentre's Summer Celebration video showcases our dancers from age 3 - 19 across some of Aberdeen's most iconic spaces! It is a snapshot in time of a period in history which will never be forgotten. Starved of live performance opportunities for so long, we wanted to celebrate our young people and all that they have overcome as well as tip our hat to the venues which make Aberdeen Arts so special. We hope you enjoy our performance and support our wonderful theatres in their efforts to rejuvenate by donating to our fund which will go directly to Aberdeen Arts related charities. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtI4R5MCkss

See below to watch our 2020-21 journey in pictures!

Now, with the summer holiday period imminent, we very much wish you and your families a restful break and very much look forward to seeing our students return fresh in August!

Love from all at DC x