Dance stars of the future perform at The Dancehouse

19 Apr 2018 01:43
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Dance students from a leading performing arts school, world famous for producing international dance stars, will be performing at The Dancehouse in Manchester this spring to showcase an exciting programme of dance during a UK tour.

The Encore Dance Company, which features dance students who are just about to graduate from the third year of their sixth form at the prestigious Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire, will be showcasing a variety of genres of dance including classical ballet, jazz, contemporary, commercial dance and more during their performance at The Dancehouse on 28April at 7.30pm. 

Under the direction of Antony Dowson, who is a former principal at the Royal Ballet and has danced with Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev, the 19-strong cast of the Encore Dance Company will be performing a range of diverse dance works.

The programme includes the beautiful Concerto pas de deux choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan with the music of Shostakovich.

There will also be a number of newly commissioned works by internationally acclaimed choreographers, including Kerry Nicholls, who has created a new piece of contemporary dance.

Former Tring Park student, now award-winning choreographer, Drew McConie recreates Be Mine with the music of Judy Garland.

Drew won the 2016 Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer for his work on In the Heights and was nominated for the 2017 Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer for Jesus Christ Superstar.

Drew is currently directing and choreographing Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom in the West End, and King Kong on Broadway

Ernst Meisner, director of the Junior Ballet Company at Het National Ballet in Amsterdam, has recreated a work previously performed by his Junior Company. Jodie Blemings, director of Chrysalis Dance London, has created a new contemporary work. Layla Ellison and Gaz Davis are creating two new pieces of commercial dance for Encore Dance alongside work by Antony Dowson, Encore's Director, Lorraine Jones and Morgan Cloud.

The show at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre is the third performance in the nine-date tour that travels from the south to the north of England. This is the sixth year that the Encore Dance Company has embarked on a UK tour.

Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, which is both a day school and a boarding school for children from eight to 19 years, has its roots in dance and is world famous for its dance credentials, having produced many a professional dance star and choreographer. 

Its young dance students perform in West End ballet productions with the English National Ballet at the London Coliseum.

Alongside Drew McOnie, Tring Park School's glittering alumni includes Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), who started her training on the dance course at Tring Park.

Daisy attended Tring Park from the age of 11 to 19. Other famous students include Lily James (Disney's CinderellaDownton Abbey and War and Peace), Jessica Brown-Findlay (Downton Abbey).

And former Tring Park dance student 19-year-old Kaine Ward is one of only 12 boys in the world to be accepted into the prestigious Juilliard School of Performing Arts in New York City.

The legendary school, which trained global superstars such as Robin Williams, Kelsey Grammer and Jessica Chastain, offered Kaine a place after he beat thousands of candidates to make it through the gruelling auditions process.

Tickets cost £15 and £13 concessions.

To book tickets, go to thedancehouse.co.uk

For more information about Tring Park School, go to tringpark.com

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