Dance

Our Dance ethos is to provide high quality training to pupils in a professional, fun and safe environment, giving them a taste of life in the arts alongside their academic studies.

We strive for all pupils to reach their full potential and realise that they can achieve anything if they invest and put the hard work in to it. Dance teaches many transferable skills such as team work, resilience, confidence, active listening as well as building stamina and fitness. We encourage pupils to reflect each year on the progress they make so they feel a sense of achievement and continue to build on their progress.

Participation

Dance is a Tier 2 sport and works alongside the Tier 1 sports. Pupils can opt to choose Tier 1 dance in some cases. Pupils can take between 30 minutes and 9 hours of dance each week, which is appealing to most pupils as they can do as little or as much as they want. Dance aids pupils with a range of motion in their joints and muscles and helps to improve their agility skills, so it is extremely beneficial to pupils who play a lot of other sports.

We offer over 10 hours of co-curricular classes in Jazz, Ballet, Street and Contemporary each week. Pupils can opt to take up private lessons alongside this in any of the above subjects which enhances their learning and helps them to progress further and quicker. We offer exams in ISTD Cecchetti Ballet and performance opportunities to all pupils involved in both co-curricular and private lessons.

Pupils can take up dance from the start in Faulkner’s all the way through to leaving Bradfield in Upper Sixth. We offer different standards of classes from beginner to advanced, so there is a class for all abilities.

Coaching

Coaching Lead – Tara Dungate (Italia Conti BA, Hons)
Styles: Contemporary, Street Dance, Commercial, Ballet, Jazz and Tap

Ellianne Taylor (Italia Conti BA, Hons)
Style: Contemporary

Holly Unnuk (Imperial Society of Teachers Of Dancing)
Style: Cecchetti Ballet

Performance

Pupils have a number of different performance opportunities throughout the year including the annual dance show held in March each year, parent watching afternoons, commemoration and competitions. We also take an annual theatre trip to London to watch professional dance companies, with the most recent being ‘Message in a bottle’ by Zoonation at Sadlers Wells.

Independent Dance Festival

For the previous two years, the Bradfield College Dance Team have been competing in the Independent Dance Festival. This is an annual competition taking place in the Summer Term that involves many of the independent schools in and around Berkshire. The schools come together and compete whilst giving all of the pupils an opportunity to perform.

House Dance Competition

Pupils take part in an annual House Dance Competition early in the Lent Term. The competition involves all pupils from across the College who are keen to give dance a try and perform in front of their peers. This is a great opportunity for pupils to build on their teamwork and creativity skills, choreographing the routines themselves. The evening as a whole is a really enjoyable College-wide event.