Alta Spring 2024 Newsletter

Spring Term 2024 Newsletter

What a lovely way to end an incredibly busy term, with sold out dance shows at the Old Market Theatre in Hove at the end of last month. A big thank you to all the dancers, their families, friends, chaperones and of course, our wonderful teachers and support staff for making the shows such a success.

As we start the Summer term, we have a lot to celebrate with successes and achievements over the past few months.

Latest News - Festivals & Competitions

Eastbourne, Sussex and All England Dance

Our dancers have enjoyed success at recent Performing Arts festivals. Zak qualified for the 2024 All England Dance regionals at Eastbourne Festival, coming 2nd in the Contemporary class. He went on to win 1st place with 94 marks dancing the same solo at Sussex Festival and was presented with the Bridget Espinosa award.

Ella came 3rd with her Lyrical solo at Sussex Festival with 91 marks and Sophia came 4th at Eastbourne Festival performing in her first ever festival.

Four of our dancers (Ella, Lois, Matilda and Zak) have now qualified with their solos for the 2024 All England Dance (AED) Competition, with regional heats in May.

Well done to you all, we are very proud of your achievements and wish you the best of luck for AED Regionals.

Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) South East Awards

Several students from Grade 3 upwards entered the RAD South East Awards Sussex heats in February, held at Marina Studios in Brighton. We are delighted that three Alta dancers made it to the finals which will take place in London on 12th May:
Phoenix in Class A
Charlotte and Lois in Class C.

We wish them the very best for the finals coming up soon!

Auditions - Vocational Schools & Colleges

Following a final stage audition, Marcus was offered a place at London Vocational Ballet School (LVBS). He started in January and is really enjoying it so far.

He was also offered a funded place for Tring Park School for the Performing Arts having already accepted his place at LVBS! We look forward to following his future progress.

Matilda has also been offered a place at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and is currently on the waitlist for a funded place.

We are delighted that Ruby, who recently performed the role of Carabosse in the Alta Spring Dance Show, has been offered a place at Addict where she will be furthering her dance training post A levels.

Bebel has been offered places at both Rambert School and Northern School of Contemporary Dance. She has chosen Rambert and will start her Foundation Degree course there in September.

Huge congratulations to you all! We wish you all the very best in your future endeavours.

Auditions, Courses & Performances

Following a successful audition earlier this term, Lois has been offered a place on the prestigious Royal Ballet School’s Senior Associate Programme, starting in September.

Having been selected by audition last autumn, Zak spent several weekends this term being coached by the RAD faculty and filmed for the new RAD Grade 6 syllabus video which is due out soon as an aid for both teachers and students - it will be available to purchase on the RAD Video App.

Zak was also invited by National Youth Ballet in conjunction with Parable Dance to perform at the Empower In Motion charity gala at Sadlers Wells (London) in February. It was such a memorable evening demonstrating the power of inclusive dance.

Sophia and Zak have been offered sought after places on Yorkshire Ballet Seminars Summer Intensive. Zak has also been offered a place at Rambert School Summer Intensive.

Bella and Emily have been awarded a Dance Scholarship and a Millenium Scholarship respectively to Brighton College for September.

Congratulations to you all!

Follow us on instagram or facebook to keep updated.

Please get in touch if you need advice and guidance about auditions, external courses and Associate programmes to ensure the best outcome. We also help with dance photos which are often required for applications.

Royal Academy of Dance Exam Results

We had some fabulous results (including full sets of distinctions!) from those who took exams at the end of the Autumn term, both in Brighton and RAD HQ in London. The students loved receiving their certificates and medals earlier in the Spring term.

We still have certifcates to present for higher Grades and Vocational students at the start of term.

Genres of Dance at Alta

ISTD Modern, Jazz &
Contemporary

Students are thoroughly enjoying our ISTD Modern Classes with Miss Charlie currently on Monday’s at the Octagon Dance studio.

We also run Jazz and Contemporary classes from age 9+ (possibly younger depending on experience).

We are looking at adding Tap classes and are currently gauging interest so please get in touch to find out more.

Stretch & Technique

Students have benefitted greatly from our Stretch & Technique (S&T) classes from improved flexibility to greater core strength. These classes equip your dancer with a range of exercises that can be done safely at home to improve turn out, core stability and more.

Why not try a new class next term. Check out the Summer term timetable here or on the website and contact us for further information. Email info@altadance.co.uk.

Classes for Adults

We run an adult ballet class on Wednesday mornings on a drop in or block booking basis. We will be gauging interest for a general / improvers level shortly. Adults are also welcome to attend higher grade, vocational classes and to take exams!

Teacher Update

Miss Sam, our ever popular jazz teacher, who has been instrumental in setting up our jazz classes over 2 years ago is sadly leaving. Having started a full time job in January at IC Theatre, running their Dance Faculty, it became clear that she couldn’t keep teaching evening classes as well. We are so grateful that she was able to stay for the show at the end of last term and the good news is that she will definitely be returning to teach the odd masterclass for us!

As we say goodbye to Miss Sam, we are delighted to welcome Abi Walter to the Alta team to teach the jazz classes on Wednesdays from next term. Miss Abi comes very highly recommended having trained at Laine Theatre Arts, Chichester College and Bird College. She has professional dance experience, holds a Degree in Dance and Musical Theatre and the ISTD DDE in modern and tap. Miss Abi is very excited to get to know everyone.

Summer Term Dates

Starts: Monday 15th April
Ends: Sunday 14th July

Half term: Monday 27th May to Sunday 2nd June

Exam Dates: Provisional Brighton RAD Ballet Exams - Friday 12th July, Wednesday 17th, Thursday 18th and possibly Friday 19th July.

RAD HQ dates are likely to fall from 8th to 18th July.

Need New Uniform?

We work with specially selected suppliers with a view to provide you with good quality, reasonably priced dancewear.

We also hold a stock of second hand uniform (contact us for details) as well as a facebook page for buying and selling uniform.

If you need any uniform for the Summer Term, you can use the ordering page on our website or email us.

… and Finally

We sign off with some photos capturing backstage moments from the show at the Old Market Theatre, courtesy of teachers, students and chaperones! Official photos will be coming out soon so keep an eye on our social media channels.

A Family Affair… siblings and different generations of dancers!