Clifton College Website
Dance
Dance is a valued part of Clifton life whether you are a total beginner or an advanced dancer, there is sure to be a class for you!
Dance at Clifton covers academic GCSE and A Level courses, as well as co-curricular options such as Bluefin Dance Awards, Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) and the vocational course Award in Dance Leadership.
Further Dance opportunities at Clifton include:
- Theatre performances and backstage tours
- Rambert Dance Company and other professional dance company workshops
- Dance leadership programme
- Various performances – residential homes, local primary schools, Bristol Festival of Nature, Upper School Dance Chapel week, Butcombe and Pre assemblies.
Download the Drama & Dance brochure for full details of the Dance courses available. See the E-Reader version of the brochure (requires Flash).
Bluefin Dance Award
Tuesday 13 March saw performances from five students who were each competing to be selected as the prize winner for the Bluefin Dance Award. This is the second year we have held auditions for the award and we saw a considerable increase in standard from last year. Different genres of dance were performed as solos including ballet, contemporary and latino which reflects the varied dance programme offered at Clifton. Alla Mkrtchyan, Vilte Miksaite, Emily Gould, Vittoria Vergani and Jone Miksaite each created a 2 minute solo dance and gave a 2 minute presentation on their choreographic process with all candidates displaying great enthusiasm and commitment to dance, which made for an exciting evening but an extremely difficult decision for the panel. After much discussion and deliberation it was decided that Emily Gould (L6th, Hallwards House) should be the overall Bluefin Dance Award winner for 2012. Emily will receive a £500 reduction in her school fees and will be busy working alongside both Mrs Lewarne and Mrs Pickles to help promote dance further in Clifton and beyond. All finalists will be performing their solo pieces during a Dance Chapel in the Summer Term. We would like to thank all students who displayed an interest in the Bluefin Dance Award this year and are very much looking forward to seeing dance developing further ahead of next year’s auditions.
Rambert Dance workshop
On Saturday 17 March sixteen Upper School students took part in a Rambert Dance Company workshop in the Redgrave Theatre. Rambert is one of the UK’s leading contemporary dance companies, with its origins being in a classical ballet. The students who participated were from various courses which are on offer at Clifton – GCSE and A Level Dance, The Award in Dance Leadership and students who attend co-curricular dance lessons. A member from Rambert’s education team came to take the workshop and provided our students with a contemporary technique class before teaching rep from Christopher Bruce’s Swansong. The workshop ended with the students working in small groups creating and performing their own short pieces. This was a valuable experience for all who particpated, and provided all with an opportunity to extend their dance vocabulary. Holding a workshop such as this is a first for Clifton and hopefully the start of our students working with professionals within the Performing Arts industry.
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