The Year 10 BTEC Dance students had a wonderful visit to the Theatre Royal in Plymouth last week to watch ‘Sleeping Beauty’ a Contemporary piece by the much acclaimed choreographer and producer, Matthew Bourne. His company ‘ New adventures’ are well known for their ground breaking productions of ‘Nutcracker’ , ‘Cinderella, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and most famously ‘Swan Lake’ in which all of the swans were played by male dancers as featured in the final scene of ‘Billy Elliot’.

 

The group are studying Matthew Bourne as part of their course and currently learning some of his repertoire. We were delighted with our third row seats which gave us that rare privilege of seeing the detail of the choreography and performances. Students were mesmerised by the athleticism, fitness and nuance of the performances. We particularly were able to appreciate the choreographed breathing of the performers, used to enhance the expression of their characters but also to allow dancers to work efficiently through the long and physically demanding sections.

 

I provided students with their own ‘Bourne Bingo’ cards to focus them on identifying some of the features of his work that they had analysed and experienced for themselves in class. They will be producing a research project on this work over the coming weeks.

 

As part of the day we enjoyed a Chinese buffet lunch and a very quick scoot around the indoor shopping centre. For some of the students it was their first visit to Plymouth and for others their first visit to a theatre. A memorable day for us all.

 

Tee-J Randall

Dance teacher and interim Head of Performing Arts.