On Monday 27th June our Dance groups Spectrum and G-Fix Contemporary travelled to Cheltenham to compete in the National Finals of the Dance Competition – The Great Big Dance Off!

Both groups had won their regional competitions to qualify and were competing against 18 other finalists in each of their respective KS3 and KS4/5 categories. The standard of dance was incredibly high with themes ranging from Alice in Wonderland to the impact of the Syrian War.

Our KS3 dance group Spectrum programme note: ‘This dance is about a young girl helping her friend to get through a tough time. We thought this was an important piece to do especially after Covid to encourage people to reach out to their friends who may be feeling isolated and to show sometimes all people need is someone to lean on.’

Our KS4/5 G-Fix Contemporary programme note:  This piece is called ‘Conformity’, and is based on the ability our society has to become both mundane and undesirable. There are moments where individuals, or groups of dancers attempt to escape the hold that society’s norms have on them, however, throughout the dance they are influenced into fitting back into the majority. The piece ends with all dancers freeing themselves from the boundaries of their society, and finally being free to express themselves through the movements of their body.

Our dancers performed brilliantly and coped well with a disruptive event that caused a major delay but our girls stayed focused and were the first to perform back on stage.

We are extremely proud of each and every one of them.

A very special mention to Maisie H and Sophie P, our sixth form dance leaders who choreographed such fantastic routines and were so excellent at working with and leading their groups. Well done!