Individual Talents Flourish As LVS Ascot Stages Dance Spectacular
07 Nov 2016
Pupils from LVS Ascot thrilled a large audience in the school’s theatre on Wednesday 2nd November at a dance spectacular which gave students as young as four the opportunity to express themselves on stage and show off their flourishing individual talents.
The independent all-ability school seeks to inspire young people to exceed their expectations, and giving all pupils the opportunity to perform at the Principal’s Challenge in the purpose-built theatre was an opportunity to reinforce their interests in performing arts.
Children from Reception class to Year 4 performed first, with Anish Kulwal from Bracknell winning the solo award and Zachary Bryant from Windsor awarded the classical solo prize. The Year 5 – 6 category saw Kai Gardner-Hall win the solo prize and Grace Fisher from Dorney and Olivia Gombedza from Winkfield Row team up to claim the ensemble category.
The evening concluded with years 7 to 11 wowing the audience with a wide range of spectacular performances including Isabella Zhang’s sparkling solo-winning dance and Charlotte Reid (Bracknell) and Amy Harrington-Cook (Warfield) combining to win the trophy for best ensemble.
With LVS Ascot’s teachers keen to inspire pupils to give their all, there was a surprise for the students present as seven of them took to the stage to give a staff performance of Thriller to wild applause from their pupils. You can see this performance here.
Principal Christine Cunniffe said: “We believe in letting our pupils express themselves and helping them to gain confidence from demonstrating their individual talents, and being able to give them performing experience on a big stage in front of large audiences is a great way to help them do that. As Principal of an all-through school it was a pleasure to see such quality and expression from both junior and senior pupils who will hopefully go on to be a part of all the other performing options we provide as they move on through school and into our sixth form”.
Next month there is another opportunity for young performers at LVS Ascot to experience playing to a 300-strong audience on stage, as the school presents the musical Oliver! For the first time the show will combine junior school and senior school pupils as years 5 to 8 perform from 1st December to 3rd December with tickets available soon from school reception.
Photo: Isabella Zhang’s amazing performance won Best Solo for Years 7 to 11