Company News!

Performances Galore in 2023/2024!

The Helen Laxton Dance Company, The Somerset & Dorset Youth Dance Company and Somerset School of Performing Arts have had a very busy 12 months with numerous performances, concerts, competitions and a fabulous flashmob!

We have also had a fantastic year of examination successes with 100% pass rate at all levels of Grades and Vocational Ballet Examinations with all pupils achieving outstanding results.

We have some exciting NEW classes starting up in September 2024 including an Adult StreetFit Class, Twinkle Toes Ballet and AcroTinyTots for 2-4 years olds and due to popular demand we are also adding more Street Dance/Hip Hop and lyrical classes.

We will also start preparing for our next spectacular show, "Everybody Dance" 2025 which will take place at Westlands Entertainment Venue in March 2025

Please message us now at hlaxtonschool@aol.co.uk if you would like any further information or to reserve a place

RDC's Successful Competition Year!

RDC kicked off their competition season at UK Street Dance Challenge in Taunton in April, this was followed by fabulous performances in 'Dance Sing Shine' which was followed a week later by the BDO Street Dance Championships in Gloucester

All Crews, solos and duos did extremely well bringing home lots of trophies and medals.

We are very excited to see what our new crews will achieve in the next academic year!

THE SOMERSET SCHOOL OF PERFORMING ARTS PRODUCTION OF 'MATILDA' THE MUSICAL

We had a wonderful time rehearsing “Matilda” The Musical. The pupils aged from 4 -18 years all worked extremely hard from the very first auditions in September to the sell out performances in May.
It was wonderful to watch them working together, laughing together, filling in for each other, stepping in to new roles, learning lines, song lyrics & dances, encouraging and helping each other, watching the older pupils guiding the younger children through the show and watching everybody grow in confidence.
In our normal Saturday afternoon sessions each group, the Mini’s, A, B and C groups all work independently on Acting, Singing and Stage Dance. When we put on a production all of the age groups come together bringing all of the skills that they have learnt in their lessons to share with each other. We hope that these experiences and skills will be invaluable to the pupils, not just for the performances but that they will be able to use these skills throughout their lives
“Matilda” was very challenging but great fun to produce, a fantastic team effort and a great learning experience for everybody.
We were extremely proud of every single pupil
and so grateful to our wonderful teachers for getting another full-length production together, a phenomenal task with such a large range in ages from just 4 -16 years.
Well done everybody!

Dance, Sing, Shine!

Our Summer Performances of Dance, Sing Shine 2024 took place at the wonderful Westlands Entertainment Venue on Sunday 30th June. Hundreds of our pupils took part in the performances which were a huge success at this wonderful new venue. The performances raised much needed funds for local charities.

We are very much looking forward to returning to the fabulous Westlands Entertainment Venue next March for "Everybody Dance" 2025

The Somerset & Dorset Youth Dance Company

The Somerset and Dorset Youth Dance Company gave outstanding performances of 'Mother Nature's Colourful Birthday Party" at The Digby Hall, Sherborne in March 2024.

The Company with boys and girls ranging in age from 5-20 years worked on choreography in lots of different dance styles including Ballet, lyrical, jazz, street dance & musical theatre. There were also guest appearances from our Elite Beat Performance Squads and some of our Lyrical classes.

This exciting show takes place in a non “Everybody Dance” show year to provide our pupils with another fabulous, exciting performance opportunity where they learn multiple dances in a variety of dance styles.

Details of our next Auditions will be posted here soon.