Monday 2nd November, 2020

We have done it before and we will do it again- we are going back online.

What this year has taught us is that we cannot take anything for granted and these last six weeks in the studio have brought us all so much joy. It has been an absolute blast!

We now know that we can run safely and we are Covid secure and we can only hope that this is a short break online and we can return to our bubble format in December, if not in the New Year. 

It didn’t break us last time and it won’t this time.

Dancing is so important for all of us, physically and emotionally, especially during these difficult times and we urge you all to stick with it and try online classes again. 

We know it’s not the same dancing at home alone, but we can support each other through this time and have fun dancing at home TOGETHER! At times like these, a sense of community is key and we are your BE.Dance family. We are here for you all!

We will try and keep the online timetable as similar as possible to the current timetable, although Saturday classes will all be in the morning as we just cannot teach all day at home and expect our own small children to behave!! 🙈

We will send through zoom links to the classes that you are currently signed up to in the next few days. If you want to do more online classes over the next few weeks, please give us a shout and we can give you links for similar classes- the more the merrier!

We still aim to run our classes until Wednesday this week so we look forward to seeing some of you in those groups then.

We can do this bedancers- we are a strong team and four weeks at home will fly by!

💗

Lockdown 2.0

Tuesday 27th October, 2020

We made it to half term!

After being open for 11 years, we wouldn’t normally celebrate running for six weeks, but given the current climate it’s important to take things week by week and celebrate the small wins- so woohoo, we got to half term with no disasters!!

After so long away from each other and then a huge re-jig to re-open, it has been simply amazing to have you all back in class again and see you dance together. 

As well as our bubbles, our after school clubs are slowly starting to return and we are thrilled to return to Sheringdale and Beatrix Potter Schools and send Eve back to The Hall School for their PE lessons after half term.

Over the past six weeks we have watched you all gain strength and flexibility, but more importantly we have seen your confidence grow again, and is what we are most excited about. 

Dance provides an outlet for children’s development and emotional well-being and we truly believe that BE.Dance continues to make a positive difference for all our students. We were really encouraged by the news that we are able to keep going this term as we have entered into Tier 2- it is so important to us that we keep you dancing in these times of uncertainty- long may it continue!

As always, we are keeping on top of the (ever changing) guidelines, but would like to say a massive thank you to all of you, both parents and students, for sticking with us whilst we adapt to this new way of running. We imagine we will be operating in this way well into the spring term, but we will adapt as we go and make it work. We are getting very good at cleaning between classes! 

We hope you all have a great half term and a good rest and will look forward to seeing everyone when we return on Monday 2nd November. We have our fingers crossed and hope that the second half of this term is just as successful as the first!

x

Saturday 12th September, 2020

We are returning on Monday- wooooooooooohoooooo! It all feels very surreal after six months but we CANNOT wait to see everyone again!

As we mentioned before, things will be a little different when we return next week but we will all get used to it and adapt quickly.

Please take the time to read the important return information and help us all stay SAFE!

This is all necessary to ensure that we can get back to doing the thing that we all love- dancing TOGETHER! 💗

Becca x

Thursday 27th August 2020

Bubbles...currently our most hated word.

When we return in September, things will understandably be a bit different as we follow the government’s guidelines. Dancers must be kept in clear and consistent bubbles of 15, social distancing must be observed which will limit class sizes and we will need to shorten classes as we need to clean the studios between bubbles.

With so many of you doing multiple combinations of classes on different day, this has proved to be a huge challenge but we think that we have finally worked out the groups. Whilst we have tried to keep the timetable as close to the existing one, inevitably the timings have had to change slightly (especially Saturdays) and some of you may be asked to join a different street class during the week- unfortunately this is the only way we can do things and bubbles are non-negotiable- no changing- it’s taken hours to figure it all out.

It’s a pain, but it’s the only way that we can get you back doing what you love.

Next week we will email parents with more (lengthy) info on how we will run and which bubble you will be in and the class times. You then need to confirm to say if you will be returning and we will direct you to our customer portal to amend your details and confirm that you have read our updated safeguarding, privacy, health and safety policies etc (most of which are can be found on our website).

If you know that you won’t be returning in September, please please let us know ASAP as it impacts greatly on the bubbles and we already have a big waiting list of new students wanting to join. We will not offer them places until we know if our existing dancers are returning.

We are hopeful that in January we will be able to return to the normal timetable

So that’s it. Bubbles. They are annoying. But it means that we can dance again and we cannot wait to see you all- not long now

Saturday 11th July 2020

Hey Team,

We just wanted to give you all a huge shout out and say well done for surviving this term!

We know how difficult it has been dancing at home and we are so proud of all of you. Zoom can be challenging and somewhat draining and we are so impressed with those of you who persisted- it’s not gone un-noticed and gives us a huge boost whenever we see you.

And for those of you who started the zoom classes and dropped off, or decided it’s not your thing- don’t worry about it, we get it! 

A massive part of dance is the social aspect, the interaction with your classmates and that feeling you get when you all dance together. And it’s just not the same at home. We feel it too and we cannot tell you how much we miss seeing you all together. 

If we are being honest, we have found teaching online increasingly harder and we are looking forward to a break this summer. We have done a few sums and have worked out that we have delivered around 280 online classes since lockdown! Understandably, we are feeling a little burnt out right now but we return in September, we will all return refreshed and ready to dance again- hopefully in a studio.

On Thursday the Government finally issued some guidance with regards to Performing Arts and the leisure centre so we are more hopeful for a September return. Gyms are allowed to open on my birthday so I am taking that as a good sign! Unsurprisingly the guidance is very complicated and doesn’t make much sense, but we are looking into things and will hopefully find a way of returning in some capacity next term. It is likely to be much smaller classes with social distancing in place, but we will figure it out and get in touch with parents later in August when we hopefully have a much clearer idea of how things will work.

However this term has been for you, we want to let you know that we are always thinking of our bedancers and we are so amazed by your resilience and how you have adapted during these strange times. 

Stay positive, cross your fingers for September and have a brilliant summer!

Becca x

Thursday 18th June 2020

Hey Team,

Sorry it has been so long- home schooling and trying to work at the same time has taken over and it is difficult to get anything done! Fortunately Pops will return to Pre School next week and maybe things will start to calm down. Lockdown life is full on!

Anyway, we just wanted to say that we hope you are all well and we will be thinking of you this weekend.

We will truly miss seeing you all up there on the stage this Sunday, but we have to say that we do not miss all of the work that it takes to get you up there and with that in mind, we thought we would share what it takes to put on the show...

It usually starts in July when we book the theatre for the following summer and from there we start to collect music and ideas. 

We always have an eye out for costumes, but January is the time when we would start to bulk buy costumes as there are usually lots of sparkly things in the sales after Christmas!

By the end of January we would hope to have allocated songs for all of the classes with a view to start rehearsals in mid February. This is when we send out the initial show letters to parents and start the dreaded show admin. Parents then start to return permission slips and costume hire money, which are usually chasing right up to the show. The reason that we ask for them to come in early is that we have to start collect information on performers for licensing purposes, which is a lengthy process.

Whilst you are all practicing your routines, the work behind the scenes becomes all-consuming. I am sure that many of you think that the teachers just come in to work for a couple of hours a day and that is it. I wish! My job running the school is mostly admin and I tend to work from 9.00-3.00pm five days a week before I get to the studio to teach or watch other classes in the afternoons. 

As a dance school we have to do so much in order to keep you all safe.. Health & Safety, Safeguarding Policys, GDPR, Risk Assessments, Insurance and Accident Reporting Forms are always in place but with a show we have to step things up another level and the paperwork is endless. 

Firstly we have to find chaperones to help backstage. With around 350 children participating in a show, we are required to have a ratio of 1 adult to 12 children. Finding that many willing volunteers is no easy task. We are very fortunate that we have some lovely friends and family who always help out, but we also have to pay lots of chaperones, most of which are friends of the dance school and ex students. We must apply for a DBS for each of the chaperones and if possible get a chaperone license for them. Most council’s do not like to issue these so it is a continued headache for us.

As the spring term comes to a close, we continue to purchase costumes for the dances, generally buying 25-30 of each item at a time. This means that we have enough for a large class if we ever want to use them again and also some spares. Jess came to do work experience with us earlier this year and spent lots of her time researching costume options for you all and helping to sort them- she was brilliant!

We have a storage unit in Wimbledon, probably the size of a garage that is full to bursting with costumes and props. The costumes are vacuum packed so when it gets closer to the show we spend several weeks reorganizing them and the unit becomes our second home! We have to work out which costumes we can re-use from previous years, make sure we have enough and sort them into classes. This would be easy if we had an organized system in place and every year we have the best of intentions in doing so. However, after the show all we want to do is get the costumes washed and put away so more often than not they are all over the place in different bags and boxes! One day we would like to have a big sort out, but it is such a mammoth task we would need lots of helpers over a weekend-we will have to rope some of you in to help! 

The costumes that we will use for this years show are packed into individual boxes for each class ready to try on in the summer term.  Costumes that are not going to be used are vacuum packed and stored on the other side of the unit. We have hundreds of black pants and vests to go under outfits as well as tights and accessories so all of these little things need to be found and put in place. Once the costumes are tried on, we name them, fix anything that needs changing and iron them so they are ready to go. We will then re-box the costumes according to dressing rooms so that when you arrive at the theatre all of your costumes will be waiting for you in the correct place- fingers crossed. Those arriving in costumes are given theirs the week before and will return them to us after the show. We also take a few boxes of spare costumes to the theatre in case garments get ripped or dirty or any other costume emergency.

In the summer term we take our musical theatre students to a recording studio where we put down backing vocals for the show. They still sing live but this helps boost the sound in such a large auditorium.

As for admin, it is endless. Firstly we need to sort a running order, which is like piecing together a jigsaw. You need to make sure that those who may be in several dances do not clash and will have enough time to do a quick change.

We then have to make schedules for the day of the show and the rehearsal, costume letters listing everything that student’s need for each dance and tell parents where and when children should be collected. Programmes also need to be written and sent to print. Last year we were absolutely gutted that despite triple checking that every dancers name was mentioned in the programme, when it came to print something went wrong and lots of dancers names were missed. 

Another thing that we have to work out are dressing rooms and signing in sheets. The students who sit in the auditorium to watch are allocated seats in the grand circle and given backstage areas for part of the show if needed. Again, this is another juggling act, as we need to swap these children halfway through the show and also get them from the dress circle to the stage for the finale so they are seated with that in mind. If one child were sat in the wrong seat they would potentially miss their moment on stage, as they would not be called up with the correct group so it is vital that this is planned with military precision. 

I guess by now you can see that I am an absolute control freak, but our biggest fear would be someone coming to inspect us on the day and stopping the show because we hadn’t put everything in place. With this many people involved, you have to be on top of everything! 

In addition to this we have to speak to the local councils and ask permission for the children to dance on stage. Easy you may think. No. It is an actual nightmare! Fortunately most of our dancers have not participated in any professional work which means that we apply for an exemption to perform. Amy takes the lead on this and we have to complete a spreadsheet with student’s names, contact details and dates of birth according to which borough they live in. We then submit them to the relevant council for them to approve along with our plans. If they do not approve this, Merton Council would not let the children on the stage to perform. 

It is always particularly nail biting as despite us starting this process early in the year, Wandsworth Council (the borough in which most of our students live in) tend not to uphold their side of the bargain until two days before the show. You can imagine how many tears of frustration have been shed! For those children that have participated in professional work we need to go down another route and get them a license to perform. It is all very complicated. 

When it gets closer to the show we start to compile the information packs for the chaperones at the rehearsal and the theatre. In each of these there will be a list of the students that they are looking after and will let the chaperones know if any of their students have any allergies or medical conditions that they need to be aware of. Chaperones are given all of our policies, codes of conduct, running orders and schedules, seating plans, etc so they have a clear idea of how the show will work. Last year we had 45 helpers back stage so that is a lot of notes! 

On the morning of the show we meet at the storage unit to collect costumes in a van. When we arrive at the theatre the technicians are setting up the lights and we organize the dressing rooms.

Whilst you are all queuing at stage door and signing in with Amy, I will have a meeting with the chaperones who are usually looking at me like rabbits in headlights whilst I reel off endless important bits of information- it is a lot to take in! They need to know where they need to be and at what time and also where their group will sign out at the end of the day. Chaperones now have their own T-shirt’s and name badges so that they are easily identifiable to the students and parents.

Once everybody is at the theatre, we have our health and safety briefing and aim for a technical rehearsal. The reality of the situation is that time is so limited on the day of the show and we just about manage a dress rehearsal. Last year this finished two minutes before front of house opened. In an ideal world we would have another day to do a technical rehearsal and have 25- 50 lighting cues in place for each piece of choreography but unfortunately we just cannot afford to do this and so I direct the lighting technician as we go!

When the curtain comes up, Amy manages backstage whilst I cue the sound and lights. We communicate on cans but the whole show goes by in a complete blur. In the interval we run backstage for a quick change so that we don’t look like tramps when we have to go on at the end! At the same time Tilly and Eve who usually run call up, are switching the dancers from the upper circle ready for Act Two to commence. 

When it comes to the finale, it is planned to the second and more often than not only rehearsed on the day of the show. Amy and I take a side each and shout instructions whilst the chaperones move the lines that snake down the corridors towards the front of the stage.

The end of the show is always exhilarating but also met with huge relief, hence our emotional states during the speeches! Public speaking fills me with absolute fear. I used to have a speech written but my hands would shake uncontrollably and I would mess up the words so now I just take on a few notes and wing it. And then usually cry! But it is always with tears of pride for our students. 

Once the curtain closes and the dancers go back to the dressing rooms, we have the task of making sure that 350 children are safely returned to the correct parents. We then collect all costumes and return them to storage or our homes and head back to my garden for drinks, pizza and sometimes a sing-song (Diane!).

You may think that it ends there but in fact it takes several weeks to wrap up the show. All paperwork that the chaperones were given has to be shredded for safeguarding reason, notes are reorganized and money and DVD order forms are collected. 

We return to storage and sort through endless boxes of extremely sweaty costumes. They get sorted according to colour and over the next couple of weeks we wash and  pack them up. At this point last year I was mid home renovation so unable to do any of this and Amy took on the bulk of washing, however I remember that the year before I managed to do 15 loads of washing the day after the show and it barely made a dent. If you think that most costumes consist of a couple of items of clothes, e.g. trousers and top or leotard, dress and tights, it is literally thousands of pieces of clothes to wash. And I hate washing at the best of times. Which is why we put them back in the storage unit and ignore them until it is time for the next show! 

We also need to sort through show photos- typically on a show day we take around 5000 pictures of you on stage, however most don’t work because of the lighting and movement so we edit these down to a couple of hundred and put them on social media for you all to see. 

With so much to think about, so many sleepless nights and with the stress of the build up, it is often quite hard to process how well the show has gone on the actual day and takes a while for it to sink in. However as I look through the photos I am always filled with an enormous sense of pride for our students. 

The show DVD must also be edited although we leave this to the production company. After all of these years, I have only been able to watch one show back after the event and I am sure that after reading this you will understand why! 

Shows are hard work.

We love them, but they are hard. 

But every year, we see all of you on stage and see the buzz that you get and how much your confidence grows each time and it makes it all worthwhile. You are the reason why we do this and strive to make each one better than the last.

So we start the process all again!!!

Fingers crossed we will do it all again in 2021...

Becca xxx

We will do this again!

Tuesday 12th May, 2020

Hello Team,

We wanted to let you know that following discussions with the theatre, unsurprisingly there will be no Summer Show on 21st June this year. We have known this for a while but for many reasons we needed to wait for the theatre to make this decision rather than us.

We realise that for so many of you, performing on that stage is a huge highlight for you each year and we will miss seeing you light up that auditorium. Whilst we are sad about the situation, we are in some ways relieved and know that it for for the best. 

You have all worked so hard and the choreography that you were preparing looked amazing. Nothing can take that away from you. 

We want you all to have something to look forward to next year provisionally re-booked The New Wimbledon Theatre for Sunday 4th July 2021. 

Yes, it’s a long way off, but just think how great it will feel getting up on stage again in front of your loved ones! 

We feel most sad for our leavers for whom this year would have been their final performance and big send off - some of you have been dancing with us for many years, and it is a real shame that you will not dance on the stage one last time. Maybe we try and find a way to get you back in some shape or form next year?!

Before we sign off, we wanted to share this with you all as it struck a chord for us…

In the theatre we have a tradition- whenever the theatre is empty we are always sure to leave one light on. 

Typically on a stand in the centre of the stage, this is called a ghost light. 

It means though the theatre is empty, WE WILL RETURN.

So here’s to us, the actors, the dancers, the technicians, the directors, the teachers, the students, the freelancers, those on tour, the stage managers and many more...THE ARTISTS. 

Many of us have taken big hits during this virus. Financial and emotional weights have come crashing down around us as our entire industry has become nothing more than ghost lights. 

But those ghost lights are temporary place holders. They are a sign. We might be down now, but our passion, our creativity, our drive is still centre stage. We will be unplugging those ghost lights in no time.

Until then- here’s a ghost light- to let the world know that we will be back.

x

Next Year.

Wednesday 6th May, 2020

Hello bedancers!

Our fundraiser last weekend exceeded our expectations and we have now raised a massive £2710 for NHS Charities Together. 

Like the show or any other big event, it always takes us some time after to digest what has happened- the lead up and event is always all consuming and afterwards I find it really difficult to process. However, now we have had some time to really think about it, we cannot believe how incredible the day really was!

We have seen and done so many things in our professional careers and as teachers- big productions, events all over the world and of course many shows with BE.Dance but this has to rate as one of our biggest accomplishments. 

At a time when everything seems so out of control for us and the children that we teach, as a community we came together and did something really positive for the people who are looking after our country at this strange time.

Over the years we have raised money for different charities but nowhere near the amount that we reached this time. Sure, on the scale of things this is only a drop in the ocean but the fact that our little team of teachers, the children we teach and their families all made a concerted effort to do something to say thank you means the most. We could all quite easily bunker down and self isolate in our own little bubbles but as a dance school we have rallied together, remained positive and had a really great day together.

From High School The Musical, Mary Poppins Returns and Hairspray, to Vanilla Ice, Taylor Swift, The Jam and S Club 7, it was a day of fun and feel good music. Over 40 families joined in with the lunchtime quiz (I had visions of sitting asking Amy the questions on my own!) and then similar numbers joining in the party at the end of the day. We encouraged people to get dressed up for this and it was so brilliant to see just how much of an effort everybody made. We had a riot- although in true Insta vs Reality style, both of my children had a complete meltdown during this time- thank goodness for the mute button on Zoom!

We had so many lovely comments from parents and students during the day and the chat on Zoom during the party was so brilliant. One of the most special things that we heard was “this was the best day of lockdown so far!”.

As we mentioned, we awarded a few prizes throughout the day and as soon as we are able to get out to the storage unit where we keep our dancewear, we will send them out.

The winners are….

Poster Competition

Cecilia Johnson

Quiz Winner

Valentina Drabble & Family

Most Dedicated

Mollie Atkins (she joined in every workshop!)

Star Dancers

Lexi Wardley

Murron Carpenter

Sunny & Priya Heard

Alba & Eva Mensy

Mili Roberts

Sara Diaz

Jada Orlebar- Earle

Orlagh Roberts

Congratulations to all!

Thank you for all of your support, and more importantly, thank you to the NHS and our key workers who have shown such strength and worked so hard for us all. 

BE.Dancers - BE.Proud! xxx 

Fun and Frolics at the Fundraiser!

Tuesday 28th April, 2020

Hey Team,

Hope you are all keeping well? We are so proud of how well you are all doing, staying at home and continuing with schoolwork and dancing. It does feel like a bit of a rollercoaster but try to stay positive and we will get through this. 

I have to say that I have started to feel quite lethargic over the last couple of weeks, despite doing my daily PE session with Ted and Joe Wicks and a lunchtime run round the block. Exercise seems like a real effort and my muscles feel really tight and tired but I am sure that this is physiological and has more to do with the current situation than actual fitness levels.

It is so important to keep active, even when you really don’t feel like it, not only in terms of exercise but also more importantly for our state of mind. Exercise stimulates the production of endorphins in the blood stream and this triggers a positive feeling in the body. Even a small amount of exercise each day can improve your mood enormously and this is why we are so thrilled to see you joining in at home.

In addition to our weekly classes, this week we are also really looking forward to our day of dance on Saturday. At the time of writing we have raised nearly £900.00 for the NHS Charities Together and we hope that we can raise more in the next couple of days!

Our teachers have lots of fun mini workshops planned over the course of the day and we encourage you and all the family to join in. In Broadway we will be learning choreography to ‘You Can’t Stop The Beat’ from Hairspray and Hannah will be teaching ‘A Cover Is Not The Book’ from Mary Poppins Returns. In Lyrical we have a lovely dance to the song ‘Lover’ by Taylor Swift and Shawne Mendes and our Commercial sessions will have choreography to ‘We’re All In This Together’, ‘Ice Ice Baby’ & ‘Reach For The Stars’- keeping it cheesy!   On top of that we will have a Tap & Rhythm workshop with Amy and Stretch with Hannah.

Like many of you, our ‘social life’ has mainly consisted of quizzing with friends and family and we thought that we would have a dance based quiz at lunchtime. Grab a sandwich, pull up a chair and join us for the BE.Dance Quiz- you may want to team up with the rest of your family for some help with this as there are some tricky questions- brush up on your dance knowledge!

At the end of the day we will have a BE.Dance party and encourage you to dress up- fancy dress, rainbows, party dresses, its totally up to you- the more outrageous and sparkly the better!

Throughout the day we will be awarding prizes for star dancers, quiz winners, best dressed etc- we have hoodies, t-shirts, bags and joggers to give away so make sure you join us!

We really hope to see lots of you joining in on Saturday, either all day (there will be breaks in between) or for a couple of workshops. The day will be a celebration of our bedancers and a chance for you all to raise money and support for the NHS who have worked so hard to keep us all safe and well. 

Stay home. Stay safe. And Keep Dancing!

Becca x

Thank you Sara for this fantastic poster- we love it!

Thursday 23rd April, 2020

Hey bedancers,

Hope you are all well and enjoying home schooling and the sunshine? I’m certainly enjoying the latter however not as keen on teaching any other subject than dance and my two students mostly tell me that they don’t want to do anything.

Fortunately our bedancers don’t answer back quite so much and it has been so great seeing how quickly you have all adapted to the online classes and we are all extremely proud of you for doing so. It has also been really interesting to see how the different age groups are responding online. 

Level one start the class full of energy and enthusiasm but we can sometimes see them getting tired quickly- it’s so much harder doing a 45 minute class at home! In our normal classes we do things in pairs or a line at a time which means that there are little rests in between dancing, however on zoom it is go, go, go! We totally understand how they feel and have found that a few games like ‘find and seek’ and a break for water definitely help!

Our teens classes always seem really happy to see each other and enjoy the challenge and workout. For us teachers, we find the engagement with our students to be a real high point in our week, to get that sense of ‘normality’ and also to dance away the stresses and anxiety that we are all feeling right now- no doubt our teens feel the same.

Level threes are our focused students and they mean business! Whilst lots of the classes have a quick chat before we start, the Level 3’s are primed and ready, with their mics already muted. They all work really hard, listening and responding to our direction whilst we use this time to get back to basics and work on that technique that sometimes gets overlooked in class.

The level two classes are brilliant fun and really make us laugh. They obviously miss the interaction with their friends and they are constantly saying “hi” to each other! They are far more tech savvy than us and are able to send each other little messages to say “this is really hard” and “did you get that right?” all at the same time as dancing. Now we know what they are talking about when they have those little chats in class! 

Whilst these classes are not the same as seeing you all in person, we are so pleased that so many of you have joined in online and if you haven’t already done so, please come and give it a try. We realise that it’s not the same and it may feel weird and we totally get it- we felt that too but we can guarantee that you will feel 100 times better after joining in and we can hopefully make you smile. 

Likewise, you sending us your TikTok videos, pictures of you dancing at home and sending us things like the blogs and posters that we have asked you to get involved in really brighten up our day and our Insta feed!

We also have our day of dance to look forward to next Saturday. So far we have raised an incredible £650 for NHS CHARITIES TOGETHER and we would love to raise more money to say thank you. By staying home and dancing, you are keeping safe and helping to protect the NHS. 

Keep up the good work team!

Becca x 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bedancers

Thank you for your hard work and donations to our JustGiving page x

Wednesday 15th April 2020

Whilst we have been at home we have been staying safe and are helping to protect the NHS. We would like to use our little platform to help support those who are working tirelessly for our country and raise some money for the NHS CHARITIES TOGETHER.

So on Saturday 2nd May, we will be hosting a BE.Dance Day of Dance Fundraiser. We will have workshops in Commercial, Lyrical, Broadway, Stretch, Tap & Rhythm for all of the family, as well as a BE.Dance Quiz and Family Party at the end of the day.

All we need you to do it go to our JustGiving page and make a donation. Once you have done this, email becca@bedance.co.uk and we will send you the links to join us on Zoom on this day. You will only be able to join these workshops if you have made a donation, but once you have you can dip in and out of classes throughout the day or join us for the whole thing. We will post a timetable of the day later this week.

Our BE.Dancers have been so quick to adapt to our classes online and we thought that by doing something like this, it will be a lovely way for you all to take some ownership of the situation and feel proud that you are helping people by staying at home and dancing in your kitchens and living rooms!

Please help us to spread the word and raise lots of money! Our current classes are only for BE.Dance students but we are opening this up to friends and family.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bedancers

Let’s Dance!

Donate Now!

14th April 2020

Hey Team,

We hope you all enjoyed a lovely Easter at home with your families? We had a good rest and of course ate lots of chocolate, but we are now really looking forward to starting classes again and seeing you all online. We just had a zoom meeting and have something exciting planned for you all- more on that later!

Last week you heard our stories and we shared our love for dance. We now want to share a few things from our dancers and their responses certainly brightened our day!

In Priya’s words...

“Dancing makes me feel happy and joyful. When I’m sad I usually dance, and then I feel better”. 

Lena says she loves dance because…

“Dancing for me is like going on a walk with my family. Dancing is another world".

So cute! 

We also wanted to share this from Valentina who is 12 years old…

I started dancing when I was 7 years old and since then BE.DANCE are like my second family. Becca and Amy have made me fall in love with dance and their dedication and passion for dance has inspired me. I couldn’t imagine my life without dance in it.

It makes me feel free.

I can’t explain it in words but it’s something I have to do. It’s part of me. Sometimes, I feel like Dance sets me free and allows me to be myself. It makes me feel like I can do anything I want to do. 

It’s my happy place, the place where nothing else matters and the place where I can forget everything that is troubling me. 

I dance because there is no better feeling in the world and I LOVE IT. Dance has taught me discipline and how to be part of a team. It has taught me that disappointment is good because it will make me a better dancer and that the only way to improve is to give 100 percent each and every time I dance. I don’t’ always get middle centre or even front row but it has taught me to strive to be my best and never give up on my dreams. If I don’t get the position or the solo, I pick myself up, dust myself down and carry on because with hard work, my time will come. I don’t dance for gold medals or to be the best dancer in the room, I dance because it completes me and I learnt along time ago that the only competition I should worry about is becoming a better dancer myself than the dancer I was yesterday.

 “ If you dance with your heart, your feet will follow”

 This is my favourite dance quote.

Thank you all for sharing!

Becca x

Valentina and her dance hero Maddie Ziegler

Wednesday 8th April 2020

Finally, we are going to finish hearing from our teacher Eve!

I taught Eve as a teenager many many moons ago at Stagecoach. Since then, both Amy and I have watched her grow as a dancer and we couldn’t be prouder. I honestly do not know of anyone who works as hard as Eve and her love of dance is clear for everyone to see. Eve is so focused and has listened to her mentors over the years, continuing to take class and push herself. She has a natural affinity with the little ones when she teaches and the fact that she has worked so closely with us for so long has meant that we have (hopefully) been able to nurture her talent and she has a clear understanding of how we want our dance school to run. We consider Eve to be a real asset to our team…

Hey BE.Dancers,

Eve here! Those of you who I don’t teach will probably know me as the one screaming backstage at the Summer Show; “GET ON THE STAGE!!”. Anyway, before I start, I just wanted to give a massive thanks to all the dancers who have tuned into our online classes- it means so much to us teachers and we love seeing you guys on our screens dancing away!

 When Becca asked us to say a little something about why we love dance, I had to jump at the chance. My journey with dance is a little different to others. I didn’t start ballet when I was a toddler. I didn’t make my mum drive me to classes and competitions and I definitely did not practice my splits or turns at home- oops!  In fact, whilst growing up, I was determined that I would be an actor. Dance was always something that was included in my training- Stagecoach, college, university. Becca was even one of my dance teachers! Not sure what she would say about my capability back then! Ha!

After graduating from university, I kind of felt stuck. I didn’t have the urge to go to auditions for theatre or TV. I wasn’t like my other actor friends who were trying to find agents or do more courses. But one thing I found that was constant was my dance class. One day I took a class with a certain teacher who I thought moved and choreographed in such an amazing way. After taking her class for a few months, I booked a few private lessons with her. Within a few lessons, she managed to bring something out of me I never knew I had. Suddenly, the way I moved changed. The way I heard music changed and my attitude to dance totally changed. I was hooked. 

Soon after, she asked me what I wanted to do and (naively) I thought it was too late for me to become a professional dancer. But deep down I knew that was what I wanted to do. Eventually she said it for me; “You want to be a dancer, don’t you?”. I nodded and from then on, she became my mentor. Even to this day you can still find us in the studio training and working extremely hard together. Yep, even when you become a teacher, the learning never stops, FYI.

Since then, I have made sure I go to classes as much as I can (which Becca and Amy tell me off for all the time- they worry I’ll burn myself out. They are probably right). So, after teaching I’m 99.9% off to a class or two straight after. Now I won’t lie, it takes a lot of work, determination and passion. But I absolutely love it! For me, there is no better feeling then when I am dancing. I’ve been extremely lucky to find teachers who I love learning from and have shown me nothing but support in my journey. Something I try to pass onto my own students. 

So guys, this is why I tell you not to worry if you make a mistake or if you didn’t get that perfect pirouette, because I know that dance is a JOURNEY! It takes time, but that’s why it feels so good when you finally nail the choreography or get down in the splits. Because you know how hard you worked to get there.

I’ve been lucky to dance on stage at Saddlers Wells, on TV for ‘This Morning’ and even for a big artist such as, Stormzy (I know, right!). Unfortunately, they decided to bin the music video. But you can bet I’ll still tell people about it!

Let me end on this, a dance teacher from New York once told me; “It takes one person to believe in you, to make your dreams come true.” This could be anyone, your family, your friends, YOURSELF! 

But BE. Dancers, know this…. us teachers…. will ALWAYS BELIEVE IN YOU!

Keep up the good work gang. Always proud! Stay safe and see you soon!

Eve x

Spreading some sunshine on This Morning!

Monday 6th April 2020

Now its time to hear from our lovely teacher Hannah. I first met Hannah whilst my cousin Tilly attended GSA and they became best friends- we are now lucky enough to have her on our team!

I danced since the age of 4 and took weekly classes in ballet, modern, tap and jazz. I took things seriously from the offset, happily missing birthday parties and play dates for dance on a Saturday! My dance teacher at the time was pretty old school and ran a tight ship with her student. That meant 50p fines for any missing uniform and you wouldn’t dare have your hair in anything but a perfectly placed bun. 

Things stepped up a notch when my family moved to Denmark and I attended a full-time ballet school. My parents took me to an audition a few months before moving, and I was offered a scholarship to attend. It wasn’t until they received the paperwork to make it official that they realised ‘Det Kongelige Teaters Balletskole’ translated to ‘The Royal Ballet School’! I had the best two years studying here. Each day we had 3 hours of ballet alongside our traditional academic classes. The discipline and independence I learnt in these two years were invaluable for the rest of my training.

Two years later, we moved back to Wales and I continued my training at the same dance school I started at. I added singing classes and drama into my schedule and by the time I was 13, I was dancing 6 days a week. This meant having to be diligent with my schoolwork as my parents were quite strict about this. If my schoolwork wasn’t done then I knew that dance would be the first thing to go, so needless to say I always found a way to do my homework and revise! I think this instilled a really strong work ethic in me, which stood me in good stead for my time at drama school and beyond. 

At the age of 14, I joined the West Glamorgan Youth Theatre Company, which was a real turning point. I suddenly discovered my love and passion for acting and throughout my time with the company performed in a wide variety of projects, from Shakespeare and Greek tragedy to musicals, radio plays, devised pieces and children’s theatre. To have these experiences at such a relatively young age was incredible and gave me a broad insight into the industry, outside of dancing, which was all I'd really known up to that point.  

 At the age of 17, I had to make some big decisions with regards to my next step. I knew in my heart of hearts that I wanted to train vocationally, but as I was a pretty academic student I was constantly encouraged by teachers and career advisors (who didn’t believe drama school was a viable option!) to go to university to study something ‘proper’ - whatever that might have been. At this time, I felt as though I had so many options, from Dance College to drama school or university, that I felt quite lost. Rather than thinking about the actual career I wanted afterwards, I ended up taking what I now recognise as the easiest option for me. Dance was the thing I felt most comfortable doing, even though I knew deep down I couldn’t see myself having a career as a dancer after graduating. Nevertheless, I successfully auditioned for 4 vocational dance colleges and ended up choosing to attend Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom. Fast forward 6 months and I decided to leave, as I couldn’t carry on anymore when my heart wasn’t in it. The training at Laine is world-class and I learnt so so much during my time there, however, it was also so incredibly tough and rigorous that you can only get through it if you know 100% that this is the only thing you can imagine yourself doing - and that wasn’t the case for me. I had lost sight of my love of dance and was beginning to resent it, which was upsetting.

I, therefore, decided to re-audition and a year later found myself at the Guildford School of Acting where I had the best 3 years of my life. The training I received was just what I needed at that time and for the kind of performer I wanted to be. I received a well-rounded training in acting and singing and managed to keep up my dance training with all of the incredible visiting dance teachers they have at the school. The training was rigorous and sometimes felt unbearable, but I've come to realise that that's just what the industry is like so it was a great preparation! As my course was more focussed on acting and signing rather it gave me the opportunity to fall back in love with dancing as something I did for myself rather than anyone else and for this, I was really grateful. 

 Even though I value the incredible training I received at GSA I think what I value most from my time there are the friends I made. My GSA friends are some of my best friends in the world, and I think there’s something so special about friends you meet whilst performing, whether that's from your afterschool dance classes to vocational training. There’s a special bond that comes from working tirelessly on a shared passion, from seeing each other make mistakes and celebrating everyone’s achievements, you become so united. 

Upon graduating, I realised that GSA was exactly where I was meant to be. With that said, I’ll never regret the time I spent auditioning for dance colleges or my 6 months at Laine. It gave me an insight into another part of the industry and made me realise the kind of performer I wanted to be. I'm also thankful that my love of dance was rekindled and that I can still find so much joy in it. The main thing I learnt was to follow my heart. The training is tough, but if your heart is fully in it and you can't imagine yourself doing anything else, then it can be the most rewarding thing in the world. 

Hannah x 

Graduation and Exam Day!

Saturday 4th April 2020

Next up, it’s time to hear from Amy to find out what dance means to her….

I am 14 years old and I have finally been chosen to do a solo in a dance for the show, this is a big day, one that played a huge part in the years that followed! Fast forward six years and I’m playing the lead role in my college musical! But it didn’t start out like this…

I started dancing at the age of two, as a child I always enjoyed dancing but it was just a hobby. It wasn’t until my best friend wanted to join ‘Stage Class’ (perhaps the equivalent to BE.Dance Company) that I started to become more invested in my dance lessons. We were ten years old, and funnily enough my friend’s time in Stage Class was short lived, but I was hooked. In class, however, I was the newbie, an underdog. It soon became clear that if wanted to dance alongside the likes of Lacey and Naomi, who were just mesmerising to watch when they danced, I was going to have to work my socks off.

So, following the advice of my dance teacher, I started to take Ballet exams. This didn’t come easily to me, and to catch up with those the same age as me I had to take two or three exams a year. But I did it, and eventually I plucked up the courage to ask my teacher for a solo to perform in competitions. It was in these private lessons that my teacher kept saying to me “Amy you need to ‘dance it’ and not just go through the motions”. At the time I thought, “what do you mean? I am dancing it; look, I’m doing the moves you told me to do”. I don’t know what did it, but I soon came to realise what ‘dancing it’ meant, and that it wasn’t just dancing I loved but performing as well. To express an emotion, portray a character and the exhilaration of feeling the freedom to let go in a performance and play someone else.

Styles like Lyrical and Musical Theatre quickly became favourites of mine and then the day came, I was asked to do a duet, and not just one but two- one with Lacey and one with Naomi. Me! They wanted to do a duet with me! 

Of course, by this time we were good friends but I still felt like that same underdog, surely, I wasn’t good enough to dance alongside the likes of them! The songs were “He Whistled At Me” from Starlight Express and “I Believe I Can Fly” and I can still remember these dances to this day (not to mention I am still friends with them as well) Sometimes we won and sometimes we didn’t, what was more important was performing together on stage and the memories we created while doing it.

I then went onto dance many solos and duets, I trained at a professional college and worked as a professional dancer and singer (but let’s leave those stories for another time) And that little ten year old has always stayed with me, the underdog working her socks of to be just that little bit better.

So, what does dance mean to me? 

Dance has played such a huge part in my life and continues to do so, and hopefully will for many years to come. I’ve always wanted to be that 60-year-old teacher who can still jump into the splits! I will always love feeling that rush from letting go in a performance, especially when I see that in a student. Dance has taught me determination and that self-belief and staying positive are very powerful. It has also taught me the importance of having a goal and going for it- if you always work hard and do you best then the sky’s the limit!

Amy x

Back in the day!

Thursday 2nd April 2020

We thought that it would be nice to hear from our BE.Dancers at this time and ask what it is that they love about dance?

We hope you join in and send us your thoughts and so that we can share them on this blog. Before we do that, we are going to tell you all a little bit more about where our passion for dance came from. I am going to start….

I have danced ever since I was a tiny tot and have always loved it. My parents were quite strict about school and the rule was always that if you don’t feel well enough to go to school then you are not well enough to go to dancing. Needless to say I always went to school as I never wanted to miss a dance class and I am certain that this has given me the work ethic I have today.

I was a painfully shy child and bullied at secondary school, so dance class was my outlet and my dancing friends were my best friends. I would never ever put my hand up to answer a question at school but I had no problem getting up on stage and dancing to a big audience, much to other people’s amazement. 

I went to a very academic senior school and when it came to the time of thinking about my future I remember the careers teacher asking what I wanted to do. I answered that I wanted to be a dancer and go to theatre school and the response was something along the lines of ‘now lets think about a serious option’. I didn’t let it deter me and despite being told to stop dance classes and focus on my A Levels I continued to go to my classes after school and assist my teacher with the younger groups which I absolutely loved. I auditioned for dance colleges and was offered a place at Italia Conti Academy Of Theatre Arts. 

I moved up to London from Bournemouth when I was 18 years old to attend ‘Contis’ and lived in the YMCA in Barbican, which was across the road form the college. My first ever class was Improvisation which is my worse nightmare (I still hate the game Charades for this reason), but I got through it and those three years of training were the best ever. 

We had classes in all subjects and my confidence grew. I still hated having to get up for acting class and would have to hold my friends hand if I had to sing a solo, but the dancing was brilliant. Alongside commercial, contemporary, ballet, modern, tap and pas de deux, I also took my LAMDA exams and qualified as an AISTD Ballet teacher. Now ballet is not necessarily my strongest subject, but I always knew how important it would be to get some qualifications in this industry and I continued to teach at the Italia Conti Associate Schools on the weekends.

When I graduated, the safety net of college disappeared and you had to go out and audition. And I hated every minute of it. You need to have a really thick skin to survive in this industry and I learnt very quickly that it wasn’t for me. I didn’t have the confidence to push myself forward in auditions and always came away feeling really deflated. Having said that, I had some lovely jobs such as panto’s,  adverts, some choreo for television programmes and a stint at Disneyland Paris wearing some very well known dresses!

I found it hard getting the balance right- you needed to go to classes in order to get better or go to auditions, but I also had rent to pay. I did so many promo jobs, handing out food samples, leaflets, newspapers etc that meant I had no time to get to class or auditions. Gradually I started to get more and more teaching work and realised that this is what I wanted to do. It made me far happier than performing.

I have been lucky enough to work for the Royal Academy of Dance teaching 'Song & Dance' and ‘West End Jazz’. In turn, this led to teaching Jazz and Musical Theatre for the RAD’s workshops and Summer schools across the UK, Italy, Jakarta, Luxembourg and Singapore. I also worked closely with RAD on their ‘Step into Dance’ programme, which takes dance into schools in London and have seen my choreography showcased in ‘Step Live’ at Sadler's Wells Theatre and Southbank Centre as well as for the Jack Petchey Foundation in The Lord Mayor's Show. 

I taught for Stagecoach for ten years and helped to run a dance school in Hertfordshire. After a few years I decided to set up BE.Dance and the rest is history!

Running BE.Dance means that I still get to dance and be creative. It is probably very apparent that I am a bit of a control freak but I have worked so hard to get BE.Dance where it is today and feel very proud of the dance school that it has become. Surprisingly my day is predominantly made up of doing the admin which is necessary to run the school rather than teaching itself, so the highlight of my week are those classes that I do get to teach. Our annual shows are such hard work, but I like organising events and love putting together costumes. I will elaborate on what it takes to put on a show another time!

So there it is. Being a teacher can sometimes be seen as second best, that old saying “Those who can’t, teach”. I wholeheartedly disagree. Teaching is my passion and it gives me such joy watching our dancers grow in confidence. For me that is what it is all about. You don’t need to be the most talented dancer in the room- I am more impressed if you give it your absolute all and never give up. That is how we grow!

Becca x

Major throwback!

Thursday 26th March 2020

This week has seen the start of our classes using Zoom and it has been brilliant to see so many of you joining in from your homes. 

We are now running a reduced timetable so that we can all work around our families at home and our BE.Dancers can do as much or as little as they like. Current students are more than welcome to dip in and out of any class in their level over the next few weeks, even if its not your usual style. It’s a good way to stay active and try new things whilst we are all at home. We even have a class for parents, so please feel free to join us.

We had originally planned to run more classes over on our bedancers channel on YouTube- these would have been for everyone to access and we were hopeful that we could reach out and offer our classes far and wide. Unfortunately we hit a major bump in the road and our plans have been scuppered, however, we will try to deliver some content on this channel over the next few weeks- just without music!

We would also like to take this point to say a huge thank you to all of the parents who have reached out and sent such lovely messages of support. We have always wanted to keep BE.Dance really positive and create a fun and nurturing environment for all of our dancers. We will continue to do so until our BE.Dance family can come back together again.

Take care everyone!

Becca x

Sending Team BE.Dance lots of L.O.V.E.

Saturday 21st March 2020

Not going to lie, this week has been awful. 

But this morning the sun came out and you lifted our spirits. To see so many of you dancing with us in your kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms has helped to put the smile back to our faces. We can do this and we will do this. And why not even use this to our advantage- this morning my nephew joined us from Dubai, so now we are global!!! 

But seriously, why not?! This wasn’t on our agenda but maybe we can use this opportunity to help more people by offering BE.Dance classes to everyone via YouTube and spread some positivity. If you can all help us to spread the word, we can do something amazing for children and parents alike and build awareness for our brand which will help us enormously when we get back to normal.

Today was so much fun. Yes, there were a few technical issues that we need to iron out and WiFi may cause some connectivity issues but we will all get used to this! The feedback we had from all of the parents has been so kind and then there were more tears- but this time happy tears!

Onwards and upwards BE.Dancers. There is more to come....

Becca x 

Today over 100 of our lovely dancers joined us online- how amazing!

Friday 20th March 2020

Hey BE.Dancers!

How are you all? 

Ready to do some online classes with us?!

We are all really sad that we had to put a stop to classes for the moment. We continued for as long as we could but unfortunately we knew that closing our classes would be inevitable and we are sure that you can understand why we need to do this. 

Hopefully this will only be a short pause before we get back to normal.

AND. WE. WILL. GET. BACK. TO. NORMAL.

Whilst we currently feel pretty devastated about the situation, we are now working really hard to do as much as we can online for you. This is waaaaaaaaaaay out of our comfort zone, so please bear with us- we hope to have a timetable of online classes up and running by Monday. 

We are plan on using ZOOM for live classes and we will simply email your parents a link to click on and you can join us in class. 

We are also in the process of setting up a BEDANCERS YouTube channel where we can post videos of choreography for you to practice and in turn you can film yourself doing these. This channel will be set to private (when we figure it out!) so we are happy to post your videos, but only with your parents approval. 

We are also on TikTok and will try and do things through Insta live. We would love to post pictures and videos of you all joining in on our Instagram page (again, with parents approval! We do not tag names for safeguarding reasons).

We are looking at choreography challenges and setting you tasks that will keep you occupied, motivated and moving during this time. 

Dance plays such an important part in all of our lives and we must keep it up. We all know that it is a great form of exercise, but even more importantly during this time it will help keep you sane and stay connected with your friends. We all need to see each other smiling right now!

The aim of starting this blog is to share our love for dance and teaching with you all. We would love to hear what dance means to you and will be asking you to share this in the form of writing and pictures. We plan to let you in a little more and let you know where our passion for dance came from and what we have all done in careers. In turn we would like to find out about your hopes and dreams, favourite dancing memories and much more. 

By posting all of these things we can all do our bit to spread some positivity. And before you know it we will be back and shouting “5,6,7,8” and “AGAIN. AGAIN. AGAIN”. We know you will miss that!

So that’s how we plan to keep going. 

Give us a couple of days and before you know it you will be seeing us on your laptops and phones. Don’t be shy, we want you all to join in, even the parents sometimes!

BE.Dancers- we will see you really soon!

Becca, Amy, Eve, Hannah & Fallon

xxx

Who knew my LED would be so apt!