Dance
Dance at St Anne’s is delivered in a variety of ways, such as inclusion in school assemblies and festivals, an extra-curricular Dance Club for children in Years Four – Six, and the annual summer production. There are also ad-hoc opportunities through external festivals and showcases which further challenge and extend the abilities of the children involved.
From 2021, we also hope to offer Dance/Performing Arts Days during the school half-terms and holidays.
Perhaps somewhat unusually, St Anne’s benefits from having an ‘in-house’ choreographer with extensive experience in teaching at both the Pre-Prep and Prep level. We are also able to offer Ballet lessons with the Weston School of Dance to our Pre-Prep pupils once a week. To register your child for lessons, please contact Weston directly here.
Summer Production
The annual summer production brings the Drama, Music and Dance Departments together, and is a highlight of the school year -the ‘reveal’ of the choice of show is always greatly anticipated. The production involves every child in the Prep Department, with Year 6 undertaking the main speaking roles, and Years 3 – 5 the supporting cast.
Over the years, we’ve tackled a wide variety of well-known titles, adapting scripts, adding or subtracting characters and songs, so the show perfectly fits the talent and abilities of the students in that particular year – for example, in our version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we had a Charlotte Bucket and a Wilhelmina Wonka! Other productions include Bugsy Malone, The Sound of Music, Jungle Book, Mary Poppins, Little House on the Prairie, Frozen and Lion King. Almost all costumes are provided by the school, as we now have an impressive selection that serves us well.
The performances, usually in the last week of our summer term, are given in the Eaton Theatre at New Hall School so our pupils can experience an enhanced performing environment.