GDST Day of Dance 2022

Six of our Senior Dancers and Dance Scholars joined up with Dancers from across the GDST family on Monday 5 December to take part in the annual Day of Dance, held at the iconic BASE Studio in London’s Vauxhall. They all enjoyed professional level workshops in various dance styles with each dancer collaborating in two workshops on the day with a choice of Contemporary, Lyrical Jazz, Commercial and Musical Theatre.

Ellie Mitchell led the Musical Theatre workshop teaching original choreography from We Will Rock You. Madeleine Waters led the Lyrical Jazz workshop with an emotive routine to Rihanna’s ‘Lift me up’. Sheida Mas led the Contemporary dance workshop focusing on isolations, contractions and floorwork. Kimberley Collins led an energetic and fast paced Commercial dance workshop. Most excitingly, during the Commercial dance workshop, three of our students, Freya, Yvie and JoJo, were all selected by Kimberley to perform in the final 5 and 3 to the rest of the group.

At the end of the day the workshop leaders took part in a Q&A session with the attendees giving the girls an insight into the dance industry and some sound advice on how to have a successful career.

It was a wonderful day celebrating the joy of Dance. The students relished the experience of meeting up with Dancers from other GDST schools as well as working with some of the top choreographers in dance workshops. We could not stop talking about it on the journey back and are already looking forward to next year's.

What some of our Senior Dancers and Dance Scholars thought about the experience:

The Day of Dance was an incredibly inspiring day, working alongside extremely successful dancers and meeting many talented GDST Girls. I was lucky to experience two completely different styles of dance, my favourite being Commercial. Although hesitant in the beginning, by the end of the workshop I gained so much more confidence in myself, my body, and my expression.

I was able to express myself with this new dance style in a way which the choreographer described as being ‘out of your comfort zone’. She also mentioned that her aim as a choreographer is to boost women's self-esteem and I’ll tell you it most definitely did.

Attending the Day of Dance was a brilliant experience. I was very pleased to be invited, after attending last year and enjoyed the fact that we were able to select our classes to suit our preferences.

Once we arrived at BASE studio we got to meet different pupils from the other GDST schools, as well as having an introduction to the day. After this, we all attended our first class, which for me was Commercial. I was challenged in this style as it is a style I have less experience in. I thoroughly enjoyed the class and loved the atmosphere in the room and the support that everyone gave each other.

Lyrical jazz was my next class and I loved the slow movement that I was able to contrast with different dynamics. The piece of music chosen was meaningful and I enjoyed portraying a story throughout the dance. Also, throughout the class I loved dancing alongside my friends. Overall it was very welcoming and I learnt a new floor sequence that included moves I haven’t seen before.

My final class of the day was Contemporary, after lunch and we were dancing to a musical piece that I had never heard of. I liked this because it enabled me to listen out for the accents and musicality in the piece. My favourite thing about the class was how the movement flowed into each other, as well as some of the contrasting sharper movements.

Overall the day was an exciting experience and I learnt a lot and would definitely recommend this for future students.