Thursday 7th March

The Year 12 Performance Studies A level group performed their version of a classic panto, calling it A- Lad-In-Tavi and following aspects of the story of Aladdin and a local historical tale about an (evil) Judge who didn’t want his daughter (leading lady) to marry a local boy (principal boy) and so sentenced her to death (boo, hiss!).

They group scripted the entire piece themselves, choreographed all the dances and composed the score. Audiences were delighted with the local references to shops and places mixed in with up to date songs, musical theatre and all the traditional trappings of a panto…..slop scenes…..Widow Twanky…..and loads of audience interaction! Tom, Tegan, Kirsty, Will, Josie and Ellen did the style proud and had much fun along the way!

Saturday 9th March

Banter at the Bandstand was a suitable name for the AS Level Performance Studies Community Performance piece. Four talented Year 12 students took to the stage and created a witty, energetic ,dynamic performance inspired by the 16th Century Art form of Commedia Dell’ Arte. These four students created a community piece of theatre which incorporated drama, dance and music and was suitable for all age groups. Students performed as stock characters; Nick Bennett played the role of Il Capitano, a comedic Spanish lover, James Lamey as Il Dottoro , a doctor obsessed by food and the sound of his own voice. Lydia Stephens played the role of Pantalone, a withered yet foul tempered Italian father obsessed by money, and finally, his daughter Isabella a young naïve ( and totally self obsessed) adolescent was played by Harriet Spencer. On the day of the performance (typical to Tavistock) the heavens opened but these students were not put off by the rain and performed to their audience made up of nearly 100 members of the general public. ‘Banter at the Band Stand’ had the audience roaring, this Comedic piece did everything it set out to do plus more! Well done to all the talented cast members involved.

Last year I put on my first ever ‘Showcase Evening of Dance’ and was so proud to have 20 students performing. I never thought that a year later I would have 50 dancers performing in one evening! On Monday 11th March students ranging from year 7-10 danced their hearts out in the Hall in front of friends and family. Performances included ‘Dance Club’ who performed their own choreography which was excellent. Their choreographic skills are very creative and I am very impressed with their work. We also had GCSE year 10 Dance performing their assessed pieces. Their work is excellent and they performed with amazing focus and energy. Thank you to the dancers who performed solos. This is a very daunting experience but they all did so well. This year I’ve been fortunate to set up my own Dance Academy. They performed their first every dance to ‘Beneath Your Beautiful’. This was choreographed by myself in collaboration with the dancers. They all performed excellently and the dance looked beautiful so well done to them.

I want to say thank you to everyone who came to support the dancers, Eva Pearson and Richard Tucker for being amazing as always. Most importantly I want to say thank you to all my amazing dancers. You made me so proud and I can’t wait to do it all again!

Mrs Giles