English Youth Ballet Auditions – March 2010
Successful Junior auditionees for the English Youth Production of
Sleeping Beauty.

Juniors (photo; left to right)
Katie Edwards, Georgia Clark, Alicia Akinbiyi, Libby Pearson, Natalia Watt, Emily Wastell, Meredith Winship.

Seniors (photo ; left to right)
Emily Legood, Bethany Havers (ARTS Head Girl), Amy Murray.

Review of The Sleeping Beauty – English Youth Ballet Production
written by Katy Stangroom

Like any ARTS teacher I was extremely proud to be part of the audience at the Theatre Royal Norwich on Saturday July 3rd, where eleven ARTS pupils were performing in the English Youth Ballet’s Production of ‘The Sleeping Beauty’.

With a cast made up of talented youngsters from the Norfolk area and an audience filled with their families, friends and teachers it was set to be quite a show. Dressed in stunning costumes, and with a smile on their faces, the children appeared group by group to welcome the arrival of the baby Aurora. The choreography was pretty and effective and the build up of groups onstage was powerful and moving. The children were clearly enjoying themselves and it was fantastic to see such an array of students, from various schools, all coming together.

One of the young ladies amongst the soloists (I couldn’t tell you who or what she was but I guess she was one of the good fairy type characters!) truly stood out to me and personally I think she could have easily carried the role of the 16-year old Aurora.

To compliment the professionals from EYB, the role of Aunt Carabosse (the villain of this tale) was played magnificently by Steven Wheeler. The length of his nails and the grace of his imaginary sewing skills were perhaps a little creepy but for him I would have gladly sat through another solo.

On a whole I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and it was especially lovely to see Head-Girl Bethany Havers in a solo role as Aurora’s nurse/governess. Whilst I would have liked to see more of her dancing in the first Act (she really is beautiful to watch), later on she performed superbly on pointe alongside some of the other senior girls and it was a real pleasure to watch her shine.

Further enjoyment came from our other stars – Emily, Natalia, Emily W., Georgia, Meredith, Katie, Alicia, Caitlin, Libby and Amy – who made up both Junior and Senior members of the Corps de Ballet.
Not only was I overcome by pride at how well they all performed but they also proved to be true professionals. Smiling and acting through their parts.
The young Songbirds were spritely and beautiful; the guests and ladies elegant and graceful and all of our pupils gave us a performance to be proud of. During these times I am reminded of how far we have come as a school and that being part of such a wonderful experience can only continue to benefit the students who took part.

With the ability to dance, act and sing our students truly are becoming the triple threat performer that is so important in the professional world of performing arts today.
Most importantly though they all love what they do and with opportunities such as this EYB production the experience and memories they are gaining are invaluable. 

Well done to all of those involved, both from ARTS and the other schools and thank you for a wonderful show.