Students step out at Royal Ballet School

Troup manoeuvres: The 17 Blackpool Sixth Form College students who headed to London to work with a top choreographer at the Royal Ballet School

The 17 teenagers from Blackpool Sixth Form College visited the prestigious school in London last week to work with a leading choreographer.

Now they are gearing up to return to the capital to perform at the school in March 2015.

The BTEC dance students have already watched and then taken part in ballet classes, before taking a tour of the historic school.

Dancer Amber Hulston, 17, from Anchorsholme, said: “It was a big learning curve seeing the students perform.

“The students practice from 8am to 6pm everyday and are completely dedicated to their profession.

“It was a great experience.”

Classmate Zoe Norbury, 17, also from Anchorsholme, added, “It was a real eye-opener for me, seeing the students practise. It was like a performance all day, everyday.”

They will now work with a specialist teacher from the Royal Ballet to explore a piece of heritage repertoire, Manon, by the renowned choreographer Sir Kenneth Macmillan.

The creative project gives students the opportunity to put their own ideas into movement to create modern, original pieces.

They are from just five schools and colleges in the country to take part in the project, which hopes to inspire the choreographers of the future.

The performance on March 22 next year will see 85 students from the South of England and Scotland, as well Blackpool’s group, perform their original works, the culmination of the Royal Ballet School’s aDvANCE programme.

Last month Brodie Donougher, from North Shore, was selected to play the lead role in Billy Elliot The Musical at the Victoria Palace in London.

The 11-year-old was awarded a place at the prestigious Royal Ballet School in London earlier this year, having excelled in the dance through the PrimarySTEPS programme at his school, which is run by Dance Partnership and Access at the Royal Ballet School.

The former Layton Primary School pupil has long had ambitions to play the part after joining a Billy Elliot summer school in 2013 and after winning the ballet school place back in March.