Established in 1993 and operating in the small town of Crigglestone near Wakefield, Crigglestone Dance School has developed a great reputation for providing a nurturing environment and encouraging its pupils to get the most out of their experience and abilities. Offering a range of skills covering Dance, Drama and Music that are designed to inspire confidence and develop performance skills that will be useful to its pupils whatever path they choose to take in the future. The students of Crigglestone present us with Showtime, a dance recital combining dance, drama and song and featuring hit songs such as ‘Uptown Funk’, ‘Let It Go’ and ‘Beat It’ plus many more show stoppers. This show truly provides something for every taste.
The show opened with an extremely exciting and visually dynamic piece from Burlesque which admittedly at times was out of sync but from there the dancers simply went from strength to strength as they worked through a variety of styles. Our first solo of the evening, ‘Full Circle’ performed by Hannah Bridgewater, was a stunningly moving piece of contemporary dance. Hannah easily outshone every sequin on her glittering costume with her effortlessly graceful movements and excellent technique. Every move was on the beat and the choreography was beautifully tailored to fit the music. This tremendously talented young lady displayed a fantastic range of contemporary technique and an incredibly high level of skill.
Not only did the ladies display an extraordinarily wide range of dance styles from, Bollywood to Riverdance, but they also displayed amazing vocal abilities. Phillipa Creasey gave a hauntingly beautiful vocal and physical performance in her solo ‘With You’ conveying themes of loss and heartache. Though the costume for this piece was much more minimal than the others it was more than made up for by the effective use of props and the beautiful technique displayed by Phillipa. Special mention also has to be given to the incredibly gifted Zara Hardcastle who stood out in her performances of ‘Maybe’ and ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ as well as others. In her solo performance of ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ she was particularly distinguished as her projection was so incredible she hardly even needed the mic to be heard. Furthermore, though she was the only person onstage at the time and she wasn’t doing any accompanying dance she still drew the eye and her personality filled the whole stage.
Hannah Proctor brought the ice queen Elsa to life on stage in her stunning performance ‘Let It Go’. Her facial expressions beautifully portrayed the emotion and intensity of the piece adding another level to her performance. As with the other talented performers of the evening she showed an incredible level of expertise in her dancing and actually gave me chills with this frosty performance. The gorgeous icy blue costume also served to highlight every movement and give it a flowing feel. The final solo was entitled ‘Wings’ and was performed by Hayley Fisher and it was another beautifully choreographed and performed piece. In every solo the dancers made really effective use of the whole stage space creating extremely dynamically aesthetic performances and captivating the audience’s attention.
By far my favourite piece of the night has to be the group performance ‘Welcome To Your Dreams’. This was an extremely exciting and innovative piece that made fantastic use of costume and props to create a very eerie and frightening experience. Each individual dancer brought a tremendous amount of theatricality to the piece not only with their movement but also the variety of facial expression. Also the juxtaposition of the harsh neon colours of the dancers against the ethereal white gown of the featured dancer gave a very uncanny and unsettling effect which was highlighted by the spooky music and topped off with a spine chilling cackle at the end. Furthermore the way the lighting was used and the fact that not all the dancers could be seen on stage at one time only served to highlight the confusion. This piece was most definitely more of a nightmare than a dream.
Over all the show was a smashing success with an incredibly high level of professionalism and talent right from the most senior to the most junior members. The one criticism I have is that on a few of the numbers the dancers were not entirely in sync however this did not detract from the overall appeal and aesthetic of each piece and it was extremely enjoyable. I would honestly advise you book your tickets now before they sell out as this talented group of young ladies will definitely go far.
Reviewer: Amel Bashford
Reviewed: 19th June 2016
North West End Rating: ★★★★
