This was the yearly showcase from students of the rather misleadingly named The Cheshire Theatre School. Having never heard anything about this school before, I assumed, quite wrongly two things. First, the school was in Cheshire, and second, that it was a Theatre School.
The Cheshire Theatre School in reality is a private school of dance, offering youngsters aged from 3 upwards training in ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, modern and zumba; and is located in Reddish, in Greater Manchester.
However, once we got over that slight hiatus, I sat down to enjoy what the students of this dance school had to offer. There were 23 items in total split over two acts, and all were professionally presented and choreographed with some excellent costumes. It was a pity that the lighting was very much below par with some settings (especially when using the colours) looking really quite wrong. The thunder and lighting sequence worked well; and I liked the idea behind the UV sequence; however this only really worked when they were kneeling. The disembodied torsos looked quite wrong without adding some white to their footwear to give some depth. During the first half there was also a really rather big problem with the sound and the compere for the evening was incomprehensible for most of the time during the first act.
The MC was called Toby and I am lead to believe he is on the staff at Cheshire Theatre School, since everyone knew him apart from me. He did cope very well with the technical hitches, but seemed somewhat unprepared and had to look at his list to recall the names of the students he was speaking to which looked a little discourteous if he is working with them and knows them. In my opinion there was really no need for a compere in any case. He was somewhat superfluous and we had come to see the school's talent not listen to him. However, since there was no programme (groan!) he did announce each item and the class which was to perform it.
The whole afternoon started with a selection from Michael Flatley's Lord Of The Dance and finished with a Michael Jackson megamix, and in between all of this we saw classical ballet, hip-hop, contemporary dance, and quite a bit of tap dancing. As I have already written, the dances were well thought through, and choreographed within the capabilities and grades of the students dancing them. Undoubtedly though some appealed to me more than others, but in general I would say that the second half was superior to the first.
In the first half, there was a contemporary piece called Auto Correct Humanity. I really liked the premise of this piece, and agree with the sentiment wholeheartedly, but I did not see the dancers' masks until they took them off. They were plain and looked like expressionless faces. If they had been coloured or disfigured in some way to make it obvious, and if the choreography had been more uniform and stilted at the start, this would have worked much better so that when the masks were taken off the freedom and individuality this affords would have been more apparent and held more significance.
The first half also saw a young girl called Mathilda MacMillan dance a classical ballet solo from Don Quixote. This really was the first half's highlight, and she danced this wonderfully. I also saw her in the ensembles of some of the other dances too and she stood out in those as being very talented. She is leaving Cheshire Theatre School and has been granted a scholarship to study at The Hammond Theatre School.
The first half ended with a piece which was the Bronze Medal winner of the Dance World Cup called Hero Nation which saw a group of girls hip hop there way through a superhero routine. My eye noticed one girl dancer in particular who stood out in this group; she wore the batman cape. The reason I mention her is not that she was the best dancer (she might or might not have been ) but simply because she was absolutely 'in the moment' the whole time and gave a 'performance' and wasn't simply dancing.
After the interval the show opened with one of the best dances of the whole evening, Allegretto (Intermediate Foundation Ballet), and was followed by six hip-hoppers with real 'attitude' dancing Ego. A few numbers later and I saw the most enjoyable number of the whole show, with the girls dressed in red ruffle tops and red hot pants - Tina Turner eat your heart out - this was Proud Mary.
Immediately following this was another stand out solo. Another girl, also leaving the Cheshire Theatre School this year to go on to pastures new (but sadly not within the profession!) was Darcy MacMillan dancing The Sugar Plum Fairy quite beautifully and technically perfect.
There was, I think, only one boy in the whole school, and the two dances in which he stood out and impressed were Colours Of The Wind and More.
Before the whole school came together for the final Michael Jackson compilation, another older girl, again dancing her last dance for this school came on to dance a very contemporary rap-styled hip hop Wile Out!. This was Lucy Cresswell.
Thank you Cheshire Theatre School for a very entertaining afternoon in your company, and showing us the wonderful students that pass down your corridors and what they are capable of.... yes, Greater Manchester (!) has talent, and I look forward to seeing what the coming year will bring for you and your students.
Well done to all!
Reviewer: Mark Dee
Reviewed: 18th September 2016
