DANCE AND DRAMA ACADEMY
Tamara Spalding, Head of Dance and Drama Academy
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elcome to the first Patana News article from the Dance and Drama Academy. My name is Tammy Spalding, originally from England, I come to Thailand with a wealth of experience in Dance having trained as a dancer in London and New York. I am a teacher of Dance and Performing Arts and completed my teaching degree at Reading University in the UK. I firmly believe that all children, regardless of age or experience, should have the opportunity to dance.
The Dance and Drama Academy already offers the following dance classes: Hip Hop, Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary and Cheer-leading. We are excited to add the following new classes in Block 2: Commercial Dance and Musical Theatre. Drama classes will be introduced in Block 3. Commercial Dance encompasses a myriad of styles. It is made up of Jazz, Street dance, Hip Hop and Contemporary. We will focus on travel, centre work and developing technique. This class is primarily suited to intermediate dancers from the Secondary School.
specific to ability. From Block 2 students will begin to take beginner and intermediate classes. This is a new initiative which will ensure our dancers can progress in an environment that is challenging yet engaging. The Bangkok Patana School Dance Company This is a new performance project that will run over the course of the school year within an ECA slot, it will be made up of a group of pupils that will learn and choreograph in all different styles of dance. The company will be the equivalent of the “Varsity” team in Dance and will be given a range of performance opportunities as well as eventually working towards competitions within Thailand and South East Asia. We are looking for students with experience in Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz and Hip Hop. Ideally you would have some performance experience and enjoy working on lots of different styles and techniques. Audition details are below, we look forward to seeing you in the studio! Dates: Monday 5th – Wednesday 7th November Time: 2:30 – 4:30pm Where: The Dance Academy, Year 5/6 building Age groups: Year 5 – Year 13 What to wear: Comfortable dance clothes where lines and extensions can be seen (ideally leggings, dance tights, and t-shirt) Dance Academy Kit The Dance Academy kit will consist of a specially designed top for both boys and girls and dance leggings. These will be available soon for all pupils that take part in a Dance or Drama ECA. We look forward to sharing the designs with you soon!
Musical Theatre is theatrical performance that combines Date for your Diary acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humour, pathos, love, and anger – are comThe Dance Academy will be hosting a Parent Coffee municated through music and movement. We will study Morning at 8:00am on Tuesday 20th November for any dances from Hairspray, Chicago, Grease and Matilda. interested parents to come along and hear more about This is a very energetic class which all abilities can join and the programme and meet the teachers and coaches. is open to all dancers from Year 4 upwards. We have also introduced Lyrical Dance which we started in Block 1. Lyrical Dance is an expressive style of dance similar to Ballet and Jazz. We are also really excited to offer classes that will be
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For more information on the Dance and Drama Academy or the Bangkok Patana School Dance Company auditions, please contact Miss Spalding at tasp@patana.ac.th
Bangkok Patana School News
12/10/2018