NK Theatre Arts are based at The Forum Theatre in Romiley, near Stockport; and their Studio 2 dance and performance students gave us a taste of their undoubted abilities this evening with their annual showcase.
There were dancers / performers on stage this evening from as young as 3 years old right up to young adult, and many of the excerpts presented featured a mix of ages. This year, the Studio 2 team have been working on three key areas of dance / stagecraft: being in large groups, confidence, and spatial awareness; and so everything this evening was work they had done throughout the year in order to help their students in these three points. I must apologise straight away for any inaccuracy or lack of information / names of soloists etc in this review. With it being a showcase presentation, the event is primarily for family and friends, but is obviously also open to the public too, so NKTA do not publish programmes for these events. The evening was co-directed and choreographed by the Studio 2 team: Hannah Gorst, Amy Earith, and John Dean.
The showcase started with a potted version of 'The Little Mermaid', with sections of mimed dialogue and solo songs and group dances. We started with the song and dance of the seagulls "Human Stuff" with a confident young singer taking the first solo. This was followed by another young girl singing and playing the part of Ariel herself in 'Part Of Your World'. This role was taken by Annabel Clark, and her singing here was simply excellent.
Following this and we were treated to another shortened version of a musical, this time, 'Mary Poppins'. A young boy portrayed Bert and this section started with 'Step In Time', as a full song and dance number. We were then introduced to the Banks's household, and of course Mary Poppins herself, performed here with style by Amelia Dunne; before we finish this section with 'Supercallifragilisticexpialidocious'.
The first half of the showcase then presented us with two classical ballet pieces (the second was most definitely 'Swan Lake' but I didn't know the first). These were followed by Sam Jeffries singing a song from 'Everybody's Talking About Jamie' (nicely done), before the act finished with a very modern contemporary ballet based on the TV show, 'The Traitor'. This was exciting and thrilling choreography, and even if, like me, you hadn't the faintest idea of what they were dancing or supposed to represent having never seen nor heard of the TV show, it was still amazing.
The second act was a little shorter, and we started with a solo from Izzie Kennedy, singing a song from 'Moana', before we had two contemporary ballet pieces from Gemma Thurston and Lily Robb. If I am remembering correctly, then Robb also took a lead dance role in The Traitor, and her solo here was, for me at least, one of the highlights of the whole showcase. She showed great poise and control during her solo, and impressed generally as a dancer / ensemble member.
Following this was a short Street Dance number, before we were taken to the the world of '& Juliet', and the third and final shortened Musical of the showcase. Sam Hardman and Jess Camilleri were our Romeo and Juliet for this sequence, and the upbeat pop numbers were a lovely end to the showcase with the whole team of middle and older students getting involved with 'Eye Of A Tiger'; and 'It's My Life'.
The evening was truly extremely enjoyable, and it was a delight to see so much talent from a dedicated, energetic, proficient, and enthusiastic group of budding stars-in-the-making. Again, apologies for not being able to name all etc, but all were highly praiseworthy and the whole spectacle was more than gratifying to behold. Bravissimi tutti!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 3.3.23
on - 3.3.23
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