AMATEUR DANCE REVIEW: Salford Dance Explosion - Day 4 (Thursday) - The Lowry Theatre, Salford.

Now in its 13th year, this annual event, celebrating amateur dance in Salford is back at Salford's Lowry Theatre. The event this year ran for four evenings with 12 different local groups taking part each evening, showcasing a total of 48 dance groups from the region! What a wonderful and inspiring event these days always are, and it is always a pleasure to support young upcoming performers whether hobby dancers or aiming to make this their profession.

I was present for two of the evenings (Tuesday and Thursday), and the dedication and talent on display was, as always, awe-inspiring. Young entertainer Adam was on hand each evening as compere / MC singing a song at both the opening and closing of each event, as well as whipping up support in the form of whoops and claps from the audience of majority family, friends, and fellow dancers. 

Here is my rundown of the groups on Day 4 (Thursday).

Starting the evening was a Michael Jackson medley, presented by the BTEC Musical Theatre students from Shockout Academy (Manchester). It was a pity really that this item was put first on the schedule this evening, the standard of these dancers was simply stratospheric (and that is not something I write lightly). I have danced professionally myself many years' ago, and more recently have seen thousands of both amateur and professional dance troupes, and have been waiting for such a troupe to simply blow me away! Their acting, coordination, ensemble work, precision, energy, timing, execution, not to mention the sheer skill of these dancers was phenomenal. This was a Michael Jackson tribute which was actually better than the original - and these dancers were all young teenagers at their oldest! Incredible.

With cries of "follow that!", Reflections Dance Company's senior competition group (Boothstown), gave it their best shot. With their street dance routine, 'Represent', these 9 teenage girls did excellently, and their routine was deftly executed and completely different from what went before it thankfully. Next came Stagecoach (Warrington), and their group of 6 - 14 year olds showed us their dance-theatre version of popular playground games. This was followed by Miss Joanne Farnell's School Of Dance (Eccles) with excerpts from her forthcoming showcase 'Time To Dance'. Starting with four teenager ballet girls, it morphed into a larger group of much younger dancers and their modern routine, before we watched a solo teenage girl perform a lovely solo contemporary piece. They finished with their 10 / 1 year-olds dancing from 'The Lion King'. Nicely done. The final group before the interval was Stagecoach (Salford). This was full-on Musical Theatre as two of their group sand the roles of Christine and The Phantom, whilst the rest performed a contemporary ballet between them, as they sang 'The Music Of The Night' from 'Phantom Of The Opera'. Costuming and the idea were good, and the young lady singing Christine managed the final high note with ease, sounding sweet and in tune - not an easy ask even for the professionals!

In the second act we saw two groups of students with special needs. New Bridge College (Oldham), performed an excerpt from their own adaptation of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'; whilst charity, My Life Legacy (Leigh), allowed their charges to dance along to "This Is Me" from 'The Greatest Showman'.  Grosvenor Park Primary School (Swinton) impressed, giving me my favourite routine from the second act this evening with a contemporary routine to 'I'm A Survivor'. St. Mark's Primary School's after-school club, consisting of a very large group of mostly year 1 and 2 children managed cartwheels and clever moves with ease. Branwood Prep School (Eccles)'s after school club is managed by Reflections, and here, they showed skill with an older group and a larger younger group of a nicely choreographed contemporary routine. The evening ended with a group of 17 year old dancers from Winstanley College (Wigan). They performed two pieces. The first contemporary ballet, and the second a student-choreographed commercial routine. The troupe displayed obvious skill and worked well together, although it did lack a little energy and precision at times.

Another fantastic evening, and look forward to seeing what Dance Explosion 2024 has to offer!

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 15.6.23