December 2020

Despite a disrupted 6 months of dance training, and a second national lockdown in November, our Grade 8 Ballet students managed to film their RAD exam in December this year. I’m so proud of their achievement in reaching this final grade, and of how they approached it with calm positivity, despite the less than perfect situation. The results are in and they did fantastically well - congratulations to Phoebe Price, Sam Hodge and Lucy Barnard.

July 2020

As dance organisers also adapted to the ‘new normal’, SDCA moved their competition to Zoom also, and HSD had further success. Abbie Judd was placed 4th in her Commercial class, and Amelia Edson came 4th in her Ballet, and 4th in her Contemporary section. Again the standard was incredibly high and the extra challenge of competing from their homes made it an even more impressive result. Our group piece ‘Birds of Paradise’ also came 3rd with 86 marks and a Distinction in the nationwide Digital Performing Arts Festival – the only school to beat us have been world champions before!

Summer Term 2020

Of course all live events we had planned came screeching to a halt once the pandemic took hold. After the initial shock, it didn’t take us long to get to grips with ‘Zoom’ (how funny to think now that we had never even heard of it at the time!) and to adapt to dancing in our living rooms. It was so disappointing to abandon show rehearsals, which had got off to such a great start, but at least we had enough rough footage of the dances to put a trailer together! Our end of year ‘Zoom Party’ was a great success and it was lovely to see so many faces of our mums and dads after weeks of no contact!

March 2020

In March – just a week or two before lockdown - two of our dancers attended the Southern Dance Class Awards in Portsmouth. Holly Whitefield and Lili Harding danced beautifully in all three categories of Ballet, Jazz and Tap. The competition was very strong, but Lili still managed to be chosen for the finals in each genre, and then won first place in the Jazz! I was really proud of both of them for representing HSD so strongly in our first competition of this type.

February 2020

HSD were invited take part in this event at the Hawth Theatre. Several dance schools from across Surrey and Sussex took part, and showcased an extremely high level of talent. There was a great atmosphere on the day, with all the schools and students supporting each other backstage. Each school was asked to nominate their own ‘dance star’ and our award went to Lucy Barnard for her consistent hard work and also her help with the younger students. The organisers also chose a ‘dancer of the day’ from among all the participants, and that went to HSD’s Alfie Milborrow. They praised Alfie for his energy and commitment, and felt he really stood out. Well done Alfie!

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November  2019

In November 2019 we held RAD Ballet exams for students from Grade 1 up to Grade 5. Results came in January this year, and everyone received either a Merit or a Distinction - a fantastic achievement! We also held ISTD Modern and Tap exams in February, and also received outstanding results across all Grades. Some students took exams in all three genres within this short time frame, and impressed us with their all-round excellence.

November 30th 2019

We are so incredibly honoured to have been nominated for the Masters of Dance 'Dance School of Excellence Award'!

Dance schools throughout the region are eligible for the award, and parents send in their recommendations and reasons for nominating a school. Horsham School of Dance have been shortlisted and will perform two pieces at the Hawth Theatre on Sunday 2nd February 2020 where the results will be announced.

Thank you to any parents who nominated us - we are so proud that you did!

September 8th 2019

To celebrate the re-launch of HSD under new ownership, we're holding a 'Funday Sunday' event at North Heath Hall on September 8th.

A free afternoon for everyone to join in with some of the dance styles that we offer at HSD, to get your hair styled like a ballerina, or to just have a cup of tea and a chat with our teachers and students.

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July 11th 2019

Auditions for Horsham's Capitol Theatre's annual Pantomime took place this weekend, and once again several HSD students were chosen to take part. Congratulations to them all and we can't wait to see them in Peter Pan this Christmas!