Dear Teachers Volunteers and Friends,

We are really proud to report that 2011 our first festival in the driving seat was successful.  Thank you all so much for supporting us and please continue to do so. We are working very hard to expand and deliver some more new and exciting classes, we have excellent adjudicators booked for 2012 and we are confident that with your support next year will be even better. For the dance teachers don’t forget this year our festival is a qualifier for All England Dance. www.all-england-dance.org.uk.

A large number of children travelled to Paris this year to represent team England in Dance World Cup. England came second overall with a team consisting almost entirely of students from Sussex! Congratulations to you all. We are very proud of the high standards our local schools achieve. This year the final is being held in Austria and the entry is open to anyone. For full details of how to enter please go to the website www.dwcworld.com.  2013 the final will be in Brighton at The Dome theatre for a week commencing Monday July 1^st.  For all dance lovers this will be a week not to be missed.

There has been a slight change in the trustees. Debbie Johnson remains as Dance Director and Simon Gray as Singing director.  Anthea Myall is Simon’s assistant director although not a trustee.  Mary Haworth has joined as company secretary, Jo Arnett has moved to Sponsorship and Advertising and Keith Shepherd has also joined the board. Becky Kirkham remains as Financial director ably assisted by Elaine Holliday who is now residing in Austrailia but is still  working for us and attends meetings via Skype.   A very special thank you to Tony Fellingham who kindly did the independent examination of our accounts. I am personally very grateful to each and every one of my team who give their time so generously and who have worked so hard over the past year to make Sussex Festival a success.

We have decided to do away with the teacher committees. It is becoming increasingly difficult to get busy teachers together for regular meetings and only a few teachers were represented. We would like to have an annual singing and dancing teachers meeting, we need your input and we want to hear to hear your views.  I propose the best time for the annual meeting should be relatively quickly after the festival, whilst you are still buzzing with ideas (or groans) to give us time to deliver the following year.

Our singing and dancing directors have a new active “team” consisting of teachers and volunteers. Each person plays a particular role in the running of the festival.

I had hoped to introduce you all to our new festival administrator Sarah Salvage. Please say hello to Sarah during the festival. She is doing a splendid job and she is very keen to get to know all our teachers.  We have invested in a new data base this year which we hope will streamline the work in the future. Meanwhile please make sure you put the full DOB on all the entry forms , not just the age, which we did in the past. This should make life much easier from an administration point of view but please be patient during our first year.  

As you will know by now we are moving venues this year due to Roedean being refurbished. The singing classes will be at The Barn Theatre in Southwick. This is a really lovely venue and I sure you will find the theatrical environment will make the classes seem very special. The Windmill Theatre which is part of Blatchington Mill school will be the home of the dance section. I believe you will all be pleasantly surprised at what a nice venue it is. We will have raked seating, a good size stage and professional lighting. There will be refreshments all day and free parking!  It is also on a bus route for those of you who do not drive

 NEW    PERFORMANCE CLASS  in Dance Section

We would like to introduce you to our a non-competitive  Performance Class. We feel this class will be ideally suited to the following:-

Pupils who may have not entered a festival before

GCSE and A level Dance pupils

Dancers who may like the opportunity to try their own choreography

Pupils who would simply like the opportunity to perform on stage in front of an audience.

You may enter a solo, duet, trio, quartet or  group of any age, in any style of dance with or without song. We strongly advise you not to mix dance techniques unless the choreographer feels it deliberately enhances the performance. The performance can be anything from 1 minute to a maximum of 3 minutes. You should wear a suitable costume and make up and bring  two copies of your music on two c/d’s which are clearly marked with your name.

All entries will receive an adjudicators report and a certificate..

To enter please download an entry form from our website:  www.sussexfestival.co.uk

In case you have not entered a festival before please remember to put the name of your school , how many dancers are taking part and the title of the piece.

NEW Staged Musical Theatre Solo with Movement  JOINT ENTRY  FROM BOTH SINGERS AND DANCERS

This year we are introducing a new JOINT section class which is open to both the singing and dancing sections. The class will take place during the singing festival at THE BARN in Southwick from March  14th to 17^th

Class description

This class will be marked considering three techniques: SINGING, MOVEMENT and ACTING.

The performance must not be longer than 4 minutes maximum but a shorter piece is more than acceptable.

It is preferable to perform with a piano accompaniment and an accompanist is available should you wish. However you are welcome to bring your own backing track and a CD player will be available.

A song from a musical should be presented with suitable movement (not a full dance solo) and in costume or suitable clothing for the chosen part.

For dancers it is an opportunity to improve your singing skills and to benefit from the expertise and knowledge of a singing adjudicator.

For singers it is an opportunity to improve your movement and presentation skills.

The winner will be offered a free place in the Singing workshop with our guest adjudicator, which will be an invaluable experience and opportunity for students planning to audition for entry to musical theatre.

For further details of how to enter please refer to the website.

NEW  Staged Opera  Classes  Singing section

This new class is offered to give singers the opportunity to perform a solo scene from an opera with movement plus any necessary props and in costume or suitable clothing for the chosen part.  This class will be marked considering the three techniques of singing, acting and movement. The aria can be sung in the original language or in an English translation. The time limit is 6 minutes and must be performed with piano accompaniment – backing tracks are not allowed.

Please contact us if you require further information.

The Trophy Class

I will be giving a workshop to all the students who enter at the end of January. Confirmation of the date to follow. I intend to show variations to make the dance simpler or more difficult in order to suit the age and standard of the students.

Next year there are a lot of festivals in the spring term. Please support us as we can’t do it without you, we need you and we would love you to get involved and join us.

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas and I look forward to seeing you at the 2012 Sussex Festival of Dance and Song.

Jacqueline Storey

Chairman of Sussex Festival of Dance & Song