SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAMMES

The Course:

• How are the students broken up into groups?

  The groups are age related - we break the course up into three roughly even groups, youngest, middle, and oldest.

• What do we need to bring each day?

  You should pack lunch, snacks and a water bottle - for security, we don't let students leave the venue at lunch time or in breaks. A pencil and paper often come in very useful! Please wear comfortable clothes that are suitable for active movement and dance not ‘glitz and glamour’. Closed toe shoes - jazz shoes or sports shoes - are essential (no jandals or crocs please). Jeans are very difficult to dance in!

• What about dinner on Saturday?

  On Saturday all students are required to be at the Theatre from their call time until the evening performance finishes - NYT provides pizza for dinner, please advise us of any specific dietary requirements. Alternatively they can bring in their own meal from home.

• What happens if we have to miss some of the course?

  We try to be as flexible as we can. If a student just misses a few hours (anywhere up to a whole day), we can normally work around this as long as they're willing to do a little work to catch up. The more time missed, the harder it is to include the student in the whole show - we work this out on a case by case basis. We'll always do our best to compensate! If a student is going to miss one or more shows, please let us know - we'll try to structure things so that their part can be covered by another student for the performances they will miss.

• Do we have to audition?

  There is no audition needed to be part of the course. On the first day we hold auditions for those who are keen to have a solo or small group item in the end-of-course performance, in addition to their group numbers. These auditions are completely optional, and very low-stress! Each cast-member can audition with at most one solo number and one small group number.

• We don't have a backing track for the auditions.

  iTunes and Amazon have a wide selection of "Karaoke" backing tracks.

The Show:

• How is the show put together?

  Throughout the week, the tutors work on devised pieces in the group times. Each group will participate in at least one song, one dance, and one acting piece. In addition to this, there are a full cast song and a full cast dance. In between these items, we slot in auditioned pieces. The audition piece can be a song, dance or other item such as a poem or monologue, tailored to fit the theme of the week. The show is hooked around a storyline that has been created by the cast through improvisation.

• How do you decide if an audition gets into the show?

  We do our best to fit everyone in if we can. Sometimes we're impressed by an audition, but the item might be difficult to fit into the show – or more than one student will audition with the same piece. In these cases we may work with the students to select another piece, or amalgamate their performance with that of another student. Alternatively we will assign solo lines from the group songs to those who've auditioned instead of putting their item in.

• How do I get tickets to the performances?

  Ticketing and admission are venue dependant - we'll let you know well in advance. Showcase timings on the Saturday will be confirmed to you via email during the week. All family are welcome to attend. If you are planning on bringing a particularly large group (more than 10) please just let us know.