January 2012: A fine start
to 2012!
The new year is off to a fine start:
- Following the success of our “Ladies’ Ballet”, a new class began this term. We now have 30 women learning ballet on a weekly basis and are assisted by our wonderful pianist Josef Hill.
- Congratulations to Pilar Thorley (8), Kristin Townsend (12), Sophie Sheridan (12), Phoebe Lyndsay (13) and Rachel Hunt (13) attending their 2nd term at London Senior Ballet Associates www.ljb.org.uk in centralLondon, keep up the good work girls!
- Special credit to Sophie Sheridan aged 12 years who has been selected from 100’s of hopefuls to dance in this year’s prestigious production of London Children’s Ballet (www.londonchildrensballet.com) at The Peacock theatre in May. Click here to read more about Sophie’s dance succes in the Surrey Advertiser.
- Our congratulations to Isabella Bardos (10 ) who begins a 5th term at The Royal Ballet School Junior Associates. Please read Isabella’s profile on “Our Pupils” page to find out more.
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December 2011: Imperial Ballet Examinations Congratulations to 85 of our pupils who did very well in their examinations at the end of the Autumn term, despite the “busyness” of the season and lots of coughs and colds a very high standard of results were achieved, many passing with Distinction. Well done to pupils, teachers and pianists.
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December 2011: Christmas Dance School
Many thanks to Hannah Lockyer and her team for running the Christmas 2011 dance workshop. 20 girls and boys aged 6 – 11yrs delighted parents with a performance of “The Snowman” and launched us into the Christmas holidays!
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October 2011: Christmas Dance School
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October 2011: London Junior and Senior Associates
Congratulations to 5 pupils of WVS of B who successfully auditioned for the London Junior and Senior Ballet associate courses and began training this term.
Pilar Thorley and Kristin Townsend have been accepted onto the Junior programme and Rachel Hunt, Phoebe Lindsay and Sophie Sheridan onto the Senior course.
Do read more about this ballet initiative at the website www.ljb.org.uk Well done girls!
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October 2011: Dance Summer School (August 2011)
This year’s dance summer school saw many young children smile their way through four days of dance activities, which resulted in a performance for friends and families of ‘On your marks...’.
The performance based around a London 2012 Olympics theme explored the celebration of young talent and countries coming together. ‘On your marks...’ was a warm up to the Olympic Games and excited the children in the lead up to the event which takes place next year. The week allowed children to learn and develop their ballet and contemporary dance skills as well as explore their own creativity in being given the opportunity to create their own choreography as part of the performance. All the young dancers worked extremely hard and gave a brilliant performance showing off the talent and enthusiasm they have for dance.
By Hannah Lockyer
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April 2011: London Children’s Ballet (LCB)
Congratulations to Rachel Hunt (pictured), 13 years who performed with the LCB Company in ‘Rumplestiltskin’, 28th April – 1st May at the Peacock Theatre, London WC2.
Rachel was selected from more than 600 girls who auditioned for just 42 places and has had a truly wonderful experience performing as part of a professional ballet production with full orchestra, for over 8,000 people, over 8 performances.
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March 2011: Imperial Ballet Examinations (ISTD), Spring Session 2011
88 children from age 5 years upwards took their ISTD ballet examinations at the end of the Spring term. We look forward to excellent results, as always.
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22 - 24 October 2010: The Nutcracker Ballet
Collyer Hall Theatre, Wimbledon
A years worth of planning and rehearsing culminated in a wonderful weekend of performances of ‘The Nutcracker Ballet’ at The Collyer Hall Theatre in Wimbledon.
120 pupils’, ages 6 to 17, took part in the production and all had great fun. It was a marvellous experience for our pupil’s to have the opportunity to perform in such a well-loved ballet show, in costume and make up. However, our primary aim was to use this lovely event to raise funds for CHASE (Children’s Hospice), our chosen charity.
Margaret Manly, a representative from CHASE spoke to the audience at the final performance and many of us are now better informed of the marvellous work that goes on at St Christopher’s Hospice in Guildford.
We managed to raise £6,372 by our efforts and are tremendously grateful to all our pupils parents and local sponsors for making this possible. For more information about the charity, please go to their website: www.chasecare.org.uk.
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March 2010: - Anne Judith Duckworth. 1933 – 2010
Many member of the ballet school, both staff and families are deeply saddened at the loss of our beloved pianist, Judith Duckworth, who passed away on 11th March 2010.
Judith had played the piano for ballet classes at the school for 32 years and will be greatly missed by children and parents alike.
Judith’s funeral took place on Friday 26th March at St Mary’s Parish Church, Wimbledon Village where she has been an active member of the congregation for many years. The Church was full with family and friends gathered to hear the extremely moving tribute to Judith. Many of us, although we had known her for a number of years has no idea how Judith has worked tirelessly all her life, serving the community in a spirit of humility and joy.
We will miss her enthusiasm, honesty and love and are so grateful to God for the blessing she has been to our school.
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1st July 2010: - Congratulations to Benji!
"Benji Pearson, a student at the Wimbledon Village School of Ballet, will take up a place at the Royal Ballet School. Benji - who only started taking ballet lessons last year - will begin at the school in Richmond Park in September".
Click here to read the article that made the press.
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Archive News:
21 January 2010 - Congratulations
Congratulations to our Royal Ballet School Junior Associate pupil Benji Pearson (10) who performed in several performances of 'The Tsarina's Slippers' Opera at Covent Garden during the Christmas season.
Benji has also successfully auditioned for the London Children's Ballet 2009 production of 'Ballet Shoes' to be performed at the Peacock Theatre, London in April. Rachel Hunt (12) has also been selected to dance and Sophie Sheridan will join the LCB Touring company to perform in the Spring season.
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16 January 2010 - Ladies Ballet Classes
From Thursday 25th February we are launching a Ladies Ballet Course. It will be a 5 week introductory, daytime course (Thursdays 12 - 1.00pm) and is especially for all those Mums who would love to have a go at ballet technique, perhaps for the first time - beginners are very welcome.
The classes will combine both pilates and classical technique designed to develop posture, flexibility and muscle tone. Come along and try, we promise it will be relaxed and fun! No tutus necessary!... Tights or leggings, leotard and/or t-shirt and ballet shoes.
To sign up or for more information please call Michelle - 020 8286 8154
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December 2009
Wishing all our pupils and their familes a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year from everyone at the Wimbledon Village Ballet School.
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September 09
A very warm welcome to our newest member of staff, Rachel Riveros (click here to see her profile) who will be teaching our Monday, Thursday and Friday classes this term. Rachel comes with a wealth of experience of teaching young children and we are all delighted that she is joining the team.
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August 09 - Summer Schools
London Children's Ballet (LCB) Summer School.
Two of our pupils, Sophie Sheridan (9) and Benji Pearson (10) have attended the LCB SummerSchool this month. They were taught by expert ballet teachers and learned a wide variation of styles during the week. It was a great experience for these talented young dancers and we hope they will audition for the LCB production next year.
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WVS of B Summer School.
Many of our pupils and other children from The Study Prepartory School, Wimbledon enjoyed a fantastic time at the Summer School this holiday. Our thanks go to Miss Jessica and Miss Rachel who gave the girls a wonderful week learning excerts from the ballet "Coppelia" and exploring Contemporary movement in a very creative atmosphere. The week culminated in a first class performance (complete with props and costumes made by the children!) for all parents and friends to watch. Congratulations to Sophie Sheridan for dancing the lead part in Coppelia and Kristin Townsend who won the competition for best picture.
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Imperial Ballet Exams - July 09
More than 100 pupils took Imperial (ISTD) Ballet Exams this term. Candiates ranged from Pre Primary to Standard V levels. Well done to all pupils, their parents and their teachers for all their hard work and commitment. We eagerly await the results, but are confident everyone has done well.
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Farewell to Jessica - July 09
It's a great sadness that we say goodbye to our lovely ballet teacher, Jessica Green this term. Jessica has been with WVS of B for 4years and has contributed a great deal during her time at the school. Her patient and sensitive teaching style, along with her creative talents have been of great benefit to her students. We wish her every success in her new teaching post at Ibstock Place School, Surrey and look forward to seeing her back in Wimbledon during holiday times to run the workshops.
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Royal Ballet School Junior Associate Place - July 09
Congratulations to Benji Pearson who has done exceedingly well to be accepted onto the prestigious Royal Ballet School Junior Associate Programme. Benji has attended classes at the WBS of B since January 2009, we wish him well in this exciting new venture.
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Exciting News - Contemporary/ Jazz classes starting May 09
The Wimbledon Village School of Ballet is no longer exclusively a ballet school! From May 2009 Contemporary/Jazz classes will be introduced to the weekly timetable. These will be taught by Jessica Green. For more information about this great new class please go directly to our "Classes page" now or click here.
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"The King and I"
Well done to Rio Dow (Standard III pupil) who was selected to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in a production of "The King and I" earlier this year. Rio danced in a number of performances and it was a proud moment for her family and friends.
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Autumn Term - September 2008
“Congratulations to all of our examination candidates”
60 children, ranging from 5 to 15yrs took their Imperial ballet exams in July. The school maintained its high standard pass rate with many children achieving an A grade. Thank you to our teachers and pianists for all their hard work and well done to all the children.
“Farewell to our pianist of 35 years”
 We bid our fond farewells to Judith Duckworth at the end of the summer term as she retired from playing the piano for the school after 35 yrs of devoted service. Judith has been a highly valued member of the team at the WVS of B, not only in her musical accompanying but also as coordinator for 3 successful ballet productions performed by the school over the past 10 years. Judith’s enthusiasm and energy will be greatly missed by all but we wish her well in her retirement and hope she will continue to visit us in the future.
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“Welcome to our new member of staff”
We are most fortunate to welcome a new pianist to the musical team this term. Ann Booth is a very experienced accompanist and will bring her expertise to the Thursday afternoon sessions. We look forward to welcoming her to the school.
“A big thank you!”
We wish to express our sincere thanks to Susannah and Sophia Peppiat for their most generous donation to the school of a new ballet barre. Susannah has attended WVS of B for the past 10 years and now leaves us to attend boarding school. We wish her every success for the future and hope that she will continue her dancing studies.
“Farewell to the Nadias!”
 It is with sadness but great pride that we said goodbye to Nadia Abdulla and Nadia Williamson at the end of the summer term. Both the girls joined the school aged 3 and have been fully committed to their ballet studies for the past 15 years, passing all their Imperial exams with the highest grades and performing in all the school productions. (see pupil profiles for more info). They have been a delight to teach and a great asset to the school. We will miss them both very much but wish them well as they head off to University next month, Nadia Abdulla to read Physics and Maths at Bristol and Nadia Williamson to read English at Oxford….not just pretty faces!
January 2008
“Four thousand pounds raised for charity”
During the Autumn half term holiday the ballet school was hard at work performing at The Collyer Hall Theatre, King’s College School, Wimbledon in 4 performances of “The Four Seasons” ballet.
Almost 100 children aged 7-18yrs were involved in the production as well as many parents in the costume department and as backstage assistants. Diploma students of The Wimbledon School of Art created a stunning backcloth and the event was filmed and re-created for DVD by Peter Byram of The Royal Opera House.
This wonderful event marked the retirement of the founder of the WVSof B, Vernie Stilwell who began classes at St Mary’s in Fellowship House hall 32 years ago. Her legacy lives on through her partner of the school for the past 14yrs, Michelle Townsend and Fiona Keeble, an associate teacher. Together they are committed to continuing the success of the school and passing on a love and appreciation of dance to all its pupils.
The WVS of B will continue to support its chosen charities “The Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity” and St Mary’s Church and are delighted to present £4000.00 of proceeds from “The Four Seasons” production later this month.
“WVS of B pupil to train in Paris”
Miss Juliette Dutois, aged 16 successfully auditioned for ballet school in Paris last Summer and has now commenced full-time training at the Chaptal Academy studying with Monique Arabian, a former danseuse etoile and jazz technique with Rick Oddums. Juliette began ballet classes at the WVS of Ballet aged 4 and successfully passed all her Imperial ballet exams to Intermediate Foundation level as well as performing in four full-length productions with the school. We all miss her greatly but wish her every success with her professional training in Paris.
“Royal Ballet School Junior Associates auditions”.
Three of our 7 yr old pupils will audition for the prestigious Royal Ballet School junior associate ballet scheme later this term. They are currently preparing for ballet exams and we wish them success in these ventures.
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