Free Dance Classes in Putney on April 13th 2005

Emma’s Academy of Dance & Drama are opening their doors to new members at Putney Leisure Centre on Wednesday 13 th April and are offering free classes on the opening night.

The Academy, which is opening branches across London and the South throughout 2005, hopes that many local youngsters will come and give the classes a try with a view to continuing towards exams or competitions. The classes will be run by Principal Emma Weir who is a fully qualified instructor with several years experience training young people with great success.

“My ethos is for participants to learn through their enjoyment. That’s why I ensure my classes are a mixture of fun and learning” said Emma, who recently founded the Academy with its Hampshire and West London branches having opened earlier this year. She has previously taught local dance groups in the Hampshire area with a 100% exam pass rate through the syllabus of the International Dance Teachers Association.

Emma has noticed an increase in demand for Dance classes since the launch of the hit BBC shows ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ and now ‘Strictly Dance Fever’ which showed classic style routines sequences being brought to life by young talent and modern music. She will provide opportunities for her members to compete at national competitions, and already trains a highly successful formation team which have brought home a number of trophies. “It gives the dancers a chance to dress up and show off, which is all part of the fun!” laughs Emma.

One of her former pupils and competitors Mark Davies will be starring in this week’s edition of ‘Strictly Dance Fever’ having beaten thousands of hopefuls to gain one of the coveted studio spots. He and his partner will be performing a routine to Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ for host Graham Norton and a panel of celebrity Dance experts and hopes to make it through to the finals. Mark began his Dance career with lessons at Emma’s Hampshire club Albany as a child and from there went on to study at the acclaimed Brit School in London. Emma says of Mark “I am so proud of him and will be rooting for him on Saturday, he is unique and a true inspiration to young dancers.”

As well as offering the free Dance classes, the Academy is also running a Musical Theatre course starting on the same day, which will be working towards a performance at Her Majesty’s Theatre in July. Emma intends to give the Academy members as much chance to perform as possible, and has brought many troupes of youngsters to the West End for variety shows at venues such as the London Palladium.

On the opening night there will be 2 free ½ hour classes run 7.00 – 8.00 at the Leisure Centre in Putney. The first slot is Pop Video style Street Dance and the second is Cheerleading. Participants may try either or both and pre booking is not necessary, just turn up. For more information or to book a place for the ‘ West End’ troupe, please call 07703 347754 or visit www.emmasacademy.co.uk

April 5, 2005