So we are near the end of our Spring term. Things have gone really well. Our new venue, Acland Burghley school is fantastic!
Great to see new faces as well as our regular bunch, all getting on and working so hard together.
This term we have learnt a lot of material. We have learnt 3/4 of the choir songs, we’ve started work on most of our dances for our arena work and we have investigated the themes of our drama pieces and now we are starting to set them!
We now have the Easter break to practice and then when we come back on 13th April we can start polishing our performance!!
There is still time to join us, but only if you sign up before 13th April. After then we won’t be able to take on anymore students until September. Feel free to get in touch and get on our waiting list!
Have a great Easter break!
Lots of Love
Geraldine and the Team
We are now 2 thirds through our spring term and things are coming along nicely!
We have schedules to stick to to make sure we get all the work done and so far we are doing very well.
This Saturday we are bringing the three groups together for the first time. We get so comfy in our 3 age groups sometimes it’s nice to mix it up a bit.
As we are working as one centre rather than 3 groups in this show, we need to learn to work together. The 6-9’s up there game because they want to be like the older kids and the older kids up their game as they know others are counting on them!
It’s great as it changes the dynamic and energy at the centre. We don’t do this every week at this stage, it would get boring! But as the weeks go on and we start putting numbers together, students will need to see the bigger picture and we will put them together more and more so by show day they are a slick machine working together!
So Saturday, in dance we continued work on Saturday Night Fish fry!
This is a high energy dance and so far we had just worked on a section at a time, putting it all together was so much fun!!
We are really getting into this dance and putting it all together gave us a great sense of achievement. It’s great to watch as each student gets the hang of these fun moves!!
Everyone came out of the session red faced and full of smiles!!
There is such a buzz about the place, these kids are going to have the time of their life and I’m so excited to take that journey with them!
Want to join us? free trials available this term, there are only a few weeks left to join our O2 show!
www.theatretrain.co.uk/franchisee-zone/fz-highgate
I have run Theatretrain for over 3 years now and before that I taught for Theatretrain for 4 years. One of the most amazing things is to watch the students grow.
In our classes our teachers work hard to engage every child, and to see that one child who used to stay at the back of the class, never make eye contact or speak up in class, now at the front singing his/her heart out, or taking a lead part in a drama class is what we are all about!
Performing at the O2 Arena gives young people the chance to shine without being singled out or be put in the spotlight as our shows are about the group and the work rather than the individual. In our shows each student is the star of the show!
There are confident members of our groups and we use their energy to feed back into the group.
In the following weeks I will post pictures of our preparation to the O2 Arena, I hope you will follow our journey and maybe even join us there!
On Saturday we started learning songs for the O2 Arena. We have 17 songs to learn in total all with choir moves! So lots to learn.
As mentioned in the last post we learnt rolling in the deep! I played the full mix version first and watched as jaws dropped to the floor. They were very excited as they all love this song and told me over and over how they knew this one!
“Well” I said, “You don’t know the Theatretrain version, we like to do things a little differently!”
And with such focus and attention they learnt their part and the moves, very confident and full of smiles. I decided to hand out the songbooks at the end of the session, sometimes holding words gets in the way of having fun! I tried to dismiss the group at the end of the lesson and for once, utter silence! They were all engrossed in the song book wondering what was going to be next!
Now they go home armed with their songbook, CD and online choir moves
(www.theatretrain.co.uk/801/the-student-zone/)
Password protected so only students can see!
Next week we’ll be learning Viva La Vida and Let me Entertain you!
Excited!!
Our Songbooks are ready, CD’s are on their way! This Saturday we start learning songs for our show 20@O2!!
First song ‘Rolling in the Deep’ in 4 part harmony! (We only have to learn on part though. This is sung by all 3000 Theatretrain Students!!
Going to be epic!
Still time to join us! Call 07724 433914
I’m pleased to announce Theatretrain Highgate will be in the Blue Choir in the 20@O2 Show on the 14th July 2013!!
Every Theatretrain show has 2 part harmony in the choir. We call them Red Choir and Blue Choir. The upper and lower harmony parts are divided between the 2 choirs so red’s don’t get all the high parts and blues don’t get all the low parts.
Usually for our London shows each centre is split into red and blue. This creates great fun for the 2 choirs to compete against each other to see who can be the loudest!
As you can imagine, with a choir of 1500 young people, logistically it would be impossible to split each centre into red and blue. So each centre is either red or blue.
For our Arena section we are in the middle third (Purple Stage) on our left hand side is red stage (Who will also be red choir) and on our right hand side is blue stage (who will also be Blue choir)
As we are purple stage, we could be either red or blue! (we stay in the same third of the arena, so our parents can buy tickets for the middle third and have the best view of us at all times!)
The CD’s are set to arrive soon, once they do we can start learning our parts and our choir moves!!
Exciting times
We have now moved to a new venue!
We are sad to announce we have had to move from the Fresh Youth Academy.
This is due to building work due to begin on the youth academy to extend the building. This work has been on the cards for a while but with no start date.
Over the Christmas break the council decided to start moving things in the building, leaving us no space for our classes. They community centre doesn’t have exact dates when the work will start or finish so I have decided to move on to a more stable venue.
I would like to thank the community centre for being so friendly and we have enjoyed our time in the Fresh Youth Academy.
So where are we off to??
Our classes will now take part at Acland Burghley School which is opposite Tufnell Park tube station. We will use the main entrance and we have the drama studio and a similar studio opposite and our singing classes will be in a large class room just upstairs.
We are so looking forward to starting there this Saturday onwards!
If you would like to pop along for a free trial session, please give me a call!
07724 433914
I’m so excited and on the edge of my seat waiting for the email to come through that means we can start this amazing project!!
With a project this scale, it involves many people doing many jobs before it gets handed down to us.
For the choir, special CD’s are recorded so that each child takes a copy with their part on it home to practice. The making of the CD’s involves recording and mixing in the studio and pressing and distributing. With over 3,000 copies being made, it’s important that all CD’s are thoroughly checked so there are no mistakes on them.
There are also choir moves which need to be choreographed and filmed.
The arena section will involve movement that we all do together which is distributed through notes and videos, all taking time to produce.
I can confirm our Band Call rehearsal, where we meet all the Purple stage people and rehearse with them for the first time will be Saturday 23rd June 2013, Wodson Park, Ware
I can also announce that we will be making a film out of our journey, more as a keepsake for us but also to give you a glimpse into the Theatretrain world!!
More very soon Eek!!
It was great to get back to Theatrertain on Saturday! The Christmas break felt longer than usual.
So 2013 is set to be a great year for us with Our O2 Show in July.
Over Christmas more information has filtered through!
As you know, we are in the choir for act 1 and the arena for act 2.
I can reveal our centre number (when we are on the stage in the middle of our section) is ‘I Believe’ and it will be a drama piece!! The Other numbers we will be performing in the arena include: Affirmation, Do you hear the people sing, Copacabana, Heroes, Black or White and more!!!
Our Choir songs include:Let me Entertain you, Sound of Silence, Music, Oh Fortuna, Bond Medley, Bring me to Life and More!!!!
We are able to audition for solos for the songs we are in the choir for. A full list will be available shortly!
Does this sound exciting? There is still time to sign up and we are offering a free trial in January.
visit www.theatretrain.co.uk/franchisee-zone/fz-highgate for all the info or call 07724 433914 to book your free trial!