The Big Dance Company

LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCES @BDC

fionadancer — Thu, 02 May 2013 11:20:39 +0000

‘The Big Dance Company’ is a local, family run dance company from Penzance, who have just returned flags ablaze from two incredible, international & life changing trips. Astounding considering some of their students are just 9 years old!!

The company were invited for the 6th year in a row to represent England at the ‘Dance Excellence: International Festival For Young Dancers’ event in Los Angeles, during March. Here they spent the week learning from some of the best choreographers in the world, including a workshop Nolan Padilla, Mark Meismer, Cody Green , Alex Little and Kathryn Mcormick, who shot to fame as the lead dancer in ‘Step Up Four’ the movie. The company also took part in a competition at Long Beach, California, with the Stateside trip culminating in a performance at Disneyland!

This was a dream come true for the students, especially for Chantelle Down (18), Cassie Brewer (16), and Emma Wilkins (15). The extremely talented Cornish dancers auditioned for the touring group ‘The Young Americans’ while they were in LA, and were successfully chosen to join the troupe. Chantelle, Cassie and Emma will be moving out to LA sometime over the next year to live their dream – but this will not be the first time dancers have made it into ‘The Young Americans’. Fiona has had over 15 dancers accepted into the amazing company over the years, who tour countries such as Japan, Europe and America.

Chantelle who will be moving to LA this year says:

“Its completely overwhelming – the thought of training and being a part of The Young Americans is just insane! I’ve been so inspired by The Young Americans ever since meeting them. I feel privileged that I now get to inspire others to go out an live their dream the way that the Young Americans have done to me.”

This year ‘The Big Dance Company’ have brought home 5 awards of excellence in the competition, the highest achievable award that is judged by top choreographers from LA.

“We are so honoured to be bringing these awards back to Cornwall and hope the local community will applaud these amazing children who are giving Cornwall such a great name in the dance industry.” – Fiona Richardson (Company Director)

Already on such a high, Fiona then took 17 dancers to the Philippines to be part of the ‘NCCA International Dance Exchange’ where, once more, they were asked to represent England. They spent a week on the island of Palawan sharing dance cultures, as well as partaking in outreach performances, where Fiona and her son Kyle led workshops to 875 Filipinos teaching them Hip Hop and Lyrical dance routines. The festival that is run by Shirley Halili CRuz then invited Fiona and ‘The Big Dance Company’ to teach at her studios in Manila where she runs the most successful Ballet Company in Asia.

“We then spent a day doing charity work, working on a dumpsite at Tondo with the families, who live their everyday lives without water and basic daily living needs that we all take for granted. We spend the day teaching them dance and performing for them in their church that has been built for them by a local charity. This trip is a real life changer and helps our young people really appreciate their lives, and the festival gives them cultural engagement from people from all over the world that they may never experience again in their lives.” – Fiona Richardson.

‘The Big Dance Company’ are now taking applications for dancers to attend ‘Dance Excellence’ and the Philippines trip with them next year, the events are open to all BDC dancers. If you are interested in auditioning for either of these events please emailfiona@thebigdancecompany.com

British Championships 2013

fionadancer — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:29:16 +0000

What an amazing weekend we have just had at the UDO British Championships held at Brean Sands Somerset. We took our 6 teams to compete at one of the toughest hip hop competitions in the UK, who hosts competitions in solos, duos, quads, teams and crews.

We had soem amazing results and most of our dancers at least made quarter and semi finals. Every year this competition gets tougher so we were overwhelmed to come back with such fantastic results. Congratulations to you all for working so hard and supporting each other.

solos

Paul McOwen 3rd u14 Novice, Alex Noronia 3rd under 14 Intermediate, Charley Mc Owen 4th under 16 advanced, charley Buckley 3rd Under 16 advanced, Jack Walker 4th under 16 advanced boys, Rebecca Luke 6th over 16 advanced girls.

Duos

Holli Darch and Tilly Brewer 4th under 10 advanced, Sennen Kevern and Sophia Clarke 2nd Under 10 novice, chloe Morris and Jago Mottart 3rd Under 12 intermediate, Katie Holding and Natasha Stirling 5th under 16 intermediate, Robyn Woolman and Georgia Drew 3rd under 16 Itermediate, Cassie Brewer and Jess Lavery 5th over 16 intermediate, Jack Walker and Emma Wilkins 1st over 16 intermediate, Georgina Buchanan and Bonnie Roberts 5th under 16 advanced, charley McOwen and Cattran Dugdale 2nd under 16 Advanced,

Teams

TRC 2nd under 18 intermediate, Debut 5th under 18 Novice, lil trixstars 8th under 10 advanced , NU flava 5th over 18 intermediate

BDC also made top 5 dance schools for overall points for the weekend.

We are now busy rehearsing for Aleishas street stars and our International trips to LA and Philippines.

INTERNATIONAL TRIPS COMING SOON!!

fionadancer — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:36:50 +0000

It wont be long before two of our crews jet out the Philippines and Los Angeles to represent UK in an international festival of dance. During our week in LA we will take classes with some of the best choreographers in LA and at the end of the week present work for the judges to comment on and present us with an award according to our result in the event. We will also perform at Disneyland California.

When we visit the Philippines we will be taking part in the amazing dance exchange which is hosted by a beautiful Island Palawan this year. We will spend 5 days performing and teaching workshops and then back to Manila to spend time with the street children and families in tondo on the dumpsite, brightening up there day with lots of dance and laughter. Whilst in Manila we will also be spending time with our dear friends from the Halil cruz ballet school teaching hip hop workshops. This weekend on the 23rd February from 12-4pm we will be holding a table top sale in our studios in chapel street to raise money for these trips, here you can pick up so many bargains and cut price designer clothing and shoes , toys and refreshments and on the 9th March at Penwith college we will be performing a showcase of our work that we will be presenting Internationally, tickets only £5 from bdc office 01736 333 444. Hope you can come and support us !!

Big Day at the Welsh hip Hop championships

fionadancer — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:00:57 +0000

THis Sunday the Big Dance Company travelled to Newport Wales to compete at the United Dance Organisations Welsh Hip hop championships, which hosted the top dance schools in the country and this was their busiest yet with over 1000 dancers!!

The competition was very tough, attracting top schools from across the country, and started off in the morning with over 100 teams competing, our teams needed to be placed in the top five of their section to qualify to compete at the world Hip Hop championships next August that is being hosted by Glasgow.

We had a very successful start with Sweet dreams being placed 5th TRC (tricky crew ) were placed 2nd and Sweet Flava also placed 2nd so all teams qualified.

we had as much success in the solos with many of our dancers making the final 10 and in one of the finals 4 out of the 6 were from the Big Dance Company. Bonnie Roberts 6th, Georgina Buchanan 5th, Ben Thompson 4th and Charley Buckley 3rd.

Jack Walker 15 from Sweet Flava won the under 16 advanced section and runner up also from the Big dance Company was Charley McOwen 14.

One of our new dancers Joseph Hunter 10 who competed for the very first time not only made the final out of 70 dancers but finished 2nd place!!!

The duos division was also very successful with our under 10 couple Tilly Brewer 8 and Holli Darch 8 winning their section and now moving up to advanced.

other results – chloe morris and Jago Mottart 5th, Georgia Drew and Robyn Woolman 3rd, Alex Norona and Olivia Hewitt 4th, Billy Buckland and Tasha Stirling 4th, Ben Thompson and Charley Buckley 2nd, Cassie brewer and Jess Lavery 4th, Jack Walker and Emma Wilkins 2nd, Catran Dugdale and Shannon O Connell 3rd, Charley McOwen and Jonny Shapland 5th, Tiffanie Linzell and Becca Luke 4th

we are so proud of these committed youngsters, we are now working toward the British open championships in kent next weekend, and we now have tickets on sale for our christmas showcase Dance Dream Believe, at St johns hall Penzance on 13th and 14th December 2012

7-9pm This show always sells out so book early to avoid disappointment. 01736 333 444 office opposite the turks head pub chapel street.

BIG HELP FROM WEST CORNWALL YOUTH TRUST

fionadancer — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 12:29:16 +0000

For our 12 years the Big dance Company have been providing Opportunities to young people in Cornwall to give them the tools to make it it in the dance and entertainment Industry with many success stories. However the Big Dance Company is not just about training dancers to impress for auditions shows and competitions but to help them express and find self confidence and help them grow into confident young adults with skills that they can use in whichever path they choose to take.

Unfortunately there are alot of talented passionate youngsters out there that would love to have the opportunity to dance but with the current climate as it is many families can not afford to send their child to dance class, especially families that rely on benefits, dance classes would be on a non priority list. For the past 7 years the Big dance company have been personally supporting over 20 students so that they can dance and have a healthier, more focused life style and the results are so positive they have not been able to withdraw the scholarships. We see many children that were or could have been in a very bad place without dance as a focus and that gives us the inspiration to keep providing these scholarships.

West Cornwall Youth Trust recognised the positive effect that dance has on our local community and has stepped in to help. The trust was set up in 2009 to help charitable organisations in Cornwall who work with young people aged between 10-21 who are underprivileged, seriously financially constrained, and socially disadvantaged.

The trust have just awarded us with a cheque of £3600.00 to help support young people in west Cornwall and provide more opportunities for those that can not afford dance classes and that would benefit from the healthier lifestyle, positive surroundings and something to focus their energy on.

If you feel that your family would benefit from this bursary project please contact us at the office on 01736 333 444, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank West Cornwall Youth Trust for supporting this project and helping us to help keep the young people in our community focused, motivated, and Inspired.

BIG RESULTS AT THE UDO WORLD HIP HOP CHAMPIONSHIPS

fionadancer — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:55:57 +0000

This year proved to be bigger and tougher at the world udo hip hop championships blackpool where 25 countries from all over the world including japan, canada, usa and germany battled it out to be placed in a final at this prestigious event where over 130 crews competed and some solo heats with over 100 dancers competing.

The event held at the winter gardens blackpool attracted over 1600 dancers, and the big dance company penzance took 140 people along to the event including 70 dancers and family and friends .

We were so shocked when we learnt that in tricky crews section in under 18s as they have just had to move up to the older category as most members have turned 14, there was over 30 crews competing and they managed to score high enough to get in the top ten who had to then dance a final in front of table of 10 judges and were placed 4th!!! We were ecstatic as this was the b biggest category and the standard was so high!!! Sweet dreams with 27 in their section and lil trix with 8 also made the finals.!!

In solos the standards were so high, charley buckley and katie holding both 14 battled through 5 heats and over 70 dancers and both made it into the top 7 with katie being placed 6th and charley being placed 4th. Lee dunn 22 also made the final finishing 6th in adults and alex noronia was placed 4th in under 12 intermediates out of 70 dancers, natasha stirling 14 was placed 3rd in the under 16 newcomer section and charley mc owen made it into the advanced girls final and finished 4th after performing a 35 second solo spot!!!
Many of the other dancers made quarter and semi finals just missing that final spot.

In the duos section we had again great success with charley buckley and ben finishing second out of 60 couples and georgina buchanan and bonnie roberts finished 4th in advanced after performing their solo spot and tilly brewer and holli darch finished 5th place, amber harvey and maize jenkin 3rd out of 40 couples and olivia hewitt and alex noronia 4th out of 45 couples , brittany brewer and charley furze finished 5th in over 16 couples out of 40 .

And bdc made it to the quarter finals in crew battles

We were blown away by the results at the weekend and so proud to bring back final places for cornwall.

We would like to thank our teachers for all their hard work and to parents and students for their continued commitment !!

At the weekend bdc were also selling their this is me Danceaid t shirts at the competition supporting their Philippines project 2013 and sold over 250 t shirts!!!!

Bdc are now about to start working on their christmas showcase and if you would like to be part of this there is no audition just call the office and find a place that suits you and you will be dancing with bdc on stage this christmas. Show is on the 13th and 14th december, tickets on sale from , november from bdc office 01736333444
big dreams, big opportunities!!! www.bdc.me.uk

THE BIG DANCE COMPANY – BIG DREAMS, BIG ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

fionadancer — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:18:03 +0000

The Big dance company Penzance Cornwall have been representing England for the past 4 years now, representing their country in the most prestigious dance festival in the Whole of Asia.

The National Committee of the Culture and the Arts invited the Big dance Company this year to represent England at the 4th International dance Exchange held in Cebu City Philippines, where over 700 teachers, dancers, students and assistants from all over the Philippines come to learn from master teachers from all over the world including Korea, India, England, Thailand, Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, USA to name but a few of the 25 countries.

“I am so proud that a small dance company like us from a small town in Cornwall can have such an honor of representing the country at such a prestigious event, our name the Big dance company represents our ambition and dreams and determination and by being chosen to be part of such a prestigious event with such incredibly talented and skilled companies just confirms that believing means achieving”

This year we flew out to Manila with dancers aged from 11 years old to 22 years for three days early on our own expenses to help charities PCF, Danceaid and Hope.

The first day 26 of us visited the dumpsite on Tondo where 1000’s of families live without running water, electricity, sanitary facilities and very basic sheltering with up to 20 people sharing a very small space. We visited the community to allow our dancers to see the conditions in which they survive and to have more of an understanding or their daily lives and the work they have to do to provide food for the families. We then went to a centre that has been provided by the PCF where they have a feeding program and a church program that includes singing, education, and safe place to go, it was here that we led a dance workshop for the children aged between 5 – 25 followed by a performance from Tricky crew , that the children loved!!!

It was such a beautiful time, to see the children from the big dance company and the dumpsite communicating and sharing time together, they learnt so much from each other and I think we learnt more from them, seeing them smiling and appreciating every second that we spent with them, and seeing their gratitude for our time. The children bought them some gifts and some knitted toys that one of our parents made, and they loved them, we gave them pictures and stickers and treats and we had the time of our lives.

We then went on to street project run by charity Hope, that is financially assisted by fantastic UK based Danceaid, who raise money through dance. Danceaid harnesses the energy, the passion, and the popularity of dance to transform the lives of vulnerable children.

Led by Kyle Richardson, We taught over 150 street children a workshop led by kyle Richardson, we had so much fun, if only for a short time the children had our full attention to show that people do care about their situation and that they do matter. The hope charity goes to the streets and helps educate children on abuse, drugs, alcohol and how to help improve their future by helping them get into education. The heat was reaching 90f but the Big dance company dancers kept pushing through making sure these children had the time of their lives.

We then drove to another centre, where boys are rescued and rehabilitated and provided with an eduction to help them become independant and have a future, we had dinner with the residents and teachers and Kyle then taught a breakdance workshop, the boys really bonded with Kyle and really appreciated the class, they then put on a show for us.

For next 5 days we took part in the dance exchange that was hosted by the City of Cebu, a beautiful place, they greeted us with local dancers of the plane in traditional dress, the BDC dancers were overwhelmed, over the next few days we taught a masterclass to over 300 company dancers from all over the world, led by Fiona we danced Lyrical together and what a powerful experience, we needed no language we just all shared the 2 hours together dancing and learning, we also led a workshop to over 700 workshop participants from all over the Philippines, hip hop taught by Kyle Richardson and Lyrical by Fiona Richardson, the place was electric, Filipinos are such amazing dancers and really worked so hard, we had so much fun!!!! We performed at some beautiful theaters over the next few days alongside some of teh best dance groups in the world and to close the festival we were taken on a cultural tour, visiting some of Cebu’s finest sights including the dancing inmates made famous on you tube at Cebu prison, the beautiful churches and provinces to meet the locals and experience the culture.

The team of dancers that we took worked so hard and really did represent not just Penzance cornwall but the UK in a very professional and honorable way. Thank you to our Team Shanon, Catran, Georgina, Meg, Jodie, Billy, Ben, Charley b, Charley Mc, Holly, Robyn, Brittany, Jack,Sophie, Hannah, Emma, Tilly and Kyle. Who worked hard fundraising all year to make this project a reality. These young people are great role models for the community and I am so proud of them!!!

We have already been invited back again next year, where the festival will be held on a different Province in the Philippines and next year The Big dance Company will be setting up a street project in conjunction with hope charity and dance aid by providing self esteem, confidence building and performance workshops and choreographing a show for the street children so they can perform in a theatre. We will also be working very closely with our new partnership with Halil Cruz Ballet company (the most outstanding ballet company in Asia) by bringing this amazing Manila Based company back to the UK to perform with the Big Dance Company in a number of shows across the UK.

We would also like to congratulate Sophie Walke 19 year old Student of BDC who was offered a ballet scholarship with the Halili Cruz Ballet company and is now in the Philippines starting her training.

Auditions for our Philippine dance team 2013 will be held on Friday 25th May.

If anyone would like to help by donating financially to the 2013 Manila Street project please email Fiona on fiona@thebigdancecompany.com

http://danceaid.org.uk

http://www.hope-for-children.org/

Dance Excellence 2012

fionadancer — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:30:37 +0000

WOWEEE!! What an incredible, inspiring, motivating, exciting week we have just had together in Los Angeles, at the amazing Dance Excellence Festival, held at the Westin Hotel LAX, where 100′s of dancers from all over the world meet once a year to share their love of dance, to learn from some of the best choreographers in LA, to share, to inspire, to meet new friends from all over the World.

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This year we took 20 from the Big Dance Company, 12 performers , 3 social students and 4 parents, and we had an absolute ball!!

Over the course of the week we performed in Disneyland, and Knotts Berry Farm and took 18 hours of dance classes in hip hop, african, ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, auditioning and performance then were judged by the weeks choreographers at a theatre performance where we performed a hip hop piece, a Modern piece and a variety piece. We were on honoured and overwhelmed to be awarded for our 5th year Excellence in all categories, the highest award that you can recieve.

The group that we had put together were not from the same crew and some not even the same classes, they worked so hard over the year and it paid off.

What an incredible group of young people we had with us and they really made me proud by representing not just the studio but the country in a very professional and respectful way. Congratulations To Emma Wilkins and Jess Lavery for representing the Big Dance Company on company show you were breathtaking!!! To lucy !!! you were my rock, and an amazing friend, cant wait to share the next DE experience with you.

Thank you girls for all your hard work, thank you Parents for being so supportive and making their dreams come true and of course to Annie McQuitty and all her amazing staff for such an incredible week!!! To all of our beautiful friends new and old from all over the world, thank you for sharing such an incredible week.

Auditions for our LA TEAM 2012 will be help on FRiday 25th May from 6pm, ages 8 + , see www.bdc.me.uk calendar for more information.

FANTASTIC WEEEKEND AND RESULTS AT BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS

fionadancer — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:46:51 +0000

We had a blast this weekend at the British championships, the cold could keep us away from one of our favourite competitions of the year held at pontins Brean sands by the UDO.

I think most would agree that this was one of the hardest comps yet with up to 150 dancers in some sections. The weekend went of to an amazing start with our parent team reserrected winning the British title and Charley Mc Owen and Tiff battled their way through rounds with over 150 couples and finished 3rd place!!

In the solos section we had so many dancers that made the semi finals and Maddie, Chloe, Talia, Charley made the finals and in doubles we had chloe and Talia finishing 3rd, Charley and Johnny won the u14 new comer, Brittany and Charley 4th and in advanced we had 2 in the final of the under 14 advanced with Charley and ben 2nd and Catran and shannon 3rd, Billy and Jodie finished 2nd in Intermediate and first time in advanced Nicola and Jack finished 5th place!!

In quads ben, charley, bonnie and georgina battled their way to the finals in under 18′s!! and finished 4th place and our parent team entered over 18′s and finished 5th!! wahoo

In teams tricky crew danced for the first time in advanced and made the final and came 5th place, and finally in crew battles we made the semi finals.

It was such a great weekend, great company, great atmosphere and loads of fun!!! Thank you UDO <3

SHOW OFF BDC TERMLY SHOWCASE

fionadancer — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:53:01 +0000

Hi guys on the 28th of January 2012 we will be showcasing our social classes at st johns hall, to let the parents see al the hardwork students have been putting in in class this term, they will be supported by our crews and elite dancers.

This will be the first time many of them have danced on stage so it will be very exciting for them, so we hope that you can all come along and support them on their big day. We will have a show at 1pm and 7pm, there are limited tickets left to book now to avoid disappointment on 01736 333 444 3-8pm daily.

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The show will include hip hop, freestyle and slow dance, lyrical, breakdance and commercial with dancers from as young as 4 years old!!!

We look forward to seeing you at St Johns hall for a great night out for all the family! Drinks and food available , great raffle and win a barrel of booze to raise money for our charity danz@ction.