Hamilton Dancer trains Barnhill Students

Barnhill students benefit from cultural capital and enrichment, embedded within our Character Curriculum framework. Recently, Hamilton Cast member Phoebe Jones spent the day with GCSE Dance students recently. She said “I had a fantastic day teaching Year 10 students at Barnhill. They were fab at picking up choreography and the studio space was great! I hope to return and teach at Barnhill again in the future." Lead Dance teacher Miss Bhandari added “our Y10 dancers were great at following Phoebe’s instructions and were gave her 100% effort. It was great to see Barnhill dancers experience an opportunity to work with one a professional from the industry as most of them aspire to work in the industry in the future. I am very proud of my year 10 dancers and also had a lot fun doing the workshop!”

Some of the students have written their own accounts of the day below:

“From my perspective, this workshop was extremely enjoyable and an absolute pleasure to be a part of because we were able to engage and learn a whole different style of dance to what we would normally learn in school, which had reached my usual preferences and was honestly one of the most fun times I have had in this school. From this, I was able to achieve a whole new insight towards dance and the idea that there are many careers out there in which you can still have fun whilst doing the things you love which is extraordinary! This opportunity had allowed us all to take a break from the stress we have in our daily lives and in return fully express and enjoy ourselves in the workshop in general. It was a lovely experience to meet Phoebe and learn about her journey in Performing Arts and her time rehearsing Hamilton. In the future, I am very much looking forward to more entertaining and joyful workshops like this one as this has helped many of us find more admiration for our passion and had become a life-changing experience that I personally would never forget. Once again, I am very much grateful for this workshop and I am very much anticipating more events like this one!”

Diljot, Y10 Student

“The Hamilton workshop was amazing! I really enjoyed the first dance as it made me imagine being empowered by something and I felt free. The warm-up at the start helped me get more energy- I had literal goosebumps. Dancing for 4 hours wasn't so bad after all, well, that's if you're having fun. It helped me be more confident but not only that, but it had also helped me learn new skills and to dance at the right time of the music. The teacher we had was a professional dancer and she would help us with things we were struggling on. She also answered certain questions that were dance relevant. She was a great teacher, I hope she comes again to teach us more! I was super grateful that Miss Bhandari, an amazing teacher, had planned this out with Mr Potts. Thank You! This was so much better than whatever lessons I had that day because I actually enjoyed it, I wasn't sitting at a desk, I was actually doing something with my body!”

Julia, Y10 student

“We had Dance Workshop with a professional dancer from Hamilton. It was really good to have a new experience and learn a specific style which you don't do on daily basis. It was a lot of fun as she was professional, and we were working a lot more professionally. All of us were willing to learn with enthusiasm and the whole workshop was amazing as we all were committed to it. It was so fun and I have no words to explain how useful and effective it was. I look forward to having more workshops like this one”

Ushpinderdeep, Y10 Student.