This time last year I arranged for Boy Blue Entertainment, a professional dance company used on the GCSE specification, to visit Bushey Meads and run a practical workshop for the GCSE Dance students. It was such a great and exciting opportunity that helped develop their understanding of the professional work, which is then assessed in their Dance Appreciation Component in the GCSE theory paper.

In the current climate, Boy Blue were not able to visit the school in person so we had to adapt. Instead we organised an online workshop where the students would collaborate with the professionals whilst developing their practical skills. This ended up being Boy Blue’s first online workshop!

With only half of the Year 10 dance class in school, it was fortunate that the workshop was online so all those isolating were given log ins and still were able to participate from home.

Bushey Meads Dance Department has gained a strong relationship with Boy Blue. It was so lovely having Yolanda Newsome, a company member, return after she ran last year’s workshop at Bushey Meads to teach the current Year 10 dance students this year. We look forward to welcoming Boy Blue Entertainment back to Bushey Meads soon.

“It was so much fun being taught by the Boy Blue dancer, Yolanda. She was really enthusiastic and encouraging which helped us feel more confident when performing the choreography.” – Annabel & Acsharah

“I felt lucky to be able to learn from the true specialists and enjoyed developing my hip hop technique.” – Amber

“The workshop really helped me understand more about the hip hop dance style, which I will make sure to use in the future.” – Rakchiga