September is always the busiest time of year at Jaykays Dance Company as we welcome so many new starters to the Jaykays family. We have been working hard on our on-boarding processes and love the new mood tracker postcards we had printed to hand out to our new starters. The mood trackers allow students to write or draw how they felt before and after their trial class. The Jaykays teaching team recognise that trying something new can be scary and we do our very best to welcome and encourage new starters. It is great to see how those feelings of worry soon disappear after their first class.

Back in September Jaykays students Heidi and Amber both successfully auditioned for the Imagine Theatre’s production of Cinderella that will be on stage in December at the Royal Spa Centre. After two weeks of intensive rehearsals the girls will perform with “Team Cinders” in 16 shows throughout the festive period. We have booked a Jaykays trip to watch them on the 21st December at 5pm, so please drop an email to book a seat!

On World Mental Health Day we helped to raise awareness by supporting the ‘Young Minds’ campaign #helloyellow. We filled up our dressing boxes of all things yellow for a whole week in October, and as well as dressing up students were led in various exercises and activities by the Jaykays teaching team to offer some tools our children and young people could use to help reduce stress and anxiety.

It is so important for us at Jaykays Dance Company to keep this conversation open with our students. We want our children and young people to know that they can always approach us with any worries they may have.

Did you know that Miss Jay is a trained Mental Health First Aider and students can contact her at well-being@jaykaysdancecompany

After a long wait, we finally received the awards and certificates following the IDTA exam session we held in the summer term.

126 exams were taken, and we maintained our 100% pass rate with fantastic results. Special shout out to Senior student Sophie Abbott who earned a well-deserved mark of 90 for her Contemporary Modern exam!

This success does not just happen. It is a collaboration of a lot of hard work from students, their teachers and the support of parents. We hope that our “watching weeks” allow you to see the hard work and preparation required to enter students for exams.

In October half-term 50 students from Jaykays Dance Company made their way to Pineapple Dance Studios in Covent Garden, London to participate in two musical theatre themed workshops. Our Junior students enjoyed learning choreography from the hit musical “Frozen,” and the Senior workshop was led by a cast member from the musical “& Juliet.”

Taking a class inside these famous studios is such an exciting opportunity and a wonderful way to inspire all our young dancers to dream big!

Another group of Jaykays students have all hit the exciting milestone of being fitted for their first pair of pointe shoes. It really is a dream come true for all ballerinas, and is earned after years of commitment and dedication to ballet class. Students at Jaykays must be studying Grade 4 ballet, as well as having the strength, developing technique and maturity needed to dance en pointe. Good luck to this group of students as they begin their pointe work journey.

We invited Performing Arts Media to visit our boys class in October to create a short promotional video. On National Boys Dance Day we shared the video on our social media and had such a positive response.

We are so proud that we have created a space for boys, inspired by boys. The JK Boys Programme is led by Connor and assisted by Senior student Sean. The programme offers a variety of dance styles including modern and contemporary, with physical and dynamic movement to music. It is energetic, active and lively as the boys learn to leap, jump, turn and tumble!

Nadine from Performing Arts Media will have a pop-up photography studio available at the Jaykays Studio on Saturday 10th December.

This is a lovely opportunity to capture some images of your dancer with prints available for Christmas. The shoot costs £10 per dancer and you’ll be able to purchase 9×6 mounted prints on the day (for only £15 each) or order digital copies.

Please select Saturday 10th December on the booking calendar to view available slots. Please arrive dressed and ready.

21st – 26th November – “Watching Week” for classes entered in the December exam session

2nd & 9th December – IDTA exam session

10th December – Performing Arts Media pop-up mini photo shoot

12th-17th December – Musical Theatre week!

17th December – Little Rascals Christmas Display

17th December – Musical Theatre taster session with Miss Fran

17th December – Musical Theatre charity sing at Morrison’s

17th December – Final classes before we break for Christmas

21st December – Jaykays trip to watch the panto “Cinderella” at the Royal Spa Centre

2nd January 2023 – Back to class

6th May 2023 – Jaykays show, Royal Spa Centre. We are aware that it is the King’s coronation on this date, but it is business as usual at the Spa Centre and we will be proceeding with this date