We are delighted to congratulate some of our young participants on their recent dancing achievements.

A fabulous group of dancers, Ellie Beaumont, Kate Whitton, Fae Clements, Mia Speight, Poppy Simpson, Poppy McGreavy Gill, Lynette Leigh and Caitlin McGee, performed at the Rob Burrow Strictly Ball at Headingly Stadium on 19 March. They performed alongside Strictly favourites Kai Widdrington, Nadiya Bychkova and Katya Jones, as well as some familiar celebrity faces, including BBC Breakfast host Dan Walker, Emmerdale’s Kelvin Fletcher and Leeds Rhinos’ star Barrie McDermott.

The event raised an incredible £75,000 for the Leeds Hospitals Charity, towards the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease (MND). This brilliant group of dancers all have a connection to Theatre Royal Wakefield: Ellie and Kate are current Performance Academy students and Panto chorus members; Fae an ex-participant at Performance Academy and in the Panto chorus; Mia, Poppy Simpson and Poppy McGreavy Gill have all performed on our stage; Caitlin will appear in this year’s Gala Performance; and Lynette is one of our Performance Academy dance tutors.

Kate Whitton enjoyed another success over the weekend, when she qualified from the Miss Dance heats. We wish Kate the best of luck as she goes on to compete at the Blackpool finals in June. Kate is a Performance Academy participant, who you might recognise from our Wakefield Youth Music Theatre productions or the recent Pontefract showcase: Sing! Dance! Act!.

Find out more about our training opportunities for young people and open auditions here.