Harwich and Dovercourt High School is extremely proud of Year 8 student Holly Cooper-Keeble who has been identified at audition as having exceptional talent and potential in dance. Holly is currently studying with the DanceEast Centre for Advanced Training at Jerwood DanceHouse Ipswich; a course which provides grant-funded dance training outside mainstream education. This course is an exclusive course and very difficult to get onto.
The DanceEast Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) is one of 9 Government funded centres in dance, under the Department for Education’s Music and Dance Scheme. The DanceEast Centre for Advanced Training provides part-time pre-vocational dance training in the region to young people aged between 10-18 years.
Students train during evenings, weekends and school holidays in ballet and contemporary technique, health & fitness, performance, creativity and other dance styles. They participate in workshops with professional dance companies and have regular theatre trips to see a wide range of dance performances. The scheme is designed to allow young dancers with exceptional talent and potential to access high level training locally, whilst completing mainstream schooling, before progressing to full time professional dance training and careers in dance.
One of the unique benefits of the DanceEast Centre for Advanced Training is that it is supported by means-tested grants and young people are assessed on potential rather than current achievement. In practise this means that we are able to offer training to young people with natural talent and potential, even if they have never previously had the opportunity to access dance training.
