Medway

Theatre school franchise awards national scholarships to Medway youngsters

 

Supporting its hard working, dedicated and talented students achieve their professional dreams is a big part of the ethos of part-time theatre school Razzamataz. In order to assist them financially, the Future Fund charity was set up to help a Razzamataz student to go on to study performing arts at college.

Now in its second year, four talented Razzamataz students performed in front of an experienced panel of judges to win funding for their performing arts course. Tyler Martin from Razzamataz Medway, Amy Houston from Razzamataz Dumfries, Robson Broad from Razzamataz Medway and Rosalia Morales from Razzamataz Rayleigh West performed a song, dance and drama piece to demonstrate their versatility as performers.

The auditions were held at Pineapple Dance Studios in Covent Garden and were judged by a panel of independent performing arts specialists. Fi Silverthorn, street dancer from Urban Strides was the dance expert with a keen eye for spotting potential. Fi’s professional credits include dancing for FKA Twigs, Strictly Come Dancing, Ellie Goulding and at The MOBO Awards. She is also a member of the renowned Hip Hop company Birdgang. Lauryn Jamieson, last year’s Future Fund winner and teaching assistant at Razzamataz Carlisle, was also on the panel and was able to talk about her experiences having just completed a year’s foundation course at drama college Rose Bruford. The final judge was Max Reynolds, Associate Director on the UK tour of Avenue Q and the upcoming UK tour of Little Shop of Horrors.

The standard of this year’s entries was exceptionally high with very little to set them apart. After much deliberation, both Robson and Tyler from Razzamataz Medway were awarded £500 towards their own training.

Robson and Tyler have both been offered places at prestigious performing arts colleges where they will be fine tuning their skills to make them into a strong triple threat performer who is able to turn their hands to singing, dancing and acting.

The judges were impressed by both boys’ overall maturity and understanding of the roles they took on. “I was very impressed by Tyler’s choice of audition material and the fact that he had clearly thought carefully about each piece so that he could perform something he had a connection with,” says Max Reynolds.

Fi Silverthorn adds: “Great potential, really liked how ambitious Robson is and is very keen to learn everything in lots of different styles. I definitely saw a spark so he should work hard and I’m confident that he will do well in the industry.”

The Future Fund is just one of the many opportunities that Razzamataz students can take advantage of, including performing in the West End, alongside professional touring show bands, masterclasses with leading industry professionals and the opportunity to perform at Disneyland Paris!

New classes launch in Medway aimed at the stars of tomorrow, preparing them for a professional career int he performing arts

 

You just need to switch on the TV to see the endless programmes surrounding making it in the world of show business. From the X Factor to Britain’s Got Talent and even children’s shows such as The Next Steps, the desire to be an actor, singer or dancer shows no sign of abating.

 

But with this increased desire comes increased competition and to make it into one of the top performing arts colleges, it takes determination, talent and top class training.

In response to this growing demand, Razzamataz Theatre Schools is launching a new product to designed to support students who wish to pursue a professional career within the performing arts.

Razz Project Intense is launching at Razzamataz (Area) in September 2016. It is one of just a handful of Razzamataz schools across the country which has been selected to trial this exciting new class.

Hayley Limpkin, Principal of Razzamataz Medway explains: “Over the years, many of our students have gone on to secure places at prestigious colleges to study performing arts and although as a school we’ve helped individuals with their auditions, it is incredibly exciting to offer a class where we can work with a group of young performers and prepare them for the tough round of auditions that the top performing arts colleges expect.”

Razz Project Intense will allow staff to teach in the specialist areas of dance to help build a strong technical skill base to equip the Razzamataz students with the correct guidance, skills and confidence to be better prepared for professional vocational college auditions.

“As well as improving their technical skills, we will also work closely with individual students to emotionally prepare them for the auditions,” says Hayley. “This may be the first time that any of these young people have auditioned so mental preparation is equally important.”

One of the benefits of Razzamataz is that as well as having many teachers who are experienced performing arts professionals, the schools run regular workshops with industry experts, allowing the students to get a real feel for what it means to work as a professional performer.

“All the guest teachers who come to put on workshops are very generous with their time and give the students the opportunity to ask questions about working in the industry,” adds Hayley. “Not only does this give our students practical advice, but it is also very inspirational to have this level of support available.”

As well as Razz Project Intense, Razzamataz is very proud of its Future Fund charity, which offers grants for students going on to study full time at college.

Each year, the auditions are judged by a team of industry experts from the world of dance, acting and singing. Past judges have included dancers who work with Take That, Ellie Goulding and on Strictly Come Dancing, West End musical performers and an associate director on various tours.

“At Razzamataz, we take the ongoing development of our students very seriously,” adds Hayley. “We believe that Razz Project Intense will be a real stepping stone onto further performing arts training for many of our students.”

The students at Razzamataz Medway attend classes in singing, dancing and drama every Saturday at Mid Kent College. During the session, they participate in many different areas of performing arts covering various styles from street dance and pop singing through to classic West End musical theatre numbers as well as acting for stage and screen. Classes start at the age of 4 through to 18. There are also parent assisted classes for Tots aged 2 and 3.

For more information about joining Razz Project Intense or the main Razzamataz school, contact Hayley on medway@razzamataz.co.uk or call 01634 893514.

Medway students do it again in national franchise awards

Students and their Principal came out on top for the second year running by winning the coveted Franchise of the Year Award at the recent Conference for the Dragons’ Den backed theatre school franchise.

The dedicated students, staff and Principal beat off stiff competition from almost 50 schools in the Razzamataz network, much to the delight of their Principal Hayley Limpkin, who has been running the school since September 2010.

“I’m totally blown away and exceptionally proud to be bringing this Award back to our school for the second year in a row,” says Hayley. “I have an incredible team of teachers, staff and supportive parents and it is their hard work and commitment that has allowed our students to thrive and achieve so much both nationally and locally.”

The Franchise of the Year Award is the much sought after award of the evening and the judges were looking for someone who shows above and beyond commitment. “The winner of this Award never fails to surprise us and the visions, values and beliefs that our winning school represents has created an environment where every one of their students and team flourish,” says Denise Hutton-Gosney, MD and Founder of Razzamataz. “Hayley and her team have an impeccable eye for detail and has the gift of sharing their experiences with our entire network in such an easy and approachable manner. No one can be in any doubt how passionate they are in creating the next generation of performers; you only need to see a snippet of one of their shows and you would think you were watching a Broadway blockbuster rather than a part time theatre school in Kent.”

The students at Razzamataz Medway have had an incredible year and the popularity of the part-time theatre school has grown so much that they now accommodate more than 400 children and young people across 20 classes.

“We are so proud of what our students are achieving, both from a confidence and new skills point of view and we are sure those that want to will go on to make their mark in the performing arts industry,” says Hayley. “We have had 100% success rate of students securing places at professional performing arts colleges and we know that this will grow now that we have introduced Razz Project Intense, exclusively for our students, to help prepare them in the right way for professional colleges and auditions. But even if the performing arts industry is not for them, they are learning crucial transferrable skills to take into any walk of life”

2016 was a year for wonderful performing opportunities for Razzamataz Medway students including on stage at Her Majesty’s Theatre in the West End, the Senior students were crowned Glee Club Champions at the Jack Petchey Glee Club Challenge at the Indigo02, students secured roles in professional pantos and they smashed the Kent Dance and Vocal Challenge taking 1^st place in the Musical Theatre and Open Vocal categories.

As well as the achievements of the students, the judges looked in to what impact the school has made and were delighted to discover that Razzamataz Medway raised more than £1,706 for the Stroke Association and Razzamataz’s registered charity Future Fund through participating in many events including Tough Mudder where Hayley and her team crawled in mud, swam through icy waters and took on the electric shock obstacle.