Three dancers from Ashton Sixth Form College have been accepted into more than three different conservatoires across the country.
Christian Darby has been offered places at three different conservatoires alone - Northern School of Contemporary Dance, The Place and Trinity Laban Con- servatoire of Music and Dance. Talented Christian has chosen to go to the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds to continue his studies this September.
Christian has been training at the Lowry since 2020 on their CAT scheme (Centre for Advanced Training in dance) which is a part-time, pre-vocational course pro- viding young people with access to high quality dance training.
He says: “Studying dance at college has broadened my contemporary dance technique and my range of styles. I really enjoy learning new stuff and being able to express myself. Dance is my safe space.”
Looking forward, Christian has ambitions to become a choreographer just like his inspirations Merce Cunningham and Martha Graham.
He adds: “They pushed lots of bound- aries within dance. They paved the way and that’s really inspired me.”
Taliyah Puri, another Ashton Sixth Form dancer, expressed her excitement when she received the news that she was accepted at Shockout in Manchester where she will study commercial dance.
Taliyah explained the audition process, saying: “I’ve done so many auditions so I was more relaxed when auditioning for Shockout, because I was used to it and I actually enjoyed this audition because I felt confident.”
Reflecting on her love for the art, Taliyah added: “I enjoy performing the most and just working together as a group. It’s helped me develop discipline and helpedto build my confidence.”
Taliyah has already planned her career. She said: “I see myself working on cruise ships or music videos, anything commercially-based. I would also love to teach and maybe open my own dance studio.”
The talent doesn’t stop there with sixth form college student Emma Wolstenhome also accepted into Trinity Laban.
Emma has always had a passion for dance. She explained: “I started dancing when I was really young and I always knew that I wanted to do it as a career ... I’ve followed my dreams.”
Like others, she didn’t see herself thriving in a traditional academic setting so Emma auditioned for the CAT scheme at The Lowry.
“I used to be so shy, but CAT and col- lege really helped me to boost my con- fidence and has allowed me to find my style and has also made me realise that dance is definitely what I want to do.”
She takes inspiration from going to different shows as it encourages her to ‘think outside the box’.
Emma has aspirations of continuing to perform on stage as well as becoming a choreographer.
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