Gillingham Dance Sport Competition
Well done to all the dancers that took part in the competition last week. Click here to see the results. An extra well done to Royston and Red Lodge, who despite missing Sudbury and Bournemouth this year, have managed to get 41 qualifiers from just 1 competition!

Thank You
I would like to thank all of my pupils for their continued support throughout the duration of my injury – shouldn’t be too long now until all is back to normal! Also a big thank you to Rachel and Terry, who have worked hard to help me continue classes.
Claire

Change 4 Life – Free Lane Dance Centres Classes!!
Get involved with the Change 4 life campaign, with Royston Leisure Centre. Your change to get a free Street, and Ballroom and Latin class from Lane Dance Centres! If you would like to get involved please book into the 9am or 4pm classes at Royston Leisure Centre reception! For more info: www.nhs.uk/Change4Life

Sudbury and Bournemouth Dance Sport
Unfortunately Claire’s Red Lodge and Royston pupils were unable to attend both Sudbury and Bournemouth Competitions this year – due to her injury, but well done to the Haverhill classes.

Coach Of The Year Award 2009
Thank you so much to everyone who nominated me for the West Anglian Sports Partnership ‘Coach of The Year’ Award. The nominees were whittled down to a final 3 who were then invited to the awards ceremony on Sunday 6th December at Newmarket Leisure Centre – I was only one of the 3 finalists invited for Coach of The Year.
After a lovely synchronised Swimming demonstration, the winners of each category were announced…and I was presented with a beautiful Silver cup, and glass trophy, both engraved with Claire Thompson, Coach of The Year 2009!
What a brilliant end to a fantastic year, and thank you again to everyone who went to the trouble of nominating me.
Claire x

Blackpool 2009…FANTASTIC!
Well done to everyone that took part in the Grand Finals in Blackpool Tower Ballroom. All of your hard work has paid off, and we have had another brilliant year:

• 5 National Champion Titles, won by Manon Davies, Laura Robinson and Pat Perryman

• 7 second places won by: Sophie Bush, June Snowden, Pat Perryman, Bobby Banerjee & Jess Manser, Lowri Davies, Olivia Stevens & Lowri Davies.

• 34 trophies…that’s 34 of our pupils who are National ISTD Finalists, placed in the top 6 in the country!

• 66% of our pupils danced through to the semi finals or further!

An extra special CONGRATULATIONS to Laura Robinson, who achieved the outstanding result of becoming a National Champion 3 times in the same year! Winning the Juvenile Bronze Ballroom, Latin, and the Juvenile Sequence 3 Dance!
 Click here to see the results, and here to see the pictures. Also, keep a look out in the Newmarket, Bury, Cambridge and Royston newspapers this week, for our press release and photo!

Cambridgeshire Area Dance Sport Competition
Well done to everyone who took part in the competition last Sunday - we had a fantastic 70 trophies!! That was the last qualifying competition for this years Blackpool Grand Finals, so the hard work starts now! Click here to see the results and here to see the pictures.

Royston and Red Lodge Class Pupils
To help with your planning all of the term dates, competition and examination dates have been listed up to July 2010!! Please visit the relevant section for details or download the 2009/2010 calendars from your class page. Have a lovely summer, and see you in September! Claire

Sequence Medallist Competition
On 7th June, we took part in the Sequence Competition in Leicester. We had a fantastic day, click here for the results.

Athens Visit
I am just back from my second trip to Greece. It was lovely to see everyone there again, and along with our teaching, this time we held an official ISTD Dance Sport reception for all of the Greek teachers. The new Chief Executive of the ISTD attended along with Richard Hunt. The evening was held in the roof garden of the City Plaza Hotel, with an amazing view of the Acropolis and Lycabettus Hill. It was a great sucess, and you will see some of the pictures, below. I also practiced my Jive for my lecture in Worthing this year, with Antonis, who will be partnering me; and so we will welcome Anna and Antonis back to England again in July to visit Worthing Congress. See you at your next lesson! Claire.

Berkhamstead Dance Sport Competition
After a busy day in Berkhamstead we cam home with another 50 trophies - 34 of those were between 1st and 3rd place! Well done to everyone that came along and achieved fantastic results!

Athens Trip May 2009

Gillingham Dance Sport Competition
Once again the school had a brilliant day on Sunday, achieving more qualifiers for Blackpool. In total we brought back 65 trophies! Click here to see the results, and here for the pictures.

Bournemouth Dance Sport Competition
Well done to everyone who took part in the competition last Sunday. We had an excellent list of results; with more qualifiers for Blackpool; and all of our Juveniles have now qualified for the Sequence! Click here to see the results, and here for the pictures.

Important dates – Red Lodge and Royston Centres
To help you with your diary this year, a calendar of term, competition, and exam dates for Red Lodge and Royston centres has been compiled. To download a copy click the class name below, or visit the Royston or Red Lodge class pages.
Royston Calendar
Red Lodge Calendar

Sudbury Dance Sport Competition
After a very snowy Sunday in Sudbury, we arrived home with 73 trophies – that’s 73 qualifiers for Blackpool 2009 already! Click here to see the results, and here to see the pictures.

Thank you so much to everyone who came along on Sunday to support the Red Lodge and Royston school demonstration at Aquafest in Ely. Despite the rain the dancing continued with the pupils putting on a brilliant show.
Click here to see some pictures of the performance!

Choreographic Competition
On Sunday 30th June, Marion ran the Cambridgeshire Area Disco Freestyle Competition in which many of the pupils from our school took part. The highlight of the day was the choreographic event where the pupils are given a specific piece of music – this year it was from Sweeny Todd the film, (see pictures below), and together with their teacher they choreograph a dance to the music. This year we had 5 entries – Terry Collard, Megan Cracknell, Katie Ditchman and Kirsty Webb and Isabelle Proffitt. They all did brilliantly with the routines, and after a tough competition Terry won a 2nd place Katie a 6th place and Megan a 6th Place.
The results from the rest of the days competitions will be available from Ronnie.