• The Irish National Youth Dance Company( NYD): up to 21 seniors and 20 junior dancers work for 16 weekends( one night residential) from January to June towards a performance in Backstage theatre. They receive classes in ballet, jazz and contemporary dance, workshops with visiting professional dance companies and outings to dance theatre performances. They also perform in festivals around the country.

Choreogrpahers that have worked with NYD

Rebecca Walter

Lisa McLoughlin

Becky Reilly

Jessica and Megan Kennedy

Olwyn Grindley

Anica Louw

NYD at Shawbrook 2008

NYD 2008 with Simon Rice started on Friday 11th January 2008 and finishes on Friday 28th March 2008

Weekends include:

• grade 7 RAD with Anica Fridays 5.00pm
• Intermediate with Anica Fridays 6.00pm
• Simon Rice Friday class and workshop 7.30pm
• Sleep in Dormitory/ Eat in Summer House
• Saturdays 9.30am with Simon Rice class and workshop
• Jazz with Vicky Walker 12.30pm

Shawbrook are absolutely delighted to have Simon working at Shawbrook with NYD and performing a piece at our festival.

Simon trained with the Royal Ballet school and was in the Royal Ballet Company from 1982 to 1992. He danced the role of the Chosen One In Macmillan's Rite of Spring. He was Mr Mistoffelees 1992 to 1994. Other musicals, operas and theatre include Carousel, The skin of our teeth, The fairy queen, A midsummer's night dream( Puck) in UK, Britten/Shakespeare in Germany and Everyday in Dublin. He performed with Fabulous Beast, Fragile, The Flowerbed, Giselle and James

IRISH NATIONAL YOUTH DANCE COMPANY
This company is based in Shawbrook Dance school, Co Longford and funded by the Arts Council, is now 7 years old.  We differ from other youth dance companies, because our students are classically trained, but do creative pieces that encompass all dance styles within their technical reach.  Our success is also due to the fact that it is a residential course and student’s train in classical ballet, jazz, contemporary dance, improvisation, contact, and choreography.

The company is for teenage dance students, who are creative, love to dance, and will commit themselves to this project.  It is also for dance students who seriously want to pursue a career in dance and are working towards their auditions for third level dance education.

We have proved that with the dance education we are offering (between 8 and 10 hours training every weekend for 16 weekends) the students audition successfully for overseas third level dance courses.

The standard that is expected for NYD Junior company is RAD Grade 4, 5, & Intermediate Foundation and NYD Senior Company is RAD Grade 6, 7, 8, & Intermediate plus.

The students will learn how to be part of the process of creating an innovative dance piece.  They will get the opportunity to work with professional choreographers, dancers and technicians.

We expect the senior students to arrive for class on Friday evenings when it is residential, and leave on Saturday after class.  Students will be supervised in the dorm but must respect our rules and regulations.

We expect our members to take part in all extra workshops, performances from visiting professional companies, The Irish National Dance Awards and the Longford Dance Festival.

In 2006 the students took part in the opening festival show  “Wired and Free” by Fidget Feet.  They went to see their patron Michael Keegan Dolan’s “Flowerbed”.  They had numerous master classes for example: Cathy Sharpe, Fiona Chadwick, Sonia Rafferty, Eric Carpenter and IMDT.  They performed “Protected” by Becky Reilly and Lisa McLouglin at the Backstage Theatre.  The members also won lots of the prizes including the senior cup at the Irish National Dance Awards.  Previous members’ now training full time overseas won prizes at the Shawbrook Dance Awards.

The only way I can feel personally successful as a dance educator, is if I can see a real link between dance education and professional dance . . .  Read More