Over 120 dancers from the Rhinestones Dance Academy celebrated another outstanding year by putting on a spectacular dance show at the Grammar School at Leeds.
The young dancers, who train with the Rhinestones Dance Academy throughout the school year, came together to perform in their annual show and this year’s theme was UK v USA. During the last term the dancers have been busy learning routines to songs by either UK acts such as Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Jessie J or American artists such as Beyonce or Chris Brown.
Rhinestones is run by Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s dance development officer, Nicola Booth, at classes at Headingley Carnegie Stadium, Temple Moor and Ralph Thoresby. Children aged from 5 years old are invited to attend and can learn various styles of dancing, including street and cheer.
Speaking after the show Nicola said: “I am so proud of all the dancers for making this show such a success and for all their hard work in during the build up to it. I was overwhelmed by all the positive feedback from everyone who attended and all the performers showed what stars they are!
“The dancers have progressed so much this year and there is a lot of talent in the Academy. As we can see with the Leeds Rhinos team, many of their players have progressed through their Academy system and that is something that is important to us too. We are dedicated in developing our dancers and I am pleased to say that some of the senior dancers will now make the step up to the Spencer Properties Dance team where they will get the chance to perform on a Rhinos match day.
“The Rhinestones Academy continues to grow in popularity every year and I would like to thank all those who help me. I have two student teachers, Liv Unsworth and Amy Crossland, along with dance coach Taylor Heaps and Helen Storey who volunteers with the Rhinestones. All of them do a fantastic job in making Rhinestones enjoyable and successful.”
If you would like to get involved with the Rhinestones click here to see details of our Dance Classes, which cost just £3.50 per lesson. The Leeds Rhinos Foundation will also be holding Dance Camps during the school holidays. For more details click here or email Nicola.booth@leedsrugby.com