Latest News
Welcome to our new news page. Watch this space for the latest info about the school, classes and events.
12/5/2012 - Song Stars Success!
I would like to say a huge Congratulations to our very own Ben Darcy for being crowned Song Stars 2012 champion. In addition to one of our students taking first place, our own Miss Ella Hicks also walked away with 3rd place.
Once again KSSD students reign supreme having won both genres of this competition. We are now offically Northern Stars dance champions and Song Stars vocalist champions.
25/3/2012 - Juste Dance Champions 2012!
Forty of our dancers competed in Juste Dance 2012 at the Liverpool Empire on Sunday 25th March and walked away with three first places and three trophies on the day. Judging the event were Liverpools own Leanne Campbell who currently presents the Juice FM breakfast show; Pepito, aka Carlos Estigarriba from Australia, a worldwide performer and teacher of the dance skill Bboy; and Anthony Jones, an experienced professional dancer and owner of his own dance school based in Warrington.
The dancers competed in the Intermediate section with their routine ‘Bamboo’, which took the first award of the night, closely followed by a first place for ‘Latin Fever’ in the Seniors section and then ‘Heart of Asia’ took first place in the Open Age section. The dancers were delighted to have been awarded the ‘triple’ and enjoyed every minute of their performances at the Liverpool Empire.
I would like to say a HUGE congratulations to all my amazing students for completing 'the hat trick' at Liverpool Empire! The standard of this competition was extremely high this year so to walk away with one winners title, let alone three, is incredible. I think we may be needing more shelf space for the three enormous trophies!
11/3/2012 pm - Northern Stars Dance Competition Final.
On the Sunday evening there were more performances as our troupe and the soloists from the school took part in the final of the Northern Stars dance competition at Ormskirk Civic Hall. The dancers from the school who successfully auditioned to take part were up against over 40 other dance acts from the area.
The title of Northern Stars Winner 2012 was awarded to our school for our routine ‘Latin Fever’, and our dancers also took 2nd and 3rd places with the associated trophies and prize money. In second place were Witney Thompson and Holly Stephens with a Lyrical Duet, and in 3rd place came Jessica Mahood and Sophie Howard with a Jazz Duet.
Event organiser Amanda Baldwin was delighted with the performances of the dancers and said ‘The Kelly Shirley School of Dance were the clear winners in an extremely competitive event'.Wow, what a successful weekend, Well done everyone!!
11/3/2012 am - Liverpool Naval Club Talent Competition.
On Sunday 11th March, 20 of our dancers travelled to Liverpool to take part in the Liverpool Naval Club Talent Competition, where they performed three routines and won the competition with new routine “Jive Me Crazy” taking home both the winners title and prize money! Well done KSSD dancers!
8/2/2012 - Irish Dancing Exams.
A huge congratulations goes out to all those students who only yesterday received the news that they had passed their exams. These results were extremely high and are testimony to the hard work of the students after only two months of studying this dance genre. Here's to much more exam success in the future!
28/1/2012 - Northern Stars Triumph!
Congratulations to all those dancers who took part in the above competition taking 13 of the 14 places available for the final from our school alone. This is testimony to the talent in our school, we are very proud of you all and look forward to seeing you perform in the final. Good luck everyone!
3/1/2012 - King and I success.
Our wonderful intermediate dancer,11 year old Amy Cheung has started 2012 extremely well. After auditioning alongside hundreds of other children she has been selected to perform with the National touring cast of ‘The King & I’ when it comes to the Liverpool Empire this April. Amy is no stranger to the stage having appeared in shows at Sadler’s Wells, London, The Royal Albert Hall, Disneyland Paris and Liverpool’s Echo Arena, She was also an integral part of this years Winning troupe at the Showstoppers West End Challenge Champion of Champions Final at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London. Amy is very excited about the opportunity to perform on stage as part of this show alongside such high profile industry professionals.
We are delighted for Amy, she is very talented and works extremely hard, it is wonderful that the producers of the King & I have seen her potential. We will be going along to support her when she performs.” Break a leg Amy!”
4/12/2011 - Kelly Shirley School of Dance Crowned Champion of Champions in London’s West End!
On Sunday 4th December our dancers travelled to London to compete in one the nation’s most prestigious dance competitions held each year. Having won their heat in September, the school were invited back to Her Majesty’s Theatre, home of Phantom of the Opera, in London’s West End, to compete against the winners of 4 other heats for the crown of West End Dance Champions 2011.
47 of our dancers ranging in age from 5 to 18 years old travelled to London to perform two routines in the competition. They performed these routines to a packed audience of over 800 people, and were judged by West End performers Waylon Jacobs, currently playing the lead role of Simba in the Lion King, Francesca Leyland, performing in Les Miserables, and Gina Beck from the current cast of Phantom of the Opera.
The judges, as they announced that the Kelly Shirley School of Dance were the winners, and handed over the coveted trophy said what an amazing performance the dancers had given and how impressed they were with their technical ability and levels of performance, and that they deserved to win.
This is the culmination of an amazing year of successes for the dancers, who have worked relentlessly and with absolute dedication to raise the standard of dance in every event they have taken part in. Winning this amazing title, ‘West End Dance Champions 2011’ is the icing on the cake for our wonderful students, and a perfect way to end 2011’
3/12/2011 - Talented Dancer from the Kelly Shirley School of Dance heads for Nationally Acclaimed Theatre School
I am delighted to announce that our very own Ben Darcy has been awarded places at two the UKs most respected Performing Arts colleges for this coming September. He has been offered places at both Tiffanys Theatre College in Essex, with a 100% Scholarship and also at Laine Theatre Arts College in Epsom, Surrey.
Ben was put through several rounds of gruelling auditions for both places, along with thousands of other hopefuls for one of only a few places for the year, performing in drama, vocally and in various dance disciplines. He has worked extremely hard and was lucky enough to be one of the select few to be offered a place at both the colleges. He will decide shortly which place he will be accepting.
We are all very proud of Ben, he has been with the school since it opened 10 years ago, and has always been an excellent student. He has worked hard for this opportunity and totally deserves to have been selected. I am looking forward to seeing him on a professional stage in the not too distant future!”
1/11/2011 - Talented Dancers from the Kelly Shirley School of Dance Take 2 Coveted Places at Phil Winston’s Theatreworks.
Two of our very own talented dancers have been awarded places at one the UKs most respected dance colleges for this coming September. Beth Hudson and Emily Martland, both aged 17 and from Ormskirk, will be heading to take their places at the prestigious Phil Winston’s Theatreworks College in Blackpool.
The girls were put through a round of gruelling auditions, along with over 700 other hopefuls for one of only 40 places for the year, performing both vocally and in various dance disciplines, the girls worked extremely hard and were lucky enough to be two of the select few to be offered a place at the college.
We are all very proud of both Beth and Emily as they have worked unceasingly for this opportunity and totally deserve to have been selected. We are looking forward to seeing them both perform professionally in the not too distant future!”
29/10/2011 - Kelly Shirley School of Dance Move to New Home!
Over 100 Dancers from the Kelly Shirley School of Dance, with their families, last night attended the official opening of their brand new, purpose built, studio. The move, which takes place during the Schools 10th Anniversary year has taken meticulous planning and resulted last night in the students getting their first glimpse of their new home. Radio City’s Claire Simonsen was invited to cut the ribbon that marked the official opening.
Claire said “It is a privilege to be asked to come and open the new studio for the Kelly Shirley School of Dance in its 10th Anniversary year. I have watched with admiration the various events and competitions that the dancers have won over the recent years, and it is wonderful that they now have a home of their own, and an exciting new timetable featuring lots of new classes. I am sure that this will only spur them onto greater successes!”
The dancers and their families were treated to champagne and canapés followed by a tour of the new facilities which include the studio, a separate studio for drama classes and vocal coaching, a chill out zone for the dancers and separate practice areas. Here's to many years of hard work and success!
28/10/2011 - Kelly Shirley School of Dance has Winning Weekend!
On Saturday 22nd October 20 of our dancers competed in Junior Talent Search at the Park Hall Hotel in Charnock Richard. Up against 16 other variety acts, they performed their routine ‘Heart of Asia’ to a massive response for the audience who were attending the Black Tie Charity Dinner. At the end of the evening the dancers were awarded Top Dance Act and came home with trophy and £500 prize money.
On Sunday 23rd October, 45 of the dancers performed in Smile Productions North West Dance Challenge at the Liverpool Empire. They performed routines in three separate cabaret categories and were victorious in each, with a treble win for the evening and three enormous trophies for the schools trophy cabinet, crowning them official North West Cabaret Champions!
Friday the 28th October heralded yet another performance for the troupe, who were lucky enough to successfully audition for a place in the One Night Only Tour produced by LHK productions. Our 45 dancers spend the evening at the Southport Theatre and Convention Centre and performed their routine ‘Latin Fever’ to much audience acclaim alongside local stars including Juice FM’s Leanne Campbell, Radio City’s Pete Price and 80’s Pop Legend Sonia who was the headline act for the evening. Leanne Campbell introduced the dancers as ‘the most incredible performers’ and Pete Price who followed the dancers commented on their dazzling display!
18/9/2011 - Kelly Shirley School of Dance Crowned Winners of the West End!
Our dancers have been competing against other top UK dance schools and colleges to highly impressed judges and audiences in London’s West End and have once again returned home victorious, proving the amount of talent to be found in the North West!
43 dancers travelled to London’s West End to compete in Showstoppers West End Challenge held at the magnificent Her Majesty’s Theatre, home of Phantom of the Opera.
The dancers performed 6 incredible routines to a packed audience and in front of 2 highly experienced and sought after West End Musical performers from The Lion King and Les Miserables who were there to judge the event.
The judges, as they awarded the winners trophy to the dancers commented on how unexpectedly high the standard was, and how the winners had ‘really raised the bar’ as they announced that the Kelly Shirley School of Dance had won the event.
The dancers worked extremely hard over the last few months putting together the routines for this show, and their hard work and dedication has been well rewarded. We are extremely proud of their talent, dedication and professionalism and we are looking forward to competing at this level again later in the year.
14/8/2011 - Our Dancers in New 3D Movie.
During this summer, 17 dancers travelled to the beautiful St Georges Hall in Liverpool to perform alongside leading man Mitch Powell who plays the part of Dracula, and his leading lady Patricia Duarte in the new 3D film ‘Saint Dracula’.
The award winning film director Rupesh Paul is planning to take the completed film to the next Cannes Film Festival in May 2012.
The dancers had a fantastic time performing in front of the latest high tech 3D equipment, and both the cast and crew were delighted with the results they achieved and the professionalism of their performance.
This was a fantastic opportunity for the dancers to gain some professional experience in front of the camera. They worked extremely hard to produce both technical and emotional performances to increase the atmosphere and drama of the scenes they were involved in.
We are extremely proud of the way the dancers performed and their conduct on set was exemplary, they made a fantastic impression with the cast and crew with both their talent and professional attitude.
17/7/2011 - 'One Night Only'Tour, Here we Come!.
On Sunday 17th July, our wonderful dancers successfully auditioned to be part of LHK Productions One Night Only tour.
They were chosen from hundreds of acts across the country and are the only dance troupe performing in the show.
The dancers will get to perform alongside many household celebrities at various venues across the North West.
This is a fantastic opportunity for the dancers to gain professional theatre experience. Break a leg!
Also, on the same date, our challenge troupe dancers performed and made it through to the black tie gala final of Junior Talent Search 2011. They beat off numerous other acts to successfully be awarded a place in the much coveted final. The final will take place on Saturday 22nd October at Park Hall, Chorley. Fingers crossed!
2/7/2011 - Kelly Shirley School of Dance Official Freak Out Champions 2011!
The dancers competed in Freak Out 2011 presented by Juste Dance at the Kirkby Civic Suite on Saturday 2nd July and won trophies not only for Best Costume but also for the much coveted Senior Troupe Championship with their routine Heart of Asia.
Judging the event was internationally renowned Bboy artiste Bboy Kev, and David Heath from the X-Factors Eton Road
As he was presenting the awards, David from Eton Road commented ‘the level of technical ability in this group is not something I have ever seen before, there are theatre college students out there who aren’t capable of this type of routine, it was totally amazing’
His remarks are put into perspective when considering the age range of the dancers in the troupe is from 8 to 17years.
We are extremely proud of all our dancers – they work hard and are very dedicated. It was wonderful to achieve a win like this on what is considered our home turf, our annual dance school shows are held at the Kirkby Civic Suite and the dancers certainly have loved dancing here for this fantastic event’
5/6/2011 - Kelly Shirley School of Dance Wows Liverpool Audience!
Our dancers have one again been performing at one of their favourite venues, the Liverpool Empire.
42 dancers spent the afternoon of the 5th June backstage at the Empire preparing for the evening performance of ‘Smile Together’.
The dancers were lucky enough to open the show with their routine ‘One Night Only’ which features fantastic vocals by dance school student Charlotte Lucy, and sees the dancers wearing wonderful pink Las Vegas Style Showgirl costumes.
The dancers then followed with ‘Heart of Asia’ to close the first half of the show, they then closed the entire show with ‘Latin Fever’.
The host for the evening, Juice FM’s Adam Weighell described the dancers as ‘tremendous, breath-taking and fantastic’. The dancer’s performances were the talk of the show.
Show organiser Sharon Collins, took a moment out of a busy and exciting evening to pose for a photo backstage with some of the dancers. Sharon said ‘The dancers from the Kelly Shirley School of Dance are amazing, the level of technical ability in such a wide age range of students is fantastic – watching them gave me goose bumps!”
22/5/2011 - Kelly Shirley School of Dance Takes London By Storm!
Our dancers returned to London’s Logan Hall to defend their International Starpower Junior Champions Title with magnificent success!
The dancers travelled to London on Sunday 22nd May to perform a selection of routines to an impressive panel of American dance judges, and to compete against national and international troupes.
They performed once again to the highest standards, amazing the judges with their flexibility, timing and technical ability.
They came home with a total of 13 awards and trophies and this year were crowned Starpower Jazz Champions 2011 – once again proving what amazing dance talent is to be found in the North West of the UK!
The girls worked extremely hard for this performance, and we are all proud to have them represent both the school and the North West.’
8/05/11 - Kelly Shirley School of Dance Rocks Festival 4 Stars!
Yet again, our students have had another amazing result at the Liverpool Heat of Festival 4 Stars 2011.
The dance troupe took part in the Liverpool heat of the national dance competition, Festival 4 Stars on the 8th May, they performed a selection of fantastic troupe routines to a panel of judges at All Saints School in Kirkby, coming away with three wins in three different sections.
Also competing in the duos and trios section were Ella Hicks aged 8 and Witney Thomson aged 13 with a Ballet Duo, and Ella Campbell aged 11, Ella Hicks aged 8 and Henrietta Moss aged 7 with a Modern Trio. The judges had nothing but praise to heap onto both of these dances – putting them straight through to the regional final of the competition in St Helens on 12th June.
The troupe are taking 5 dance routines, and the duo and trio, to the regional final, on 12th June at the Theatre Royal in St Helens and are hoping for another positive response from the judges, leading to a performance in the Finals of this UK Wide Talent Contest later in the year.
As always, everyone involved with the school is extremely proud of the hardworking students, they never fail to perform to the best of their ability, and are a credit to the school and each other – The very best of luck at the Regional Finals and we are sure they will do us proud!
4/05/11 - Kelly Shirley School of Dance Unleashed in Blackpool!
Our dancers, sponsored by Booths, have taken the 'Music Madness 2011' title in an unprecedented display of talent.
On Saturday 30th April, the dancers left their classes in Ormskirk to take part in dance extravaganza ‘Music Madness 2011’ at the Paradise Room in Blackpool. Part of the Pleasureland complex, the Paradise Room played host to a wide range of dance schools and colleges from the North West in an evening of intense competition with 22 different routines being performed, all hoping to be chosen by a panel of judges from across the dance industry, as the winner of the Music Madness 2011 crown, and prize money to the tune of £500 for the winning school.
The students performed their routine ‘Heart of Asia’ to a packed crowed and amazed both the judges and audience with their performance, technical ability and talent. On awarding them first place, the judges said that ‘there was really no competition, and the panel were blown away by the troupe’, one judge commented that her ‘heart was pounding with excitement through the whole routine’.
Our dancers performed exceptionally well, adapting their routines to fit the unusually shaped stage at the venue without batting an eyelid, and they received a fantastic and well deserved response from a packed audience and impressed panel of judges! Everyone at the school is extremely proud of all the dancers and we look forward to returning to Blackpool with the whole troupe in the near future!”
20/04/11 - Kelly Shirley School of Dance Takes Sadler’s Wells by Storm!
On Wednesday 20th April, our dancers and their families left Ormskirk at 5am to travel to London to take part in a very special performance at Sadler’s Wells, ‘The Home of Dance’. The dancers have worked extremely hard for the last 6 months preparing two fantastic routines for the show ‘The Stars In Our Eyes’ hosted by West End legend Nic Greenshields, the face behind the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ in London’s West End.
The dancers performed both routines to great acclaim from a packed London audience and received special comments from Nic Greenshields himself who said the troupe were ‘Amazing, the level of technical ability shown by dancers of such a wide age range was incredible.’ Nic went on to praise the fantastic choreography of the routines saying the dancers brought ‘Great style and performance to the Sadler’s Wells stage’ He also singled out two of the schools and indeed the shows youngest performers for a special mention, Alice Hunter Walker, from Scarisbrick, who at 4 is the youngest female performer in the troupe, and Toby Hicks, from Hesketh Bank, who at 6 is the youngest boy. He was highly impressed with their ability and the level of hard work and dedication they put in to their performance.
The two routines, ‘One Night Only’ and ‘Latin Fever’ stole the show, and were the subject of much back stage and front of house praise and discussion. The dancers, despite the long journey and exhausting performances had the most fantastic time, and performing on one of London’s most prestigious stages was an experience they will never forget.
30/03/11 - Kelly Shirley School of Dance Kicks off 2011 with a Bang!!
During February the dancers competed both as soloists and as a senior troupe at the prestigious Ellesmere Port Spring Festival of Dance, and not only came away with a haul of soloist medals and trophies, but also were crowned Senior Troupe Champions, in the most highly contested competition in the festival.
Barely pausing for breath, the troupe then took part in the Blackpool heat of the national dance competition, Festival 4 Stars on the 6th March, coming away with wins in both the Musical section and Troupe Dance section. Not only did the dancers get to meet and pose for photos with ‘Connected’ stars of Britain’s Got Talent, but these wins also make them eligible to compete in the North West Regional Finals of the competition later this year, hopefully leading to a spot in the Finals!
Later in the same week, the troupe put in a spectacular performance at Northern Stars 2011, held in the dancers home town of Ormskirk, Northern Stars highlighted lots of local talent to a packed audience.
On Sunday 13th March, the troupe then took part in the biggest, most exciting children’s variety show that Liverpool has seen to date, performing two routines in ‘Live the Dream’ at Liverpool’s Echo Arena to much acclaim from the audience and their co-stars.
They performed alongside Juice FM’s Leanne Campbell, and West End Star Emma Dears who was returning to her home town of Liverpool to see the up and coming local talent for herself. To complete the month, the dancers then took to the stage at the Liverpool Empire on 20th March to perform in Juste Dance 2011 and once again came home with even more silverware.
21/03/11 - Annual Show Costumes 2011
At long last, our show costume list has been e-mailed out to all parents/dancers who are performing in our annual summer show. Our good friends Tracy/Tim at Sound Effects in Ormskirk will be on hand in the shop to assist with any orders or costume queries.
8/03/11 - Booths Sponsorship
We are delighted to announce our recent sponsorship from Booths. Here is a quote from their CEO, Edwin Booths about our sponsorship: 'Booths plays an active part in the communities in which it trades, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumbria and Cheshire. Either through its work with Business In The Community, or supporting local charitable organisations and we are pleased to be able to support The Kelly Shirley School of Dance.'