Haywards Heath college dancers take second place at Dance Live heats

Dance students from Haywards Heath College secured an impressive second place at the Dance Live! heats on Tuesday night (8 February).

The dancers, from both first and second year A-level dance and drama classes, came together in collaboration to compete in the senior heats of the competition, which took place at Portsmouth Guildhall. 
 
Competing against dancers from schools and colleges across the local area, it was an intense evening of competition and culminated in the Haywards Heath College team placing second. They now face a wait to find out if they have done enough to reach the finals in May. 
 
Lecturer Yvonne Jones said: “The students have really done themselves proud. 
 
“The concept and choreography were created by our second-year dance students – Isabelle Hateley, Holly Hicks, Eve Lewis and Liv Rathborn – and supported technically by performing arts student Cameron Beardsmore. 
 
“They’ve been rehearsing since October, demonstrating an amazing amount of hard work and dedication to the process – we couldn’t have asked for more from them.” 
 
Holly Hicks, one of the dance students involved in the performance, added: “Dance Live was such an exciting experience! 
 
“Looking at how far we came as a group from our initial ideas in September to our performance was so rewarding. 
 
“I am so proud of us, the four second year students, who worked so hard to bring the piece to life and so grateful to the first-year students for their dedication and engagement in all the sessions – we couldn’t have done it without them! 
 
“We learnt so much, and not only have we improved our performance and leadership skills but met people in other years we never would have done, and we definitely didn’t stop laughing! 
 
“Yvonne, our tech team and us dancers worked so hard together despite many challenges and coming in second overall as well as winning the screen award just made the competition day even better.” 

Dance Live! is a revolutionary dance event for schools and colleges, created by The Guildhall Trust. It embraces the digital world and sees students in schools and colleges compete with choreographed routines to the backdrop of a giant digital screen with students highlighting a range of skills, from dance and performance to off-stage technical skills and creative design. 
 
To find out more about studying dance at Haywards Heath College, please visit www.haywardsheath.ac.uk