Spirit Dance troop

Spirit Young Performers Company is a stage school based in Islington London. Hosting talented young people aged 6-19, on Saturdays and Sundays. Their programmes are designed to help progress and perfect the ambitious legacies’, the children of spirit Dance Company will leave behind. Young musical theatre lovers, dancers, singers and actors travel from all over the UK to audition for a chance to excel to spirit. Dancers have the opportunity to be selected for the Multi-Award-Winning National Competition Team, who are at the top of their game in the competitive world of dance.

Many of the young performers leave at 19 to go to colleges such as: Arts Ed, Bird, Mountview and Urdang. That Spirit provides the support and determination to prepare their students for big pressure auditions into not only these prestigious musical colleges but for life in the performance career.

In south west London many young people from various different schools attend Spirit. Including Ellie Gilbert, who attends Gumley House convent school in Isleworth. Ellie auditioned a joined spirit in September 2019 in her first year of sicth form. Despite how this may seem as a late arrival to join spirit at 16, as the auditions are opened at a large age range, Ellie has fit right into spirit life and since has been thriving in her musical performance.

I first spoke to Ellie at the Spirit annual show this last December , a showcase of the talent produced by spirit and to one day headline musicals. Ellie shared her views on spirit and what it has done for her: “since joining spirit I have been given the gift of opportunities. New friends, new abilities and new strengths to build upon. I have grown as a person in only theses three months, I can evaluate and reflection more on my love for musical theatre in more depth, thanks to the immense guidance I find myself surrounded by”.

What Ellie had told me beforehand to the annual show, rung true in all the students and showed throughout their performance. With the theme of musicals which were movies before they hit broadway, the quality of each performer was outstanding. Its these companies which are highlighted with such prestige, that are the platform young people need. That although there are fantastic grass root level performance companies, it places such as spirit which can enhance the ability to express yourself and pin point it to the art of professionalism.

Spirit is a company that should attract to the any hopeful performer, with prospects only demonstrating the absolute best to come from being part of such a talented company.