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Harris Boys’ Dance Company (HBDC) were visited by Herne Bay High School on Tuesday 16 June, when we met some new friends as well as the teacher, Mrs A O’Neil, who taught our own dance teacher, Miss Price.

Students from the two schools shared their passion for dance, as they taught us a variety of pieces. One piece was based on the famous choreographer, Mathew Bourne, who has choreographed all-male pieces such as Swan Lake and The Lord of the Flies.

"They are all so good"

The day started with a warm up and performance of work by Herne Bay High students to HBDC. One student commented: “Miss, they are all so good…all of them,” which highlights the high standard of dancers and choreography from their students. 

Then we were all split up into groups where we learnt a piece that the Herne Bay High dancers had performed earlier. Throughout the whole day we learnt movement from the pieces, which we later performed to an audience from our school. One of the dances they taught us was called Ying and Yang, which was actually a GCSE piece of work that was choreographed by one of their students. This dance was based on peace and serenity in the world.

Routes into Dance

They also discussed with us how they got into dance and why they did it. For example a brave member of the Herne Bay High Dance Company said: ''I did dance purely because I always used to get in a lot of trouble at school, so dance was recommended, and it turned out I enjoyed it,so I continued doing it ,and since then my behaviour has improved”. At that moment we all realised that we all joined dance for different reasons not just because it’s fun.

The day finished with a performance of a new dance company which contained students from both schools performing to a Year 7 audience and invited members of staff. One staff member commented : "I cannot believe that was created in two hours to such a high standard.”

Overall it was a great experience and we all learnt a lot from each other and plan to visit Herne Bay High in 2016 to continue our Dance partnership.