GAU Stage School Gala Night
By Margaret Sheard…
It had been an extremely hot day and I had arranged to attend the GAU 
Stage School Gala Night on Thursday 26th June and I almost decided the heat was too much for me to make the effort, but I did make the effort and was so glad that I did because it was a superb evening of dance by young and older students who displayed their skills most professionally.
The event, presented by the GAU Stage School and School of Performing Arts as an end of year show, was held at the GAU Spectrum Hall which was very pleasantly cool, there was
a very large audience and everyone settled themselves down to enjoy the dancing. We could hear a lot of activity from behind the curtains and no doubt some of the younger children were getting very excited.
The audience was welcomed by Simgi Ozekler (in Turkish) and Suzan Heijari, the Head of the Dance Academy, who spoke in English and then the show started.
We were treated to a wonderful selection of 18 dances – Awakening, The Best of Both Worlds, Cats, Beach Party, Spri
ng, Cinderella, Drummer Boy, Rainbow, Construction Rats, The Waves, Soul, Car Services, Complicated Relationship, The Mermaids, Crazy, Tango, Summertime and Papa, many performed by the very young students who did so well. I noticed when the younger children were dancing their various teachers were at the front of the audience, keeping a very low profile but prompting the children on their moves and
many of the children did not take their eyes away from them. The girls and boys alike were so cute, they put so much into their various performances and showed a lot of talent.
Some of the older students performed ballet, tango and other themed dances and this showed the exceptional talent of these students who will probably go on to be dancers, choreographers, etc. in the world of dance and theatre.
It was indeed a spectacular show and at the end all of the children congregated on the stage while bouquets were presented to some of the key people associated with the performance, with firecrackers going off at the back of the stage releasing showers of glitter. A wonderful finale to a wonderful evening of dance.
We were advised during the welcoming speech that the annual Dance Fest will be held on 24th July. The location and time for this event is to be confirmed and will be published in our weekly Events Calendar as soon as we receive news. Another brilliant occasion to look forward to so, if you like to watch dance, keep a note in your diary.
