Doreen Bird - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Doreen Bird, MA, FISTD, ARAD, (27 January 1928 – 4 February 2004) was a British dance teacher and founder of the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts in Sidcup, Kent. She was a fellow, examiner, lecturer, committee and council member of the ISTD

Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing

The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing is a leading dance teaching and examination board based in London, England and operating internationally. Established on 25 July 1904 as the Imperial Society of Dance Teachers, it changed to its current name in 1925 and is now a registered educational...

, life member of the RAD

Royal Academy of Dance

The Royal Academy of Dance is an international dance education and training organization, and examination board that specialises in the teaching and technique of Ballet. The RAD was established in London, England in 1920 as the Association of Operatic Dancing of Great Britain, and received its...

, and Honorary MA. Prior to her death from Leukaemia in 2004, she had been studying towards a Ph.D. As well as being a respected dance figure in the United Kingdom, Bird also travelled the World as a lecturer and adjudicator

Adjudicator

An adjudicator is someone who presides, judges and arbitrates during a formal dispute. The term adjudicator essentially means a judge, without invoking the legal term. An ombudsman is a type of adjudicator in local government in the United Kingdom....

specialising in dance and musical theatre. The college which Bird founded is now recognised Internationally as a centre of excellence for dance and performing arts, with its students working worldwide in high profile areas of the performing industry including West End

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

and Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

theatre.

Dance College

In 1945, Bird founded the Doreen Bird School of Dance, the predecessor of today's Bird College of Dance, Music & Theatre Performance

Bird College

Bird College of Dance, Music & Theatre Performance is an independent performing arts school and college, based in the Greater London suburb of Sidcup...

. Bird initially taught her students in her parents' living room then a local church hall, before opening a full time performing arts course at permanent premises in Sidcup. This became the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts and Bird remained Principal of the College until her retirement in 1998, when the name Bird College was adopted under its new Principal. The college is one of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

's leading institutions for specialist dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

and musical theatre

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

training, with many ex-students of the college appearing in dance and theatre Worldwide including West End

West End theatre

and Broadway

Broadway theatre

theatre. The college now operates a range of courses including the National Diploma in Musical Theatre and the BA (Hons) Degree in Dance & Theatre Performances, both courses being established during Bird's tenure as Principal. The College has continued to expand since Bird died, becoming the first college of its kind in the UK to offer an MA Degree (by research), as subject specialist provider for the University of Greenwich. Since October 2007, the college has also been the official provider of Music and Dance services for the London Borough of Bexley.

Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing

Doreen Bird was a member of the ISTD, an international dance examination board based in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. As a life member of the organisation, she served as a teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

, examiner

Examiner

The Examiner was a weekly paper founded by Leigh and John Hunt in 1808. For the first fifty years it was a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles, but from 1865 it repeatedly changed hands and political allegiance, resulting in a rapid decline in readership and loss of...

, lecturer

Lecturer

Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...

, committee and council member. She was appointed an examiner of the Modern Theatre Branch in 1957, National Dance Branch in 1958 and Imperial Ballet Branch in 1964, travelling the world as a representative of the society. Bird served as a member of the ISTD Grand Council from 1970 to 1975, and became a committee member of the Modern Theatre Branch in 1970, a post which she held for sixteen years until 1986. During her time as a committee member of the ISTD, Bird was influential in the examination of dance and the modernisation of the organisations syllabus and approach to teaching young dancers. As a member of the Modern Theatre Branch, Bird helped to compile all the society's new Major examination syllabi for Modern Dance

Modern dance

Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...

and Tap Dance

Tap dance

Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sound of one's tap shoes hitting the floor as a percussive instrument. As such, it is also commonly considered to be a form of music. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses more on the...

. Much of this work is still used today, although the syllabi are often revised to keep up to date with current trends in dance.

Awards and honours

In recognition of her work in the field of dance, Bird was awarded an Honorary Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

from the University of Greenwich
University of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich is a British university located in the London Borough of Greenwich, London, England. The main campus is located on the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, a central location within the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site.-History:The history of the...

in 1999
Bird received the Imperial Faculty Award in 1996, in recognition of her long service as a member of the ISTD
In 2007 the ISTD launched the "Creation" choreographic competition as a memorial to Bird. The first competition was held at the Harlequin Theatre in Redhill, Surrey

Sources

External links

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