SLP College is an independent, co-educational performing arts college based in Garforth

Garforth

Garforth is a town within the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, in West Yorkshire, England. The 2001 Census lists 23,892 residents in the Garforth and Swillington ward - 80.57% of which are homeowners, 20% more than the average for Leeds. Garforth itself has 15,394 of those people...

 near Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, 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...

.

Overview

In 1974, Sandra A. Reid founded "Sandra A Reid, School of Ballet and Theatre Dance" It initially offered classes for young children and was held in a small Church Hall before Miss Reid purchased the first Studio La Pointe premises in around 1983.'Studios La Pointe', was the predecessor of today's SLP College. Initially, it was a part-time dance school teaching children of pre-vocational age. In 1991, the studios moved to a former chapel closer to the centre of Garforth, and a full-time performing arts course was established, which become known as SLP College. The college is now recognised as one of the leading performing arts schools in the United Kingdom. It is accredited to the Council for Dance Education and Training, and is one of the 21 specialist performing arts schools selected to allocate government funded Dance and Drama Awards

Dance and Drama Awards

The Dance and Drama Awards are a scholarship scheme which subsidises professional vocational training at some of the leading performing arts schools in the United Kingdom...

. The college is based in a converted chapel, which has been extended twice in 2005 and in 2008 and houses state of the art facilities.

Training

SLP College is one of a limited number of schools authorised to offer the National Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre, a three year further education

Further education

Further education is a term mainly used in connection with education in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is post-compulsory education , that is distinct from the education offered in universities...

 qualification devised and validated by Trinity College, London. The course is designed to develop practical skill rather than academic learning and so the qualification is rated at Level 6 on the National Qualifications Framework

National Qualifications Framework

The National Qualifications Framework is a credit transfer system developed for qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland....

 and is equal to some higher education degrees. Key areas of study include classical ballet

Classical ballet

Classical Ballet is the most formal of the ballet styles, it adheres to traditional ballet technique. There are variations relating to area of origin, such as Russian ballet, French ballet, British ballet and Italian ballet...

, tap

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...

, jazz

Jazz dance

Jazz dance is a classification shared by a broad range of dance styles. Before the 1950s, jazz dance referred to dance styles that originated from African American vernacular dance. In the 1950s, a new genre of jazz dance—modern jazz dance—emerged, with roots in Caribbean traditional dance...

 and contemporary

Contemporary dance

Contemporary dance is a genre of concert dance that employs compositional philosophy, rather than choreography, to guide unchoreographed movement...

 dance, singing

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

 and drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

as well as contextual studies such as music appreciation and musical theatre history.

Theatre Credits include:

Verity Rushworth, Penny, Hairspray, Shaftsbury Theatre

Jack Hawitt, Ensemble, We Will Rock You, Dominion Theatre

Vicky Roberts, Wicked, Elphaba, Savoy theatre, London

External links

• College Homepage