Local Leyland News
Community Spotlight:
Leyland Festival welcomes back The Mavis Berry & Helen Allen School of Dance
Talented dancers from The Mavis Berry & Helen Allen School of Dance will be putting their best feet forward to take part in the Leyland Festival parade this year. The dancers, who range from eight to eighteen, will be bringing the party spirit to Leyland town centre with their glittery costumes and their choreographed routine, set to music from Mamma Mia to fit this year’s Musicals theme.
The school of dance has been preparing since early February for their performance, and the dance routine has been choreographed by Helen Allen herself with a little help from Alisha Power who is a teacher at the dance school.
The school has creative hands as well as feet, as they have always designed and made their own costumes for the Festival.
The group will be dancing to three Mamma Mia tracks on the day which consist of the popular Mamma Mia and Voulet Vou along with the very appropriate Dancing Queen. These tracks were chosen as they were Miss Berry’s Favourite dance tracks and the group say: “In our eyes, she is our dancing queen who has worked tirelessly throughout her life to make the school what it is today!”
The Mavis Berry and Helen Allen School of dance was established in 1953 by Mavis Berry and they have been holding dance classes at the United Reformed Church Hall in Leyland since starting the business. Mother and daughter, Mavis and Helen are both qualified dance teachers with the British Ballet Organization and teach Tap, Modern Theatre and Classical Greek.
Their chosen musical for this year’s festival is Mamma Mia, and they are hoping to bring the sun out with their glittery costumes!
The school of dance, danced through the parade last year and the crowd enjoyed their performance, but the group found it challenging to keep dancing and moving forward at the same time, this year lots of travelling steps have been incorporated into their routine to make it easier for the younger children.
The dance group had a slight issue with footwear during last year’s performance as they were dancing on the road and their dance shoes wore through, but this year they have chosen to dance in trainers.
The main benefits of taking part in the Leyland Festival to them are:
“To give the children a chance to showcase their talents and feel part of the community. It’s a great atmosphere and as long as the weather stays kind to us, I am sure we will have a very enjoyable day”
Leyland Festival are thrilled that they will be dancing into our hearts again in this year’s parade.