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CULTURAL ELTHAM


Stage Right, a performing arts group aimed primarily at children with special needs has been hit by a cut in Youth Opportunity Funding.


education, as well as special needs, the group is led by experienced, specialised performing arts teachers.


Catering


Stage Right provides members with a way to access performance appropriate to their individual needs.


Participants, aged between 8 and 19 years, are encouraged to use music, drama, and dance to develop confidence, performance and communication skills. Participants pay fees as they do in all GAMD ensembles, but because of the


to children in mainstream


needs of some of Stage Right members, there is a much higher staff to student ratio so the fees do not cover the staffing costs.


Two years ago the group received a grant from Youth Opportunity Funding which helped cover staffing costs at Stage Right for the last two years. This funding has to be applied for by the young people involved. One of the members, a girl with Autism who attends both weekly sessions, applied with the help of her mum and then went for an interview to get the funding. This year she re applied and was on her way to the interview when her mum was phoned to let her know the funding had been stopped.


You Can Help? GAMD are seeking people to form a fund raising committee to organise fund raising events (2 or 3 a year).


Katie Fowler's love of dance started at the age of 5 and has blossomed into a career in performance and dance.


Primary School. Katie’s mum took her to dance class once a week which progressed to dancing every day of the week. While loving all forms of dance Katie dreamed of being a ballerina, her favourite classes were in ballet.


Born


It wasn’t long before she was performing on stage in her dance school Variety shows and over the Christmas of 1997/98 she appeared in her first Pantomime – Cinderella at The Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon with Marti Webb & Paul Bradley (then from Eastenders, currently in Holby City).


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in Eltham in 1989, she attended St Mary’s RC


A Dream to Dance


Katie’s dream of performing in a ballet was realised when she earned a place in the English Youth Ballet’s production of Sleeping Beauty at The Ashcroft Theatre. Katie knew at this stage in her life that she wanted to be a professional dancer. Having completed her GCSE’s at St Thomas More RC Secondary School, she took up full time training at Millennium Dance 2000 in Hampstead and graduated in July 2008 with a Diploma in Musical Theatre.


Katie has appeared in numerous productions at the Bob Hope Theatre, Eltham, such as Seussical the Musical, A Chorus Line, Return to the Forbidden Planet and most recently It’s a Kind of Magic. She also performed in Footloose at The Churchill Theatre last April.


To further enhance her dance career opportunities, Katie took up her teacher training at Liz Burville Performing Arts Centre. She realised that she loved


Ben Moncrieffe and Lauren Payne


"We are currently sorting out our Charity Status application, hopefully then the group should have a much wider range of funds available to us" said Amy Lloyd, one of the principals of GAMD.


Want to help? Send you details to info@gamd.org.uk Or Call 020 8848 4535 They would love to hear from you.


t eaching as well as performing. Over the summer an opportunity presented itself where the school needed a new business partner, due to some of the existing team deciding to move on to pastures new. Katie not being shy of a challenge accepted the offer and is now co running the school with the founder Liz Burville. Katie is very excited about the prospect of being able to teach and pass on her enthusiasm and love of performing arts to the next generations of young dancers.


The Liz Burville Performing Art Centre can be contacted on 01474 834 886 or www.lbpac.co.uk


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