Find out more in the Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre children’s event on 28 June

Success builds on success and nowhere is that more true than with Ealing-based Yourspace’s popular Easter and summer drama courses, now in their seventh year. Children have been returning holiday after holiday, year after year to experience these truly original classes and put on stunning performances, often at Questors Theatre in Ealing.

But waiting a year is a long time for most children, so this September sees the start of Yourspace Saturdays, offering classes of the same high quality in drama and/or jazz dance.

Like the Yourspace holiday courses, Yourspace Saturdays in dance and drama will be held at St Augustine’s Priory School, Hillcrest Road, Ealing, which provides the perfect environment for Saturday workshops and activities. Students can choose an hour of drama or an hour of jazz dance or combine the two into a fulfilling, fun and personally rewarding morning from 9-11.55am. The age groups are 6-11 years and 12-18 years and all abilities are catered for. The course is run over the year in three terms, each 10-week term costing £105 for one discipline or £195 for the two.

Yourspace founder and director is professional teacher Faith Murphy, head of drama at St Augustine’s Priory School. Faith, who went to school in Ealing then trained at Bristol University and Lamda, and will be assisted by a team of professionally trained teachers who each share their own experience in the theatre industry. Each member of staff is fully CRB checked and chosen for their fun and imaginative approach to teaching children.

In the dance class children will learn the techniques of modern and jazz and develop routines that will help them increase their coordination, fitness and musical interpretation. The drama class will develop confidence-building skills in voice, improvisation and script work. And there will be a performance for parents at the end of each term where the children can enjoy showing off their new skills.

Yourspace Saturdays start on 13 September and the first term finishes 29 November (there is a two week half term break).

These classes follow hard on the heels of this year’s Yourspace summer courses running 11-15 August at St Augustine’s Priory School. For ages 3-5 (Yourspace tots), 6-11s (Yourspace too) and 12-18s (Yourspace), this summer’s theme is all about travel and journeys, sun and summer. The 6-18s will conclude with a performance for parents on the main stage of Questors Theatre, in Ealing, on 15 August, experiencing the theatre’s professional quality lighting and staging.

During the week, Yourspace tots will enjoy games and expressive play, singing and dancing, all around the theme of “Magical Journeys”. Running from 9am-1pm each day with a performance for parents at 12.30pm on the Friday, this course costs £135 and suits both boys and girls.

Boys and girls on the Yourspace too and Yourspace courses, which run from 9am-5pm each day, will work on “Summer Holidays”, learning improvisation, movement, scriptwork and use of the voice alongside plenty of singing and dancing. There are lunchtime games to let off steam and rehearsals for the show at Questors and it’s stunning what the children can achieve in the time. As one parent said: “We were amazed and impressed by the production at the end of the week. An absolute credit to all involved.”

These courses cost £190 for the week, with discounts for families with more than one child taking part.

To find out more about all these courses, Yourspace summer 11-15 August or Yourspace Saturdays starting 13 September, go to www.yourspacedrama.com or write to info@yourpacedrama.com or call 07580 474638. Or drop into the Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre on June 28 where there is a stand at the children’s entertainment event.

23rd June 2014