Travel and dance into 2010
Last updated 1/12/2010 4:54:43 PM
Go on, have the time of your life. Salsa dance lesson with City Academy at Saddler's Wells. Photo by Zarina Holmes
Happy New Year from Optimist World. To open the new chapter of 2010, our travel team would like to suggest a healthy, entertaining option to bust the sluggish holiday feeling and lose a few kilos from Christmas time.
Yes, let’s go dancing! And we don’t mean dancing with a beer glass in one hand either.
Thanks to popular TV programmes “Strictly Come Dancing” and “Britain’s Got Talents”, the population is now more investing more time honing their dancing and performing talents during spare time.
The four-star Macdonald Berystede Hotel & Spa, near Ascot, has teamed up with DanceMakers to two-night Strictly Dance themed weekends on 19th – 21st March and 12th – 14th November.
It costs from £189 per person to include dinner B&B, lunch on Saturday, tuition and entertainment. Strictly Dance will learn dance steps within the elegant setting of the Macdonald Berystede decor, set in beautiful wooded grounds.
Visit www.MacdonaldHotels.co.uk/Berystede
The workshops can’t promise to turn you into a Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers in one weekend; but you can prepare in advance by taking lessons.
City Academy, the largest performing arts academy in London, offers attractive short courses in spectacular and historical venues such as Saddlers’s Wells, Royal Opera House, Actors Studio, Dominion Theatre and Finsbury Town Hall.
The academy caters for people from all walks of life: lawyer, builder, accountant, journalist, nurse, and student with courses that fit around their jobs.
Optimist World had fun observing lessons such as musical theatre, drama, salsa, Bollywood dance, tap dance, singing and choir, given in relaxed and inspiring environments.
Lessons are taught by top professionals from theatre, film and television, who then would prepare the students to perform at the end of the course to a live audience. After beginner level, you can continue into advanced courses.
Our personal thumbs-up has to be watching the musical theatre students’ performing choreographed West End favourites at the Dominion Theatre. Visit www.city-academy.com