Graham School of Dance & Theatre Arts Festival Attendance Information

Arrival & Etiquette

• You must arrive at least one hour before the section’s start time if you are arriving with hair and make-up done.

• If you are doing hair and make-up upon arrival to the festival, you will need to allow more time for this.

• When you arrive at the festival, you must check in to the desk to sign your child in and hand your CDs in here if needed.

• Some festivals now have the tracks sent digitally by us as a school. Some festivals will still work with CDs. For groups, we will allocate two children’s parents to take the CDs to each festival. Still bring your CDs even if the festival does not require them.

• Festivals are all run purely by volunteers, so please keep in mind to say a big thank you to any staff you do see
  You will need to pay admission to watch the festivals, you usually will pay for a morning, afternoon, or evening session.

• When you attend a festival, you are representing Graham as a school, so of course we expect everyone to conduct themselves in the best manner possible

• When attending a festival, we ask that the children wear their GSDTA squad jackets please

• Children will need to warm up physically before they perform, and vocally/physically for any musical theatre pieces.

• Be super careful to ensure you do not leave anything at a festival.

Hair, Make-up & Costumes

• Costumes are not allowed in the auditorium at the festival. Costumes should only be worn in the festival changing room, and when walking to/from the stage.

• There is to be absolutely no drinking or eating anything but water in costume. Some costumes are custom made and can never be made the same again if ruined

• Hair, costume, and make-up tutorials must be followed, and all designs of hair/make-up decided and checked by the teacher. Performances are also marked on their costume and presentation, so it is incredibly important we uphold our high standards and presentability.

• For each group, we allocate one parent to be responsible for hairpieces, and one to be responsible for any props. Over the years we have found this is the best practice. Please ensure you return the headpieces to this parent at the end of every festival.

Adjudication

• At the end of the section, adjudication will take place on stage where each number will stand on stage for placings

• For groups there will be 5 children stand in a formation on stage, as decided by the teacher. Whilst onstage for adjudication the performers must remember correct posture, eyeline, and to smile. The children will be given a number to hold, and the adjudicator will call out placings in relation to their number in the programme.

• In the event of placing, the child/children will either bow or curtsey, collect their medal from the adjudicator and stand at the front of the stage, with first place standing downstage left and each place afterwards to the right of them.

• When placings are called out, students on and off stage should remember to clap and congratulate their fellow schools.

• There will be a report sheet for every entry at a festival. Soloists, duets, trios and quartets need to remember to pick these up to take home. Groups, those who are allocated the CDs, you are also allocated to collect report sheets for the group if a teacher is not present.

• In the event of a group winning a medal, these are then available to purchase from the festival’s front desk, these are not given out on stage

All England Dance’s Qualifying Marks for Regional Finals are as follows:

Solos:
Pre-Junior 6 & Under: 84
A Section 7 & 8 years: 84
B Section 9 & 10 years: 85
C Section 11 & 12 years: 86
D Section 13 & 14 years: 86
E Section 15 to 16 years: 87
F Section 17 to 21 years: 87

Duets, Trios, Quartets & Groups:
Junior 10 years & under: 84
Intermediate 14 years & under: 86
Senior 21 years & under: 87

The most important part of partaking in festivals is that the students enjoy themselves with their friends, make memories, and learn a lot! Please do send us any pictures you take at festivals to us via Facebook or Instagram, we love to see them.

We must also mention that groups will continually rehearse throughout the year and often we will update choreography/staging/musical arrangements accordingly as the piece progresses, so full attendance is vital.

Festivals create such special memories for students, teachers and families, and we look forward to sharing them with you all!

FESTIVAL UPDATE LETTER JANUARY 2024:

Regional Finals 2024 (Saturday 25th May to Sunday 2nd June)

Regional Finals are held at The Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage

Rehearsals – the below dates must be kept free there will be no exceptions for missing these rehearsals other than emergencies etc. There are some people attending Chelmsford Festival (entries will be decided by the teachers) but will be minimal this year so should not interfere with attendance. If they do clash, rehearsals must be prioritised.

Sunday 12th May – rehearsals including presentation morning

Sunday 19th May – rehearsals

Presentation Morning Sunday 12th May – all students will be required to attend a mandatory presentation about regional finals at 8:45-9:30am in Studio 1. This will explain to the students how everything works at regional finals as it will be their first experience for the vast majority, and the format will likely be different from the last cycle. No parents in attendance but of course we will send this on to you all.

We must stress just how difficult it is to qualify for National Finals and reaching Regional Finals is such a huge achievement in itself. We will still put our best foot forward and give it our all!

More information about regional finals will be sent closer to the time.

Please keep an eye on your inboxes for rehearsals for upcoming festivals Luton, Ruislip and Watford prior to Regional Finals.

National Finals 2024 (Wednesday 24th July to Thursday 1st August)

National Finals are held this year at The Halls, Wolverhampton

Rehearsals for qualified pieces

Sunday 21st July
Monday 22nd July
Tuesday 23rd July 

These dates will include any solos, duets, trios & quartets that qualify for finals too.

We are having a meeting with All England Dance on Sunday 28th January regarding National Finals this year and will share any relevant information with you.

AED 2024 to 2026 Cycle

The 2024-2026 Cycle will begin in September and the first qualifying festival being Ruislip in April 2025. Some things to note:

-      Duet, trio, and quartet groupings may change from this cycle, we cannot guarantee that students will stay together

-      The same rule applies that if your child has a solo in a certain genre, they must participate in the group when invited

-      For those who participate in a large amount of festival pieces, we will arrange meetings before assigning the new festival cycle pieces to see what will work best for you/your child in this next cycle

-      We are hoping to start group pieces for 2024-2026 at the end of summer 2024 so we can spread the cost of rehearsals and costumes.

-      We will again be aiming for all new cycle pieces to debut at Ruislip Festival in 2025, the same as we did in 2023.

-      We believe the age groupings next cycle will look as follows, according to the AED website:

Juniors – Current Year 4s and below

Intermediates – Current Year 5s to Year 8s

Seniors – Current Year 9s and above

Attendance at Rehearsals

We must continue to stress the importance of attending all rehearsals. Groups are not only cleaned after they are finished, but we also work on exercises and theory work to improve all areas of groups in these rehearsals. Changes are also made to choreography or musical arrangements. A huge part of groups is the team work aspect, which is such a valuable skill and a hugely fun bonding opportunity for the students. We often hear that students feel confident in what they are doing, which is great, but their ‘track’ in a group affects all students in the group, and full attendance is vital to being fair to all being the best we can. 

Etiquette Reminders & Updates

-      We have been told by festivals please no cheering/whooping in the audience. We suggest super loud clapping instead!

-      We have been informed by festivals they now would like two parents/guardians backstage when groups are performing. Please may we ask that parents arrange this between themselves and ensure that everyone is getting a chance to watch.

-      Please may we ask that all students start filling in their eyebrows. We previously said just fair haired students but have found this is becoming more important to highlight their eyeline. If you are unsure how to do this it is in the make-up tutorial, https://youtu.be/qEJbv0OaTFU - if you are still unsure please email in and we will be happy to help.

-      Please can all students wear their GSDTA squad jackets, these will be mandatory for every student to wear at Regional (Semi) Finals so please do order one when you are able.

-      A small note – please be careful with partings on hairstyles. If the bun is slick back for groups, there must be absolutely no parting. Similarly if the hairstyle is to have a parting, please ensure that all partings are in the same place per student.

-      A similar note from previously – tights MUST be worn with all costumes that are leotards or have skirts. No exceptions.

Entering Festivals – Google Form

A reminder for entries with entering festivals via our google forms.

Mandatory Festivals – You will be entered if you DON’T fill out the form. If you fill out the form you will NOT be entered (i.e if you are attending the groups but not solos). All groups must be participated in at mandatory festivals. Once entries have been submitted, fees must be paid.

Optional Festivals – You will be entered if you DO fill out the form. If you don’t fill out the form you will NOT be entered.

For duets, trios and quartets, at optional festivals, all parties must fill out the form for the piece to be entered.

Unless the correct steps have been followed you will be liable to pay entry fees as we are unable to get refunds from festivals.

The remaining festivals to be entered this cycle are all optional festivals. At the start of the new cycle we will detail which festivals fall into each category once again.

Festival Portal

The website is soon to be finished and the festival portal will hold all the information you need. Please look out for this information.

Groups at Mini Showcase in March

Please keep Sunday 24th March free as the majority of groups will be asked to perform in our Mini Showcase in March.

For any questions, please contact us at festivals@grahamschoolofdance.co.uk