The Dance Workshop
The Dance Workshop – Academic Year 2022/2023
Ballet Exams - 1st, 2nd and 3rd June - St 1, Gr 1 to 5, Vocational students
Show of Work - Saturday 24th June
Last Day of Spring Term - Saturday 24th June
Summer Intensive 2023 - Thursday 29th June to Monday 3rd July
Summer Support Programme - Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6th July to 10th August
The Dance Workshop – Academic Year 2023/2024
First Day of Autumn Term - Monday 18th September (Spanish dance classes start on 4th September)
Mid Term Break – 1st to 5th November
General rehearsals for annual performance - Sunday 12th and Saturday 18th November
Theatre rehearsals - Friday 24th (pm) and Saturday 25th November (all day)
Dress rehearsals - Sunday 26th morning
Annual Performance - Sunday 26th November at 6:00pm
Last Day of Autumn Term - Wednesday 20th December
First Day of Winter Term 2024 - Monday 8th January
Upcoming Events
The Dance Workshop will once again hold its Summer Intensive this year. This annual event will be a five-day intensive course with local and international teachers. Young students will spend five mornings at The Dance Workshop covering classes in classical ballet, modern and contemporary dance, as well as drama. The older students will take their turn in the afternoons, covering classes in classical ballet, repertoire as well as contemporary dance. Our internation guest teachers this year, will be Barbara Ante and Klevis Elmazaj.
Barbara Ante
At the age of 14 Barbara was accepted to the Heinz Bosl Stiftung--Munich Ballet Academy, in 1991 she obtained her Dance Diploma from the Conservatory for Music and the Performing Arts Munich. She started her professional dance career at Tyrolean State Theater, Innsbruck and then performed at the Berlin State Opera where she was able to work with renowned choreographers like Roland Petit. Following a career on stage, Barbara returned to Italy continuing to develop her love for the theatre by studying with several well know artists and in 2003 set up Evento Danza di Barbara Ante.
Klevis Elmazaj
The Albanian dancer and choreographer Klevis Elmazaj works regularly with international dance companies on operas, films and musicals. His work is seen all over the world and has been awarded many prizes, including the Burgos/New York International Choreographic Competition, the Belgrade Choreographic Competition Selection, and Finalist at YAGP New York. While training at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance he expanded his body language to include acrobatics, hip hop and Flamenco. He has danced for many choreographers and appeared in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Taiwan, Katar, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. He has also made a name for himself choreographing operatic productions and works regularly at internationally renowned houses. Recent projects have included Christof Loy's Salome at Finnish National Opera, La forza del destino at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London and Rusalka at the Teatro Real de Madrid.
Past Events
The Dance Workshop held its annual Summer Intensive between the 1st and 5th July 2022. The guest teachers this year were Stefania Sansavini, Director of Ateneo Danza (Forli, Italy) who taught the ballet classes and Kostas Papamatthaiakis freelance dancer and choreographer who taught the contemporary dance classes. Other teachers included Gabriele Farinaci (Modern Dance), Sue Vassallo (Hip Hop), Christina Aquilina (Kid’s Yoga) and Erica Muscat (Drama).
After three years of absence due to the pandemic, The Dance Workshop presented its annual dance performance at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta. “My Favourite Things”, was held on the 29th May 2022 and it brought together all the dance genres taught at The Dance Workshop.
The teachers and choreographers worked on their favourite themes in life, with summer and the sea being at the forefront of these themes. Pamela Kerr’s “It feels like summer”, Douglas Comley’s “Beach Vibes” and “Sunrise at Sea” by Christina Cefai and Francesca Rubei, all paid tribute to their favourite time of the year. Francesca Rubei’s love for reading was depicted in her choreography of “Lost in a Good Book”.
One of Theresa Lungaro-Mifsud’s fondest memories was watching The New Year’s Day concert on TV and this inspired her 25-minute children’s ballet which opened the second part of the performance.
Theresa also prepared the libretto for “La Petite Sylphide” which she and the ballet faculty choreographed especially for the lower school. Theresa’s love of Italy also led her to choreograph “La Bell’Italia” an energetic tarantella set to music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk.
The Hip Hop faculty, prepared by Sue Vassallo, brought to life three pieces – “School’s Out”, “Besties” and “Music”. Jade Farrugia choreographed her dance inspired by the Cosmos, whereas Sara Accettura’s dance brought to life different Colours. Bettina von Brockdorff’s “Por El Manton” was a tribute to the use of a shawl in traditional flamenco dance.
The modern theatre faculty, under the direction of Diane Portelli, performance a series of 5 dances to bring us a powerful piece dedicated to “Superheroes”.
As in previous performances, “My Favourite Things” came to a close with the traditional short extract of Repertoire from the Golden Age of Ballet - this time with The Dance of the Hours from the ballet “Coppelia”