Dancers of all ages displayed their talents at the Springwood High School Dance Show 2024: House of Horrors, which featured original choreography, as well as pre-choreographed pieces from this year’s BTEC Level 2 and Diploma students.

Each of the school’s five houses took part in the sell-out production, which included a dance competition, and was performed by 150 students from Years 7 to 13 in front of an audience of 300.

This year’s winning house was Oxburgh, led by Evie Mason and Macy Ballantyne in Year 13, who choreographed the dance.

“The piece was based on an asylum,” explained Dawn Paulo, Head of Dance at the school.

“From the outset, an unsettling atmosphere was created, with a solo dancer rocking in the spotlight on the floor with an audio mimicking voices in their head. Their theme was clear and how it linked to horror.

“Their costumes were white nightgowns, which worked effectively and contrasted other houses.

“A highlight of their performance was when they smeared ‘blood’ from their hands over their faces during the performance, and then on one dancer’s nightdress at the end. It took the audience by surprise and was disturbing – in a good way.”

The Oxburgh dancers were equally pleased with the win.

“I really enjoyed it,” said Hollie Sayer, who is in Year 10. “Personally I liked that I could do a bit of acting at the beginning of the piece and show some feelings and emotion – being able to smear fake blood across our faces just added to the entire piece in such a creepy and intimidating way.”

Oxburgh leaders Evie and Macy added: “We didn’t want just to win – we wanted to have empowered those girls and make them have confidence in themselves, as there were a few that had a lot of self doubt.

“We were so proud of our little team in seeing how far they had come and the improvement that they had made in the short span of time. We couldn’t have wished for a better group of girls in our house!”

Holkham House came second – but it wasn’t only the students that took to the stage.

“Another highlight of the performance was the inclusion of three teachers dressed as nuns performing the ‘YMCA’,” continued Mrs Paulo. “A horrifying thought!”

“The competition pieces draw in a larger participation from our students and give the dancers a challenge to celebrate,” she added. “It’s also lovely to allow parents and guardians the opportunity to see some exam work the students have worked on over the academic year.

“Lastly, there are always bitter-sweet moments as I watch my Year 13 dancers, who are leaving for university, and some Year 11 dancers, who will leave Springwood for college, dance for the last time on our Springwood stage. It is definitely a teary moment.”