The Helen Laxton School of Dancing

School Profile

    The Helen Laxton School of Dance was founded in Yeovil, Somerset in 1987. The school began  with just three pupils and it just kept growing and growing!! 

    Thousands of children have learnt to dance at the school and many older pupils have gained places at the top UK Dance Schools, Colleges and Universities in the country including The Royal Ballet School, The Royal Academy of Dance, London Studio Centre, Laban Centre, Central School of Ballet, Elmhurst Ballet School, Laine Theatre Arts, The Arts Educational School, Doreen Bird, Millennium, Performers College, Stella Mann and Phil Winston's.   

Our students are constantly being asked to perform both locally and nationally with professional and amateur companies. Students have appeared in productions with The Royal Ballet, Ballet Creations, English Youth Ballet, London Children's Ballet, Somerset Youth Dance Company Productions, Touring Opera, Bruce James Productions and most recently with professionals from The Strictly Come Dancing tour 2010. Each year we are the dance school chosen to provide children to take part in the professional pantomime at the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil

    Students from our school are currently performing all over the world in theatres including The West End, London. Many students are also working in Television, in Broadcasting, in Films, in Promotional work, on Cruise Ships, in Pantomimes and Summer Seasons and many past pupils are now employed as dance teachers, choreographers, dance notators and dance critics. We pride ourselves in being able to turn a child's dream and passion into a life long career.  

The school principal, Helen Laxton L.R.A.D. A.R.A.D. R.T.S. A.I.S.T.D.(Mod) A.I.S.T.D.(Nat) A.I.D.T.A is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dance in London and is a fully qualified, registered teacher with over 20 years of experience in performing and teaching Dance. Helen is also a mentor for students studying for The Royal Academy of Dance Certificate in Ballet Teaching studies which allows her pupils to qualify as teachers of Dance and to gain an internationally recognised teaching qualification.

    The school teaches Royal Academy of Dance Ballet from Pre Primary to Grade 8 and Intermediate Foundation to Advanced 2 level, Imperial Society of Teachers Dance Modern Stage, Jazz, Disco, Hip Hop, Street Dance, Cheerleading, Pre school Ballet, Toddlers Dance and Groove, Tap dance and Adult Hip Hop, Jazz and Ballet.  

 The school accepts girls and boys from 15 months old to adult from beginners to professionals

We also offer Drama, Dance, Singing, Voice Production, Mime, Microphone and Audition Technique, Casting and Directing at our other school, The Somerset School of Performing Arts where students from the age of 5 - 18 years learn the various techniques and disciplines required for a career in the Performing Arts industry. For more details please visit www.thesomersetschoolofperformingarts.com

Principal

Helen Laxton L.R.A.D, A.R.A.D. R.T.S. A.I.S.T.D.(MOD) A.I.S.T.D.(NAT), A.I.D.T.A.

 Helen learnt to dance at a local school in Exeter from the age of 3 and passed all of her Royal Academy of Dance Ballet Examinations completing the syllabus at Advanced 2 level. At seventeen Helen was lucky enough to be offered a place to study dance at The Royal Ballet School, The Rambert School of Dance and The Royal Academy of Dance. Helen chose to study at The Royal Academy of Dance where she gained teaching certificates in Royal Academy of Dance Ballet to Advanced level, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance Modern Stage to Advanced level, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance National Dance, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance Ballroom and Advanced Laban Notation. She also studied Jazz, Hip Hop, Street Dance, Tap and Contemporary dance as well as historical dance, child psychology, child development, history of dance, choreography and anatomy. 

 After graduating from The Royal Academy of Dance, Helen danced and choreographed professionally with a company in Austria and also worked on modeling assignments both in the UK and abroad. Whilst in Austria Helen also taught Ballet, Jazz and Tap to students from 3 years to adult.

 On returning to the U.K. Helen taught at a  Ballet school in Exeter before moving to Yeovil with her husband in 1987 when The Helen Laxton School of Dance was founded.  

 For several years Helen has been a mentor for Royal Academy of Dance's Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies. This allows her senior pupils the opportunity to continue to study dance in Somerset and to become fully qualified Ballet teachers with a worldwide recognised teaching certificate.

 The school has always received extremely high examination results in both Royal Academy of Dance Ballet and Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance Modern Theatre Dance with many pupils gaining Distinction marks in each Examination session. We are the only school in the area to have large numbers of senior students completing their Grade 8 Ballet examinations and Vocational qualifications up to and including Advanced level in both Ballet and Modern Dance. Successful completion of the Intermediate examination gives eligibility to the Academy’s Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies (CBTS) and to two degree programmes offered by the Academy, and validated by the University of Durham . Vocational Graded Examination qualifications including Grade 6, 7 & 8 are accredited in England , Wales and Northern Ireland by the QCA, ACCAC and CCEA respectively and can be included in candidate's Records of Achievement for Vocational Schools, Universities, and Colleges of Higher Education and employment.  

    Although many children come to dance classes purely for fun, we feel that is very important that we are able to offer our students a professional career at the end of their training with us either as dancers or as qualified teachers of Dance.

 We pride ourselves in being able to turn a child's dream and passion into a life long career.  

For more details about The Helen Laxton School of Dance, The Somerset Youth Dance Company or The Somerset School of Performing Arts 

Telephone Helen Laxton on 01935 863865 or email watkins71@btinternet.com 

Contact Information

Electronic mail

General Information: watkins71@btinternet.com

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