Every year at Summer School Josephine Wise runs a Professional Performance Course, for dancers who are at a Advanced level or High Intermediate in their dancing. The numbers on the course are kept small to enable dancers to benefit from individual coaching from Jo.

This course has developed over the years into an essential course for professional dancers including:

- Refinement of technique and body awareness
- Performance skills and showmanship
- Choreography and improvisational skills
- Musicality and phrasing
- Authenticity and expression
- Individual assessment
- Ideas for further development

The 2019 Course Times

Saturday 17th August 10:0apm - 12:00pm
Monday 19th August 10:00am - 12:00pm
Tuesday 20th August 10:00am - 12:00pm
Tuesday 20th August 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Wednesday 21st August 10:00am - 12:00pm

Saturday 10:00am - 12:00pm - Solos with Live Tabla

This workshop develops the dancer's skill at communicating through dance with the tabla player while performing for the audience. This includes being able to lead as well as follow the music, and some more unusual ways of expressing the rhythms played. There will be an opportunity to perform a complete tabla solo for the class.

Monday & Tuesday 10:00am - 12:00pm - Choreography to Perform

These workshops will involve learning a challenging group choreography and developing your own short solo within it. The full dance will be performed at the show on Tuesday night.

Tuesday 2:00pm - 4:00pm onwards - Fifteen Minutes of Fame

This session involves booking a 15 minute slot in which to perform a section of a dance, for individual development of your performance. Jo and her top teachers will be there to give you ideas for adding elements and variety to your technique and choreography, and increasing your ability to communicate onstage.

Wednesday 10:00am - 12:00pm - Solos with Live Music

This is your chance to dance with a band of experienced Egyptian musicians, who can play all the classics. We will work on expressing the intricacies of of famous dance pieces, and develop ways to free yourself to be able to perform in an original but authentic way. This includes tips on how to be ready for anything! We are honoured to be able to have such venerable and experienced musicians with us, some of whom have played for the greatest stars of Egyptian dance.

The End Result

The most important thing the course gives each dancer is a sense of where she is and where she can get to. You should leave Summer School with a clear idea of what to work on in your dancing over the following year.

For dancers who are serious about their dancing there is nothing quite like this course. Many of the top dancers in the UK have been through the course for three or more years running, so they can develop different aspects of their onstage personality in the dance as they go. Each dancer is an individual, and the course is the direct opposite of simply learning endless choreography and trying to look like a famous star. We want you to be yourself, and to wow and suprise your audiences!

UK dancers who have been through this process at Summer School include: Gwen Booth, Kay Taylor, Maelle Mayel, Catherine Bartholomew, Galit Mersand, Shona Hagan, Margaret Krause and many, many more. Dancers from abroad include Raphaelle Masson, Talia Soleil, and many who are famous and influential in their own countries.

Professional and Advanced Level Dancers at Summer School

There is a huge amount offered at Summer School for higher level dancers. Some people come every year because this is the only chance they get to develop their dancing and creativity in a short, intense week.

Every year we have a different mix of teachers, so it's best to check our timetable HERE

Back