National Photoshoot for Young Performing Students (Your News)
By Karen Keeman
Lights! Camera! Action! Students who attend a national theatre school franchise have been given the exciting opportunity to attend a professional photoshoot with esteemed performing arts newspaper, The Stage.
The photoshoot was part of the prize for the youngsters who entered a national competition in association with The Stage to win a year’s scholarship to attend their local Razzamataz Theatre School.
The selected students were (below, l-r) Avah Al-Geradi, age nine from Razzamataz Liverpool South; Harriet Silk, age twelve from Razzamataz Cambridge; Aimee Millward, age fifteen from Razzamataz Derby; Jessica Black, age fifteen from Razzamataz Medway and Georgie Mills, age fourteen from Razzamataz Sheffield.
To enter the children were asked to film a short demo of no more than two minutes long showing them performing either a musical theatre song and dance, street dance, pop song, drama improvisation or scripted drama piece. The demo did not have to be professionally filmed. Candidates also completed a short application form detailing why they wanted to take this opportunity.
As a professional performer, a photoshoot will be one of the most glamorous parts of the job. The students were incredibly excited to be given the opportunity to be styled by top make-up artists and hairdressers and then work alongside photographers to achieve a professional finish.
The Stage scholarship opportunity is open to all students within the Razzamataz network as well as anyone who has never had any training. Razzamataz has a number of scholarship opportunities throughout the year and has discovered youngsters who are now working professionally on the West End stage in hit shows such as Hamilton.
The scholarships also look to encourage young people to push beyond boundaries, such as Razzamataz Medway student Eloise Kemlo who has Type 1 Diabetes. This autoimmune disease affects the pancreas meaning that Eloise has to continually monitor her health to allow her to do the things she loves. Her Principal Emily Miller says: “Eloise was awarded The Stage Scholarship in 2018. There are times when Eloise can’t get involved through no fault of her own but she stays in the studio, she listens, she absorbs everything and comes back the next week knowing what she has missed and ready to embrace a new fresh week. She is a shining example of how when we are challenged, the human spirt can be lifted to achieve the impossible.”
The beauty of The Stage scholarships is that the judges are looking for potential so, by entering, it can be the start of a whole new chapter in a child’s life. “Some of our most talented students have come through scholarship auditions,” says Denise Hutton-Gosney, MD and Founder of Razzamataz. “It doesn’t matter if they have not been to any classes before, we are looking for a spark that we can nurture. Razzamataz offers training in both musical theatre and commercial genres in the disciplines of dance, drama and singing, so the students leave becoming ‘triple-threat’ performers.
any are accepted into prestigious performing arts colleges and are making a career in this highly competitive industry.”
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