Our Festival teams
What are dance festivals all about?
We have three strong and talented Festival teams: Junior (up to Year 6), Inter (Years 7-10), and Senior (Year 11+).
We compete at All England Dance (AED) festivals during the February, May and October half-terms. Dancers may be competing on several days during those weeks. There is a two-year cycle to qualify for the AED National Finals - the next Finals will be in 2028.
Depending on the dancer, their involvement with the Festival team could be as part of group dances, and/or doing solos, duets or trios/quartets.
Our 2026 Festival successes
During the 2024-26 qualification period we qualified several group dances for the 2026 AED National Finals, at all three age groups levels.
In additional to this, Imogen qualified her Modern Ballet solo, and Reuben qualified his ‘Mr Bean’ Character solo.
The standard at Finals is incredibly high, so all our teams performed brilliantly. You can see from their faces how much they enjoy dancing and singing at such a high level!
Who can join a Festival team?
Being part of a Festival team is a lot of fun, and it’s a brilliant way to build team spirit, self-confidence and technical skills. But it’s also a big commitment: for families as well as students, with extra lessons, costume costs, time away, hotel costs, etc.
Students who are part of a Festival team are expected to be available during festivals. That’s why we invite students to take part in Festival rehearsals, depending on age, skill, the size of the current team, and the dancer’s and family’s ability and capacity to commit to rehearsals and festivals.
We also encourage Festival team members to study all our dance disciplines.
Our regular festivals
February half-term: Exeter Dance Festival
May half-term: Bournemouth Dance Festival and/or AED Regional Finals (depending on the year and qualifications)
July (start of the school holidays): AED National Finals (depending on the year and qualifications)
October half-term: Weymouth Dance Festival