Welcome to the Sharon Ann Academy
of Cheer and Dance

Background

I would first like to tell you a little about my own dance background
before I give you an insight into the Dance Academy.

I started my dance career from the age of 3 and took medals to a high grade with the I.D.T.A in ballet, tap and acrobatics. At the age of 17, I became aware of a new style of dance now known as Freestyle, which came about from the film Saturday Night Fever. Many people, including myself, wanted to learn the dances from the film, and then as more dances were choreographed, Freestyle became more popular. I then joined a dance troupe and travelled around the country competing most weekends, taking part in many dance competitions. .

In 1997, I left a full time job to build a dance school, taking a chance with only 25 pupils from an after school club that I had recently formed. I now train over 300 dancers and cheerleaders at the Academy.

The Academy

I now have a large dance school in Wolverhampton and another school in Telford (previously Newport).  My teaching qualifications with the I.D.T.A are Student, Associate and Licentiate.   My older students are selected and are trained to work alongside myself as student teachers. Many have either passed their Student exam or are now ready to take their first professional teaching qualification. 

The structure of our lessons concentrate mainly on Commercial Street Dance but we also introduce many other dance styles so that the dancer gets experience in other dance genre to include Street Jazz, Lyrical Jazz and Latin. We also offer Tap and Ballet to the younger dancers and Hip Hop workshops for the older performers. I also now work closely with schools in the South Staffs area providing dance and cheerleading as part of their school programme.

Our other popular syllabus that we offer is cheerleading.

CHEERLEADING

Cheerleading was introduced to the school in 2004, offering exams and show work.  Due to its popularity, we decided to enter competitions; our first competition was in April 2006.  We have since gained many 1st and 2nd place trophies and now have 4 strong competitive cheer teams and 4 pom teams from Pee Wee to Senior. 

The Cheer Academy has received training from Future Cheer who have guided us and helped us to develop to the high standards we now maintain.  The teams train very hard and take part in regional and International competitions around the country. In October 2009, we took a team of 25 cheerleaders to Florida to train with an American cheer coach and due to the success of this trip, plan to make another trip to Florida Easter 2011.

Myself and 2 daughters who help coach the teams, are USASF qualified to level 3 for cheerleading and gymnastics. We also have our own qualified gymnastic coach who trains our cheerleaders for tumbling
skills that are necessary for the cheerleading routines.

School's Success Story

We have performed at venues such as THE LONDON PALLADIUM,
HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE, SADDLERS WELLS, DISNEY LAND PARIS,
THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL and we are also now performing yearly on CRUISE SHIPS.   We have also represented England at a Dance Festival and competition in LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA gaining a 2nd place.

The school also trains for a yearly dance production at venues such as the OAKENGATES THEATRE, TELFORD INTERNATIONAL CENTRE and WOLVERHAMPTON CIVIC HALL where all students are invited to take part.

Exams are also an important feature of our work, offered to the students yearly with the I.D.T.A. We have always had a 100% pass rates, but the main thing is that everyone enjoys themselves.

The adult's class is also very popular and now has a strong group that also take exams and perform in the yearly productions.

During July 2009, the Cheer Academy was chosen for a TV series 'Brighton Beach', and we were filmed during our International
competition in Brighton.

We welcome all ages and abilities to the Academy offering all opportunities as mentioned above or simply to join in the lessons
for fun and exercise.

THIS PROJECT IS BEING PART FINANCED
BY THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
European Regional Development Fund with the support of Black Country Small Business Service Ltd