Shining The Spotlight On South Sutton Ballet School by Mei Thum, City of London Freemen’s School
South Sutton Ballet School is a small but hugely warm and inclusive ballet school in Sutton, London. The ballet school allows students to pursue their love of ballet in an easy and engaging way through their lessons. Led by principal Rebecca Graham, the ballet school is a creative outlet full of fun and freedom of expression, containing a total of 100 students.
This ballet school is close to the hearts of so many students, including myself as I have been a member of the ballet school for a number of years and am now preparing for my Grade 8 ballet exam. Rebecca Graham is the principal of South Sutton Ballet School, having taken over in April 2015, which makes this her seventh year as principal. Rebecca explains “The time has flown by … It’s such a rewarding job to teach something that I love and am passionate about and hopefully pass that on to all my students.” Rebecca Graham studied the BA (Hons) Ballet Education degree and LRAD at the Royal Academy of Dance and graduated in 2008. She taught in a number of private ballet schools and nurseries before taking over South Sutton Ballet School. “The ballet school has grown naturally by word of mouth since I took over and we now have 100 students from our youngest students at 2.5 years all the way through to our adult ballet students.” Sharing passion and love for what you do is a key factor to success in any sport or style of dance and it is evident that there is plenty of passion present when it comes to ballet at South Sutton Ballet School. The age range taught at the ballet school, ranging from pre-school children to adults allows students to feel part of a bigger community. Rebecca explains “ballet is a fantastic place to forge friendships and work in partners and groups.”
Which benefits does ballet as a style of dance hold? Ballet may be seen as effortless from an outside eye, however any ballet dancer would be able to tell you of the coordination, strength and intricate detail involved when dancing. This means ballet comes with many benefits to the body, physically as well as mentally. “Ballet is beneficial in so many ways. It includes physical benefits such as strength, co-ordination, balance and flexibility but it is also creative and expressive and allows you to put your thoughts and feelings into movement” Rebecca explains. From many years of learning ballet, I can whole-heartedly agree that the mental benefits of ballet such as being given the chance to express yourself through movement are equally as significant as the physical benefits, both of which highly contribute to confidence building in everyday life.
The covid-19 pandemic has been a tough time for everyone but through the pandemic’s difficulties, students at South Sutton Ballet School were still able to enjoy the movement and release ballet has to give through online video calls. This meant that students could continue progressing at a hobby despite lockdown and could hit the ground running when in-person classes restarted.
South Sutton ballet school currently teaches ballet from the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus, although Rebecca revealed there may be hopes in the future for this to be expanded – “I would love to expand the ballet school further by offering Progressive Ballet Technique classes to aid our syllabus classes. I would also like to offer classes in other styles of dance such as contemporary, modern and tap dance.” It is evident that there are exciting plans and visions for South Sutton Ballet School in the future and undoubtedly, the ballet school will continue to provide a fun and creative escape for its wide range of students.
When asked to describe South Sutton Ballet School in three words, Rebecca described it as “Fun, friendly and inclusive.” This, as well as the rewarding, engaging and high-quality style of lessons sums up the ballet school as a whole and creates the perfect atmosphere for learning ballet.
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