Dance

Promoting creativity through physical expression in dance is central to our ethos of providing a well-rounded education, with a strong emphasis on offering a diverse range of creative performance opportunities for all pupils to explore and enjoy, both individually and collectively.


Dance is a popular activity for all pupils, featuring a junior and senior dance show each year, alongside other performance opportunities including competing in National competitions (our Senior Dance Company have reached the national final of the Great British Dance Off for three years in succession). In addition to curriculum lessons, dance is a popular games option and attracts many pupils to weekly rehearsals in multiple dance groups. There is strong emphasis on encouraging and promoting pupil-lead choreography to further enhance artistic expression, whilst pupils can also make the most of dance workshops and trips that happen during the year, helping them to learn from dance professionals in various genres.


Opportunities

Every term, pupils have opportunities in music, dance, drama, creative writing, art, and design. Our creative and performing arts offerings are extensive. In drama, pupils can participate in up to three productions per year. Recent opportunities included Musicals such as School of Rock, Grease, Annie, Little Shop of Horrors, and Guys & Dolls, as well as dramatic and comedic plays like The 39 Steps, One Man Two Guvnors, All My Sons, and The Great Gatsby.


Dance is a popular activity, featuring a junior and senior dance show each year, along with other performance opportunities, including senior and junior dance companies competing at a national level. Weekly rehearsals take place for up to 8 different dance groups in preparation for shows and performances.

Past Productions...

Gala Night 2024

Little Shop of Horrors

Annie

Senior Dance Festival 2024

Guys and Dolls

Dream Catchers

Gala Night 2023

Wizard of OZ

Senior Dance Festival 2023

Junior Dance Programme 2022

Dance and Drama News

By Eleanor Lewis July 2, 2025
As the final curtain falls on Gather festival, Gala Night was promised to be an evening of entertainment and celebration of our school community. A highlight of the year for many, countless hours of hard work and dedication, went towards making the infamous Gala Night bigger and better than ever! With a cast of over 300 pupils from the Lower School to the Sixth Form, the evening brought back the best hits of the 24/25 academic year as well as some fantastic new pieces! With the sun shining as the perfect backdrop, the evening began with Nights from the cast of our Senior Musical Grease, this upbeat, energetic piece had audiences singing along, well prepared for the show ahead. Just a few of the highlights from the first act include… The Lower School Choir transporting the audience to a tropical rainforest with their rendition of Africa by Toto. The Fourth Form took us on a magic carpet ride with their lively dance, Friend Like Me, which we saw a glimpse of at the Royal Norfolk show. The phenomenal Mary Poppins melody which showcased the talents of our Upper 3 pupils. The Senior Dance Company bringing the magic of La La Land to Cathedral Close with their showstopping performance, Another Day of Sun After a spectacular first half, audiences treated themselves to refreshments, brought raffle tickets and enjoyed the sounds of the Senior Jazz Band which brought us into the second act, reviving some favourites from the Lent Term Jazz Night. Some of the highlights from the second act include… School Days, a dance collaboration between Senior and Lower School pupils, which beautifully captured the Norwich School experience and passing on the baton to the next generation. The Upper 6 Leavers Song, What I Did for Love, a heartwarming farewell that encapsulated the friendship and community in our Upper 6 cohort, as well as the exceptional talent of our vocalists. Senior Dance Games powerful contemporary performance ‘Rise Above’, which featured earlier this year in the Senior Dance Festival. The evening ended with a Medley from the successful sold-out Senior School Musical, Grease, which has audiences swaying their arms to Hopelessly Devoted to You one minute and clapping their hands to Greased Lightning the next. With the rest of the cast joining for one last dance in We Go Together, it was the perfect way to end the evening and the 24/25 academic year. You can catch a glimpse of the evening in the video below...
By Eleanor Lewis June 30, 2025
A stellar cast on 29 and 30 June 2025 delivered a mesmerising open-air production of Julius Caesar as part of Norwich School’s 2025 Gather programme. In warm summer sunshine and against the impressive backdrop of the medieval Bishop’s Palace steps, an experienced Sixth Form cast delivered a stunning performance. Under the assured direction of Mr Bromley and Miss Wright, a portentous atmosphere of brutal assassination, gruesome suicide, Machiavellian plotting and civic upheaval was effectively created. A decidedly sinister soundtrack and novel stage-setting served to unsettle large and appreciative audiences each night. Even the cathedral peregrines overhead sounded their raucous approval as the dying Caesar bellowed out “Et tu, Brute”. We saw many brave and committed individual performances echoing Shakespeare’s lines from the play: “Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste of death but once." Huge congratulations must go to the accomplished cast for delivering such a memorable performance as a result of many weeks of hot, post-exam rehearsals. Lower 6 pupils are already showing such incredible dramatic talent for next year and it was a suitably fitting way for Upper 6 drama scholars to bow out on a well-deserved high.
By Eleanor Lewis June 20, 2025
This year's Inter and Junior Musical - School of Rock was a hit which had crowds of all ages laughing and tapping their feet. Struggling to pay the bills, wannabe rockstar, Dewey Finn ( Rory Evans), finds himself in a tricky situation by imitating his roommate and best friend, Ned Schneebly (Barney Fay). Posing as a substitute teacher in the prestigious Horace Green, Dewey turns a bunch of smart and tidy students into little rock stars, determined to ‘stick it to the man’. But as Dewey begins to fall for the Headmistress (Flo Knowles) and parents start to have suspicions, will they make it to the Battle of the Bands? This impressive production had a cast of over 30 pupils, an amazing achievement for first time directors, Rachel Dean and Sophie Millington, who directed this for their Lower 6 Independent Project. Putting on a production of this level is no small feat, and all the cast and crew should be incredibly proud of their performances. Rachel and Sophie said, “As first-time directors, putting on a combined Junior and Inters musical has certainly been a challenging, yet rewarding, learning process but we couldn’t have had a better show to work on. It’s been great to work with such a talented and entertaining cast who have brought so much energy to rehearsals. Thank you so much for all the support from our friends and family and the drama department throughout this process.”
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