Last week, Sport Birmingham hosted the Birmingham School Games All Styles Dance City Finals for both Primary and Secondary Schools. The competition took place at the Birmingham Hippodrome giving local children and young people the opportunity to perform on one of the City’s biggest stages. The event was hosted by Sipho Eric Ndlovu who provided amazing entertainment throughout and insight to the performances by interviewing schools. Three guest judges (Gary Clarke aka Quake, Charley Perks and Holly Jones) were invited to watch the event and eventually have the difficult task of choosing a winner! Read more about the judges later on in the article. Four young leaders from St Pauls School for Girls also joined us on the day to judge performances based on the School Games Values and awarded the prize to the school who embodied these: Passion, Self-Belief, Respect, Honesty, Determination and Teamwork.
8 Primary Schools and 7 Secondary Schools competed in the finals. Alongside the dance competition, schools were offered the opportunity to take part in a workshop hosted by the incredible FABRIC Dance to learn new styles of dance from some of the best coaches in the Midlands! A huge thanks also has to go to our Volunteers – we can’t put on events like this without you!
Congratulations to all schools for putting on a wonderful show and to the winners of both Primary and Secondary school events!
Primary School – 1st Place: West Heath Primary School, 2nd Place: Bellfield Junior School, 3rd Place: St Gerards Catholic Primary, School Games Values Winners: Welford Primary School.
Secondary School – 1st Place: North Birmingham Academy, 2nd Place: King Edwards VI Handsworth for Girls, 3rd Place: Saint John Wall Catholic School, School Games Values Winners: St Pauls School for Girls.
Gary Clarke aka Quake – Quake has been dancing for 8 years and specialises in the styles KRUMP and Hip Hop. He is mainly a freestyle dancer and has represented the UK in over 15 countries. Quake has also performed for many big brands such as Google, Nike and Redbull.
Charley Perks – Charley Perks has a First-Class Degree in Dance and a background in Street Dance Styles and Commercial Dance. She has travelled to train in New York City, Los Angeles, France, and The Netherlands, she has learnt from the pioneers of Hip Hop and House Dance. Charley has taught at numerous dance companies and schools across the West Midlands and is currently part of Birdgang Hip Hop theatre company in London. She has performed in front of Micheal Jacksons ‘Smooth Criminal’ leading dancers at the biggest MJ Convention in Europe and has learnt from and performed in front of Justin Timberlakes and Chris Browns dancers in LA last year.
Holly Jones – Holly Jones is a freelance dance artist based in the west midlands. She trained in contemporary dance at Falmouth University and has since performed internationally and locally with artist such as, Bakani Pickup Company, Highly Sprung, SouthPaw Company, Beyond Words Dance Company. Most notably she performed as a dancer in the opening ceremony of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth games under the direction of Corey Baker. She teaches regularly in and around Birmingham from primary age to professional adults, and is heavily involved with Brum Pro Class programmes. Another role she is passionate about is support work, which has led her to work with Critical Mass and Anjali Dance. Alongside these roles she creates dance films independently and with Three Moon Dance Collective.
