Knightswood - Scotland's school of dance - marks anniversary

The stakes are high - for this is behind the scenes at final dress rehearsals for the Dance School of Scotland's end of year show.

And it's not just any end of year show... the school, based in Knightswood Secondary in Glasgow, is marking its 40th year with this special performance. 

Kenn Burke, artistic director of dance, has been in his current role for 13 years but has been involved in the school since its inception as a national ballet school. 

He had been a dancer with Scottish Ballet and came in to teach and to judge choreographic competitions. He was, he jokes, willingly "conned" into the artistic director role.

The dance school is a unique affair. It is based in a comprehensive school in a socio-economically deprived area of Glasgow and the young people who attend live on site in halls of residence.

This puts staff in a unique role too, of being teacher and in loco parentis. 

"It is an intense pastoral role," Kenn says. He keeps a box of tissues and an emergency sweetie bowl on his desk.

"We have them through those teenage years when you see the personality come out. Sometimes they need to cry, sometimes we go outside and have a shout."

Currently there are 63 pupils in the dance school and 25 in the Musical Theatre School (MT), which also celebrates a milestone in 2023 - 25 years. 

Numbers can vary greatly from year to year because Kenn will only take the pupils he deems to be talented enough - "Standards. You have got to keep to a certain level".

Pupils are desperate to live in - they call themselves rezies - but there aren't always spaces for everyone and the younger pupils are placed first.

Kenn adds: "It's been hard since covid, very hard since covid.

"We've had a few wee ones not coping and having to go. You can start with 16 and end up with 10. 

"Not everyone gets a residential space and around 15 will need to travel but, for them, it's desperate and the world is ending. They are crying their eyes out."

The requirements of the dance school have changed over the years to broaden the curriculum and ensure young performers are trained in a variety of disciplines. 

"A tap dancer and a ballet dancer might be auditioning for the same jobs so you've got to be able to do both," Kenn says. 

"So we've had to be able to adapt with it. Luckily I know a lot of people in the business so I know what's coming next and we can start to get that into the programme so we can almost tailor make it and that is great for us at teachers because it is vibrant, it is never the same.

"It makes it easier to come to work because you don't get into a rut."

The school now does outreach work in primary schools to scope out and scoop up talent where children might not have access to dance classes.

Kenn talks of one pupil whose auntie applied on his behalf after watching him dance around the kitchen. That little boy went on to perform in theatres in London. 

Kenn appreciates this element of the school, giving the opportunity to young people from diverse backgrounds, because of his own start in a village in Fife.

He said: "I was without two ha'pennies to rub together and I don't know how my parents did it. 

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"It wasn't until I got to dance school in Edinburgh that I saw the ones who had money. 

"Here we are seeing young people from more working class backgrounds.

"And I shouldn't say this but the ones from those backgrounds have the better personalities - they have the get up and go and they show that within the dance."

The Dance School of Scotland has a glut of success stories and has sent pupils on to the most prestigious schools and most prestigious dance companies in the world.

A career on the stage is not for everyone, however, and some young people opt for university or different careers entirely at the end of their six years.

Kenn said: "The girls, in particular, if they are bright, they do well in dance up until third year but by the time they get into fourth year and hit the exams the battle of the brain and body comes in.

"Nine times out of 10 the brain wins. 

"But I am happy to keep them for six years as long as they work hard because what they learn here will go with them whatever they do. 

"And then they will be audiences, they will be dressers, they will have something still to do with our world.

"And as long as they are happy in what they are going off to do then I am happy. If they are going off to do something that makes them happy I will fight tooth and nail for them."

AT the other side of the city, similar scenes are repeated. 

The MT young people are preparing for their anniversary show - Encore!, which is on stage on June 16 at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with the Scottish actress Jane McGarry in a starring cameo roll.

Graham Dickie, the man who founded the course, is overseeing rehearsals - young people in leotards nip back and forth between scenes, the heels of their character shoes clacking on the flooring.

It is an emotional time for Graham as he prepares to retire from the job he has given his all for a quarter of a century. 

Graham was the youngest professional musical director (MD) in Britain when he joined Independent Opera in London after studying piano, singing and conducting at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.)

Like Kenn, he worked at Scottish Ballet, and did stints at RSAMD, Scottish Opera and Glasgow Grand Opera before joining the Dance School of Scotland. 

Graham said: "Obviously the dance school was set up with Scottish Ballet as a ballet school but I just felt they were missing a trick because they were turning down a lot of kids who had dance ability but were maybe not the right shape.

"I persuaded the head teacher and the director of education at the time to take a gamble because there was nothing like it in Scotland at the time. 

"They said ok, go for it. And the gamble has paid off."

The MT course has churned out performer after performer in all those years and, to see the school's success, Graham says "Just open a programme.

"That's the bottom line." 

Graham says the MT course is a "diva-free" environment, and says that is one of its strengths, alongside the quality of both pupils and staff.

He says: "When you see the successes both schools have had, it is inspiring but also humbling. So many have gone on to great things.

"And I know if any of my staff were available for work they would be snapped up, they are so talented, but they are totally and utterly committed to these kids."

The preparation for Encore! - at Glasgow's Theatre Royal on June 17 - is taking place inside the Citizens Theatre's rehearsal spaces.

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Earlier, Graham let me sit in on rehearsals and, to my great embarrassment, one of the scenes left me in tears.

"That's what we want," Graham says, when he catches me desperately scrambling in my bag for a tissue.

But I'm not alone in my emotional response to these talented and technically perfect young people. 

"Now, you were crying, Cat," Jane says. Thanks for reminding me.

"I had the hairs on my arms standing up because of the commitment, the passion, and you can see the dynamic in the room.

"That was really inspiring. And when you get to be an old turn like me, you've been round the block a few times, you come in here and feel the energy and how enthusiastic they are."

We're having a chat in between scenes and are joined by final year students Erin Burrows, from Dunfermline, and Emma Atkin, from Stepps.

The two 17-year-olds are on the cusp of moving to London together to study for a BA in musical theatre at the Arts Educational Schools in Chiswick.

They have bittersweet feelings about leaving - excitement at what comes next and sadness at leaving behind their "brothers and sisters" on the course, not to mention the teaching staff.  

Emma said: "The best thing about it is the relationships. You spend more time here than anywhere else, especially for rezzies. You're raised by the people here.

"The five of them [teaching staff] have probably taught us more and brought us up more than anyone else."

Jane listens to the girls talk about their hopes for the future and turns to them. 

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"I come in and I see you all and you are right at the start - and that is wonderful, it's really exciting," she says. "For you guys it's thrilling. But for me at my age, it's scary watching you because I think, 'Oh please, life, be kind, please give them a break, please give them work they can be happy in'.

"Because it is tough out there. I know people who are far more talented than me who never got a break so I wish them the very, very best and will be watching out for them. 

"They were even better than I ever could have imagined."