St Michael Foundation for Education is the only private/independent school on the island to offer its students Performing Arts within the curriculum. Dance and Drama are part of the school’s syllabus. Apart from the annual concerts held at St Agatha’s Auditorium where whole school performances take place, internationally acclaimed examinations are held within the school. Drama students sit for Trinity Guildhall examinations and dance students participate in both Ballet (Cecchetti Method) and Modern Theatre examinations under the internationally renowned ISTD (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing Board).
This year all four groups who entered the Trinity Guildhall Performance Arts/Musical Theatre examinations obtained high distinctions under the direction of Angèle Cristina and Catherine Strawbridge. Last year, St Michael Foundation was presented with an international award by Trinity Guildhall for achieving the highest distinction for grade six Performing Arts students across Europe.
This year over 200 candidates were entered for the Cecchetti Ballet examinations, maintaining a successful record for the past 17 years. The students have participated in various events such as the Millennium Celebrations organised by the Department of Education and Dance Power. An annual scholarship is offered by the school whereby the students compete to achieve a place in the Cecchetti Summer School, which takes place in the U.K. A senior student, Karen Sant, has successfully graduated from a three year course at the prestigious Northern Ballet School in Manchester and she will now be following a career in dance overseas. The Ballet faculty consists of Anne Gatt, Katya Coleiro and Nina Winter.
The ISTD Modern Theatre dance results range across 5 different grades and out of all 54 students entered by the school, 28 obtained a grade A, 21 obtained a grade B and 5 obtained a grade C.
Modern/Lyrical Jazz is also taught by Catherine Strawbridge, while Hip Hop is taught by Kristina Schranz. This June, St Michael Foundation won the Annual Mediterranean Freestyle Festival with a Hip Hop routine under Ms. Shranz’s direction.
Last July, 7 students from St Michael Foundation were lucky enough to travel to Italy to experience the 16th edition of ‘Broadway a Tropea’. This International Dance Meeting is a point of reference for teachers, dancers and all those who have a passion for dance. This event offers the opportunity for dancers worldwide to experience various styles and to promote dance as an artistic discipline, which requires commitment, diligence and competence as well as to develop and refine the dancers’ creativity. Following Catherine Strawbridge’s participation in this course in 2005, steps were taken to organise and prepare the students to participate and perform in this year’s event with internationally acclaimed dancers/choreographers such as Terry Beeman (Los Angeles), H. Young Woo (Korea), Michelle Assaf (New York), Kledi Kadiu and Michele Olivia (Italy). The students who participated were Rebecca Agius, Daniela Attard Previ, Sarah Carabot, Giulia Gatt, Sarah Micallef, Davina Schembri and Samantha Sullivan who travelled to Italy for this memorable experience under the supervision of Catherine Strawbridge.
Always striving to offer their students new opportunities and activities in order to advance their education to new heights, St Michael Foundation has started this scholastic year with a bang.