In 2002 we were delighted to welcome our President, Wayne Sleep, to the Winter Gardens in Bournemouth where he took workshops with our young dancers. He has returned on several further occasions to take classes in ballet and musical theatre, delighting our students with his good humor, vitality and obvious love of dance.

In 2004 we were also pleased to welcome another celebrated dancer and choreographer, Kenneth Tharp, who came and took a variety of classes for us.

In 2007 we had two workshops, one in ballet and one in jazz. The ballet classes were taken by Rachael Whitbread from the Royal Ballet School. Rachael did her early training at the Rita Jenvey School of Dancing and it was nice for Rita to meet up with her again. The classes were very much enjoyed by all the children.

The jazz classes were taken by Glenn Ball, a young dynamic choreographer who has worked with Kylie Minogue and Take That. These classes were very enjoyable but probably more so for the older students.

In March 2008 our students were able to attend a ballet workshop taken by Francesca Filpi. Francesca is a First Artist of the Royal Ballet and dances at Covent Garden. She is also founder and artistic director of the Wells Summer School and the various classes were much enjoyed by all the students as well as parents and friends who came along to watch.

The workshops are subsidised by WABS and we will continue to do so as long as we have sufficient funds available.