Plymstock student to follow in the footsteps of international dance stars

A talented young student from Plymstock will be taking part in a nine-date tour of the UK with a young dance company from one of the most prestigious performing arts schools in Britain.

Nineteen-year-old Ollie Selwood is a dance student at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and is a member of the school's Encore Dance Company, which will be showcasing an exciting programme of dance featuring a variety of genres of dance including classical ballet, jazz, contemporary, commercial dance and more during their tour, which starts this week and visits theatres in Ipswich, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Brecon, Exeter, Bracknell and Sadler's Wells in London. The tour finishes on 24 May.

Tring Park School boasts a glittering alumni including director and choreographer Drew McOnie, who won the 2016 Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer for his work on In the Heights and he has been nominated for the 2017 Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer for Jesus Christ Superstar. Drew is currently directing and choreographing Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom in the West End, and King Kong on Broadway

Other stars include Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), who started her training on the dance course at Tring Park, Lily James (Disney's Cinderella, Downton Abbey and War and Peace) and Jessica Brown-Findlay (Downton Abbey).

Under the direction of Antony Dowson, who is a former principal at the Royal Ballet and has danced with Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev, the 19-strong cast of the Encore Dance Company will be performing a range of diverse dance works.

The programme includes the beautiful Concerto pas de deux choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan with the music of Shostakovich.

There will also be a number of newly commissioned works by internationally acclaimed choreographers, including Kerry Nicholls, who has created a new piece of contemporary dance.

Drew McConie recreates Be Mine with the music of Judy Garland.

Ernst Meisner, director of the Junior Ballet Company at Het National Ballet in Amsterdam, has recreated a work previously performed by his Junior Company. Jodie Blemings, director of Chrysalis Dance London, has created a new contemporary work. Layla Ellison and Gaz Davis are creating two new pieces of commercial dance for Encore Dance alongside work by Antony Dowson, Lorraine Jones and Morgan Cloud

Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, which is both a day school and a boarding school for children from eight to 19 years, has its roots in dance and is world famous for its dance credentials, having produced many a professional dance star and choreographer.

Its young dance students perform in West End ballet productions with the English National Ballet at the London Coliseum.

And former Tring Park dance student 19-year-old Kaine Ward is one of only 12 boys in the world to be accepted into the prestigious Juilliard School of Performing Arts in New York City.

The legendary school, which trained global superstars such as Robin Williams, Kelsey Grammer and Jessica Chastain, offered Kaine a place after he beat thousands of candidates to make it through the gruelling auditions process.

To book tickets for any of the shows, please go to www.tringpark.com