New academy aims to turn Edinburgh into next big dance destination

A new dance academy in Edinburgh, set up by two dancers who met in New York, is aiming to turn Scotland into the next big dance destination.
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The Live It Academy in Leith, which opened its doors to applications last week, offers a one-year foundation course in Professional Dance Performance.

Founder Kirsty Hamilton, from Edinburgh and Principal Windsor Phillips, from South Carolina met in New York when studying at the Broadway Dance Center. Having performed internationally with artists including Usher, Ne-Yo, Icona Pop and even working with Beyoncé's choreographer, Dana Foglia, the pair believe that they have the commercial experience to elevate Edinburgh talent to a similar level expected in London, New York and Los Angeles.

Ttudents of the academy benefit from Kirsty and Windsor's professional experience, they'll learn from choreographers and dancers at the top of their industry with the impressive guest teacher line up.Ttudents of the academy benefit from Kirsty and Windsor's professional experience, they'll learn from choreographers and dancers at the top of their industry with the impressive guest teacher line up.
Ttudents of the academy benefit from Kirsty and Windsor's professional experience, they'll learn from choreographers and dancers at the top of their industry with the impressive guest teacher line up.
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Aimed at dancers aged 16 and over across Scotland, The Live It Academy foundation course offers a pre-vocational year intended to prepare students for the demands of professional, full-time training and provides them with the skills required to audition successfully for the country’s leading dance institutions, companies and agencies.

The course runs for one whole academic year over three full-time terms of training and is performance orientated, giving students a solid foundation in a variety of dance styles that will help gain confidence and the skills required.

Specialist classes and training workshops include commercial dance classes, jazz dance technique, classical ballet technique, contemporary dance technique and performance, choreographic skills, musical theatre performance, group singing workshops, progressing ballet technique, flexibility and fitness.

Students of the academy benefit from Kirsty and Windsor's professional experience, and will learn from choreographers and dancers at the top of their industry with the impressive guest teacher line up.

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The guests have incredible commercial experience, having collectively worked with artists including Jennifer Lopez, Nicki Minaj, Ne-Yo, Kendrick Lamar, Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Kylie Minogue, P!nk, Take That and Jason Derulo.

Founder Kirsty said: "We have created a commercial academy that takes into consideration the ever-changing industry of dance. This will make us iconically stand out as an establishment for making our dancers industry-ready."

Located in The Old Dr Bells Baths in Leith, the academy has open online auditions running from now until July 1 for their first year of tuition which begins in September 2021.

All applications are currently video based and more details of the audition process can be found on the website.

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