Hackney Free and Parochial School, Hackney

Song and Dance Style
Nice work if You Can Get It
African Caribbean

Dance Artist
Sheba Montserrat

Rehearsal Director
Jason Bangura

Rehearsal assistant
Kemi Ellis

Performers
Grace Adewuyi, Fola Agbomabiwon, Tajgul Arab, Amy Donaldson, Evelyn Esumai, Lluvial Godfrey, Vanessa Modaku, Johneshia Mullings, Eniola Odebunmi, Perdel Ange, Sajad Sadiq, Sekinat Yusef

Hackney Free and Parochial School is a small comprehensive Church of England School in the heart of Hackney, east London. The school is one of the oldest non-fee paying schools in England, tracing its history back to 1520 when it was established for the education of eight boys. Now, it serves 700 boys and girls aged 11–16. Hackney is a vibrant and multicultural place and the school population reflects this. Hackney also has its challenges; the area where the school is situated is recorded as being in the two per cent most socially deprived areas in England and Wales (central government statistics).

Rehearsals for Summertime have been led splendidly by Sheba Montserrat, who is a locally based Dance Artist. There is huge amount of talent at Hackney Free and being quite a small school means relying heavily on delivering creative arts work through extra-curricular projects such as this one. Sheba has been delivering sessions at the school for the last three months. For the final few weeks before performance day the Summertime group will rehearse as part of the school’s Afro Reggae Club, which is an ongoing school programme in dance, MCing, drumming and Capoeira, initiated in 2006 by a project run by the Brazilian arts collective, Afro Reggae.

Jason Bangura, the school’s Behaviour Improvement Programme Manager and leader of both the Afro Reggae project and Summertime said: “Working with institutions such as English National Ballet, the Royal Albert Hall and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing is really important for young people in schools like Hackney Free. The chance to perform at a venue like the Royal Albert Hall really expands the horizons of young people growing up in Hackney and allows them to show their talents. We see this work as being holistic, not merely a dance project”.

Dance Artist, Sheba Montserrat, understands the area and the young people well. She said: “This project, that gives the structure and discipline of an English National Ballet rehearsal schedule to a group of talented young people who wouldn’t normally experience rehearsing in such a way, is a steep learning curve for them, but invaluable in them improving technically as dancers and also broadening their experience as people”.

Evelyn Esumai, a Year 10 student and one of the dancers involved said: “Rehearsals with Sheba have been quite hard because they are very disciplined and there’s a lot to learn. It takes a lot of effort to do this after a full day of lessons but we’re learning a lot and are very excited about performing in such a famous place as the Royal Albert Hall”.

All photographs by Sheila Burnett

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