Information for September

Information for September

Dear Parents and Students,

We are extremely exicited to welcome you back for another year at VBPA. This year we will be celebrating our 15TH YEAR since our doors first opened. Vicky began her classes with less than 20 pupils in the CYMS hall in kildare town in 2004 at the age of 18 with a passion to teach all that she was learning in The College of Dance Dublin and in performing arts College in London, to her students in Kildare.

We plan to celebrate our 15th Year in business in Style!! Big secret for now..but we will brake the news very soon!! Exciting..

Our goal this year is to give our students more contact time with our teaching staff by increasing the length of some of our classes depending on age. We have seen a huge imrovment from our students with the introduction of full time singing and drama teachers who are solo focused on that area of training. Now by increasing our class time, we can enhance our programme and teachers can really focus on giving our students a full range of training and providing them with the time to think creativly in their classes for Dance, Singing and Drama. This will give them the room and space to grow as performers.

We have grown as a school in the past 5 years dramatically. VBPA first started as a dance based school. Vicky felt that her students could further develop by teaching singing and drama. With the growth of the school Vicky could no longer teach singing, dance and drama on her own, so decided to bring in highly trained staff with a wealth of experience in these areas.

In order for parents to understand the NEW price for class we decided to do a brake down so you could understand how it all works.

Age 3-4 year olds: One hour class for €80 for 10 weeks.
20mins of Dance, 20mins of singing, 20mins of Drama. €8 per week for 3 teachers.

Age 5-6 year olds: One and half hour class for €100 for 10 weeks.
30 mins of Dance, 30mins of Singing, 30 mins of Drama. €10 per week for 3 teachers.

Age 7-8 year olds: 2 hour class for €125 for 10 weeks.
40 mins of Dance, 40mins of singing, 40mins of Dance. €12 per week for 3 teachers.

Age 9-10 year olds: 2 and half hour class for €140 for 10 weeks.
45 mins of Drama, 45mins of singing, 1 hour of dance. €14 per week for 3 teachers.

Here is some more information on our teachers here at VBPA.

Drama Teacher: Eoin Gannon

MA in Drama & Theatre Studies from NUI Galway and an Associate Teaching Diploma in Drama Studies (ALCM) from the London College of Music & Media. 

While attending NUI Galway received an award for innovation in dramatic form for the play Caught in Two Minds which later became the dark comedy Frank & Catherine, independently produced through the theatre company Crossfire Theatre founded by Eóin in 2009.  Crossfire Theatre produced two more plays The Wonder of the World by David Lindsay Abaire, and Valentines written and directed by Eóin.  Also worked on the production of Noah and the Tower Flower for Fishamble Theatre Company, which was awarded best new play by the Irish Times Theatre Awards.

Participant on the Next Stage, the immersive artist development strand of Dublin Theatre Festival, which included training and workshops from world leading theatre practitioners.

Arts administrator for Theatre Forum – the voice of the performing arts, and the National Campaign for the Arts.

Has directed over 10 full musical theatre productions aswell as countless edited shorts and adaptations for young people.

Has directed and facilitated the work of people with special needs which has culminated in two original pieces ‘The Greatest’ and ‘The Girls, The Guys and The Night of the Mystery Pets’.

Has been teaching the art of theatre for almost 20 years!

Vicky says: Ive worked with Eoin on numerous musicals with him as Musical Director and me as choreographer. I noticed right away that he has a unique style in how he teaches his students. Eoin has a great way of not only producing an amazing end product but also ensuring his studnets learn so much from the rehearsals along the way. They gain an enourmous amount of self confidence, they feel part of a team and he allows them to have input and to feel they have been a huge part in putting it all together. Its what we all look for in a teacher and we are extremly lucky to have him here at VBPA.

Lisa Nagle: Singing Teacher

Lisa is a Newbridge local but spent ten years living and working in both Florida, USA and Melbourne, Australia.  She comes from a very strong musical family so it is only natural that she has decided to make a career out of it! She studied Music and Theology in St Patrick’s College, Carlow and has directed everything from Children’s Training Choirs to full Musical Theatre Productions! Her most recent achievements include being the very proud Musical Director for the last 8 years for the successful & ever-growing Newbridge Gospel Choir and her newly formed children’s gospel choir Gospel Óg! She is also the Music Director for Kildare County Council Staff Choir, Kerry Group Staff Choir, St. Brigid’s Primary School Parents & Teachers Choir and The Voices of Newbridge Educate Together Choir! She has been the Musical Director for St Conleth’s Pantomime Troupe, Newbridge for their productions of Treasure Island & Goldilocks and The Three Bears in 2015 and for LARK’s production of The Wizard of Oz in 2013, The Sound of Music in 2014 and her favourite show to date HAIRSPRAY in 2015! She is most passionate about teaching people of all ages about the positive impacts that singing can have in your life and loves working with the wonderful students in Vicky Barry’s Performing Arts! Building confidence and positive attitudes in her students and teaching them how to use their voice and discover the strength of their own talent is her biggest achievement to date!

The 2018/2019 VBPA term of singing ended with a chance for some of our singing students to audition for The Soloist Competition as a huge challenge for them. Out of 450 entries from all over Ireland, the judges narrowed down to just 50 students and 4 of our student’s got through to the Semi-Final of The Soloist Competition. This was such a huge achievement and Lisa is so proud of these girls! This is just the beginning of what is going to be another massive year at VBPA!

Vicky Says: “Lisa is one of the most caring people I know and especially to her students. She always goes beyond whats asked of her. She has an amazing way of getting the most from her students in a way thats fun and enjoyable in class. This lady brings so much to VBPA!”

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