Sophie’s Studio pupils are dancing their way to success

Ex musical theatre starlet and showgirl Sophie McEwan, of Forest Road, is now ready for her autumn term classes which started on Wednesday, September 4, with just shy of 90 students in total.

“The past months have been hectic,” explained the 28-year-old who set up ‘Sophie’s Studio’ in January.

“I can’t believe how it’s come along and I feel really lucky and proud that it’s worked and that my students are all happy and coming back.

“They don’t realise how much they mean to me,” she added. “They’re the ones that make it and made it happen and as cheesy as it sounds, it’s amazing.”

The classes, which are held at The College of Richard Collyer and The Holbrook Club, include hip-hop, jazz, musical theatre, ladies beginners and more and are attended by people of all abilities and currently ranging in ages between 5 and 65.

“I prefer this to being on stage which I never thought I would as a performer,” continued Sophie, who has a degree in theatre dance from the London Studio Centre.

“It’s not about being competitive, being part of a competition or being judged it’s literally just a school to learn and build confidence and work on the individual talents which is very important to me.”

The school held its first summer show on August 2 at The Holbrook Club complete with awards and dance school scholarships to 130 audience members.

She continued: “Everyone commented on what a different night it was. It was totally more than I expected it to be and I think that was the same for everyone else as well.”

Since founding the dance school, Sophie has recently been listed as a dance practitioner with Horsham District Council as part of their Horsham Wellbeing Programme.

She is also now the dance coach for Horsham Gymnastics Club and is running hip-hop and musical theatre workshops on request in schools in the local area and will be starting a dance club at St Robert Southwell Catholic Primary School, Horsham, this month.

She now hopes more people will get involved with her dance school: “I’ve now managed to split my hip-hop classes into three age groups because they were so busy and we’ll just keep on developing and nurturing the students’ individual talents.”

For more information visit www.sophiesstudio.com, email [email protected] or call 07788 415187.