Yesterday I went to day one of MOVE IT 2018 at ExCel in London’s Docklands! The exhibition hall was packed with excitable young people, dance students, enthusiasts and others. There were tons of stands with everything from theatre schools and dancewear to hair braiding, sports massage and stage makeup. The main stage was the showcase for various performance colleges, such as London Studio Centre, and there was also a cool Freestyle stage in the middle of the hall. There was also a fitness area with exercise classes, plus a new area with roller skating rink!

I was really pleased to see London Tap Jam there promoting their event and tapping away at their stand.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I took part in the following workshops:

Percussive Hands & Feet with Adam Buckley of STOMP

This was a class with a lot of stomping, stamping and clapping with one of the performers from the hit West End show STOMP! It was so much fun creating a rhythm using our hands and feet, and sometimes it was a bit like rubbing your tummy with one hand and patting your head with the other, but it was great! Loved it.

Tap Workshop with Syncopated Ladies

Yay! Another workshop with Maud Arnold… But this time with the addition of her sister Chloe! We did a warm up and then they taught us a routine to NERD’s (Pharrell Williams) Lemons, which they had recently performed on the Ellen DeGeneres show! OMG

It was fast, sassy and fun, plus we had to find a partner and dance towards and away from them, plus alternate with improv! Well, my partner ended up being a lady I recognised from Tap Festival UK (and she was wearing the sweatshirt)! That was also good because she was an adult – there were loads of teens there! It was great to have another go at Improvisation. Doing it in pairs made it less scary, and we did a group improv at the end, which was fun.

Finally we did a group photo, which I’m told will be shared on Instagram at some point, so I’ll look out for it. I managed to get on stage with the Syncopated sisters, and Chloe had her hand on my back, so that made my day!

My SO managed to capture some footage for me… Enjoy! 😁

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