Kerry Ellis provides Equestrian team enjoys success Drama Masterclass at Dressage County Qualifier School pupils and members of they were singing. She encouraged participants to She had clearly used all the techniques that she Two teams and one individual A second place in the preliminary class resulted Freia Gould won the novice class and has qualified had recommended earlier in the session, as the the local community were lucky speak the words of the songs as if they were lines, represented King’s Ely at the county in a qualification for NSEA County Dressage as an individual for the Championships. enough to take part in a musical which gave their sung performances more truth song was beautifully performed with a real sense Championships. There were also individual successes of truth and realism. She conveyed Fantine’s dressage qualifier held at the College and honesty. Some of the performances were for Eleanor Fairey and Thea Holdaway with a 4th “Success in the county dressage compliments the theatre masterclass with Kerry Ellis. despair so powerfully and it was a very emotional of West Anglia in Milton, Cambridge. and 6th place respectively. showjumping team who qualified for the Championships,” outstanding, with Kerry commenting that a few performance, which was met by rapturous applause said manager Sue Cameron, adding: “King’s Ely will be Having graced the West End stage in shows including were of West End standard. from the masterclass participants. The team comprising Eleanor Fairey, Thea Holdaway, The team won the novice class, seeing individual representing Cambridgeshire in four classes at the County , , Les Misérables and Oliver, as well as Phoebe Plumb and Rebecca Everitt all rode the successes again for Thea Holdaway, who achieved Championships, which is quite an impressive achievement originating the role of ‘Meat’ in , Kerry tweeted after the event “Great night at King’s British Dressage Preliminary 12 in the first class and a 5th place, and Phoebe Plumb, who secured for a small group of riders, some of whom will competing Kerry’s knowledge of the often cut-throat musical Ely last night! Masterclass was fun, thank you for sharing British Dressage Novice 24 in the second class. 6th place. in both disciplines.” theatre industry is second to none. your talents”.

Kerry began the masterclass by sharing her own This masterclass was the last of a series that ran warm up techniques, as well as taking the time over the academic year and students have had the to get to know a little about everyone there. Her opportunity not only to learn about , friendly and approachable nature really put the but also about comic timing, acting for TV and film, participants at ease, and allowed them to relax stage combat and devising. and enjoy the evening. After a vocal warm up, each participant performed a short extract from a Nick Huntington, Director of Drama and Theatre, musical theatre song of their choice for the group, said “Kerry is a legend in the industry. Her advice was with Kerry giving feedback after each performance. invaluable for the students and her performance of I Her feedback focussed on performance technique, It was then Kerry’s turn to take to the floor as she Dreamed A Dream was worth the ticket price alone. We are particularly using facial expressions and emotions sang ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ from Les Misérables, very lucky to be attracting such prolific names for our series in song, and focussing on the message of what which is King’s Ely’s next big musical offering. of Acting Masterclasses”.