Swindon Dance has Got Real Talent

Jacob O Connell winner of the Contemporary Final of BBC Young Dancer of the Year to perform at Sadlers Wells London on May 9th.

The 17 year old recently won the Contemporary Dance final of the BBC Young Dance of the Year and will be performing with the finalists of  the Ballet/ Hip/ Hop and Asian Dance categories at a gala performance on May 9th at Sadlers Wells which will be live broadcast on BBC 2 at 7pm  on that evening.

Jacob from Swindon has been dancing at Swindon Dance since he was 7 years old, initially in the children’s walk up / access classes before becoming a member of Swindon Youth Dance Company and a student on the Swindon Dance Youth Dance Academy (YDA) one of  Britain’s nine Department for Education funded Centres of Advanced Training in Dance in Britain. Marie McCluskey Artistic Director of Swindon Dance said ‘all at Swindon Dance are delighted at Jacob’s achievements acknowledging his own outstanding dance talent  as well as  the outstanding  team of dance professionals at Swindon Dance who  nurture these amazing Dancers of the Future’

Jacob progressed from the YDA to the prestigious Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance where he is now a second year student.

Graduating  students from the Rambert school can also be seen in action on Friday 8th May at 7.45 at Swindon Dance including Amelia Coates from Swindon  and Robert Bridger from Marlborough.

The Assistant Director of the Rambert School Barry Ganberg who is also a  Swindon resident and will be playing live & accompanying the Rambert students on May 8th said ‘Jacob O Connell is one of the most recent of a long line of gifted and talented students who have come to the Rambert school via Swindon Dance. We are thrilled that Jacob was announced as a winner of the contemporary dance category final of the inaugural BBC Young Dancer of the Year 2015. A real feast of Swindon’s dance and musical talent.