On Tuesday evening, Varndean College had the pleasure of hosting a two-hour Creative Arts Showcase, featuring the magnificent work of our students studying Performing Arts, Drama & Theatre, Dance, Film & Creative Media, Music Tech and Computer Games Development.
One of the highlights of the showcase was a solo dance performance from Year 2 student Milly Majpai who has a place to train at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance from September, as well as a solo vocal performance by Shula Cooper from the award-winning Disney musical ‘Newsies’.
Also during the evening, this year’s Sam Paterson Award was presented to Year 2 student Cara MacKrory-Jamieson. The Sam Paterson Award was set up in 2014 in memory of former drama tutor, Sam Paterson, who tragically and suddenly passed away. Set up by Sam’s father, Ian Paterson, each year a sum of money is awarded to a student who upon completion of their course is judged to have made the most of their opportunity to fulfil their potential. Cara has grown in confidence and proven to be a real asset to the Drama & Performing Arts department. She has consistently taken an active role in extracurricular activities including the ‘Watch This Space’ enrichment geared towards young actors, giving new talent the chance to take risks, to challenge and motivate themselves and to embed the techniques required for a career in the arts. This culminated in performances at external venues last year, a great achievement as students got used to performing to live audiences for the first time since the pandemic.
The work of all of our students was outstanding and a testament to their hard work, commitment and dedication, as well as that of our wonderful teaching staff. Well done and congratulations to everyone involved.
