Night of nerves when practice paid off

YOUNG performers took to the stage at the Kenton Theatre on Thursday, March 9 as part of the Henley Youth Festival.

There was singing, dancing, piano playing and skilful gymnastics to brighten up the audience’s evening.

So many interesting and talented young people were taking part.

Their short, snappy performances of up two minutes each took just over an hour in total.

What was particularly impressive was the incredible variety of different acts on stage.

The boys and girls were from years 1 to 6 and all attend local schools, theatre and dance groups.

Speaking at a last-minute rehearsal, Esme Carter, 10, said that members of her dance group were “really happy and excited” to display their skills but that they would be trying hard not to smile as their dance was about the serious topic of climate change (the festival theme being “Going Green”).

We caught up with some of the performers before they went on stage and were impressed by how confident and positive they were.

Eight-year-olds Hanya Carter, Melia Drummond and Olive Meli said they were nervous but you would never have known. The Valley Road Primary School trio hid their nerves behind their happy faces and Hanya went on to perform a brilliant gym solo to Chandelier by Sia.

Berkshire and Henley Dance kicked off the first half of the show with two great performances.

Indigo Campbell, who is just five, showed so much confidence with her funny version of Naughty from the musical Matilda. Indigo, who said she got into singing by trying to sing over her mum in the car, brought the house down with her performance (although, thankfully, the roof stayed on the theatre).

Siblings Shanaya and Ayden Yasin both played the piano exceptionally well. Ayden told us how much he loved maths and how he would love to become a professional tennis player but we think he would make an excellent pianist due to his immaculate musical talent.

Indigo was back on stage later with a group of friends of different ages known as the Colour Crew. They gave a bright and energetic performance that won them the Rising Star Award. All the performers were dressed vibrantly as the colours of the rainbow.

The second half of the evening brought more individual performances as well as appearances by experienced groups who showed off their abilities. The Valley Road Dance Company changed the mood in the theatre to a more thoughtful one by using David Attenborough’s influence to highlight how we can help change the world together.

Then StageWorks closed the show with a professional dance to Survivor, using make-up and costume really well to help create a great atmosphere.

As the night drew to a close, we thought about how much talent we had seen on the stage. You could see how much work everyone had put in and it had paid off.

All the young people were nervous but excited and for many of them this was not the first time they had performed at the youth festival.

This shows us that they had the confidence to return and were really excited and grateful to have a chance to do what they loved in front of a wider audience.

Many had practised for a month or more, which is not that long but they managed to perfect their incredible performances.

Finally, we’d like to give a special shout out to Emily Harvey, who presented the show and helped to create a bubbly and fun atmosphere with her jokes. It will be a hard night to top next year.