Monday, 06 October 2025

Young talent shines through with songs, dance, poetry and drama

Young talent shines through with songs, dance, poetry and drama

ON the evening of March 7, Henley’s talented youth took to the stage at the Kenton Theatre.

Sixteen excellent dances, five songs, a poetry reading, a drama piece and a dramatic monologue were performed by courageous primary school children.

Organising this event was no small feat, said festival trustee Tim Hoskins.

He highlighted the community spirit Henley possesses and said that, despite having worked in places such as the USA, he felt the Henley Youth Festival was special and brought people together.

He added that the organisers hoped to extend the catchment area of the festival and the many different events showed this was possible.

Inevitably, the Young Performer event was a success. It was capably organised by the trustees and festival chair Laura Law considered that it was “going really well”.

This event would be nothing without the gifted performers. Standout dance performances were Kiki Campbell and Jolie James’s dance to Mack Z’s Girl Party and the Valley Road Dance Company’s routine to I Feel Like Dancing by Jason Mraz.

Jolie said her dance took “a couple of months” to learn and her work ethic showed through in her confident performance.

Notable singers were year 5 pupil Ferelle Fraifield’s pitch perfect rendition of Somewhere Only We Know and Rosie Le, of Badgemore primary, who ably performed Where is Love? from Oliver! with no backing track.

“I wanted to do it again,” she said, having performed the song at the festival when she was younger.

Alex Glen, Hermione Arnison and Aillis Healy gave an adorable acting performance called “Lemonade and Friendship” after being inspired by the Duck Song. There was little evidence of nerves among members of the Valley Road Dance Company, despite being first-time participants and ranging in age from years 1 to 5.

Willow and Lily said they were “chill” while Jessie Tony said he had “no nerves” and that he liked dancing with his friends.

Haymitch said he was looking forward to seeing members of the audience.

The dancers have a fantastic work ethic, which showed on stage with an impressive
performance.

Otto Sheldon said they had rehearsed from 8am every Wednesday for 15 weeks, led by stage manager Katie Campbell.

Many of these children were motivated to join the Valley Road Dance Company because they enjoy performing.

Bea said she found it “fun”. Members of StageWorks performed a marvellous dance to Such a Good Feeling by Brothers in Rhythm.

Dancer Martha said the experience was “fun” and she had enjoyed showing off her talent.

She is already planning to take part in next year’s festival.

The ultimate Rising Star was Alice O’Brien, from Trinity Primary School, who gave a phenomenal performance of Naughty by Tim Minchin.

She was understandably “very proud” of her win and said that her inspiration was the film Matilda the Musical (2022) and going to seeing Matilda as a birthday present.

Alice, too, plans to be back next year.

Henley’s Children Theatre’s Muffin Hurst was the specialist advisor who gave invaluable feedback to the children. She said her standout performances were Kiki Campbell and Jolie James’s Girl Party dance, which had “real strength”.

She also liked Ferelle Fraifield’s powerful singing and Alice Tatman, Anya McGinn and Izzie Smith’s terrific dance to Rachel Platten’s Fight Song.

Muffin appreciated the variety of the performers, ranging from original poetry about Henley’s community spirit by Dorothy Locke to Orla Maher’s monologue as the Big Bad Wolf.

However, she said she would have appreciated more young boys taking part, urging them to do so as it would help their
confidence.

Muffin said that what made Alice shine so brightly was her consideration for every aspect of her performance, from her dress to the props, which gave her the advantage.

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