Rebecca Dear School of Dance in Long Sutton celebrates 20 years of twirls, pirouetting and spinning with special show

A Long Sutton dance school celebrated its 20th anniversary in style with a special show to commemorate two decades of hard work.

Rebecca Harris set up the school 20 years ago by herself and now offers lessons for an array of different dance styles, from ballet to belly dancing.

To commemorate two decades of being open, the Rebecca Dear School of Dance held a celebratory show where dance students took to the stage in Wisbech to wow the crowd.

The show took a look back over the past 20 years at the dance school and included some of Rebecca’s and her daughter’s favourite dance routines.

“They had special memories and things, so I kind of brought them back to life again with some fresh moves,” Rebecca said.

“It was amazing. Everything just really came together. Yeah, I couldn't have asked for anything more. There were no technical issues, no costume dramas or anything like that. Everything just went smoothly.”

Rebecca Dear School of Dance offers acrobe, ballet, jazz, musical theatre, tap, ariel hoop and belly dancing classes. There are around 80 students coming through the studio doors each week.

In September, the school will also be offering contemporary dance lessons.

Rebecca has seen several pupils come through her school over the past 20 years, with some going onto perform with the Royal Ballet School and Moscow Ballet.

Just after lockdown restrictions lifted, Rebecca moved into a new studio in Lime Walk, Long Sutton.

She said: “It’s an accomplishment, especially surviving Covid and then to be able to bounce back and come back with the new premises in our own studios well.

“It was a make-or-break situation to come back after doing everything online during Covid times, we did everything through Zoom.

“We took the plunge and got the premises sorted and came back.”

Rebecca, who has been dancing sine she was three-year-old, has been running the school by herself until very recently when she has recruited two more dance teachers.

“I've basically done it all myself for the last 20 years and it's only this last few months the I've started to expand and I've got Beth, who teaches musical theatre at the moment,” she said.

“Then we're also bringing in Harley as well who is going to be doing contemporary and belly dancing classes.”