THE recent sell-out performance by school pupils from throughout Farnham and the surrounding area of The Lion. the Witch and the Wardrobe has been met with rave reviews.

‘Winter Move’ involved more than 100 children from 13 schools and community dance groups. Since September, the young people have been working with professional dancers from The Dance Movement, which is a resident company at the Farnham Maltings, to devise a number of dances for the one-night show.

Rachel Palmer, programme director at The Dance Movement, said: “Winter Move 2015 saw 110 young dancers coming together to perform in our interpretation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The children’s performances surpassed my expectations and each group was just wonderful so it is hard for me to pull out my favourite parts.

“However, some particular highlights include the street dancing mayday dancers and beavers performed by our Farnham Maltings and Rowledge hip hop dance groups, the electrifying wolf performance by the boys from Weydon School and Farnham Heath End’s majestic portrayal of Aslan. The young dancers from Potters Gate, Badshot Lea and Bentley Primary Schools also excelled.

“I feel truly humbled by every dancer’s enthusiasm and commitment for making this project a success. I cannot wait to start creating work with them next term for our Farnham Blooming event, which is being held as part of Farnham Town Council’s Farnham in Bloom.”

The night of the performance was the first time that all the students had performed together. One parent commented: “Thank you for a great performance. I really don’t know how you got all the children working together in such a short time. Well done – we loved it.”

The Dance Movement, is now looking ahead to 2016. They will be working on a project called Leg-It, which is a boys’ performance group held at Weydon School in Farnham and Christ’s College, Guildford. The Dance Movement will also be working with students from Farnham Heath End on a project called ‘Dance Accord’.

The class provides an opportunity for young people to learn dance techniques together with teaching and leadership skills. Anybody interested in joining a class or finding out more should visit www.thedancemovement.co.uk.