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LORD OF THE DANCE - Piece about Bruce Summers in THE DUMBARTON REPORTER

A NUMBER of talented youngsters from Dumbarton and the Vale have been chosen to star in the world premiere of a dance show.

The adaptation of the popular Lord of the Flies will see six enthusiastic youths take to the stage and wow the audiences of the Theatre Royal in Glasgow when the production opens on March 2 this year.

Last year, the Creative Learning team at the Glasgow Theatre joined forces with Re:bourne, the education strand of Matthew Bourne's New Adventures, to develop an idea that was ambitious and successful in getting boys involved in dance.

Bellsmyre teen Bruce Summers was one of the talented youths to get the nod to be a part of the show.

The other youths from the area who were selected for the show were Dumbarton lads Nathan Bonner, Christopher Kane and Aiden McQuade along with Jordon Jones from Renton and Jordan Rae from Alexandria.

13 year old Bruce shares his Lord Of The Flies rehearsal diary with us......

01.02.11

Well today I walked into rehearsals as normal and I got told that I had been picked for Lord of the Flies! I was so excited! I got this new diary too. Overall today was a really good day. We had new scenes to rehearse working with different people, it was so good! I got shouted at by Natali because I was talking over her but I redeemed myself by working hard.

02.02.11

We got photos taken as a group today. I got interviewed and was nervous but it went well. Then I had to have another photo taken! We worked on our walking phrases going in different directions and we nearly nailed it (lie!) but I gave it a really good try. I loved the warm up at the start but was worried when Natali said the team which lost the race had to do a forefeit!

08.02.11

We rehearsed as usual but we learned new phrases at the end. At the start of rehearsals we went over all the walking phrases; 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B. It was hard but at the same time I enjoyed it and Aiden and I made the same mistake over and over again but Natali helped us.

09.02.11

Today went well but my knees have been killing me. Never mind! We went over all the phrases and even the new one which was hard because there was a lot of twisting and turning in it. This scene is the one where piggy is in the middle and we are around him in a big circle scaring him.

14.02.11

Well we all met the Pro's today. They are cool, so friendly and help out a lot for the younger people. Anyway, we went over our walking phrases together and learned more phrases. We got our character names and I got Tommy - so happy! We did a warm up at the start which was solid!

15.02.11

We did the same as yesterday but put all the phrases together and it went pretty well. I think the hardest thing is the warm up! We had to do like 30 odd press ups and a lot more! One of us put 11 sugars in our tea! Natali found out and now he is only allowed one sugar in his tea.

16.02.11

Well Paul burst his chin open and he went to hospital to get stitches. He was okay after it. We got more phrases to learn and we did the warm up again. It was solid but I think I will handle it. Today was great!

17.02.11
Well Paul was back with a stitch in his chin. He said it still was sore but he was not in pain. I got a few steps in a phrase wrong, but I know what to do now so I am not going to make a mistake like that again.

17.02.11
Today was good. I enjoyed out nightmare phrase and war phrase. But the best part of today was jumping onto the crash mat I keep going wrong on the marching phrase but I am going to try to sort that out. Before all this I really struggled with the press ups and the (squat thrusts) only because I am not used to doing them, but I am going to get better at keeping it and more excersises. But I did my war scene good. I had a chicken mayo sub for lunch and I enjoyed it. Anyway, I have been going too fast on the stamping phrases and I need to slow down. I really like the food fight phrases and I was flinging crisps and cups at Adam!! Overall today was good.

18.02.11

Well today was excellent. Me and Matthew got to fight with big sticks. That's what I loved the most today. But I don't like when I keep getting movements wrong in some phrases. I love that we had to go from the top of the show to where we got up to. It had all gone well until...it was lunch, I was walking down the corridor and I tripped up and fell on my wrist. It was really sore but Laura gave me an ice pack for it and it got better. I had a chicken chow mein pot noodle for lunch followed along with four sandwiches and orange juice. Natali and Adam kindly got us all a McFlurry (shhhh!). It was tasty - I enjoyed it so much. I felt very sore because of the warm ups we have to do but I still managed to do it.

21.02.11

Well today went good but we were all over the place doing make up and and all that. My tribal sign is a red hand print painted on my face from my hand. It took forever to get off. I am still trying to get it off! Well the warm ups are getting easier every day now. Well I loved the make up part but I felt unhappy today and I didn't like doing the circle phrases because I kept going wrong but I will get it right one day. I had a pot noodle for lunch (it was delicious) and I had my (mums?) sandwiches which were amazing and after I had eaten all of that I felt a bit sick!

22.02.11

Today went well. I bought toast from the canteen and it was lovely. Then I did the warm up which I loved today even though it was the same as yesterday. We went over most scenes which was great and went well. I love the stick fight phrase, it is so fun. My partner is Nathan and we (work) together which is good because he is a good pal. I knew him before, but since we got brought together by Lord of the Flies we have seemed to get closer and more friendly. Me and Nathan had the same pot noodle today, we always get a pot noodle and eat it on stage with sandwiches. Sometimes we trade our food for example pepperami for crisps or sandwich for sandwich. I nearly fell off set because I was clowning around at break. Then we got called in to the hall again and we went over some phrases and I didn't like the bit where I muddled up and forgot to get on Danny's shoulders.

23.02.11

It all went well today. We did most of the phrases over and over again but that's the way to succeed so that's what I want to do. Scott said he wants us to complete all the phrases even the new ones that we don't know by the end of tomorrow afternoon or evening! This will be hard. Me and Nathan are like "ooo nooo!" but I'm sure we will get there. It came to lunch time and I was eating my pot noodle and I burnt myself with hot water and it was painful but I could handle it. After lunch we went over our stick phrases to go over again and I was too fast but I slowed down and got back on target.