Meeting Sam Bell again and seeing her in her natural environment – a vast space with mirrors and curved walls, music and chattering children – it was obvious that she’s inspired about her new venture, Wingz Theatre Works. Whilst the children continued to jump and spin and throw themselves high in the air, Sam told me about the arrangements.
“I run the urban dance and talent agency side,” she said, one practised eye on the dancing children, “and Danielle Slater runs the acting classes.”
Sam explained that Danielle is a casting assistant in Manchester, currently working with Emma Stafford, who has been a northern based casting director for the past 14 years. Between them they cast feature films, commercials and TV dramas. Danielle has worked with young people for over twelve years as a teacher and youth worker, and ran the Blackpool Fringe Project from 2008 to 2012 , which is where she and Sam originally met.
The Fringe Project provided creative arts projects for schools, the youth service and other community organisations, all areas very close to Sam’s heart. It is obvious she is passionate about her work and restated her belief, recorded in a previous article, that it was becoming involved in urban dance and arts that boosted her confidence and turned her life around.
The future is looking exciting. “My plan is to represent young actors and dancers who want to be submitted for castings and auditions,” she told me with enthusiasm, “We have a lot of great talent coming through the Wingz ranks, and it’s time to make my mark on the industry. I have been running my own sessions for eight years now. This is definitely the next step in my career
I asked Sam what the immediate future holds and her face lit up. “Apart from building up Wingz Theatre Works generally, our dance crew side are part of Breakin’ Convention coming to the Grand Theatre in June, and our young actors will be working towards a piece for our very own show in October also at the Grand. But then you know about that,” she grins, “we will be working with Two Old Birds with Cameras on the photographic side. We’ll be needing some shots of dancers in iconic Blackpool spots for one of the moving displays in the show.” It was my turn to grin.
”At present,” Sam informed me, ” Danielle and I work three days a week at the Oracle, Blackpool. Mondays and Fridays are dance sessions and Saturdays are for drama. We’d love people to come along, see what we do and join up.” Sam reeled off the relevant information, whilst intercepting the odd off balance dance move, “Age ranges for drama and representation are between seven to 16 years old, and for Street and Break dance any age from five to adult. If anyone is interested in getting involved in joining Wingz Theatre Works I could supply my email and telephone number?”
I told Sam I’m sure this would be fine, whilst, caught up in the moment, and fired with enthusiasm I found myself mentally checking my diary for the next free Monday.
For more information about Wingz Theatre Works contact Sam Bell on [email protected] or call 07856310094. You can also find details of their next course of acting classes on the Facebook event page.
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