Works

Chantry Dance presents...

The Little Mermaid

2021 saw Chantry Dance's THE LITTLE MERMAID tour to cities around the UK (also playing under the title AQUARIA, THE SEA-MAID'S TALE in Lincoln).

Chantry Dance has taken the story of everyone's favourite mermaid, and given it a beautiful new twist in the tale.

At Princess Aquaria's coming-of-age birthday, she is given permission by the Sea-King to visit the World Above. Swimming to the surface, she is fascinated by the humans that she sees.

A folk band, The Sandcastles, are playing on the beach. As their music reaches Aquaria's ears, she falls in love with the melodies and the dancing. She is also enthralled by the charismatic leader of the band, the guitarist Calder (a real prince of music). Sadly she has to return to the Underwater Kingdom.
But Aquaria and Calder's fates have become intertwined.

Following a windsurfing accident, Aquaria rescues Calder, and falls deeply in love with him. She makes a grave bargain with the Sea-Witch, trading her voice for a pair of human legs so she can be with Calder.
But as we all know, nothing is ever that simple, and Aquaria will have to overcome many struggles to be with her true love, including the jealous rivalry of The Sandcastles' lead singer, being captured by unscrupulous fishermen, and of course the loss of her voice to the Sea-Witch.

This year we celebrated Valentines day in our own unique way, by inviting you all to join the International Artists of Chantry Dance for our very first CHANTRY GALA!

The Chantry Gala promised to be evening of BALLET, CONTEMPORARY DANCE, MUSICAL THEATRE & much more!
It featured a thrilling variety of work including extracts from Chantry’s previous productions, as well as new contemporary and jazz choreography, classical ballet favourites, and songs from West End Musical Theatre shows.

This superb production was brought to you by the choreographers of the OLIVIER-NOMINATED production of DAVID WALLIAMS’ GANGSTA GRANNY and BILLIONAIRE BOY, and featured SHANNON PARKER, former Principal dancer with San Francisco Ballet and BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT Finalist.

The Gala celebrated all aspects of Chantry’s work, so we were delighted to also include performances from the Diploma students who study on the full-time professional performance course at Chantry School, and our Associate students.

We had a fantastic sell-out audience and received many wonderful reviews for the Gala...

"It was brilliant, well done to all involved. I loved it!!"

"What a show. Chantry Dance Company's 1st Gala was FANTASTIC last night. Such talent."

"Amazing performances and choreography."

"An astounding performance by everyone involved in last evening's wonderful entertainment"

"We absolutely loved watching the show. It was amazing from start to finish."

"It was such a lovely evening. Such a privilege to see such amazing talent from start to finish. Thank you."

The Chantry Gala was an amazing showcase of truly talented dancers, singers and choreographers - all on one stage for one night only! Every performance was delivered so professionally, from the associates to the seasoned professionals. We were guided seamlessly through the show, taking the audience on a wonderful adventure with the chantry dance company as they expertly brought stories to each dance. It left us wanting more, more, more!

Other Previous Works include...

click on a link below to find out more about individual works

Rhapsody in Blue

Lullaby For a Lost Soul

Some views on Chantry Dance's performances - for more reviews, please visit the reviews page:

What our audiences said about OUT OF BOUNDS:
"superb"
"creatively captivating"
"Paul Chantry and the Chantry Dance .....YOU ROCK!"
"pure brilliance"
"contemporary at it's best"

Audience comments from Corp de Ballet Triple Bill:

“What a hugely impressive event last night – amazing; and what a great venue. Makes me feel very embarrassed I only ask you to choreograph operetta! Many congratulations.”
Simon Butteriss - Director; Wrtiter/Translator; Opera Singer.

“Thank you so much for the wonderful interpretations of my music. I was overcome by ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ - but also found the other two completely ‘at one’ as creative works of art - as if we had collaborated and worked together over months!!! - and they were really fab!!!”
Ronald Corp OBE – Composer; Founder & Conductor New London Orchestra.

“I wanted to send heartfelt congratulations to you and all the dancers on last night’s beautiful performances and interpretation of Ron's music. It was a wonderful evening and there was a real buzz in the audience.
I was completely spellbound from the start with ‘The Yellow Wallpaper's’ menacing claustrophobia, all wonderfully Gothic and disturbing! The abstraction of Francis's text of Lullaby was beautifully interpreted by you both. ‘Songs of The Elder Sisters’ was a truly contemporary reading - my area of expertise is Buddhist art history and these stories (although not the poems) are well known in parts of India and Southeast Asia - so it was a delight to see them set in a contemporary idiom."
John Glass - audience member.

“It was lovely to meet you and Paul last night and we are still reeling from your wonderful performance. All three pieces were very powerful and the multi-collaborative input really worked well. Your interpretation of each of the three pieces was dramatic and exhausting in a positive way. Even without the complementary blurb we could follow the "story" which is something that many choreographers struggle to convey to their audience. The three pieces contributed to the majority of the emotional and intellectual needs of your audience.”
Gill and Richard Allen – audience members.

“Thanks for a lovely evening. I loved the quality of dancing of you all, beautiful and soft and very touching.”
Caroline Lynn – professional dancer/audience member