Variations Academy

17/10/2026

FYD memories 🩷💜💙

There’s something so special about looking back at all the moments that make up a competition journey.

The rehearsals. The nerves. The costumes. The laughs. The last-minute corrections. The hugs. The stage moments. The memories made with your team.

Follow Your Dreams has given our dancers so many brilliant memories already, and with Nationals now so close, it feels very special looking back at how far they’ve come. We thank all the VA dancers and their families for the commitment past and present.

These dancers have worked incredibly hard, grown so much, and supported each other through every stage of the journey.

Not long now until we make some new FYD memories. 💜🩷💙


Blackpool, here we come.

DanceCompetition TeamVEA MakingMemories

15/10/2026

Nationals prep in full swing ♥️🖤💜

Tonight was all about pulling everything together for FYD Nationals fydcomps — and the dancers were brilliant.

Student-led rehearsals, the captains helping dancers, everyone learning from each other, fixing details, cleaning sections and taking responsibility for their own work.

Darcey was also on Zoom working through routines and giving corrections, while we had costume fittings, alterations, sewing, stoning and all the behind-the-scenes jobs happening at the same time.

It’s a lot of moving parts, but this is what competition prep really looks like — not just learning choreography, but teamwork, independence, corrections, preparation, costumes, organisation and learning how to take ownership of your performance.

So proud of how these kids are pulling together this week.

One week to go. Let’s do this. ♥️🖤💜

NationalsPrep

13/10/2026

The bits in between 💜🩵🩷

Not every second in the studio is serious training.

Sometimes it’s laughing, messing around, trying things, stretching with your friends and having a bit of fun between classes.

That matters too.

We work hard at VA, but we also want our dancers to enjoy being here, enjoy each other, and actually love spending time in the studio.

Because dance should be hard work — but it should also be fun. ✨

Train hard. Laugh lots. Love dance.



Alin x

09/10/2026

This is what training looks like at Variations Academy 💜🩵🩷

Hard work. Stretching. Strength. Technique. Corrections. Confidence. Determination.

And a lot of laughing along the way. 😅

From BodyLab and technical training to performance work, we want our dancers to become stronger, safer, more confident and more capable — while still loving being in the studio.

We train hard, we support each other, and we have a lot of fun doing it.

✨ Small, supportive classes
✨ BodyLab strength & conditioning
✨ Technique & performance training
✨ Competition and performance opportunities
✨ Classes for a range of ages and abilities
✨ FREE trial available

Want to come and see what VA is all about?

📍 Swindon Village, Cheltenham
📩 [email protected]
📱 07916 188550

Dance more. Grow stronger. Shine brighter. 💜🩵🩷

06/10/2026

05/10/2026

Competition training is about so much more than learning a dance and having fun on stage.

It’s the hours of technique, cleaning, stamina, confidence building, preparation and grooming, discipline, stagecraft, etiquette and teamwork.

It’s learning how to carry yourself before, during and after you perform. How to warm up properly. How to prepare independently. How to manage nerves. How to present yourself. How to thank judges. How to support your teammates. How to cope when results don’t go your way. And how to walk onto that stage believing you belong there.

Those things take time. They are built over months and years, through hundreds of little corrections, conversations and experiences that nobody else really sees.

At VA, that has always mattered just as much as the choreography itself. 💜🩵🩷

04/10/2026

Hope all of our VA dancers are having the loveliest day today 💜🩵🩷

We’ve got dancers all over the place today — some at DMD Development Programme, some at Bloom, some away at a holiday park competition they qualified for over the summer, and lots of others doing their own training, performing and family things.

I absolutely love seeing our dancers getting out there, trying different things, building confidence and making memories.

Hope you all have an amazing day wherever you are and whatever you’re doing — enjoy it, work hard, have fun and soak it all up. 💜

So proud of how much everyone is getting involved in.

Dancer

Darcey Mathilda

28/09/2026

4 WEEKS TO NATIONALS 🔥

New commercial dance. New energy. Same VEA standard. ♥️🖤🤍

Choreographed, cleaned and getting stage-ready for FYD Nationals.

RoadToNationals

24/09/2026

🎭 EXAM SEASON IS HERE AT VARIATIONS ACADEMY! 🎤

We’re currently getting all of our entries organised for this year’s Musical Theatre and LAMDA examinations, and this is our biggest exam entry yet.

We’re so excited to get started properly with all of the exam work — building confidence, performance skills, character, vocals, acting and technique with every student.

We’re incredibly proud to have a 100% pass rate from our previous examination sessions, and we can’t wait to see this year’s students take on the challenge.

Lots of hard work ahead… but lots to be excited about too. 💜🩵🩷

21/09/2026

TRAINING THAT SHOWS ON STAGE. 💜🩵🩷

This is what we work for.

Strength. Control. Confidence. Performance.
Not just learning choreography and the words but learning how to own a stage.

I’m incredibly proud of the dancers I’ve had the privilege to train and develop over the years, and of the work that goes in long before the lights come up and the music starts.

The technique.
The corrections.
The conditioning.
The repetition.
The confidence-building.
The thousands of tiny details that eventually become a performance like this.

That development matters.

At VA, we don’t just teach dances. We build performers. 💜

💃🏻

StageConfidence DanceTechnique CheltenhamDance TrainPerformBelong