Talent Development High School

The Talent Development High School (TDHS)is a selective performing arts school, located at Fox Studios, Moore Park, Sydney, Australia and is a branch of Brent Street Studios.

History

The School started in 2003 at Brent Street's Waterloo campus and had only 30 students enrolled, gradually by word of mouth the school increased its size and has 112 students enrolled for the 2008 semester, almost at the school's limit of 120 students.

About The School

TDHS has devised a curriculum so unique to any other performing arts high school in Sydney. It is entry by audition only and has been labelled as one of the hardest schools to get into. The principal Jacqui Howard, has stated that the school's limit is 120 students for grades 7-12.

The school day starts at 9am when the students arrive and commence their 3 hours of academic training. This is run inconjunction with the Sydney Distance Education High School and see's the kids complete their daily curriculum in 3 hours via Laptop or through booklets of work sent by their teachers. In this time the they have 4 supervisors overseeing them, making sure they complete all set tasks, a 12:1 ratio.

The Students break for lunch at 12pm for 45 minutes and recommence classes at 1pm.

The School is divided into 3 streams.

Performing Arts

The performing arts stream is based around a syllabus which includes Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Contemporary, Ballroom, Hip Hop, Acrobatics, Singing, Drama, Latin and Musical theatre. The students are taught by some of Australia's leading professionals, Marko Panzic, Matt Lee,Kelley Abbey, Richard Estrada, Christine Keith, Sister2Sister and guest choreographers like Jason Winters from New York who has worked with the likes of Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera.

Drama

The Drama stream does classes in Stage Combat, Theatre, Film Training, Television Training, Presenting, Musical Threatre, Performance Psychology, Accent and Dialect training as well as basic singing and dance. The students have also been taught by industry professionals John Noble,Samantha Noble, Chum Ehelepola, Rose Byrne, Sam Haft, Andrew Koblar, Ana-Maria Belo, Rodger Corser and Wayne Aspinall of the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Drama stream often receive rave reviews for original productions which are usually the topic of conversation in the playground.

Ballet and Contemporary

The Ballet and Contemporary stream are run by two former Principal Ballet Dancers, Deilia Harrington of the Royal Balletand Christine Keith. Many of these students have been accepted to various companies all over the world.

End of Year Showcase

One of the most anticipated shows of the year is TDHS' end of year showcase which is usually held at the Theatre Royal in Sydney or at Star City Casino. It displays an array of dances, drama pieces, acrobatics and vocal pieces.

Notable Appearances

The TDHS' students can be frequently seen on Mornings with Kerry-Anne.In 2006 Sunrise ran a 6 part expose on 4 students from the school documenting their daily lives. In January 2008 My High School Musical started airing on the Disney Channel. It was a 12 part mini series based on Disneys best selling movie, High School Musical and followed 4 teams, 8 principal characters and 4 choreographers on their journey to create a showcase piece which would be put on at Disneyworld.

Students can be seen in videoclips for artists such as Jade Macrae, Ricki-Lee, Delta Goodrem, Expatriate, Fergie and Missy Elliot.Students have appeared in commercials for Bonds, Telstra, KFC, Vodafone, Myer, MBF just to name a few. Many students also go on to appear in highly acclaimed stage shows such as Wicked, Oliver, Greese, Miss Saigon, The Sound Of Music,Annie, Billy Elliot and Shout!Students Elle-May Patterson of The Black Balloon, and Charlotte Best of Home and Away all call TDHS home. Alumni inclde Miles Szanto Snobs, Disney's AMTV and Love My Way and Scott Morris Shout The Musical