Meet Johanna Hadley and the Janet Lomas School of Dancing Silver Swans

I’m Johanna Hadley and I’m the Silver Swans Licensee at the Janet Lomas School of Dancing in Bury, Lancashire, United Kingdom. Alongside teaching children aged 4-18 years from beginner to advanced levels, I began teaching Silver Swans® as part of the Royal Academy of Dance’s UK pilot in September 2017. Before the lockdown, I taught six classes per week with over 100 Silver Swans attending classes each week in Bury.

As the UK went into lockdown in March 2020, I made the decision to take all my classes online and now teach regular weekly classes on Zoom. In the UK we have had an extremely difficult past 15 months. We have been going in and out of lockdowns, and unfortunately the part of the UK I’m in, we have seen high case numbers consistently throughout the pandemic. It is for this reason that I have been teaching on Zoom for the last 15 months in order to keep everyone safe. We were all feeling the effects of the lockdown and for some, their online Silver Swans classes became the only social interactions they were having each week. In order to support my Silver Swans throughout the lockdowns, I started regular social events and organised a ‘buddy up’ programme amongst my own Silver Swans (I called it Feathered Friends). In our online classes we began welcoming people from across the UK and abroad into the lessons. It was wonderful for so many Silver Swans to be able to meet new friends – even in lockdown.

When I received an email from the Royal Academy of Dance about their Silver Swans: Side by Side pilot, knowing how much they had enjoyed making new friends in their online classes, I knew that my Silver Swans would love this. I was delighted to be selected for the pilot and be paired with Marilyn Culpitt (Ascot School of Dance) in Brisbane. We arranged an initial Zoom meeting as a meet and greet for all our Silver Swans to get to know each other. It was a morning meeting for us, but evening in Brisbane. We enjoyed such a wonderful initial meeting chatting about all things ballet, Silver Swans and comparisons of the weather at the time (we were in the middle of a cold winter in the north of England, and Brisbane was in the height of summer!). I prepared a little photo slideshow with images from around our local area. Everyone was just so friendly and we knew it was a great pairing.

I extended my Feathered Friends scheme to pair each of my Silver Swans in the Side by Side pilot with each of Marilyn’s Silver Swans. They now regularly exchange emails – and even gifts, I believe! They’ve loved getting to know each other and talk about what they’re working on in their classes. I think that for many of my Silver Swans, it has been something different and exciting that has been a welcome distraction from the UK’s lockdowns.

As part of our Side by Side pairing, I also taught a shared ballet class with my own Silver Swans and Marilyn’s Silver Swans all on Zoom. It was amazing thinking that my ballet class was being streamed live all the way to the other side of the world! We did barre work, centre work and finished with learning some mime from the ballet Coppélia. As with all Zoom sessions, we finished with another great chat amongst our Silver Swans.

For me personally, it has been so lovely meeting new people and learning about life in Australia (but I’m not too sure I’d be cut out for the Australian climate!). I’ve loved hearing about the arts and culture in Brisbane. Even though the pilot programme for Silver Swans: Side by Side has now officially finished, we have agreed to continue with our pairing and both myself and Marilyn continue to exchange emails.

Below are some comments from my Silver Swans:

’Having enjoyed being part of Silver Swans in England for several years what a good idea to extend that friendship internationally to be able to share a class and a love for ballet with Silver Swans in Australia as well as chat and email individually has been quite an experience. Long may it continue!’ Judy H (73)

‘Being involved with the Side by Side project has been fun. I feel like I have made new friends on the otherside of the world. I look forward to more events together in the future’  Jill Pledger (64)

‘It was really very good meeting other Silver Swans from Australia. Making new friends, talking about our different countries. It was a wonderful feeling having a joint class with dancers the other side of the world.’  Maureen North (71)

‘Taking part in the Side by Side project has been for me really worthwhile, enriching and so enjoyable. In meeting, dancing and talking via Zoom and email, I have learnt that the Silver Swan ladies of Brisbane share similar passions, experiences and interests. Also, Janet who I was linked with has been a real delight to know. I have learnt so much about the past and present life in that cosmopolitan city, much more than from any dusty tome. I am hoping our friendship will continue past the end of this project.’ Jenni Saunders (77)

‘I am paired with two of Marilyns Silver Swans from Brisbane. I regularly chat with them and have had so much fun doing so. Getting to know them has been great. They are really interesting women and I love our communications.’ Lorraine Barlow (60)

‘We have discussed the different effects of Covid and our families. We have also kept each other up to date with the different dances that we have been learning in class.’ Rosina Richardson (82)

Find out more about Silver Swans classes at Janet Lomas School of Dancing here