Dance students of the Jackson School of Performing Arts are busy preparing for their annual recital at City Hall theatre, which takes place over six nights later this month.

Entitled 'The Enchanted Garden', the programme will open with a ballet suite performed by 20 intermediate and advanced students, and go on to showcase a variety of dance genre — ballet, modern, jazz, tap and hip hop — performed by dancers aged three to adult.

Performance dates are June 20, 21, 24, 25, 27 and 28, with a curtain time of 7 p.m. Tickets (adults $35, under 12s $20) are available from the school at 15 Burnaby Street from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.

This will be the 55th recital presented by the school since it was founded by Louise Jackson and owner/director Jeanne Legere says her school owes its success to its dedicated faculty, some of whom have taught for over 30 years.

"Barbara Frith has been a teacher at the Jackson School of Dance for as long as any dancer in Bermuda can remember. She has trained a large percentage of Bermuda's dancers, including some of those who have opened their own dance schools here on the Island," she said.

Mrs. Legere said it was the staff's aim "to develop thinking dancers, training the mind and the body. This is accomplished by balancing the past with the present".

She noted that some of the school's teachers are fresh from studying, teaching and performing abroad, of whom Jenna Anderson is the newest. She received her formal dance education with the Cecchetti Society of Ballet and later at Purchase College in New York. Joining the faculty in September will be Brittany Legere Adams, the holder of a dance degree from Goucher College in Maryland, while Shomeiko Ingham will begin teaching in January 2009, having gained a dance degree from the Ailey School and Fordham University in New York.

Conchita Ming will return to the school for one term only to set a piece for the school's advanced students in relation to Bermuda's 400th anniversary.

Other faculty members are Wanda Maxwell, Keya Perinchief and Angelina Hayward Simas.

"It is not just the faculty which has such a diverse background, but the students as well," Mrs. Legere said. "We have over 500 students from every walk of life, and every parish in Bermuda, and the school has always been a fun learning environment for younger students, as well as providing the more serious dancer with a disciplined and well-rounded, pre-professional dance education."

Some of the school's recent alumni have attended prestigious dance workshops, such as the Debbie Allen Dance Academy and the Bates Dance Festival, while others have been invited to perform alongside the internationally renowned modern dance company, Pilobolus.