The Academy Intructors, Edward Searle and on the right Byron Tuttle

New Irish dancing tuition has arrived in Birmingham in the form of ‘The Academy’.
‘The Academy’ aims to be the premier school for dance in Birmingham and its two instructors have the passion and drive to make it happen.
Teachers Edward Searle and Byron Tuttle ooze enthusiasm for the hobby and their
pupils. Both are seasoned Irish dancers in their twenties with illustrious careers, having toured with honorary Corkonian Michael Flatley
on the Lord of The Dance, Riverdance and Feet of
Flames around Europe, North America and Australia.
Between them they have won UK, Irish and world championship titles.
With this calibre in mind their aim is to extend to their pupils the same opportunities granted to them. They already have established classes in Cheltenham and Churchdown the duo have decided to increase their scope by introducing classes to Birmingham.
“My philosophy for teaching children is to extend the same opportunities to them as I was given as a pupil of dancing; the opportunity to compete, to perform, to travel, to meet with people, and to learn life lessons through Irish dancing,” said Byron.
Aware of the pedigree of Irish dancing in the Midlands they aim to be a cut above the rest.
“What’s good about the fact that there’s a lot of dancing schools in Birmingham is that it makes Birmingham and the Midland region known worldwide for it’s high standard. Birmingham is one of the most competitively successful regions in the whole world,” added Byron.
“Although we’ve just started we don’t see that as an issue. We still strive for and want to be the best. That’s our goal,” added Edward.
Byron, born and raised in America, started dancing when he was 11 years old inspired by his family originally from Cork.
Edward, a Brummie, also with Cork connections began dancing at The Irish Club in Digbeth aged 11.
After bonding through professional dancing and working together to create their own steps they decided they wanted to become qualified instructors.
“We both have, and I think this is key in a successful teaching partnership, a love for the same thing but we very often have completely different opinions. So we meet in the middle and compromise and that really benefits the dancers in the class,” said Edward.
“It really is the best way, if you look at Irish dancing at the moment, everybody has a different style, everybody has a different opinion. So if we stuck to one thing, it may not appeal to everybody. But if we can meet in the middle, coming from different backgrounds we’re representing different people’s opinions on style,” said Byron.
“The traditional side to the actual dancing with their feet and their legs and their body needs to stay the same. It needs to be enhanced further of course. Some people are trying to make something of Irish dancing that it’s not. We like to have it modern and enhance the dancing as well but there still needs to be that tradition and remember what type of dancing it is. You shouldn’t be watching and think ‘Oh, what kind of dancing is that?’” said Edward.
“I think the state of Irish dancing at the moment is fantastic, the standard is really high, the numbers are really big and it’s really competitive. The organisation we belong to, An Coimisiun Le Rince Gaelacha, in Dublin do a fantastic job of ensuring it’s really a global organisation, and making sure everything is very organised,” said Byron.
Now the classes are off the ground, lessons are held in Sutton Coldfield and central Birmingham.
“We teach here (The Custard Factory) three, sometimes four times a week and sometimes at the Royal Ballet studios at the Hippodrome. Some schools rent out an old dilapidated church hall and I don’t think that’s the right environment to be dancing in,” said Edward.
“Whether we lose money or make money off it that’s not the point. It’s not about the money. We both have day jobs. Whether we have two dancers or twenty dancers we like them to have a good studio. The most important thing for us is that they have a good environment to dance in and money is not an issue.”
“Between Gloucestershire and our Birmingham classes we have about 60 pupils. They range from the age of 4 to our older competitive dancers who would be 18 or 19. We have an adult class as well.”
“Two of our championship dancers will be representing The Academy in Manchester at the British nationals,” said Byron.
“We want our kids to be among the best, to compete with the best to try to be the best.”
Why not visit their website at: www.theacademy-birmingham.co.uk