Selkirk performing arts school hits showbiz heights

Marie McCullough and Katie Robinson, from Creative Stage talent agency in Selkirk.

Creative Stage, now in its fourth year of business, is run by professional performers and teachers, Marie McCullough and Katie Robinson.

Creative Stage gives children from Selkirk and the rest of the Borders the opportunity to train in performing arts and dance to a professional quality. The latest future star to emerge from its studio in the royal burgh’s Riverside area is Earlston youngster, Evan, aged 12. He auditioned for the new CBBC show, ‘Got What It Takes’ alongside more than 300 other aspiring young performers for the chance to be part of the final lucky eight.

Fellow Creative Stager, Catriona Lamb, was also lucky enough to get down to the final 48 candidates in the UK.

Evan from Earlston, aged 12, a student at the Creative Stage performing arts school in Selkirk.

Evan and the other talented youngsters – and their mums – undertake challenges against one another in a musical boot-camp, each one hoping to be crowned star of the show and get the chance to perform at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend 2016.

Since opening, Marie and Katie have been able to expand their business and feel being in Selkirk has helped them do so. “We are now expanding our Riverside mill studio base and taking on a new specialised studio within the old mill building due to the expanding number of pupils and classes that the Selkirk-based company now provide,” Marie explained this week.

“We have added ISTD, (imperia society of dance teacher), Tap and Modern classes to our weekly timetable due to popular demand. The children who take part in these classes took their first exams, all gaining the top two marks.”

Children from Creative Stage have taken part in various successful performances around the Borders as well as at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London’s West End and Edinburgh’s Light Night.

In 2013 Creative Stage introduced its talent agency for children, Creative Stage Management, and helped various children gain professional jobs within the industry.

Katie added: “The majority of professional jobs in the industry cast children from the London and surrounding areas, so the children from Creative Stage have defiantly done well to gain the experience and jobs they have. “