Vikki St Leger
Born in Cornwall, Vikki was the youngest born into a particularly musical family. At the age of 7 the young talent was showing signs of her future singing ability by taking lead vocals with a major choir then progressing rapidly to becoming proficient on a range of instruments including saxophone, clarinet and guitar. Her performing abilities took her to Europe playing Jazz and then on to a wide range of bands gathering local skills, knowledge and experience of working with other musicians and performing live.
A favourite highlight for Vikki in her professional career was the amazing offer to complete the three voice “Delta Ladies” as part of the Joe Cocker Experience which received national acclaim and recognition from the Official Joe Cocker Fan Club as being better than the current Joe Cocker Band. Vikki was fortunate to travel the U. K. with the band playing at major venues and considers herself privileged to have worked with them. Many of the band members having worked with some of the worlds famous musicians i.e. Diana Ross, Tom Jones, Buddy Hollies Crickets, Fats Domino – The list goes on.
A spin off from this unprecedented success was a community project organized by Vikki to provide Cornish schools with a unique singing opportunity. Vikki coached a number of school choirs across the county so they could participate in major musical performances in venues such as “Carnglaze Caverns”, “Princess Pavilions, Falmouth”, “The Acorn Theatre”, Penzance and “The Guildhall”, St Ives. The choirs experienced all the preparations needed to stage a professional concert.
Since deciding to launch her own vocal academy 5 years ago, Vikki has established herself as a unique mentor and vocal performance coach. She has a thriving private business in which many of her students have developed and become professional artists.
Vikki’s qualifications and background have enabled her to form a unique approach to improving vocal performance by utilising psychological techniques, acoustic voice processes with modern phonological vocal techniques. She has been invited to publish and produce DVD’s so that a wider student base can benefit from her techniques.
Vikki works in a holistic way and whilst in her care, young people will not only learn techniques and skills of singing, they will also develop self belief and self esteem and thereby grow in confidence. She offers an environment of support where young persons’ ideas and opinions will be listened to and acted on. Students will be empowered to take on roles which will help them develop vital transferrable life skills. Vikki is a qualified humanistic counsellor with a background in Psychology and mental health.
Kyrstie Mann
Kyrstie first performed from a young age in a talent competition whilst on holiday in Mullion at the age of 4 where she sung “Rainbow” and won another holiday which made her family fall in love with Cornwall and subsequently make the move down from the North West. Kyrstie’s family were also musically talented as her mother and uncle play the accordion and piano/keyboards respectively and father was a choir boy and was always singing around the house when she was growing up. Her great auntie and uncle were performers in the West End.
Throughout her school years Kyrstie developed her musical talents by playing keyboards and also the tenor horn with Penzance Silver Band. She has always been involved in singing all throughout her school years in choirs and performances as well as singing in talent competitions and local bands. Kyrstie constantly works on her song writing skills as well as performing.
Kyrstie’s professional background is in Business Management and Education. She has been a teacher of Business Studies for 4 years at Truro & Penwith College but has always wanted to continue working on singing. So after taking time out to have a family she went to have a voice assessment with Vikki and discovered that they had some valuable skills to share and worked on a vocal project together. This project proved to be a success as a team and the No.1 Singing Academy was born.
If you love singing and belting out pop classics in particular, there’s a new place you can share your passion with like-minded people.
How we came together.
Kyrstie moved to Cornwall with her family at the age of 5 after winning a talent contest at a local holiday park she sang ‘rainbow’, it was clear that she loved to sing and so gave an encore of ‘there’s no-one quite like mummy’, she loved the stage.
After the big move Kyrstie pursued her love for singing by joining as many choirs and singing clubs as possible. Throughout secondary school she became a little performance shy in front of her peers but continued to rehearse and write songs at home. However, as soon as she left school she decided to join her first band and performed at many local pubs and clubs, she did this for the next few years with other bands whilst studying at college and then University. Yet instead of taking the expected music route, she opted for a sensible backup to stardom and became a business graduate.
After singing for many years she got married to a Cornishman and took a break whilst starting a family, it was then that she realised she wanted to teach and pass on everything she had learn from dealing with image to actually getting on that stage and overcoming fears. So she qualified to teach in 2006 and has never looked back.
Kyrstie & Vikki met in 2008 when they worked together on a vocal project and got on like a house on fire, the project went really well and they stayed in touch. After a few discussions they decided to combine their vocal teaching and performance skills
Tracy Haggis –
Tracy is the new dance choreographer for Kidz Inc Stage Skool. Tracy has been dancing since the age of 6 within the freestyle and rock ‘n’ roll genre. She qualified with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) 10 years ago when she first moved to Cornwall. Tracy currently holds a licenciate qualification with ISTD and IDTA (International Dance Teachers Association) as well as possessing a full CRB certificate, child protection policy and public liability insurance as standard, which can be seen by any parent at any time.
Tracy has worked for a previous dance company for 8 years and decided to move onto something new and exciting which is when Kidz Inc found her. She has taught hundreds of children over many years and watched them grow up and develop excellent dance skills. Tracy’s aim is to teach all children, girls and boys of all ages, the skill and co-ordination to dance and treat them as equals whether they have danced previously or not. She has also taught children with disabilities too, such as deafness, cerebal palsy, ADHD and even sculiosis, where they have gone on to pass exams with honours which has given them a huge confidence boost.
Tracy believes that dance should be about having fun, making friends and should have no pressures. All pupils under her instruction are given the confidence within to achieve their goals and to aim higher. There is always an offer of exams, competitions and shows for all pupils, however, this is not compulsory, and will not be thrust upon them.
Currently, Tracy is choreographing 6 different teams for exams and a show in June 2012. They are having so much fun and loving every minute of it. She has seen a huge change in them already since the start of January and believes the show should not be missed. Tracy is a fantastic teacher and all pupils leave her classes full of enthusiasm and cannot wait to return the following week.