Sal Hodgson and Anne Cherry had modest goals when they co-founded the Somerset School of Dancing. Having trained as dancers, their objectives were to keep on dancing while passing on what they had learned to a younger generation.
The school opened in September 1970, giving lessons in modern, tap and ballet to 40 students, most of them just two or three years of age, at the Somerset Brigade Band Hall on Scott’s Hill Road in Somerset.
Teaching the British style of dancing that they had studied, Hodgson and Cherry travelled to England every summer, taking classes with top instructor Peggy Wilson to earn further qualifications. “We would go to England, learn the new grade, take the exams—and then come back to Bermuda and teach it to our students,” said Hodgson, a qualified tailor who made most of the school’s costumes during the early days. “Our goal was always to move progressively forward. Whatever level we were at as a school, we wanted to do more to make the Somerset School of Dancing a high-class training school. We had been trained well, and we wanted to pass it on.”
More than 40 years later, the school is highly regarded for its dance training—and now has three teachers with Royal Academy of Dance (UK) qualifications, plus two Bermudian-trained teachers with vast experience. Hodgson has now retired from full-time teaching, but continues to ‘coach’ students, mostly prior to examinations. The school now teaches many grandchildren of the original students, and even three great-grandchildren. While the majority of students take classes for their enjoyment, or as a positive outlet for their energy, a number of students have made their mark as dancers.
Several have earned a Catherine Zeta-Jones Scholarship from Bermuda’s National Dance Foundation, while Krystal Smith has been accepted as an apprentice at the Welsh Ballet, Frederica Hill is studying at the highly-regarded Boston Conservatory, and Rebecca Faulkenberry is an actress, singer and dancer who has appeared on Broadway and on network television in the United States. “Rebecca began taking lessons with us when she was five-years-old,” Sal says. “After only a few classes, I recognised her talent and knew she would be a professional dancer some day.”
Cherry was born in Bermuda to Arthur and Patricia Bindon. Her father worked for Cable and Wireless, and the family moved often as he was posted overseas, living in England, South Africa and on Ascension Island, before they moved back to Bermuda for good when Cherry was 17. During periods spent in Bermuda, she attended St. George’s Grammar School and Bermuda High School for Girls.
While the family lived in England, Cherry was accepted into the prestigious Bush Davies School in East Grinstead, Sussex. “You had to have a bit of talent to get into that school, and if you didn’t work hard, you didn’t stay so I was made to work hard,” she said. “I enjoyed it, but I had no aspirations to turn professional.”
Back in Bermuda, Cherry worked for Pan American Airways, and spent 20 years as Secretary of the annual Agricultural Exhibition, in addition to teaching dance at the Somerset School until the late 1970s. She is also a long-time volunteer with the Bermuda Equestrian Federation.
Hodgson was born in Burnley, Lancashire, and began attending the prestigious Northern School of Ballet at the age of eight, taking two classes every Saturday. “I was going to become a ballerina,” she says. “I liked performing—I always looked forward to the school shows.”
When her original teacher left the Northern School, Hodgson left to take lessons with teacher Peggy Wilson at the Charlotta School in nearby Blackburn. She studied with Wilson from age 14 to 21. Seeing her potential as a teacher, Wilson set Sal up with a small group of students in Burnley, and she became a dance teacher-in-training.
Hodgson was in demand as a dancer, joining professional summer shows in Eastbourne and Bridlington as a member of the Eleanor Beam Dancers, and also performing on the workman’s club circuit, including panto appearances at the Sunderland Empire with the late comedienne and actress Beryl Reid, the Nottingham Empire, and at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, where she performed with legendary choreographer, tap dancer, television presenter and actor (A Hard Day’s Night) Lionel Blair. She spent two full seasons at Eastbourne. “That is the show I loved best—it was a full three-month run,” she says.
Hodgson suffered an injury at Eastbourne and was sidelined for six months. During that period, she met her husband, Michael—two weeks later, he proposed and they were married in November 1962. When he accepted a job with auto dealership, Holmes, Williams and Purvey, they moved to Bermuda in 1965.
As young mothers, Cherry and Hodgson met at the beach in Somerset and became fast friends. They worked together on a number of productions staged by the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society (BMDS), sometimes with Hodgson choreographing a panto and Cherry dancing in it, and other times with both dancing in the chorus line.
Hodgson also choreographed Camelot for the Gilbert & Sullivan Society, Cabaret for BMDS, and the 50th anniversary production of Old Time Music Hall for BMDS, which she also co-directed with Richard Fell. She was assistant ballet mistress for the National Dance Theatre of Bermuda for several years and now sits on the board of the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda. Previously, she was president of the Bermuda Ballet Association.
Her greatest love, though, remains the Somerset School of Dance.
In 1971, the year after Cherry and Hodgson opened the school, they invited a major examiner from the British Ballet Organisation to Bermuda, and ballet examinations were conducted for the first time on the Island. “The exams are not compulsory, but they do give students something to work toward,” Sal said, “and parents like to know the standard their children are dancing at.”
In 1981, the school moved to the Armoury in Mangrove Bay—and in 1982, it became affiliated with the Royal Academy of Dancing, as this organisation was more universally recognised. Examinations continued on an annual basis. In 1987, the school expanded to Hamilton, with classes on Saturday mornings at the Masonic Hall on King Street. Their landlord was Gilbert Darrell, the plumber. “He was extremely generous,” Sal said. “We gave scholarships to children whose parents could not afford the fees. We would meet with Mr. Darrell and he would say, ‘Are you still giving scholarships?’ When we said ‘yes’, he said, ‘Well, I guess I will see you in a year’s time then’. As long as we gave scholarships, he supported the school by not increasing the rent. We gave out $39,000 in scholarships one year.”
Today, the school operates out of a 4,000 square-foot facility at the Berkeley Arts Educational Centre in Pembroke. Classes are held Monday through Saturday in three spacious studios with stage-step dance floors. Nearly 300 students, ages 2-18, take classes. The school presents a senior show every two years.
“I love to see how the kids enjoy performing in the show,” said Cherry, who attends everyone.
“I love the reaction from the parents when they see the show,” Hodgson said. “Some people wonder why we don’t present an annual show, but we are not a performing arts school, we are a training school. Serious training and examinations are very time-consuming.”
Some four decades after they began teaching children the art of dance, Cherry and Hodgson are delighted that their own grandchildren have become students at the school. Hodgson’s granddaughters, Zoe and Ava, take lessons, as do Cherry’s twin granddaughters, Hayleigh and April, and grandson, Oliver.
“This has never been a money-making business—we didn’t set out to do that,” Hodgson said. “We have always tried to keep improving the level of dance on the Island by continuing to improve on teacher training. One never stops learning and trying to better themselves to pass on the very best to the students.”
