SOTE Foundation Course

Foundation Course in Dance and Musical Theatre

  Dates for 2027 auditions are now available. Apply here

Full time Musical Theatre training in the Heart of the UK's second City.

The School of Theatre Excellence brings affordable, London standard Drama School training to the Midlands.

Our Foundation course in Dance & Musical Theatre is designed to train Students in all three disciplines of Acting, Singing & Dancing, to develop the core basic training in Musical Theatre performance, and to give them the training to facilitate their entry into leading West End Performing Arts Colleges.
The 30 week course is designed to further equip people who show potential in the performing arts but require more training in order to be accepted on a Three Year Musical Theatre Course at a top college. It may be that you have completed A Levels or a BTEC Course and feel that you need additional training in Acting or Singing or have only recently discovered a passion for dance.

Our Foundation course will help you to develop your full potential and achieve your dreams.

27 Hours a week of Musical Theatre training


Our 30 week course is designed to give you the technical training to ensure you successfully audition for a 3 year course at Drama School.
With our high success rates, reputation within the drama school sector, and industry knowledge, you can get ahead of the rest by starting your training before the other Foundation Courses. 

ACT

Acting Classes including
Script,
System
Improvisation work
Monologue classes
Acting through song

SING

Choral Singing classes
One to one singing lessons
Legit & Contemporary songs
Weekly performance class
Audition class
Workshops with visiting Colleges

DANCE

Daily Ballet classes
Three Jazz Classes
Two Tap Classes
Contemporary Class
Song & Dance Class
Commercial classes
Pilates

School of Theatre Excellence

The School of Theatre Excellence was established in Birmingham in 2010. We wanted to be not just another stage school but a centre of excellence bringing high quality musical theatre training to young students aged 9 to 18.

Our Agency was launched in 2013 to give our students the chance to appear in professional productions such as School of Rock, Elf, Cinderella, A Christmas Carol, Peter Pan, Motown the Musical, Evita, Joseph, in Commercials, on TV, Radio and Film.

Our full time Foundation course for 18+ began in August 2016 and we are now in our tenth year, with an incredible success rate of students being offered places on three year courses.

Check out our graduate destinations to see where our students have gone on to train.
STUDENTS SUCCESSES

Studios

We are based in our own fantastic studios in Digbeth, ensuring that all our classes take place in fully equipped Dance Studios. Two large Dance studios are available to us, fully equipped with Ballet Barres, up to date music systems, fitness mats. Acting rooms and One to One singing rooms allow us to fully train our students.



Located on the outskirts of Birmingham City centre, the Digbeth is a vibrant area a short walk from the city centre. it is easily accessable via buses, New Street Station and Moor Street station.

Making training accessible

We are passionate about Musical Theatre training in the Midlands. Ours is the only foundation course in Dance & Musical Theatre currently running in Birmingham. Our course runs over four days, Monday to Thursday, allowing students to work part-time on the other days to help fund their training and living expenses. Accommodation in the local area can be half the cost of London accommodation.

New from 2024: We are delighted to have successfully changed the SOTE Foundation course to a Cert HE Musical Theatre course validated by Rose Bruford College.


Total fees for the Cert HE course for 2026 entry are £9790.00

The course being validated by Rose Bruford College means it qualifies for student loans towards tuition fees and maintenance. https://www.gov.uk/student-finance 


 

Running our courses over four days is hard work for our students, but the theatre Industry is hard work and requires dedication, so why not instil that work ethic right from the start.

Course Details

Be ahead of the rest

We recommend that students audition for Three Year Diploma & Degree courses at leading Performing Arts Colleges in January and February each year.
In order for you to be at your peak when auditioning for a place at these colleges we need to get started on your Foundation training as soon as possible.
Therefore our Foundation course begins at the start of Sept, by the time you come to audition for your 3 year courses you will have had 18 or more weeks of intense technical training in Performing Arts.
Course Details

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