ALL ABOUT US
Fusion Young Performers is a new Performing Arts Group in Minehead, Somerset. The group’s aim is to develop theatre, dance and music for young performers up to age 24. Fusion Young Performers has been dazzling audiences with magical productions since 2016, although Sarah-Jane Date and Lorraine Ahern are also know from the 2014 MATA production of Les Misérables.
Sarah-Jane caught the theatre bug when she was a teenager and spent three summer seasons in London with the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. Since then she has performed in various amateur productions and choirs and her last onstage role was playing the mad Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd at the Regal Theatre. The first large scale producution that she directed was "West Side Story" for the Regal Theatre in 2010. This was the first time that Lorraine and Sarah-Jane worked together on a show - it was a huge success and Lorraine won the award for Best Choreography at the Somerset Fellowship of Drama awards. Sarah-Jane has always loved anything to do with the theatre and music and works as a piano and singing teacher at home and in schools. On Saturdays she works for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama at CYMTaunton. She also leads various choirs including Sing4Fun Community Choir which is based in Minehead. Sarah-Jane believes that the theatre and music should be available and accessible to everyone and one of the things she loves most is to see a team of young people working together and learning new skills to produce an amazing show which brings the community together.
Lorraine Ahern began to dance at the tender age of 3 and has performed, choreographed and taught dance in West Somerset and beyond. Lorraine choreographed her first full dance showcase at the age of 13 while being a student at West Somerset College.
Choreography became her passion and focus and she continued to produce and choreograph shows such as Cabaret, Chicago, Annie, Me and My Girl, Summer Holiday, Hairspray, Mama Mia, Les Miserables’ and many more. In 2010 Lorraine won the award for Best Choreography at the Somerset Fellowship of Drama awards for West Side Story, the first collaboration with Sarah-Jane.
Lorraine is also known as the founder of The Dance Centre in Minehead, teaching Freestyle, Musical Theatre, Contemporary, Commercial, Streetdance and hiphop classes to children age 2+, where many students have gained places at E15, Italia Conte, LIPA, Stella Mann College and The London Studio. Lorraine has also taught AQA GCSE at West Somerset College.
Lorraine, together with Sarah Jane has a passion for working with young people, teaching new skills and bringing out the best in their performance.
