mailout youth dance 16
FEATURE
U.Dance North West 2010 – a success!
U.Dance is a national programme led by Youth Dance England (YDE), which aims to give every child and young person in England the opportunity to take part in a dance performance each year. The programme seeks to join up existing provision, make visible what is available, and signpost progression routes for young people to further their interest in dance.
There are four key stages to the programme:
> Stage 1 – local dance performances > Stage 2 – county dance performances
> Stage 3 – annual regional dance performances
> Stage 4 – bi-annual national dance performances
In 2008 The Lowry were appointed to work as the Regional Partner Organisation of YDE, delivering the National Brief for Youth Dance across the region. As a result of this new partnership, the first ever Stage 3 U.Dance event took place in The Quays Theatre at The Lowry in July 2009. Ten youth groups from across the region came together for one evening, to present their work to a packed audience. The young people involved enjoyed the experience of meeting other young people interested in dance, as well as the opportunity to perform in a professional theatre.
Following this success, a U.Dance steering group of dance professionals
and practitioners from the region met in September 2009, to hatch a plan for the North West’s second U.Dance event! This was to take place at The Lowry in March 2010, and would act as the selection event for U.Dance England, which takes place at the Birmingham Hippodrome in July 2010. As only one group from the region would be given the honour of representing the North West in Birmingham, the steering group wanted to ensure that all U.Dance NW applicants selected to perform, had a positive and memorable experience.
It was decided that U.Dance NW 2010 should take place over the weekend of the 13 and 14 March, allowing for more youth dance groups to take part in two nights of performances. This meant that groups who didn’t feel ready to apply to U.Dance England, could also have an opportunity to perform in their own region. Not content to settle there, the steering group also recommended that workshops and networking opportunities should be made available to the groups involved, as well as the opportunity to see professional work.
Since the first U.Dance event in July 2009, The Lowry have been working hard to establish a partnership with lead organisations across the North West, to ensure that opportunities like U.Dance can be accessed fairly by all. This unique new partnership is known as NorthWestDance: The
Lowry Youth Dance Partnership, and comprises Cumbria County Council, Lancashire Sport, Merseyside Dance Initiative, Dance Initiative Greater Manchester, and Cheshire Dance. NorthWestDance exists to deliver the National Brief for Youth Dance on behalf of Youth Dance England, and to promote and deliver the work of the North West Centre for Advanced Training Scheme in Dance (CAT). The three key priorities for the partnership are:
1. widening access to dance 2. raising the quality of dance provision for children and young people through a clear framework of standards in dance practice
3. improving the progression routes for young people wishing to pursue a career in the dance profession
NorthWestDance recognise the value of the U.Dance framework in achieving these priorities, and as such set about putting the steering groups recommendations into action. Firstly, almost every space in The Lowry was secured for youth dance activity over the whole of the weekend. Secondly, a Selection Panel of regional dance artists and young people were appointed to select successful groups to perform at The Lowry, as well as taking on the difficult task of choosing the group to represent the North West in Birmingham.
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