ABOUT THE LAUNCH Dancers take part in a show at the end of each term
Parkwood Leisure announced the launch of the Sway Dance brand in October 2010. Initially Sway Dance will offer three core dance disciplines: street dance, ballet and ballroom (sequence), which will support local bespoke additions, such as belly dance, cheerleading, salsa, jazz, jive, contemporary and freestyle. Dancers will be able to work towards nationally recognised dance qualifications. At the launch, Parkwood Leisure CEO Andrew Holt said: “Parkwood Leisure will use Sway Dance as an extension of our sports development strategy. These classes will increase the utilisation of our centres, while promoting individual health in sup- port of the government’s Healthy Living Agenda. Parkwood Leisure believes that dance will appeal to members of the community who might not other- wise use traditional sports and leisure facilities.”
How did Parkwood come to work with Ida Freeman? It became very apparent to us that the best strategy would be to find a dance partner. To help gain a better knowledge of the dance market we started to meet relevant movers and shakers. As part of these informal dis- cussions we met up with professional dance instructor and performer Ida Freeman, who owns a dance school in Worcestershire called Sway Dance. It soon became clear that there was
a real opportunity for both our brands to work in partnership. The rest, as they say, is history.
Why Sway Dance? We chose Sway Dance for lots of different reasons, but ultimately because both Parkwood Leisure and Ida Freeman shared very similar val- ues. We certainly respected the Sway Dance brand and the innovation that Ida had applied to make the brand a success within Worcestershire over the previous five years. We felt that the building blocks of the brand were innovative and that it
ISSUE 2 2011 © cybertrek 2011
fitted well with the type of dance brand that we wanted to create.
What have been the biggest challenges of launching the Sway Dance programme? After agreeing the partnership with Sway Dance in October 2010, we com- mitted ourselves to launching the brand in all Parkwood Leisure cen- tres from January 2011. To deliver this objective we needed to train all of our instructors across all of our centres in Sway Dance choreography. Almost 150 instructors were trained as part of this programme. We also needed to cre- ate interest and demand for the Sway Dance product, and to make this hap- pen we trained all our front line staff in the brand. It’s been hard work and challenging, but we’re loving it and are now seeing some success, which is extremely satisfying.
What are your plans for the brand over the next 12 months? We want to ensure that we cement the values of Sway Dance throughout Parkwood Leisure at all levels in our
organisation. We’re proud of the jour- ney we’ve been on so far with Ida and are looking forward to developing our partnership even further. In the lead up to the launch of Sway Dance we spent a considerable amount of time identifying instructors that we felt represented the brand. We want to support these instructors over the next year and help develop the brand through them. They will be piv- otal to our success. Of course we plan to grow the brand. However the next stage is about con- tinuing to develop the building blocks of the brand that will ensure our foun- dations are strong.
What are your longer term plans for Sway Dance? We want to create an innovative dance brand that allows all age groups, genders and backgrounds the pleas- ure of dance. We intend to highlight the profile of the Sway Dance brand throughout the UK. And we want to cre- ate a dance brand that truly engages and excites both our teachers and the people who participate in the classes.
Read Leisure Management online
leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital 67
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