Dance South West

U.Dance is a national programme run by Youth Dance England, the national organisation that champions dance for all children and young people.

Youth Dance England is working with Southbank Centre, DU : Dance in Northern Ireland, National Youth Dance Wales and YDance (Scottish Youth Dance) and its nine Regional Partner Organisations, to create an exciting dance performance programme for young people aged 11 to 19 (and disabled young people up to the age of 24). Each Regional Partner Organisation will manage a Regional Dance Platform and groups will be selected from these events to perform at U.Dance 2012, a national dance performance event that will be held in London on 13 – 16 July 2012.

U Dance South West 2012 Report

With the weather on our side, 180 young people raring to go and inspirational leaders poised and ready, Saturday 17th March saw the start of busy weekend at U.Dance South West 2012!

Groups experienced a Temple Dance workshop with Ash Mukherjee on the Pavilion Dance Terraces, a site specific workshop on Bournemouth beach with Sarah Shorten, and an improvisation session
with Seke Chimutengwende.

To finish the day, the Ocean Room theatre was buzzing after a closed performance of the groups' performance pieces to each other.

Sunday morning saw the groups on mass on the Terraces learning a piece from Becky Murphy, which was performed in Lower Gardens as a Flash Mob for the public to enjoy.  Meanwhile, the group leaders enjoyed a workshop with Rahel Vonmoos.

After a few impromptu jam sessions, it was time for the groups to focus on their performance.

13 youth dance companies from across the South West performed to an extremely high standard and impressed our judging panel with their professionalism, energy and commitment. It was an evening showcasing the amount of incredibly talented young people we have in our region!

Unfortunately only one group could go forward to U.Dance 2012 in London this July, which the judging panel decided, would be ‘Rise’ from Bristol. They will be dancing at the South Bank centre with other groups from across the country. You can find out more about  U.Dance 2012 here

A huge thank you to all involved for making U.Dance South West 2012 such an enjoyable event for all involved!

Youth Dance Opportunities