Projects
Apart from the Youth Dance Companies and the adult Dance Classes we offer across Essex and Hertfordshire, we run a series of workshops throughout the year in collaboration with schools and the community and covering different needs and styles.
ESSEX
SWF Junior Dance Company
From April – October 2011, DanceDigital’s Participation programme has been focused on the establishment of a new dance company for 8 – 11 year olds, based in South Woodham Ferrers.
SWiFt Dance Company has reached 161 residents of South Woodham Ferrers and surrounding areas.
The project provides quality dance provision to rural communities, ensuring that young people have access to cultural opportunities in Chelmsford Borough. The aims of the project are to:
- Provide quality dance provision
- Provide opportunities for like-minded young people to connect
- Increase participation in rural communities where dance activity is limited
- Enhance healthy living
- Establish, strengthen and maintain relationships with primary and secondary schools in the South Woodham Ferrers area
- Ensure young people have access to cultural opportunities
- Provide a feeder company for Focus Youth Dance Company
The project proposed an apprenticeship for a youth dance practitioner, a series of free taster workshops introducing contemporary dance to potential young dancers, an open day to act as an informal audition in to the company and the establishment of a regular junior dance company.
Auditions will take place for the Junior Youth Dance Company at the end of March 2011. All young people that took part in dance workshops at William de Ferrers School and the Year 6 pupils from the surrounding Junior Schools will be invited to audition. The dance taster workshops will mirror what a session in the proposed Junior Youth Dance Company will be like and will be led by the Dance Development Artist and the Apprentice, providing familiarity and the feeling of security at the audition.
HERTFORDSHIRE
This season for our Hertfordshire Dance Development Department is bustling with a diversity of dance projects.
Disabillity workshops, Parkour training, Boys Dance and Youth Companies activities with acclaimed dance artists are some of the things offered from DanceDigital across the Hertfordshire region.
Read more in detail below on our programme:
SEN School project
During November and December 2010 DanceDigital has been working in partnership with ActOne ArtsBase to deliver dance workshops in Hertfordshire SEN Schools. The project has involved seven different Hertfordshire Special Schools and the thirteen workshops have reached approximately 150 young people aged between 5 – 18 years with learning disabilities and some with mobility or sensory impairments. The workshops were jointly led by Laura Horn, Dance Development Artist for DanceDigital and Suzie Birchwood, Artistic Director of ActOne ArtsBase. Laura is a professionally trained performer and teacher, and is responsible for delivering all the DanceDigital outreach work in Hertfordshire. ActOne ArtsBase provides inclusive dance and performance training for disabled and non disabled people across Hertfordshire.
The workshops were fun and lively dance sessions that gave pupils the chance to explore their own creativity through dance and movement.
The taster one hour dance workshops, which were offered to all Special Schools in Hertfordshire, were to launch a longer term project to be rolled out in 2011. The workshops are a joint initiative between the Hertfordshire Dance Adviser and DanceDigital and are partially funded by Hertfordshire County Council and Youth Dance England.
InPulse Youth Dance Company
InPulse is the county youth dance company for 14 – 18 year olds in Hertfordshire. In October 2010 nine aspiring young dancers successfully auditioned to join the existing eight dancers to become the new InPulse company for 2010/11. The company are already hard at work creating new dance pieces for performances in Spring 2011.
The training of InPulse members is enhanced by engagement with professional dance artists. On 30 November InPulse had a workshop with dancers from Tilted productions, where they gained an insight into ‘Masquerade’ which will be performed in January 2011.
DanceDigital Associate Artist Adrienne Hart (Neon Productions) has been commissioned to create a new piece for InPulse. Adrienne will work with the company on February 12 & 13.
Team Kinetix School Project
DanceDigital has teamed up with Team Kinetix to deliver a Parkour and Dance project on 29-31 March 2011. The project will focus on the positive inclusion of pupils from rural areas of Hertfordshire in dance activity. Five schools will have the opportunity to have Team Kinetix with them for the day offering several groups Parkour training sessions. These workshops will be followed up with a dance session with Laura Horn, Dance Development Artist for DanceDigital, who will explore how to use the Parkour movements to develop dance movement material.
Team Kinetix are a unique and dynamic group made up of specialists in Parkour, Stage Combat, Acrobatics, Free-Running and professionally trained actors based in (but not geographically limited to) Essex & London.
Boys Dance Project
Over the forthcoming months DanceDigital will be working with C-12 Dance Theatre and hip hop dancer, Sarah Hebb to assist schools in developing boys dance groups. The workshops will take place on January 12, 19, 26 and March 2, 23 2011 when C-12 Dance Theatre will deliver five workshops at Sheredes School in Hoddesdon. From these workshops the school will develop a dance piece for performances in Spring 2011.