Dance TeamQuarter 1April - June 2013

SCLschoolof

salfordcommunityleisure.co.uk/sport

Salford Community Sport is part of Salford Community Leisure (SCL), which is responsible for the provision and management of sport, leisure and cultural services in the city. SCL manage a wide variety of facilities across the 8 neighbourhood areas within the city, including sport and leisure facilities, community centres, libraries (plus 2 books @ home libraries), museums and community use high schools.

SCL’s vision is ‘Everyone Active’ and all SCL employees work towards achieving this vision.

Welcometo the 1st quarterly report for 2013 for Salford Community Leisure’s Dance Team

My name is Louise Seddon and I am responsible for the provision and delivery of dance across the city.I am responsible for the following members of staff:

• Hannah Jackson

• Faye Hollowfield

• Jade Munro

• Aimi Coote

• Rachel Edge

• Astrid Gansler

• Heather Norton

• Rosemary Hollowfield (volunteer)

• Neil Cooper (volunteer)

salfordcommunityleisure.co.uk/sport

The aim of this quarterly report is to highlight the work that has taken place during during April, May and June within the Dance Team and demonstrate how Salford Community Leisure is performing.

Dance Development Officer:

Lousie Seddon

t: 07851 423414e: louise.seddon@scll.co.uk

Introduction

Quarter 1 (April - June 2013) has been a very successful quarter, some key highlights include:

• A trip to the stage in partnership with The Lowry.

• The Dance Team worked in partnership with MAPAS on a performing arts course held at

Moorside High School.

• The Freestyle competitors travelled to a number of competitions

• The Dance Team ran their first internal street dance competition.

• A Ballet and Tap presentation evening was held at Walkden Legion

• SCL’s street crews attended a street competition in Flixton.

• The Dance Team ran an Active Ability workshop for pre-school children with addition and

complex needs.

• Three new classes were launched at Guild Hall Community Centre; Freestyle,

Showstoppers and Contemporary.

• The SCL School of Dance showcase took place at The Lowry Theatre.

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General Dance sessions

Attendances at community dance

sessions: 1644

Since performing for friends and family at the

presentation evening earlier in the year,

young people attending community sessions

have been working hard to choreograph and

prepare a routine for the first annual internal

street dance competition. Each group had to

prepare one team routine to be entered in the

crew section of the competition as well as

solo/duo routines for individual dancers. The

standard of routines wowed the judge (a

professional independent adjudicator who is a

champion dancer and multiple winner of the

International Dance Teachers Association

Medallist of the year) who was impressed by

the skill, style and enthusiasm of all dancers.

The event did not focus on winning, but on

participation and having fun. Every student

received a certificate for taking part and

awards were given throughout the day for

students who showed support and team spirit.

Since the internal competition, teachers and

students have been busy perfecting a second

class routine ready for the 9th annual SCL

community showcase held at The Lowry on

the 7th July 2013. The teachers have

commented on how the students have grown

in confidence over the past few months and

are looking forward to what promises to be

the best showcase yet.

As well as perfecting two routines each of the

groups have had a big input in designing their

costumes for the showcase. The students

have each made a small contribution towards

costumes allowing the Dance Team to

provide outfits for most groups.

The Dance Team run competitive street

dance crews on Wednesday evenings. These

classes are taken to compete 3 or 4 times a

year in open street dance competitions. A

number of talented students have been

invited to be part of these crews and have

achieved some exciting results at the

competitions. The Dance Team plan to

continue to develop the skills and confidence

of its young students and hope to discover

lots more talent in the future.

SCL School of Dance

Attendances at School of Dance sessions: 3077 Attendances at School of Dance events: 799 The SCL School of Dance continues to go

from strength to strength. Once again there

has been an increase in attendances during

this quarter and as a result 3 new classes

have started at Guild Hall Community Centre.

On the 3rd of May 2013 the Ballet and Tap

students performed to a packed out audience

at the Walkden Legion. Parents were amazed

by the technique of the young performers as

they showcased what they had recently been

examined in. After the performers were

presented with their awards, students and

parents danced the night away to celebrate

all of their hard work and fantastic exam

results.

After the presentation evening all groups

began working hard on their show work as

the Dance Team held the first SCL School of

Dance showcase at The Lowry on the 23rd

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June 2013. This was the first time the dance

school performed completely independent of

any other groups and it was a huge success.

The Dance Team have been inundated with

praise and the feedback from the show was

fantastic. 4 weeks prior to the showcase all of

the young people attended 3 hour rehearsals

at the dance school to prepare for the show,

every aspect of the showcase was as

professional as possible and it showed in the

end result. Working towards the showcase

has given the young dancers an insight into

what it is like to be part of a company and the

opportunity to perform on a prestigious stage

such as The Lowry. Students have gained

knowledge, improved skills, worked on

performance technique and grown in

confidence. The show was so successful the

next show planned for July 2015 has been

brought forward to November 2014.

Students of the dance school are now

working on their exam pieces in Ballet, Tap

and Freestyle. Exams are scheduled for

November 2013 and March 2014.

The SCL School of Dance has recently

branched out in two new styles. On Thursday

13th June 2013 the dance school launched 3

new classes. The new under 10’s Freestyle

class will increase the number of students the

dance school can accommodate and also

allow those that cannot attend on a Saturday

to take part. The Showstoppers class has

been a huge success with 18 students in

attendance on the first week. The class is a

fusion of song, dance and musical theatre

and will allow SCL School of Dance to

produce a more ‘rounded’ performer in the

future. The Dance Team have also started a

Contemporary class after a number of

enquiries, with the aim to be able to explore

and expand this dance style in the future.

School programme

Attendances at schools sessions: 813

The Dance Team currently run 5 school

dance clubs either after school or during

lunch time. All of the group were invited to

take part in the SCL internal street dance

competition in April and a few of the students

received awards for their performances.

The groups have since been working very

hard on two showpieces each as they will be

taking part in the annual schools competition

at The Lowry on the 7th July 2013. Each

group will choose one routine to be entered in

the schools competition during act 1 and the

other will be showcased during act 2. This

event is usually the one all students look

forward to; in many cases it will be the young

peoples only opportunity to perform on a

stage such as The Lowry, and the parents

look forward to watching the event all year.

The courage and confidence the students

gain is invaluable and it also teaches them to

work as a team and support one another.

Year 6 students will be leaving the clubs as

they start their new adventure in high school

but in most cases they chose to attend one of

the community street dance sessions to

continue their dancing.

“My daughter thoroughly enjoys

dancing and wishes she could do

it every day”

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Competitions

Attendances at competitions: 551

As the standard of the Freestyle competitors

has improved, so has the standard of the

competitions they attend. The Freestyle

competitors now attend at least two

competitions a month and regularly gain

exceptional results. They are now at the

same level as all private schools and often

compete against the best schools in the

country.

One of the key highlights this quarter was one

of the students becoming the dance schools

first champion dancer. The champion section

is the highest level you can compete in, so

this is a huge achievement; the young person

had only been competing for 12 months so

has done fantastically well to gain that status

in such a short space of time. At each

Freestyle competition attended SCL always

have an array of finalists all achieving

fantastic results and more often than not win

some of the sections entered. The Dance

Team are extremely proud of the Freestyle

branch of the dance school and how far they

have come.

The competitive street classes have also

attended 50% more competitions this quarter.

The street crews have also been achieving

top results and winning trophies. A particular

strong point has been the Quads – in both

competitions coming first. The Dance Team

are very excited by the recent successes of

the street dance crews and are keen to

develop and expand in the future.

On 21st April 2013 the Dance Team ran its

first internal street dancing competition. The

event was held at Fit City Eccles and gave all

community groups the opportunity to take part

in a competition. The focus was not on

winning but rather taking part and supporting

one another. Over 200 people purchased

tickets with over 100 of them taking part. The

event was judged by a professional dancer

who was very impressed with all the young

people involved, saying it was hard to believe

they only danced in school clubs or

community sessions. The day was a huge

confidence booster for everyone involved and

sparked a lot of interest for the competition

street classes. Those that made the finals

were awarded medals and trophies and

everyone that took part was given a certificate

of participation. The Dance Team are looking

forward to a similar event next year.

Holiday programme

Attendances at holiday sessions: 63

The Dance Team have been involved in

some exciting holiday sessions this quarter.

During the Easter holidays the Dance Team

ran another successful trip to the stage in

partnership with The Lowry. Over 30 young

people attended workshops, received a visit

from the Director and enjoyed an amazing

performance of Sleeping Beauty on Ice in the

afternoon.

The Dance Team also ran a 3 day performing

arts course in partnership with Salford Music

and Performing Arts Service from the 3rd to

the 5th April 2013. The course gave both

novice and accomplished musicians and

performers the opportunity to learn dance

routines, try their hand at song writing and

experience a variety of musical instruments.

During the Whit holidays, the Dance Team

ran a team building day for some of the

Freestyle competitors. Young people

attended stamina and stretch followed by a

gymnastic workshop at Fit City Ordsall before

watching the latest dance film at The Lowry

Outlet.

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Case Study

Name of sessions: Ballet, Tap & Freestyle at the SCL School of Dance

This participant started dancing in one of the Dance Teams’ community sessions in Walkden.

After enjoying the sessions she came to the SCL School of Dance to further her dancing skills

and progress to the next level. She excelled in the Ballet, Tap and Freestyle sessions and was

quickly moved up into the advanced classes. After just a few months she was invited to the

Freestyle competition classes on a Friday evening. She attended her first competition in May

2012 and by May 2013 had won countless trophies and titles. She now dances in the

championship section for slow (the highest grade possible) and has recently qualified for Disco

Kid – the most prestigious competition in UK Freestyle. The Dance Team has watched her

grow in confidence as well as talent and are sure she will continue to flourish.

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Forthcoming Events / Activities in Quarter 2 2013-14

• The community dance showcase at The Lowry (7th July 2013)

• The SCL Salford schools competition at The Lowry (7th July 2013)

• DKKQ Qualifier Freestyle competition (7th July 2013)

• Active Ability workshops at Springwood (9th July 2013)

• Ballet, Tap and Freestyle workshops at the Dance School (27th July – 10th August 2013)

• Gym workshop and team building day (29th July 2013)

• Street dance camp at Boothstown Community Centre (30th July – 2nd August 2013)

• Young Dance Leader Award course at Walkden High (6th – 9th August 2013)

• Gym workshop and team building day (12th August 2013)

• Freestyle competition in Leigh (15th September 2013)

• Street dance competition at Flixton (22nd September 2013)

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