WELCOME U.Dance NW is part of a national performance framework delivered by One Dance UK, the national body for dance in the UK, which aims to provide access to dance performance opportunities for every child and young person in England. The event is presented by NorthWestDance at The Lowry.

The groups you see presented here today were selected to perform by a panel of professional artists and young people from the North West. The groups are taking part in an event which not only gives them the opportunity to perform on a professional stage but also to take part in a series of workshops led by leading dance artists and companies.

The programme of performances over the two evenings also acts as the selection event for U.Dance 2016, the national youth dance festival and The Lowry are delighted to be hosting it this year from 8-10 July! Three of our fantastic North West groups will be chosen to join young people from across the United Kingdom to perform their piece at this prestigious event.

We are also excited to be showcasing new U.Dance on Screen dance film pieces in this year’s programme.

We hope you enjoy the show and hope to look forward to welcoming you back to The Lowry for U.Dance 2016 in July.

Best wishes,

Sally Wyatt, Centre for Advanced Training Manager, The Lowry

Tweet about the show tonight using our hashtag

#UDanceAnywhere #UDance2016 @northwestdance @onedanceuk

PRE-SHOW – JUMPAROUND Birds Eye View

Choreographed by:

Ellen Turner & Dancers

Music:

Signalling through the flames – The American dollar

The Hunter – Elitsa Alexandrova

Dancers:

Katie Bow , Eliza Chase, Amelie Clarke, Catherine Mc Clements, Isabella Ogden, Phillipa Rodden, Martha Rodden, Jessica Stavely, Elizabeth Swainson

About the Company: JumpAround is an extra curriculum dance company for children: 8-12 years old. Run by TurnAround Dance Company, the classes take place in Arkholme. Students learn about contemporary, circus, and choreography and although the company is only a year old, the young students show great potential to further their dancing development.

About the Piece: Birds Eye View looks at the life cycle of a bird, beginning by cracking free from an egg, building nests, flocking and building up to the flight of their lives & being chased by hungry hawks. This work was envisioned and co-choreographed by the students.

CUMBRIA YOUTH DANCE COMPANY Puddle

Choreographed by:

Robert Guy

Music:

Four Seasons: Spring – Antonio Vivaldi

Dancers:

Luis Dunn, Rowan Gallagher, Lucy Harries, Will Metcalfe, Blair Moore, Robson Ogden, Sophie Thomas, Madeleine Turner, Mia Walsh, Olivia Allen, Philomena Dickson, Harriet Leaf, Isobel Ross, Ioanna Stergiaki

About the Company: Cumbria Youth Dance Company is a group of gifted and talented young dancers from right across Cumbria. Auditions take place annually and this year we have 14 dancers who meet monthly to create new work and rehearse. The sessions are led by Rachel Towe and visiting choreographers. This year the company has worked with Motionhouse, Wired Aerial Theatre, Robert Guy and Lindsay Brockleback, created dance for camera films, performed at The Brewery Youth Arts centre, The Fire Station, The Sands Centre and The Lowry.

About the Piece: Everyone knows how much it rains in Cumbria… it’s famous for it! This piece, Puddle, was created intensively over an extremely wet weekend at the end of November which immediately preceded the terrible and devastating floods across the county. The dancers wear anoraks and wellies to stomp and splash their way through Robert Guy’s watery choreography. The company is dancing Puddle for everyone in Cumbria whose lives have been turned upside down by the sheer power of water.

ELEVEN 1764

Choreographed by:

Victoria Harrocks

Music:

OVO – Peter Gabriel

Running – Max Richter

Dancers:

Hannah Ashby, Anna Radcliffe, Jenny Gavan, Amy Howes, Natasha Llewellyn, Emma Lippitt, Tim Nelson, Rebecca North, Ellie McQueen, Natalia Williams

About the Company: Our 6th Form Dance Company at Formby High School study A Level or BTEC Dance. In addition to their curriculum dance studies they meet 3 times a week to study contemporary dance choreography, physical theatre and contact improvisation.

About the Piece: This piece is inspired by The English Industrial Revolution and in particular the Spinning Jenny, created by James Hargreaves in 1764. This spinning wheel mechanised cotton production and was at the forefront of technological advancement in 18th Century. The Spinning Jenny was capable of doing the work of eight people and set in Manchester as the focal point of the Northern Cotton trade. The choreography symbolises the spinning wheel and explores the human experience during this era. The fast paced sequences, circular pathways and mechanical actions represent the advancements made in machinery which launched the Industrial Revolution and the modern age.

HOMEGROWN DANCE THEATRE The Assent

Choreographed by:

Daniel Connor

Music:

C.L.U, Arrival & Flynn lives From The Tron: Legacy – Daft Punk

Dancers:

Rachel Birtwistle, Imogen Cook, Bethany Edwards, Rebecca Le, William MacDonald, Eleanor Smith, Matthew Cooper, Charley Crump, Mary Gilsenan, Victoria Le, Emma Moss, Tyler Paine, Ellie Trow, Ellie Vickers

About the Company: Homegrown Dance Theatre, based in Cheshire strives to provide meaningful and inspirational dance experiences for children and young people. Homegrown Youth Dance Company is a main feature of the organisation, young people audition to be part of the youth dance company and many stay with the company for several years.

About the Piece: Accepting the most populated places are also the loneliest; without sadness you can’t feel joy.

Exploring the limits of what’s physically and emotionally challenging when young, growing and building scaffolding to support yourself, trusting and loving others in order to flourish. Contact work and athleticism, with emotionally charged fluidity explores the journey to adulthood.

ARDEN DANCE COMPANY Prime Impulse

Choreographed by:

Megan Elliott, Belinda Grantham & Ben Manuel

Music:

Escape from East Berlin - Daniel Pemberton

Dancers:

Ayanda Ndlovu, Courtney Neal, Georgina Thompstone, Hannah Gregory, Megan Pinder, Natasha Jones

About the Company: Arden Dance Company is a group of dancers who started their first year of study at the Arden School of Theatre in September 2016. They come from a wide variety of dance backgrounds and this work demonstrates their versatility and individual performance styles.

About the Piece: Prime Impulse is a collaboratively created piece that is linked by the soundscore and rhythms. The styles evolve and shift through the piece and these interlink with fast paced transitions in a work that is vital and dynamic.

PRESTON YOUTH DANCE COMPANY Infectious

Choreographed by:

Sarah Hall & Dancers

Music:

Liquid Spirit (Claptone Remix) – Gregory Porter

Dancers:

Sam Bluck, Hannah Darling, Amy Dullenty, Catriona Lucas, Aaron Pennington, Jordan Sheard, Lucy Swarbrick, Ellie White, Cavan Wilkinson, Jasmine Calland, Anna James, Jess Scaplehorn, Ashleigh-Georgia Shorrock

About the Company: Preston Youth Dance Company are aged 11 – 19years, consisting of talented dancers from across the City and the surrounding areas. Dancers create high quality performance work in a collaborative way, injecting their own unique personalities and style to the work to represent Preston on the regional and national stage.

About the Piece: Your head hurts, your body’s aching, you’re swimming in tissues and your nose won’t stop running. One sneeze and germs develop. To cheer yourself up, you put some music on. The beat builds and the music begins to take over, spreading through your body, as infectious as your cold…Will you catch the bug?!

INTERVAL

COMPANY BOOM Halley’s Comet

Choreographed by:

Rachael Nelson and Dancers

Music:

Comic Love-MTV Unplugged – Florence and the Machine

Dancers:

Daniel Appleton, Hannah Pinnington, Jessica Scottson, Leah Croft, Shanley Horan

About the Company: Company Boom was set up 5 years ago as an extension project that ran alongside the BTEC National Diploma Dance qualification. Its main purpose was to provide extra technical and performance opportunities for young dancers. The company rehearses outside of timetable and is dedicated to creativity.

About the Piece: 5 young performers use their physicality to explore the lyrical content of Florence and the Machine, Cosmic Love. Taking inspiration from the musical content and elements of astrology, the choreography explores the mystery and the intensity of love. Relationships connect and enchant, disappear and reform, survive or simply come to an end. What extremes do we gravitate towards when overwhelmed by this natural emotion? A blend of styles has been manipulated to suggest the chaos and joyfulness when overcome by the question proposed above.

FORMBY HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS The Conductor

Choreographed by:

Clare Whitehead

Music:

Waltz to Death – Danny Elfman

The Conductor – mixed by Gary Heatherington

Dancers:

Sadie McNulty, Caitlin Jennifer Stark, Zack Elliot North, Sophie Rose Richardson, Georgia Louise Lonsdale, Mia Riley Hickey, Evie Orlagh Scott, Ellen Horner, Isabella Louise Rymill, Joshua Jorge Reais, Alice Louise Spencer, Joshua Harrison-North, Niamh Cara Sefton, Nathan Lea, Timothy Nelson, Jessica Jackson, Anna Saundry

About the Company: FHS Juniors have been together for three years and are a mixture of Year 9-12 students. The idea behind the company was to inspire and develop contemporary dance skills and promote boys dance.

About the Piece: The dance piece is based on the conductor, Robert Schumann, a German composer and influential music critic. A hand injury ended Schumann’s dream of being a pianist and forced him to focus his musical energies on composing.

The dance portrays Schumann’s love and passion for music versus the contrast of his depression and schizophrenia. Schumann suffered a mental breakdown and believed that his musical compositions had a life of their own and that he could actually speak to his own instruments. The piece is divided into three sections; it shows the orchestra coming to life, his love for his wife and Schumann’s final years in a mental asylum after believing his wife was a cello.

EDEN BOYZ MOVES (Dance on Screen) Shadow Self

Choreographed by:

Kelly McClelland

Produced By:

Kelly McClelland

Dancers:

Nicholas Barnes, Ben Bell, Daniel Bennett, Alfie Cubby, Fin Cubby, Toby Golding, Hamish Jackson, Torin Robertson, Matthew Robinson, Spencer Trigg, Edward Wright

About the Piece: Take form the psychology of Carl Jung’s concept of the persona and the self this film explores the idea that deep in our subconscious is our true self that we hide away from our persona, what we show to the world. Like the garage of our homes where forgotten items are stored, so too is our true self in our shadow wanting to break free.

NEW DANCE YOUTH DANCE COMPANY Light

Choreographed by:

Jamie Jenkins and students

Music:

ELEMENTS: An original sound score composed for NEW Dance by Ynyr Llwyd

Dancers:

Katie Jones, Benedict Canton, Catherine Dougle, William Evans, Lauren Griffiths, Thomas Hughes-Lloyd, Abbie Jones, Lewys Jones, Carl Jones, Courtney Jones, Ella Keena, Zoe King, Gemma Roberts, Emily Southall

About the Company: NEW Dance is the community dance development organisation funded by the Arts Council of Wales to develop dance activities in the schools and communities of Wrexham, Flintshire and Denbighshire.

NEW Dance provides Youth Dance provision across north east Wales. The group meets weekly to develop performance and technique skills.

About the Piece: The piece is an exploration of the transit of light through space. The company have developed movement motifs by looking at how light can travel, energise, expand and transform. The piece is made up of solo, duets and ensemble phrasing.

HARD2BEAT The Last Dance

Choreographed by:

Nathan Geering

Music by:

Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence by Ryuichi Sakamoto

Dancers:

Luis Dunn, Hamish Jackson, Will Hurst, Blair Moore, Carl Osgood

About the Company: Hard2beat was formed in 2010 as a countryside b-boy project. Members have come and gone over the years but they are currently a group of six committed breakers who meet monthly near Penrith. They work with their group Leader Nathan Geering to develop their breakdance skills and choreograph new work for performance. This year they have performed at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal, The Fire Station in Carlisle, the Sands Centre in Carlisle and The Lowry in Salford. They have also battled and enjoyed workshops as part of Newcastle’s Just Jam International Festival. Funded by Arts Council England, the group is keen to welcome new members and continue dancing throughout 2016 and beyond.

About the Piece: This piece was created over several sessions and draws inspiration from the solo previously performed by Nathan Geering. It explores the emotions present in a man on the edge of depression contemplating his life and possible death… and is this would indeed be his last dance.

COMMOTIONS GIRLS YOUTH DANCE COMPANY SREY

Choreographed by:

Beth Bracegirdle and Commotions Girls

Music:

‘Desire’ by Dems edited by Beth Bracegirdle

Dancers:

Kate Davies, Lauren De Prudhoe, Kitty Dickinson, Maddie Duffield, Alyssa Fyfe, Rebekah Hall, Freya Hannan-Mills, Faye Heywood, Lily Howard, Holly Johnstone-Wood, Imogen McBeath, Evie Pendlebury, Zara Phillips, Anabelle Pollit-Walmsley, Sophia Pollit-Walmsley, Roisin Riley-Burke, Sophie Thomson, Helena Hart-Watson, Elise Jones

About the Company: Commotions Youth Dance Company began in 2008 as Salford’s Flagship youth dance company, based at The Lowry. 2015 is our second year with separate Girls and Boys companies, who train together every Friday and work separately on their creative workshop days. ‘SREY’ is created and performed by our 2016 Girls Company.

About the Piece: As a sign of respect, young girls in Cambodia will refer to each other as Srey (sister), whether they know each other or not. Our new dance work explores a worldwide sisterhood, investigating relationships within our female dance company and beyond! Discovering a connection between young girls from across the globe, the dancers question what sisterhood means to them.

THANK YOU We would like to thank all the young people and their group leaders for the hard work and rehearsals in preparation for the weekend; our selection panel, Sri Sarker, Roisin Dunbar, Sally Hendry & Aimee Baker for their excellent contribution; One Dance UK for their support of the programme; our workshop artists Avant Garde Dance Co, Company Chameleon, Brink Dance Company and Bridget Fiske for delivering some excellent work with the groups; the theatre technicians for all their hard work over the two days; all the fantastic volunteers and The Lowry staff who have made the event possible; and of course you the audience who have come to support the groups this evening!

A special mention to Jade Aitchison, Youth Dance Coordinator, Aimee Baker and Sally Hendry, Youth Dance Ambassador Placements who have done an incredible job making this event happen.

Tickets for The National U.Dance 2016 Festival are now available to buy from

www.thelowry.com

Box office: 0843 208 6000

Friday 8th July – The Lowry Centre of Advanced Training & National Youth Dance Company

Saturday 9th July & Sunday 10th July – U.Dance 2016

Visit the dance website for the North West www.northwestdance.org.uk

U.Dance is supported by Arts Council England, Harlequin Floors, The Boparan Charitable Trust, The Granada Foundation, and The Marina Kleinwort Trust.