We held our first ‘Dedicated to Dance’ programme last year, which was created in response to feedback from the termly Teacher Forum. This proved to be highly successful working with a range of new dance artists.

Highlights included:

Tids Pickard, a local dancer showed pupils and staff at Park Primary (Colne) and Trawden Forest Primary (Trawden) how a simple tangerine could be used as a prop to devise a dance performance.

Gerry Turvey, who worked with St John with Augustine Primary (Accrington) and Park Primary (Colne), in the Mid Pennine Gallery; using dance to respond to the exhibition: Talking Shop.

Zoobin Surty, from South Asian Arts who shared his expertise in Kathak and Bollywood Dancing with St Oswald’s RC Primary (Accrington) and St Peter and St Paul’s CE Primary (Rishton).

Alongside this we held our first Triple Step Dance Festival during the summer half term holidays. This was a programme of workshops held in Nelson and Burnley, open to young people between the age of 8 and 16. The young people were working with dancers from companies such as Ludus Dance, Diversity Dance, Touch Down Dance and others! This three day event ended with a professional performance from Ludus of their production Trapped which was enjoyed by over 100 young people and their families in Burnley Youth Theatre.

We are hoping to run this festival again depending on funding.