Youth Dance England to take centre stage as Government endorses the development of dance activity for young people.
Youth dance in England is to benefit from a £5.5m funding package through the DCMS, the Department for Children, Schools and Families, and Arts Council England, following the announcement by Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham, and Schools Minister, Andrew Adonis, of measures to boost dance opportunities for young people, both in school and out of school hours. The announcement follows the publication of a review of youth dance in England by Royal Opera House Chief Executive, Tony Hall.
The importance of strengthening links between dance and sport, and between schools and the youth dance sector, are highlighted throughout the report, which states that “whilst dance sits in the PE Curriculum, teaching is too often delivered by non-specialists... [and] the creativity of dance and its artistic value is missed altogether”. The Government is backing the report’s recommendations in a number of areas, but falls short of endorsing proposals for the subject area of Physical Education to be renamed Physical Education, Sport and Dance, saying, “…on a practical level, it would not seem feasible to separate dance from the other areas”. It does, however, support proposals for the establishment of a joined-up national strategy for dance across both school and youth dance sectors, and for “a properly funded, powerful national dance organisation” to take an overview of all the initiatives currently underway, and act as advisers to Government and Ministers about children and young people’s access to dance. Youth Dance England (YDE) will fulfill this role, as well as taking the lead on issues such as dance teacher training, professional development, facilities and diversity, and “promoting and marketing dance to the widest possible audience”. Alan Davey, Chief Executive of Arts Council England (ACE), confirmed that YDE will become an ACE Regularly Funded Organisation to enable it to deliver this work.
The review also recommends the strengthening of regional dance networks to co-ordinate the activity of dance agencies, private dance schools, dance companies, dance training establishments and individual artists. YDE will work with the existing national dance agencies to make links to school provision, thereby “creating a coherent network of dance activity across schools and the youth dance sector”. It will also run a small pilot scheme for dance co-ordinators in schools, who will support the provision of dance both as an artform and within school sport. A survey of dance activity across schools in England is underway, looking at both the level and quality of dance provision in schools, as well as the amount of dance activity taking place.
Six new Centres of Advanced Training (CATs) will be launched between now and 2011, offering high level training and support to around 1,500 more young people. Five centres already exist, complementing the provision available at full-time residential schools such as the Royal Ballet School. Two new dance CATs, in Ipswich and Birmingham, are due to open during the 2008/09 school year, and others are being planned at Dance4 in Nottingham and in the North West. A further strengthening of the infrastructure is also envisaged in the South West and South East.