YDance? Ynot!
Three of Edinburgh’s top youth dance groups are leaping to new heights this weekend as they participate in Scotland’s leading event for youth dance development – Connections. The event is delivered by YDance, Scotland’s national youth dance organisation, and is the only event of its kind in the country.
The groups – Broughton High School, Dance Base and Ihayami Fusion – are sending twenty dancers to the event at Edinburgh College to join fifteen other Scottish youth dance companies. With over one hundred and sixty participants, Connections is the only event in Scotland giving talented young dancers the opportunity to work with other dance groups and top choreographers from the UK.
Over the three days the groups get the chance to participate in a variety of workshops involving different taster sessions and dance styles, choreographic workshops and informal ‘sharings’.
Yvonne Young, YDance Assistant Director said: “YDance Routes Connections Weekend is an annual weekend of workshops for our young dancers, inspiring them and the leaders who work with them. There are no other opportunities in Scotland for youth dance groups to come together and spend three days experiencing different dance workshops, see the standard of other groups across the country and broaden their dance experience by introducing them to new choreographers and the ways in which they work. It’s so exciting to be here and see first-hand just how important this event is for the young dancers of Scotland.”
Now in its fourth year, Connections Weekend is taking place at the Performing Arts Studios Scotland (PASS) at Edinburgh College.
PASS Lecturer Jo Turbitt said: “We’re delighted to be hosting this fantastic event again and looking forward to welcoming some of the country’s top young dance talent. The dance studios and performance spaces we have at PASS are first class and up to industry standard, so it’ll be great to give the dancers a chance to use them and learn more about how we train professional performers. An event like this demonstrates that we have so much talent to be proud of across the country. Hopefully we’ll see some of the students back at the college again as students.”
Connections is part of YDance’s national programme – YDance Routes – motivating and inspiring young dancers across Scotland and the leaders who work with them.
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