Spring Primary Dance Festival 2014

The spring edition of our Primary Dance Festival, delivered in collaboration with North Kesteven School, saw 160 young people from local primary schools participate – a clear indication of the success of the day!
 

 

A mixture of Year 5 and 6 pupils from Bassingham Primary School, Swinderby All Saints Primary School, Fosse Way Academy, Ling Moor Academy, South Hykeham Primary School and All Saints Waddington Primary School participated in the final showcase on the 13^th February at the Terry O’Toole Theatre, following six weeks of hard work.
 

Working alongside artsNK dance artists, pupils had developed creative dance pieces surrounding the idea of transition from primary to secondary school. Each school drew on elements such as friendship, isolation, discoveries, achievement, team work, support and their journeys to school within their pieces.
 

Throughout the day of the festival young people were able to rehearse their piece within the Terry O’Toole Theatre, providing an opportunity to witness and appreciate the work of other schools. The young people were also able to watch rehearsals from Year 7 and AS Level groups from North Kesteven School, giving them an insight into other dance styles and choreography.

 

 

All schools performed twice in the evening at two sell out shows, with feedback from the young people saying how they thoroughly enjoyed being given the opportunity to perform in a theatre environment!

 

 

This spring project was supported by third year Sport Development and Coaching students from the University of Lincoln. The group helped with all stages of the project, from planning through to hosting the show, as part of one of their modules. The group were mentored by Alice from the artsNK Dance Team, who herself was once student on the Sport Development and Coaching course. Alice worked on the 2013 Spring Primary Dance project in her final year at university so it was an enjoyable experience for her to support the students with this year’s festival.
 

                                 

The Primary Dance Festival is back again in Summer so watch this space for updates and reviews!

 

Summer Primary Dance Festival!

On Wednesday 22^nd May, the “North Kesteven School and artsNK Primary Dance Festival” took place at the Terry O’Toole Theatre and was a huge success. Once again, the shows were a sell out, with parents, brothers, sisters and relatives being treated to a night of street and contemporary dance.

Photo: Jane Harrison

 

Photo: Jane Harrsion

Over the past 6 weeks, local primary schools had taken part in this project and worked with a dance artist from artsNK. They worked together, to create a dance piece based on the transition from a primary school to a secondary school. Also performing in the show were some groups from North Kesteven School.

The primary school children had a fantastic time watching the rest   of the groups in their technical rehearsals. For most of the  children, it was their first time performing on stage and you could tell they were extremely excited. The North Kesteven groups also enjoyed performing, and were a very high standard.

Thank you to all the groups who took part from Redwood Waddington, Witham St.Hughs and The Meadows Primaries as well as Maneuver (Boys dance group), Transcendance ( Yr 7-8 girls dance group) and the Yr13 BTEC Dancers from NK School.

Photo: Jane Harrison

What a week!

What a crazy week it has been for the dance team! From Wednesday 6th to Friday 8th February, artsNK held three consecutive showcases at the Terry O’ Toole Theatre.

Primary Dance Festival
It all kicked off with our annual Primary Dance Festival on Wednesday. This saw schools from around the area perform to a sell-out crowd. These included Bassingham Primary, NK School Yr. 10’s, Swinderby All Saints Primary School, NK School Yr. 7’s, Fosse Way Academy, Ling Moor Primary School and NK School Yr. 13’s. With over one hundred children taking part and two shows that night, it was a hectic day but everything ran smoothly.

Photo: Michaela Soltys

Children of all ages and abilities took to the stage to show off a mixture of talents which impressed the audience. Each Primary group focused on the theme of moving onto Secondary School, and portrayed this in a number of different ways with help from our Community Dance Artist, Holly Arnold and our Youth Dance Artist, Emma Terzza.

Photo: Michaela Soltys

Also working on the project with us were a number of the University of Lincoln’s 3rd year Sport Development and Coaching students. Not only did they help on the day of the show, but they helped throughout the project working alongside Holly and Emma with the Primary groups.

Photo: Jane Harrison

Inspiring Young Talent
On the 7^th February, it saw the return of our Inspiring Young Talent showcase. Groups from around the area are given the chance to show off their talents and skills, whilst performing to a large crowd.

Photo: Michaela Soltys

Featuring in the showcase, were groups from around the NK and Lincoln areas and included a mixture of styles and techniques.

During the day, amidst all the preparation for the evening’s event, Holly and her group, Freefall Youth Dance, had a chat with BBC Lincolnshire about what audiences could expect from the show.

Photo: Michaela Soltys

With a large number of acts on the night, the show promised to be entertaining and something which everyone could enjoy.  We Dance- Lincoln College 1^st Years kicked off the show with their performance to Michael Jackson’s Al Capone.  This was then followed with a variety of different dance pieces, ranging from fun and quirky to Contemporary and even Flamenco!

Photo: Michaela Soltys

Due to popular demand, two IYT shows were held, which meant more groups had the opportunity to perform. On the second night, Friday the 8th, the line - up was a little smaller but still crammed with talent.

Again, the groups were from the NK and Lincoln area and featured all abilities and skills including redXco, our street dance company and LNRevolution who took part in this years Dance Factor competition.

Photo: Michaela Soltys

Photo: Michaela Soltys

Photo: Michaela Soltys

Along with the help of the University of Lincoln’s 3rd year Sport Development and Coaching students, the two IYT shows were a success and we hope it inspired young people to get involved!

You can see more pictures from all three nights by visiting our Facebook page here.