Another year has ended...

A big thank you!To all of artsNK Dance team's partners, sponsors, friends, parents, participants, associate artists and the like- this year has been even better as we continue to grow and develop dance in Lincolnshire!

An end note from the team....

Alice

This has been Alice's first full year with the artsNK dance team and it has been one of new experiences and achievements. The InspireDance education programme has been successfully delivered in twelve schools, with highlights including pupils using dance to explore mathematical concepts and then being given the opportunity to perform their pieces at the Guildhall Arts Centre in Grantham. Alice has been proud to be a part of the high number of performance opportunities the dance team have provided for young people this year including projects such as Dance Factor and True Motion, and was recognised as a U.Dance Champion by Youth Dance England for the number of events she registered on behalf of the team. As the only non dancer in the team Alice has also enjoyed being able to develop her own dance skills by performing in two fitness based flash mobs the team performed in Lincoln high street and Sleaford town centre, as well as beginning to train on the team's aerial dance rig - the rest of the team better watch their backs! :)

Amy O

Amy has not only been teaching as part of the dance team but has been in the office working on all things social media from the facebook, twittter, blog and video promotions. Amy has thoroughly enjoyed teaching and working on the variety of projects over the year. Highlights including winning 2nd place with "Respect your Elders" in Dance Factor 2014 and working with a variety of Primary Schools from around the county to take part in the Spring and Summer Primary Dance Festivals. Amy is looking forward to developing her skills on the aerial silks, furthering her dance training with Vitality over 60's, and starting up various youth dance companies around local schools to perform and compete at Unite the Scene and True Motion. Another busy year is ahead and she can't wait to get stuck in! 

Check out our team promo video here:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV9aVMU7dYs  

Holly

This year Holly has taken on her new role as lead practitioner for the educational programme, InspireDance. Within in this role Holly has travelled the county to deliver dance sessions on a variety of topics/themes and also delivered the ‘On with the Dance’ teacher training to many Primary School teachers. Although she has been spending a lot of time away from the rest of the team Holly has thoroughly enjoyed working in new schools, meeting new young people and building new relationships in schools.

Holly’s most highlighted moment of working within the InspireDance Programme was challenging herself to begin to work with children with disabilities. Holly went to St Francis Specialist School, where she immediately fell in love with the children. Holly is hoping to continue to develop her relationship with St Francis and help to deliver more dance in their school. Holly is also aiming to deliver dance in more specialist schools starting in September.

This year for Lincolnshire's U.Dance County Platform, True Motion, Holly felt very proud of her group kNacKer’d Youth Dance Company, feeling that this was their best piece yet. Holly worked closely with a multimedia team, Blue Print to create a piece using projection called Gosuto. All of the dancers stepped up to the mark on the performance day and left Holly an emotional wreck side stage! Holly is now looking for inspiration for the next piece, which the group will start to work on in September.

Also, this year Holly has been excited by the development of the Aerial Dance Programme, which is now in full swing. Being able to train on the rig and teach has been a challenge, however a highlight for her. In June, Holly found herself flying to Ireland again to undergo an intensive weekend at the Irish Aerial Dance Festival, training in Trapeze, Harness/Wall Running and Cocoons. Holly’s keeping her fingers crossed for hoping to go for longer next year!

Holly continues to love working for artsNK and is looking forward to what her fourth year has to hold!

Emma

It has been another busy and exciting year for the dance team with lots of new developments to projects and programmes.  Emma has enjoyed stepping into the new role of overseeing the Youth Dance Programme, and is really pleased with the amount of new people we have had starting in the classes.

James

Having only started in January and reaching July for many can be viewed as a short amount of time however, James have had the pleasure of working at many fantastic events, attending truly inspirational performances and teaching an array of creative young and dynamic children ranging from Nursery, Reception, Primary and Secondary. Managing the Summer Primary Dance Festival meant adopting to new styles of working - liaising with staff and teachers, creating a programme and coordinating/structuring two live performances. Overall it was very challenging but he thoroughly enjoyed stepping into unfamiliar territory and finding ways to try and resolve any problems he had. " It has been such a pleasure working together with the Jumpstart boys to create new material and even watching them perform at live events. I can't help but feel proud of how they really work as a team and look out for each other's best interests. I've challenged them and pushed them into becoming not only better as a unit but as individuals. I hope they continue to work hard and inspire young men around them who wish to dance. 

Working for artsNK has proved to be very rewarding, it is an organisation that really promotes the idea of putting the people first and giving young children/adults and people of all walks of life an opportunity to engage and simply try something new. Coming to work and being part of such a fantastic team that strive to work together with relentless energy and enthusiasm has been such a joy, I'm glad to have become a part of it. Bring on the next academic year!"

Amy D 

This academic year has been as busy as ever, keeping the team and I well and truly on our toes! We continue to build our programme and reputation for delivering high quality dance opportunities to everyone in Lincolnshire and, this year has seen some very exciting developments. Back in October, we held our bi-annual arts festival in Sleaford; namely Zygote, which featured our newly purchased aerial rig! Since then, we have built a programme of aerial dance featuring classes for children, young people and adults as well as specialist masterclasses and workshops. The rig is temporarily based at North Kesteven Centre until December 2014, where after we will find a permanent home for it. I am delighted that it has grown into part of the dance programme and has significant interest- and so it should- it’s spectacular!

In January, the team welcomed James as a new full-time member of staff in order for help us to deliver our new education offer to all schools in the county; InspireDance. James has proven to be a real asset, working to empower boys in dance as well as inspiring many, many youngsters in his short time with us. Holly has since become lead practitioner on the InspireDance programme; initiating partnerships and relationships with many, many schools in the county. Later in the year we lost Michaela our social media assistant and this saw Amy O take over and have much more input into the team’s daily social media activities. Amy O continues to teach for us and will be leading on some exciting new schools youth dance company developments from September onwards. Emma continues to lead on the Youth Dance Programme and has exciting things planned for 2015, watch this space! And finally, without Alice, the team would fall apart, she is the central core of keeping things ticking over.

The dance team make me very proud as Holly, Emma, Alice, James and Amy’s continual hard work, dedication, enthusiasm, professionalism and commitment to changing people’s lives through dance is second to none. As the only dance development team left in probably the rest of England (which is managed by a local authority), we are honoured to be continuing our work, developing new projects, programmes, classes and inspiring so many young people.

Thank you for your support and bring on 2014-2015!

Work Experience!

Over the past week Jack Steele and Emily Rance from the North Kesteven School have been shadowing and assisting our Community Dance Artist Holly Arnold.

Here is a summary of what they have been up to and what they have enjoyed:

The past week I have spent on work experience at artsNK. I have really enjoyed my time and I am now 100% sure that I am going to pursue a career in dance. I have really enjoyed interacting with the children and giving them some inspiration to dance. Seeing them smile is an amazing feeling. Holly and the team have really opened my eyes to the working world and made me realise that it is tiring. However, if you’re doing a job you love then it’s worth every single second of your time.

Jack Steele, North Kesteven School Year 10.

This week I have been assisting Holly teach different classes. Most have been in different Primary Schools but I have also helped with the youth groups. We have travelled to a lot of different places over Lincolnshire, some quite far away. I have liked it because I now know what it is like to teach different people in different places everyday and how challenging it is. It has also been fun helping the younger people when they have been set small tasks because I enjoy talking to them and finding out why they like dancing.

Emily Rance, North Kesteven School Year 10.

This week I have had the pleasure of Jack and Emily assisting me every day. They have both showed a great level on interest and enthusiasm towards the job. They have also been willing to help and get involved in a variety of different situations throughout the week. I don’t think they realised just how much we do on a day to day basis, however I believe it has been a good and beneficial eye opener for the both of them. They have been great assistance and I wish them all the luck and best wishes for their own personal journeys into their career paths.

Holly Arnold, Community Dance Artist at artsNK

Primary School Festival 22/05/14 @ Terry O’ Toole Theatre

The summer edition of the Primary Festival hosted four Primary Schools; Coleby Church of England Primary School, Skellingthorpe St Lawrence Church of England Primary School, The Meadows Primary School and Thorpe on the Hill - St Michael’s Church of England Primary School who all worked hard over the past six weeks to produce a dance piece focusing on the theme of ‘transitions to Secondary School’. When creating their pieces they explored themes expressing and exploring the emotions linked to this change. The show also featured three performances from North Kesteven School including an all-male company formed by several Year 7-10 boys, a piece by Year 8 and 9 girls and finally a BTEC group of students.

I, Sophie Watkinson and Amy O’ Sullivan worked with the four Primary Schools allowing the children to explore different areas, feelings and ideas associated with the theme of transition into Secondary School. We felt it was important for the children not only to learn, create and adapt movement but to also offer the opportunity to express just how they really feel about embarking on a new and exciting chapter of their lives.

Some of the children, who have never had any previous dance or performance experience, responded well to the duration of the project – the children learnt basic movement styles, developed their own group sections and some even managed to produce lifts and execute tricks. The children were introduced to the marvel of working through a technical rehearsal and were able to witness the same process with the other Primary Schools and the groups from NK School. Workshops kindly organized by NK School and it’s staff were also provided for the children in order to grasp a sense of what subjects they will expect to learn when making the step up to Secondary School.

Two performances one at 6:00pm, the other at 7:15pm held a warm, kind and receptive audience filled with proud family members and friends who were grasped by the children’s dynamic movement capabilities. Being present backstage and having the honor of hosting both performances I could really feel the uproar and excitement coming from the children as they waited to go on stage. The audience, artsNK staff, North Kesteven School staff and spectators from the Primary Schools were all encapsulated by how the children performed. 

I would like to thank all of those who were involved with the project and supported me throughout. It was a delight to see the children performing and gain a sense of achievement. For them to watch groups who have had success at a Secondary School, to be given the chance to create a dance piece from scratch and to perform it live in front of an audience I believe took a lot of dedication and self-belief. I applaud the Primary Schools for making the decision to allow their pupils the chance to exceed and try something new and to the children for performing with energy, charisma and passion.

We shall look forward to working with some new Primary Schools for the next Festival and we hope to see you all there.

James Kitney (Community Dance Artist – artsNK) 

Dance Team Promo Video

The Dance Team have just had a fantastic new promo video created which showcases our varied and inspiring dance programme- check it out!

 (created by Electric Egg  electricegg.co.uk)

Youth Dance Programme

artsNK's Youth Dance Programme consists of weekly dance sessions in dance styles such as Creative Contemporary, Hip Hop and Break Dance and Aerial Dance.  Sessions run from Monday - Thursdays during term time. 

Classes take place in the Dance Studio at the North Kesteven Centre in North Hykeham, Lincoln (unless stated otherwise)

Day	Group	Ages	Time	Cost per session
Mondays	Freefall  Creative Contemporary Youth Dance	Ages 12-13 Years	3.30 - 5.00pm	£2.50
	Balance Creative Children’s Dance	Ages 7-11 Years	5.00 – 6.00pm	£2.50
Tuesdays	JumpStart Break Dance Company	Ages 14-18 Years (Male and Audition Only)	3.30 - 4.30pm	£3.00
	Fr33 Steppers (All ability Break Dance)	Ages 8-14 Years	4.30 - 5.30pm	£2.50
	Aerial Dance for young people *Sessions takes place in Squash Court 1 at NK Centre*	Ages 11 – 16 Years	4.30 – 6.00pm	£5.00
Wednesdays	Dance Leadership Level 1 & 2	Ages 14 – 19 Yeas	3.30 – 4.30pm	£4.00
	kNacKer’d Youth Dance Company	Ages 14-19 Years (Audition Only)	5.00 - 7.00pm	£3.00
	redXco Street Dance Company	Ages 14 - 18 Years (Auditions only)	4.30 - 6.30pm	£3.00
	Aerial Dance for Adults *Sessions takes place in Squash Court 1 at NK Centre*	Ages 16+	7.00 – 8.30pm	£6.00
Thursdays	Descend Creative Contemporary Youth Dance	Ages 14 – 18 Years	4.00 - 5.30pm	£2.50

For more information about artsNK’s Youth Dance Programme, please contact:

Amy Dalton – Head of Dance Development

Amy.dalton@litc.org.uk

01529 411197/ 07766 422675 

Visit our website:  www.artsNK.org

Like our page on Facebook: artsNK Dance Team

Follow us on twitter: @artsNKDance

Taking Dance to New Heights

The artsNK Dance Team have recently launched aerial dance, and exciting new addition to our dance programme.

 

Aerial dance provides you with the opportunity to take your dance to new levels with sessions delivered from the North Kesteven Centre in North Hykeham on our newly erected aerial rig. Aerial dance is an acrobatic dance style involving equipment such as aerial silks and hoops, and is a challenging and stimulating activity which people of all abilities can participate in.

 

 

Those who attended the 2013 Zygote Festival in Sleaford will have had the chance to witness some of the stunning movements that can be achieved using silks when our rig was erected on Eastgate Green during the festival.

 

 



Fancy giving aerial dance a try? Adult classes (16+) run every Wednesday from 7-8.30pm at the North Kesteven Centre at a cost of £6 per week, with classes for young people (10+) held at the centre every Tuesday from 4.30-6pm at a cost of £5 per week.

For more information about aerial dance or to book a place at a session please contact Amy on amy.dalton@litc.org.uk

Breakin' Convention 14

Breakin Convention – The International Festival of Hip Hop Dance Theatre - is held annually at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London and features dance from companies and crews from across the globe. On Sunday 4^th May Amy, Emma, James and Alice from the Dance Team were able to witness the 2014 event – which certainly didn’t disappoint.

Hosted by Jonzi D and Monie Love the line up was impressive with highlights including P*Fect a Swedish vogue and waacking collective who have supported Lady GaGa on tour, and  UK crews Soul Mavericks and Boy Blue Entertainment.

Full Line Up

Boy Blue Entertainment (UK)
CIE Phorm (France)
Don't Hit Mama (Holland)
Duwane Taylor (UK)
IN-SI-DE The Cirque (Czech Republic)
P*Fect (Sweden)
Rowdy (UK)
Soul Mavericks (UK)
Venus & Mars (UK)

During the interval the team were also able to witness an exclusive krump session with Street Kingdom from the USA, which was highly energetic and engaging to watch...

(click the below link to check it out)

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152132716070959&l=1783114172820222199

 

 

...and also view some Graff Art.