Looking for a school place for your child? Why not complete our Enquiry Form or Nursery Application ?
Sunderland Schools Put On Their Dancing Shoes
Nearly 500 budding Billy Elliots put on their dancing shoes to showcase their talents
at a popular annual event.The 28th Sunderland Schools Dance Festival, developed
by the University of Sunderland’s Faculty of Arts, Design and Media, took place with
480 children from 24 Wearside schools at the Sunderland Empire.
This year the students based their work on the Lindisfarne Gospels to celebrate
their return to the region. The aim of the festival is to celebrate young people’s
dancing ability in a non-competitive environment. Family and friends shared the
children’s success as the students lit up the stage with their talent.
South Shields Customs House Executive Director Ray Spencer, MBE was on hand
to compère the 1,600 sell-out crowd to support the City’s children. He praised the
event for engaging young people in the arts.
Mr Spencer, said: “I am really excited about this as I was really fortunate to come
and watch the festival last year and it was of an incredible standard and I think it is really important to engage young people in the arts. It is also great to see the University of Sunderland using the biggest stage in the North East, to give students the experience of being on stage.
“Today’s experiences and the whole process will help students become great team members, it raises their confidence hugely and it will put them in a great place for whatever they want to do in life.”
The original concept for the festival began 28 years ago and was the brainchild of Lesley Younger, Head of Performing Arts and Dance at the University of Sunderland.
It originated as part of a Masters Degree dissertation into the innovation and development of dance in education - at Monkwearmouth Comprehensive School. As such it began in a very small way with just three schools taking part in the school hall. A new post at the then Sunderland Polytechnic saw the Festival move to Bede Theatre and grow in size.
Miss Younger said: “The aim of this event is to celebrate dance, it’s not a competition, it is about sharing and celebrating the achievements of students in Sunderland.
“Experiences like this can give the students confidence, aspirations to possibly move into a career in performing arts, but most of all, they can feel special and share the feeling and moment with their school mates and parents. We often get students who did this as children and then come to the University and remember being on the stage like many students today will.”
Now in its 28th year, the festival continues to be organised by the University’s Dance Department and is a firm fixture in the Wearside schools’ calendar.
Several children participating in the show over the years have gone on to study dance at the University.
Graeme Thompson, Dean of Arts, Design and Media at the University of Sunderland, said: “This is a massively important event for the University because it is a showcase for performing arts in this city. You’ve got nearly 500 children here, whose first encounter with the University is here with the performing arts department. Lesley and her team produce the whole show and it gives us a great connection with the schools around Sunderland. It’s a great celebratory event and it’s great to be able to do it.”
