Care to Dance

Care to Dance

Non-profit Organizations

Pioneering new ways to support care-experienced young people, through dance.

About us

Care to Dance is a social enterprise, led by qualified social workers and dancers, that supports care-experienced young people through dance. Our vision is for all care-experienced young people to feel a sense of belonging, freedom and connection. We find creative ways to help them process their experiences, the painful and positive, provide the stability consistency they likely missed growing up and help them develop relationships built on trust so they have people to turn to. By doing this, we hope to achieve our mission to improve the wellbeing of care-experienced young people through dance, and to build inclusive communities where they feel safe, supported and can express themselves freely.

Industry
Non-profit Organizations
Company size
2-10 employees
Headquarters
Throughout England
Type
Nonprofit
Founded
2019

Locations

Employees at Care to Dance

Updates

  • Care to Dance reposted this

    View profile for Beth Vecchione, graphic

    Founder and Director of Care to Dance

    Still reflecting on all the great conversations and to thought provoking content from the West Midlands Virtual School Foundation Conference yesterday! So many incredible people coming together to think about how we can do better for our young people. A couple of things really stood out to me: - Geese Theatre Company led an interactive session depicting the journey many care-experienced young people go on. Many young people also talked about the power of community, interdependence, relationships and the importance of embracing our inner child. - Andy Wright OBE spoke how despite the challenges within the system, when passionate people come together we can provide keys for young people to experience more doors opening. - Finally, such an insightful presentation by Dr Dawn Bradley, about how dance can not only ‘turn pain into power’, it also enables us to develop social connection with other people. It was amazing to see dance and the arts being brought to the table when it is so often overlooked, something which is obviously very close to my heart. It gave so much hope to be surrounded by so many people on a mission to bring about change. I was left with words from Luke Rodgers BEM, which ring true on so many levels - “As human beings, we are not built to be alone. We are built to be in community”. 

  • View organization page for Care to Dance, graphic

    459 followers

    View profile for Beth Vecchione, graphic

    Founder and Director of Care to Dance

    Really proud of Anais, one of our dance teachers, for being chosen to be involved in a new online course dance course specifically for care experienced young people! It's so important we support care-experienced young people have more access to opportunities in the arts and tailored coaching on how to stand the best chance of success, so it's really encouraging to see new initiatives like this cropping up thanks to organisations like sharefound - The Share Foundation, Rothschild Foundation and Tring Park School for the Performing Arts. The dance world is so competitive, demanding and comes with the likelihood of rejection, so young people need to be equipped with the skills and resilience to keep going and keep believing in themselves. We love that Anais's advice was to block out the noise, focus on yourself and your craft and keep believing - it's exactly what we want to help our young people to do with everything they face in life. https://lnkd.in/ekrBiwnf

    Arts course for young people in care aims to break down barriers - BBC News

    Arts course for young people in care aims to break down barriers - BBC News

    bbc.co.uk

  • View organization page for Care to Dance, graphic

    459 followers

    SO great to have been awarded Centre of Excellence status - giving our young people the best is so important to us. We want them to be the best they can be and feel really strongly that our leadership skills programmes make such a difference.

    View profile for Beth Vecchione, graphic

    Founder and Director of Care to Dance

    Super proud to have been awarded Centre of Excellence status by the Leadership Skills Foundation! While dance skills are a big part of what we teach at Care to Dance we also feel really strongly about equipping our young people with leadership and other transferrable skills to help them succeed and face life’s challenges. It’s important for all young people to develop these skills, but even more so for care-experienced young people who often have a reduced support network and can find themselves navigating situations and complexities at a younger age than their peers. We’ve worked hard to develop and really hone our dance leadership qualification programmes for young people to do this in the best and most empowering way for them, thinking about the skills they need most and how to strengthen their mental resilience. To be awarded this status feels like a real testament to that 🌟

  • View organization page for Care to Dance, graphic

    459 followers

    Couldn't agree more with Beth's message here - it's so amazing watching our young people come out of their shell, grow in confidence and self-belief and show so much bravery along the way. It's amazing what you can achieve when you put your mind to it and we hope Beth doing this can remind all our young people of that.

    View profile for Beth Vecchione, graphic

    Founder and Director of Care to Dance

    *A moment of reflection* This time just over 6 months ago, I was starting to try and walk again. I’d start by trying to get to the end of the drive, but had to be picked up and carried back because I couldn’t go any further! I kept building from there, step by step, going a bit further each time. Today, I’ve just done my last 4 hour run before my ultra in two weeks. To me, this feels like what most of our young people do. Often they’ll start by just coming to a class and watching - even this is a big win because coming to into a new environment where you don’t know anyone can be really daunting. But step by step they push themselves a bit more, showing such bravery, courage and determination. Seeing them progress from watching on the sidelines to performing solo routines in front of an audience, undertaking leadership qualifications and even teaching in some of our classes is just breathtaking. They are so inspirational. They made me believe I could do this. If they can show up like this, so can we. I hope I can inspire them through my journey and encourage them to keep going and never give up. Anything you can give, or help raising awareness of what I'm doing would be so appreciated. https://lnkd.in/eUv-7GeX

  • Care to Dance reposted this

    View profile for Beth Vecchione, graphic

    Founder and Director of Care to Dance

    So great to be part of Nottinghamshire County Council's kinship celebration event yesterday as part of #Kinshipcareweek24. It was such a great show of support for and celebration of their kinship carers and all they do for young people, and humbling to hear stories from kinship families, and feel how much care and emotion there is from family members who take on the role of kinship carer.

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  • View organization page for Care to Dance, graphic

    459 followers

    We love working with our partners on projects like this, especially when we can so clearly see the impact it has for and difference it makes to our young people. So important to keep learning and improving, and very grateful to have such great partners we can do this alongside!

    View profile for Beth Vecchione, graphic

    Founder and Director of Care to Dance

    Just over 18 months ago, Care to Dance and Leicestershire Virtual School, Donna Chapman worked together on a piece of action research, supported by Blue Cabin and funded by Arts Council England to help us better understand how we can support care-experienced young people, and what makes the biggest difference for them. Our aim was to maximise the impact of Care to Dance in Leicestershire and use our learning to support our work in other regions. Three key things really stood out in our findings: community, challenge and context and contemplation. Since then, we've been working on ways to act on and reflect what we heard from our young people, including launching a new programme and further integrating key adults into programme activities. This piece of research taught us a lot, both about what was working well and things we could try and build upon. It also reiterated just how much working in a partnership with a Virtual School where everyone is as equally as invested makes our programmes much more impactful. Communication, celebration and collaboration are vital aspects in this partnership.

  • View organization page for Care to Dance, graphic

    459 followers

    Shout out to Cicero - he’s an inspiration to us all 💫

    View profile for Beth Vecchione, graphic

    Founder and Director of Care to Dance

    Last weekend, I made a special trip up to the North East. As a region, it will always be special to me because it’s where Care to Dance started, and our groups there are still going strong 5 years later. The relationships in the dance groups, not just between the young people but their carers and the LAs as well, are so strong and rooted in the community. But this visit was particularly special, because it was to celebrate the 18th birthday of Cicero, one of our young people. Cicero came to the very first Care to Dance session we held in South Shields, and continued to come to every class for the next 5 years. His dedication and commitment shone through, and it was no surprise that he completed his Level 1 and Level 2 Dance Leadership qualifications with flying colours. But it was also clear that Care to Dance was much more than that for him, offering a place where he felt safe, where he belonged and had positive relationships he could rely on. He was so passionate about helping us make sure we cultivated this in all of our classes, and so keen to build his skills and work experience we made him our Inclusion Lead, which he still does today. But just because he’s turned 18 doesn’t mean he can no longer come to Care to Dance classes - our community will continue to be there and be a space for him. We feel very strongly about this, something Become is campaigning to change - the sudden and sometimes total drop in support for care-experienced young people when they turn 18. Their need for support, guidance, care and belonging doesn’t change overnight, in fact it might even increase as they have to navigate what could be a very different set of circumstances. Cicero, we are so proud of everything you’ve achieved, your drive, passion and curiosity. We cant wait to see what more you’ll go on to do in the next 18 years!

  • View organization page for Care to Dance, graphic

    459 followers

    It’s only been a few weeks since we started our new programmes in Coventry and they have been a VIBE! The young people are engaged, keen to learn and be part of the group, and we’ve already been able to create an environment where it feels like they’re comfortable and able to let go of anything they might be holding on to. It’s also clear Coventry City Council are attuned to what their young people need and find creative ways to support them, and so great to be part of this. We have a couple more spaces available, so if you know any young people who would like to or benefit from joining, please reach out.

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  • View organization page for Care to Dance, graphic

    459 followers

    We have a great opportunity for young people in Staffordshire - co-designing our new 12 week programme launching in Jan 25. They'll feed into what dance styles we focus on, what the end of programme performance looks like and what the social event is. Our hope is that this will be empowering, motivating for the young people involved - who will automatically secure a place on the programme - and mean the programme is even more tailored to their needs as a result. So if you know any young people in the area who would like to be involved or you think would benefit from this opportunity, please drop us a line. Staffordshire County Council Lesley Gill

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  • View organization page for Care to Dance, graphic

    459 followers

    Some of you will already know that, 6 months ago, our founder Beth was in a car accident that resulted in a spinal fracture, and she was incredibly lucky to avoid paralysis. Her recovery has been slow - there are so many risks and potential wrong moves that could make things worse. It’s definitely been an example of having to learn to walk before you can run! Beth has also found it a tough mental battle. It really brought home for her what it must be like to face challenges and dark times alone. Not to have anyone to turn to or anywhere to go. All without also being able to do the things that help you get through and feel happier. So, to mark our 5 year anniversary and raise money for Care to Dance, Beth is going to be running an ultra-marathon in November - 50 kilometres and over 2600 meters elevation in one day. She wants to show all our young people just how much is possible if you put your mind to it, and to raise money to enable us to support more young people across the country, at a time when so many young people are struggling. Anything you can give would be amazing. https://lnkd.in/e7F29-vm

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