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

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 🌟

*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

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.

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!