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DANCEEAST SHOWCASES THREE COMMUNITY PLATFORMS THIS SPRING

07 Feb 2017

DanceEast has a commitment to working with schools and community groups and increasing engagement to dance and bringing people together. Dance makes an enormous contribution to our physical, social and creative health and supports a healthy lifestyle. DanceEast is, therefore, keen for as many people from across the region as possible to have the opportunity to experience great dance.

The Jerwood DanceHouse is being taken over by young dancers from across the region on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 of February with two spectacular showcases on Saturday and the U.Dance East regional platform on Sunday.

The annual Spring Showcase on Saturday 11 February is an evening of dance from DanceEast’s resident Performance Groups and Centre for Advanced Training. The groups have been rehearsing since they started back in the Autumn. The performance groups include Boys United, a boys only troupe of 10-15 year olds, Suffolk Junior Dance Company, a mixed youth group of 10-16 year olds, EncoreEast, an over 55’s performance group, Dance Unlimited, a mixed group of dance practitioners and the DanceEast Centre for Advanced Training students. Spring Showcase provides a fantastic opportunity for all of these dancers to perform to their family and friends.

U.Dance East on Sunday 12 February celebrates and showcases excellence in youth dance from across the East of England. DanceEast received applications to perform and compete at this regional showcase from across Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. The successful applicants include Two Thirds Sky, Tytonidae Dance Company, The Architects, Ivo Dance Company, Cambridge Youth Dance and Inpulse YDC. Two groups from the event will be chosen to perform at the National U.Dance festival, 13 – 16 July in Birmingham. U.Dance 2017 is a programme and framework led by One Dance UK, The UK body for dance, which seeks to increase the number of youth dance performances and support those who organise them.

As well as this community platform weekend, DanceEast’s annual large scale community project, The Inkwell, will premiere at the Jerwood DanceHouse on Saturday 11 March. Under the artistic direction of Mary Davies, Lynnette King and Caroline Mummery, and produced by Lia Prentaki, the project involves working with 9 groups to produce a performance piece. Since January, each group has been working with a DanceEast artist to produce and practice a piece which will then be brought together with all the other work to create an incredible evening of dance, showcasing the talent of community groups and schools from across the region.

The groups taking part are Eye Arts Club, Stowupland High School, Cedrus House Care Home, Cedars Park Primary School, Mildenhall College Academy, St Mary’s Primary, Chelmondiston, Thomas Gainsborough and the Bridge Project.