U.Dance, as a partnership project between Youth Dance England and Yorkshire Dance, is back for the summer of 2013. It is Youth Dance England’s national youth dance festival, taking place in Leeds in July over four days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svcl5fVCcqM
U.Dance works to give UK youth dance groups the opportunity to perform in high-profile venues and gain invaluable experience at the only event of its kind. For 2013, performers will be residents in Leeds for the duration of the festival, in which they will be able to take part in workshops across a range of styles with leading artists and inspirational teachers in prestigious dance studios. The dancers will then be able to perform at one of Leeds’ main dance venues such as the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Northern Ballet and Northern School of Contemporary Dance. This means that 2013 will make U.Dance extremely different, allowing groups, duets and individuals will be able to perform at more than one venue.
The showcasing of work that U.Dance presents is incomparable. It is an extremely exciting event which, this year will see the dancers work in a variety of venues to show the breadth of youth dance choreography and performance the UK has to offer. Also new for 2013 is a new performance strand, New Dimensions, meaning the applicants’ pieces can be longer and more developed. Individuals, duets and groups (of up to 30 dancers) can apply for the new strand which will embrace a more experimental approach and push boundaries of what is expected of ‘youth dance’, or national youth dance festivals.
As a result, New Dimensions will be a platform for youth dance as it becomes more varied and complex in its form, expanding pre-conceived ideas about youth dance and presenting high quality dance work.