Competition for Schools & Colleges expands due to overwhelming demand
Poole is set to be a brand new host for Dance Live!, an exciting dance competition for schools and colleges. Due to overwhelming demand, The Guildhall Trust, the team behind the Dance Live! event, has announced that a further separate heat for its 2022 contest will take place on 3rd March 2022 at the Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the Arts. The winning schools from the Junior and Senior heats will join those from the Portsmouth heats in the Dance Live! 2022 Finals on 3rd and 4th May 2022 at Portsmouth Guildhall.
It is then envisaged that, with demand rising across the country, Dance Live! will return and expand its round of heats in Poole in 2023 and also launch heats in three other cities to allow more schools and colleges to participate.
Dance Live! is an exciting dance event for schools and colleges that is produced and managed by The Guildhall Trust as part of its wider Get Involved programme of activity for the community and to inspire careers in the creative industries.
Five schools from the Dorset region, including Corfe Hills School, Elm Academy Bournemouth, Broadstone Middle School and The Thomas Hardye School, will participate in the competition which sees pupils performing choreographed routines to the backdrop of a giant LED screen with off-stage technical skills and creative design also being showcased.
Dance Live! embraces an ever-evolving digital world and explores how this is changing the face of modern performance. Aimed at students aged seven to 18 in Key Stages 2-4 and Further Education, Dance Live! is very different to other dance events thanks to its focus on raising aspirations and developing skills for creative career choices. It does this by delivering a range of supportive workshop opportunities that encourages all to get involved.
Over 2,000 young people from 39 schools participated in the inaugural Dance Live! Portsmouth Heats in 2020 before the Covid pandemic forced the Finals and 2021 events to take place virtually online. With record numbers registering for the 2022 competition – an incredible 4,000 pupils from 60 schools and colleges from as far away as Cumbria – the additional Heat in Poole was added.
Hayley Reay, Head of Learning & Participation for organiser The Guildhall Trust, said, “To take Dance Live! to Poole is hugely exciting. Despite challenges imposed by the pandemic and a completely virtual competition in 2021, interest from across the country exceeded all our expectations in 2022. Demand has been such that we are now able to put on an additional Heat in Poole and we are looking forward to growing the success of the event and targeting even more new areas in 2023.”
Dance Live! is supported by a number of businesses including Prospero Teaching, Richmond Motor Group and Wave 105. The Guildhall Trust invites businesses in the Poole region to get in touch and find out about the commercial sponsorship and partnership opportunities available and to reach the thousands involved in the event.
Further information can be found at Dance Live! | Portsmouth Guildhall and schools and colleges in the region who would like to find out more about the possibility of participating in 2023 are encouraged to get in touch with the Dance Live! team on 023 9397 0193 or dancelive@portsmouthguildhall.org.uk.
Find Audience tickets for the Poole heat here.