Get the dancing bug with a huge music festival

A dance group which primarily supports people with disabilities is hosting a music festival next weekend.
By The Newsroom
Published 14th Sep 2016, 12:04 BST
Updated 15th Sep 2016, 16:37 BST
DanceSyndromeDanceSyndrome
DanceSyndrome

DanceSyndrome, based at Plungington Community Centre, is holding the event at Bartle Hall, Lea Lane, on Sunday September 24 from 1pm until 8pm, with performances from Maida Vales, soul singer Dawn Vickers, Little Black Dog.DanceSyndrome will also showcase its talents in stage.Olympian swimmer Hannah Payton, who has Down’s Syndrome, will also be there to show her support. Tickets, at £15 for adults, £10 for children, can be bought from http://www.goldengiving.com/event/dancesyndrome.All money raised will go towards DanceSyndrome and CLIC Sargent.The festival also celebrates a £200,000 cash injection from Spirit of 2012.DanceSyndrome applied to Spirit to request funding to continue its inclusive dance workshops and leadership training, enabling people with and without disabilities to enjoy dance sessions that cater for people of all ages and abilities. The group also wants to reach out to more people through live performance and focus on ability rather than disability and challenge existing perceptions about people with disabilities. Dawn Vickers, DanceSyndrome managing director, said: “Receiving this funding from Spirit of 2012 is a huge boost for DanceSyndrome. It means that we can reach out to even more people and show them not only that dance is a powerful tool for building confidence, life skills and happiness, but also that everyone can be involved in all activities in our society, regardless of whether they have a disability or not.” Spirit of 2012 chief executive, Debbie Lye, said: “This year’s challenge fund focuses on inspiring people through music and dance, and Dance Syndrome is an excellent example of user-led inclusive arts development.”Meanwhile, the group has also been given £5,780 from NatWest’s Skills and Opportunities Fund to cover the core costs of running its Dance By Example training course, which takes place at Plungington Community Centre in Preston on Tuesday afternoons, starting in October.Over 20 weeks learners will explore the skills needed to co-deliver community dance workshops including leadership, communication, delivering dance activities, health and safety and working with participants with varying needs. At the end of the course, participants will receive a Level one qualification.Dawn added: “Dance By Example is a totally unique training course that DanceSyndrome have been running since 2014. It has been really successful and we have trained some really talented dancers who could not find suitable training anywhere else. It has been truly life changing for the participants, especially when they were chosen as winners of the Sporting Chance Award at The National Learning Disability and Autism Awards in July.“We are thrilled that NatWest have chosen to support us through this grant because it means that we can continue to enable people to follow their dreams and pursue a career in dance, providing opportunities that would not be available otherwise.”

For a previous story on DanceSyndrome's success at business awards click here http://www.lep.co.uk/news/record-entries-for-this-year-s-enterprise-vision-awards-1-7485695