Staffordshire Youth Dance 2009 - 2010

Membership of Staffordshire Youth Dance should be seen as an honour and regular attendance is a necessary commitment to the group.  Progression through to the Senior and Advanced dance groups is encouraged.

Staffordshire Youth Dance offers exciting opportunities including:

• A varied dance programme
• Creativity development
• Health and personal development
• Physical expression
• Performance opportunities

Staffordshire Youth Dance is provided through Staffordshire Performing Arts which is part of the Children and Lifelong Learning Directorate of Staffordshire County Council.  All staff are CRB checked and are employed by Staffordshire Performing Arts.

What to wear

For hygiene reasons, dancers must change clothing when doing physical activities.  The clothes worn for dance must be designed for ease of movement - jazz pants and jogging bottoms are ideal.  Tops should also allow for freedom of movement.

Some ordinary clothes claiming to 'stretch' for other reasons are usually unsuitable for dancing so please try to avoid these.

Please note that clothes that are too big and baggy do not allow the teacher to see and correct all alignment mistakes.  This can lead to repetition of bad practice by the young dancer and possibly future injury.

Most modern dance techniques use bare feet.  However, in the cold Winter season, dance footwear may be negotiated with the teacher.  Hair must be tied neatly back off the face and if very long tied up in some way.

What not to wear

As dance is a physical activity it is essential that clothes allow freedom of movement.  There is also the opportunity for close contact work with other dancers, thus buckles, zips, belts and chains are potentially dangerous.

We recognise that there is a fashion for elaborate jewellery and a variety of piercing possibilities.  However, when dancing there is a risk that any jewellery can be broken, which is upsetting for the owner, but worse, can cause injury to the wearer and fellow dancers.  It is important that you remove ALL jewellery including watches, even those items that may be covered by clothing.  If there is a problem with items not possible to be removed, please inform the teacher, where in extreme circumstances it may be agreed that it will be safe enough to secure the item in place with a plaster.

If you require further information on rehearsals, please contact your area's Performing Arts Centre or email Staffordshire Performing Arts.

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