Déda Hosts County Dance Spotlight

Dance groups from across Derbyshire will perform in the county U.Dance competition – Interface - on 24rd & 24th February – hosted for the first time at regional dance house Déda in Chapel Street, Derby. They will perform in front of a panel of judges who specialise in different dance styles from contemporary to hip hop to vie for a place in the next stages of the U.Dance national performance framework.

One group from Interface will go through to the regional competition which will be held on 16th April at the Crescent Theatre in Birmingham and the chance to be one of two groups chosen from across the East Midlands to appear in the national festival, which will be held at The Lowry in Salford this July.

The groups taking part in the county U.Dance event include Déda’s youth academy groups - Bounceback, Incompany and Jump as well as the organisation’s Derbyshire Youth Dance Company (DYDC) who are based in Chesterfield.
Pupils from St Andrew’s School, Landau Forte Academy, Anthony Gell, Tupton Hall, William Allitt, Frederick Gent, Friesland, Alfreton Grange and Springwell schools will also perform a wide range of dance styles alongside Ignite and Javanni, community groups from Swadlincote and Derby respectively. Students from the University of Derby BA Hons Dance Programme and Trinity Warriors Academy group T’Elite, who are both based at Déda, have also been invited to make guest performances at the two-evening event.

Among the young dancers taking part is Grace Bailey (14) who is a member of Déda’s Bounceback group and is also performing alongside fellow BTEC dance students from Anthony Gell School in Wirksworth. Grace, who has been dancing since she was 3 years old, said: “I am looking forward to performing twice and I am particularly excited about the Bounceback piece which is a contemporary dance choreography where we are acting as robots who are controlled by technology. “This will be my first time at Interface and I hope that we can emulate the success that Bounceback has had in previous years – getting through to the national festival on several occasions. “I learn and perform all sorts of dance styles from ballet to freestyle but I particularly love contemporary dance as there are no strict rules and you can really express yourself through the choreography.”

Clare Limb, Déda’s Head of Dance Development and Learning explained: “We are delighted to be hosting Interface this year which will be the biggest yet with groups performing over two nights in our theatre. “This will be a wonderful celebration of dance – giving young dancers the opportunity to showcase their talents. “I hope that everyone involved enjoys the experience of coming together to share their passion for dance and we wish all the groups the very best of luck.”