Our Work
Dance United Yorkshire positively changes the lives of marginalised and hard-to-reach people through high-quality dance training and performance.
We create bespoke dance projects and interventions to meet the needs of different groups of people who are struggling with difficult circumstances – for example, youth offenders, people accessing mental health services, women suffering domestic abuse and disengaged young people who may have seriously challenging behaviors.
We train dance artists to work in this context, exploring strategies for working with non-engagement, resistance, and volatility when delivering dance activity.
We collaborate with frontline partners and bring our dance expertise to bear on the development of new ways of working that improve outcomes for the people in their care.
We commission exceptional choreographers to create inspiring new dance works for our participants to perform.
We publicly demonstrate our dancer's achievements showing our repertory at venues and festivals across the country.
We develop new audiences for dance.
We advocate the use of dance as a powerful tool for personal and social development to the general public and across the social inclusion sector, government agencies and the mainstream dance world.
How we work
Dance United Yorkshire has a very specific way of working, although we do not think that it is in any way unique and the majority of methods have been used for many years. Some of our key principles include:
Training dance artists to work in this context, exploring strategies for working with non-engagement, resistance, and volatility when delivering dance activity.
Commissioning choreographers who can push our dancers artistically and technically, and who create new pieces for our repertory.
Collaborating with frontline partners to develop new ways of working that improve outcomes for the people in their care.
Publicly demonstrating our dancer's achievements showing our repertory at venues and festivals across the country.
Helping people to develop their confidence, their physical and emotional health and wellbeing, and their ability to work with others.
Using focus, discipline, strength, coordination and creativity to help develop each participant.
Enabling people to broaden their horizons, embrace ambition, and open themselves up to leading more productive lives.
Working with participants to ensure sustainable change and to put in place the next steps to achieving their goals, whether this is returning to school, pursuing further education or seeking employment.
