Culture Fund 2023-2024: North Isles Dance Academy

The project was a success and exceeded expectations with community engagement and social inclusivity. Nearly 50% of the whole community (residents of Sanday) either attended the performance or were a part of it in some way.

One of the challenges was ensuring the safety of the more vulnerable performers such as the very young and elderly/those with mobility issues, when entering and exiting the stage area as it is only accessible via steps. This was mitigated by using volunteers to be on hand to assist going up/coming down the steps and adding extra lighting to this area to ensure adequate visibility.

Thanks to the grant, all performers were able to wear specialist costumes and experience this performance opportunity fully. Although all performers stated that this increased their confidence and added to their sense of creativity, the more elderly of the group suggested that this was an experience they hadn’t previously thought they would get at this stage of their lives, and that it greatly improved their sense of wellbeing and inclusivity.

As the grant supported the purchase of these costumes, they were provided for the performers to wear at no cost to themselves or their families. Many of the parents of the children performing had stated that they would have been unable to fund these themselves, therefore their children would have been unable to take part in the same way that they had. Community dance and performance opportunities should always foster a sense of inclusivity, which this grant allowed to continue.

Since the performance, I have been able to increase my weekly classes due to the higher demand of residents wishing to take part and have future performance opportunities. Many residents have already expressed their desire to watch future performances and have stated that they enjoy seeing the wide range of skills and ages taking part. The costumes played a huge role in the level of audience satisfaction, for many, this is there only opportunity to access performances and the costumes allowed them to gain the full experience of viewing an entertaining production within their own community.