KICK OFF IS BACK!

Kick Off Boys Youth Dance Project is excited to relaunch fun and energetic weekly classes on Tuesday evenings at Leeds City College (Quarry Hill Campus). We welcome boys aged 11-18 years and students enrolled at Leeds City College as peer role models.

Our Youth Dance Project aims to support, nurture and retain male dance talent in Leeds, to provide clear progression routes for young male dancers from widening participation backgrounds to further dance training including HE settings and to offer young males the opportunity to participate, perform and  to watch dance.

History
Back in 2014, with funding from Breeze Arts Festival, a six week partnership began between with DAZL and Carr Manor Community School to create a boys youth dance group. The culmination of this project was an all-male dance platform at The Riley Theatre. In 2015, with funding from the Conservatoires for Dance and Drama (CDD), a larger partnership was formed between NSCD, DAZL and Phoenix Dance Theatre recognizing the need for male only focused dance provision in Leeds. This lead onto a pilot project Kick Off Boys Youth Dance Project in 2016, with Leeds City College joining as a project partners.

Combining resources, the Kick Off project now offers weekly classes, half-term intensives, performance opportunities and film projects for the boys engaged on the project. Since the launch of the project, Kick Off has performed at several events, including: NSCD’s Community Dance Platform, DAZL Morley Dance Show, Leeds City College Show, Phoenix Dance Theatre: Summer Youth Dance Platform, COLLIDE Boys Takeover Day, Leeds City Centre, Child Friendly Leeds Awards, Love Arts Festival at The Tetley and Phoenix Dance Theatre: NO LIMIT Dance Platform.

Previous projects include ‘Painted Faces’, a piece focusing on mental health in young men, with support from Space 2 Leeds, and ‘#NoExit’ – collaboration with Health for All Leeds – Positive Futures.