Beyond Horizons Traineeship
The Horizons traineeship programme was created to give 1 experienced disabled participant from the Horizons Youth Dance Company, the chance to develop their creative dance skills and teaching practice. It has been successfully running for 5 years and works alongside the Horizons youth dance company and the Beyond Horizons community programme. As part of the traineeship, they are supported through the Arts Award or Award in Dance leadership. The traineeship is bespoke to the needs of that person and they set their goals for the programme so support can be tailored to fit. The programme is supported by the YDance Head of Programmes and the two Horizons dance artists.
The traineeship programme was set up to address:
Lack of dance training for disabled dancers artists
Lack of employment opportunities for dance artists
Minimal provision for inclusive youth dance companies
Cuts in Adult Day Centres, so little cultural provision for disabled young people 18 plus
Low physical and mental health in disabled young people18 plus
The aims of the programme are:
Increase knowledge and awareness of creative dance
Develop knowledge and skills to enhance personal teaching practice
Develop verbal and physical communication skills
Gain leadership and facilitation skills
Gain accreditation
Outcomes
Increased knowledge and confidence in teaching
Increased chance of employability in dance and other areas of work
Increased mental health and well-being
Increased sense of achievement
Impact
As a result of the traineeship programme, there will be:
More disabled dance artists employed in the sector
More disabled young people skilled to pursue other areas of employment
More visibility of disabled artists within the sector
Our current trainee, Liam has not only assisted in teaching Horizons Glasgow, but has worked with Dance Artists to assist in the delivery of taster sessions in ASN schools as part of our Beyond Horizons Community Programme.
Training
As part of the Beyond Horizons programme YDance are working with colleagues at Eden Court, Inverness and City Moves in Aberdeen to facilitate training and development around inclusive practice. Through reflection meetings, skill sharing sessions and exchanges the project aims to develop teaching practice for non disabled and disabled artists, develop traineeship programmes and raise the visibility of inclusive practice across the local authorities.
YDance are delighted to announce that Marc Brew, Artistic Director from Marc Brew Dance Company, will be leading our next Beyond Horizons training day for teaching artists from Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness. The session will take place on 16th September at Scottish Dance Theatre in Dundee. To increase partnership working, the training will be open to SDT's dancers and local teaching artist. The session aims to increase each artists knowledge and skills in inclusive dance practice, as well as connecting with other artists within the sector.
Horizons Glasgow is YDance’s inclusive dance company for young people aged 12- 25 years with lived experience of a learning disability. Dancers meet monthly and are taught by Dance Artists who are experts in inclusive practice to develop creative and performance skills. There are many performance opportunities and events across Scotland throughout the year for the company to be a part of.
