YDance’s signature workshops focus on developing individuals’ creativity, and provide an encouraging and nurturing experience, enabling students to express themselves in a positive and constructive way.

Through YDance’s educational projects and workshops, participants will learn new skills, create their own dance material and potentially go on to perform and share their work. Importantly, they will also see their ideas contributing to the creation of a dance.

YDance workshops are inclusive for all participants and we aim to make dance accessible, regardless of ability, experience or gender. YDance staff have over 70 combined years of experience in making dance education sessions fun, inclusive and creative for all children.

YDance workshops cover ages 0 – 21, starting from parent and child workshops, through nursery, primary, secondary schools and Further Education institutions.

‘Human beings are essentially playful, physical beings who need to live in their whole bodies, not just their heads’
Penny Greenland

Parent and Child Workshops

Parent and child workshops can support the transition from home to nursery. These relationship-based dance sessions give parents or carers the opportunity to learn about their children in a new way whilst supporting their children learn, interact and practice new skills. Through parental engagement we aim to help children grow in self-esteem, develop good social skills and resilience by supporting the attachment between parent and child.

Early Years Dance Workshops

Early years workshops aim to develop children’s creative dance skills and engage their imagination through dance and developmental movement play. These sessions can be a one-off fun, creative dance workshop or a series of linked sessions. Our workshops are designed to meet the Experiences and Outcomes for dance at the level of the children we are working with and can be delivered in a creative theme of your choice. Examples include:

• Literacy – storytelling through movement play
• Numeracy – looking at numbers and shapes
• Colour matching and recognition
• The human body
• Healthy choices
• Life cycles
• Into the Woods
• Superheroes

Primary Dance Workshops

We can deliver sessions designed to complement topics from other curriculum areas, and / or help teachers use dance to teach their current topics. YDance also offers creative sessions to develop choreography and explore movement for plays and performances. Our workshops are designed to meet the Experiences and Outcomes for dance at the level of the children we are working.  Sessions can be one-off, full day or a block of time. Ideas include:

• Fun, style-based workshops in varying dance styles give opportunity for participants to learn a new dance style, its history and background eg Street dance, Hip Hop, African, Lindy Hop and Charleston.
• Fun, challenging and energetic workshops to encourage students to be active and healthy through dance. These sessions involve the children getting physical using fun, popular dance styles and music.
• Creative and educational workshops support your classroom learning by reinforcing classroom topics to meet the curriculum whilst providing a range of ideas for your classroom to enhance the learning and teaching experience for all.
• Special events/national initiatives – Bring us in for World Book Day, Halloween or as part of health, literacy, science or activity week. We can even deliver sessions to help your school fundraise with a dance-a-thon.

Secondary Dance Workshops

Our secondary workshops can support the delivery of dance in the secondary curriculum, covering dance in core PE and SQA qualifications in dance. The workshops inspire and motivate both pupils and teachers in a positive environment.   YDance offers a wide range of options including:

• Fun, style-based workshops in varying dance styles give opportunity for participants to learn a new dance style, its history and background eg Street dance, Hip Hop, African, Lindy Hop, Charleston, Contemporary, Jazz and Jumpstyle.
• Creative workshops will provide opportunities for pupils to express themselves and unleash their imagination and creativity. Examples include: understanding the basic elements of creative movement; developing choreographic skills; exploring sporting events; exploring trust, relationships and emotional wellbeing or exploring a classroom subject such as numeracy, literacy or science.

SQA Qualifications

YDance can support the delivery of national dance qualifications in schools including National 5 and Higher Dance. We can deliver the whole qualification for you or provide specific elements of the course working alongside the schoolteacher. YDance staff can also act as objective observers, to provide feedback on pupils’ technical performance or choreography before their assessment. Sessions we provide support in include:

• Jazz, contemporary or hip hop technical class exercises and support with developing centre solo for performance.
• Components of Choreography covering all required knowledge and skills for each level.
• Contact work and lifts for Higher Dance.
• Theoretical and historical knowledge for each dance style for written elements of both courses (essay and question paper)
• Body awareness, conditioning and safe practice workshops
• Dance appreciation focused on a professional contemporary dance piece for each level.

Bespoke Packages

YDance can design innovative, bespoke dance in education projects, to meet your needs. For example, a school can have a YDance artist in for a term to work on choreography for a performance, or to work in collaboration with staff to explore a specific topic or area of interest.  

Contact us to discuss your workshop requirements

Would you like to arrange a workshop in your education setting? Contact us to discuss how we can help.

Call: 0141 552 7712

Email: linzi@ydance.org

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