Could you be a dance champion for your village or community? If anyone out there has a burning desire to set up a new dance group or club, if you haven’t danced for years and want to begin again, or if you simply want to get dancing to get fit or have fun, then The Works (Dance & Theatre Cornwall) really wants to hear from you.

Thanks to Dancing On Your Doorstep from The Works in partnership with FEAST – a programme that helps make great art happen in Cornish villages and towns – anyone living in Cornwall who wants to set up a dance group in their local community can apply for support to do just that. But hurry – you need to apply before the March 25th deadline!

Building on the success of seven Dancing On Your Doorstep youth & community dance groups previously set up with support from three of the old District and Borough Councils, this new FEAST-partnered phase of the Dancing On Your Doorstep initiative aims to widen access to dance of all kinds in a way that is owned and made sustainable by the communities it takes place in.

Programme coordinator, Helen Tiplady, says: ‘The Works is delighted to be working with FEAST to boost and support even more dance groups across Cornwall.’

Dancing On Your Doorstep also fulfils the remit of The Works’s ongoing Getting Cornwall Dancing programme, launched in 2008 and celebrating and developing the scale, variety and impact of dance activity enjoyed by thousands of people of every age right across the region – literally aiming to get as many people as possible dancing across Cornwall.

Funding is in place to help new dance groups get established and test their success this spring & summer, assisting with up-front costs like hall hire and dance teacher fees. People coming to the sessions will be expected to contribute a small amount to help groups become sustainable and self-supporting in the future.

Groups can also choose any kind of dance: whether it’s Hip-Hop or Line Dancing, Ballroom or Street Dance, Samba or Contemporary, Lindy Hop or Flamenco – whatever style you’d like to try, The Works will help you to make it happen.

Helen Tiplady says: ‘We’ve already helped set up a range of successful groups from creative dance in Blisland to Rock ‘n’ Roll in Mawgan Porth: now we are hoping to build on these great community-led successes and identify even more dance interest.’

Blisland Dance Club was set up thanks to Dancing On Your Doorstep support last autumn and dance leader Sarah Jarvis is thrilled with its success. She says: ‘This scheme is brilliant! It gave us the opportunity to set up something directly requested by the children of the village and we were for the first time able to answer that need. Without the vital support given to us by The Works, this group simply wouldn’t have been able to get going. Particularly useful has been their help with things like posters & mail-outs, helping promote the club in order to build enough consistent attendance for it to become fully sustainable.’

‘I can recommend Dancing On Your Doorstep to anyone considering setting up a group: as well as vital funding, you’ll have the experts on hand to help you,’ Sarah adds.

Works Director, Dot Peryer, says: ‘Here at The Works, we can supply new groups with vital practical & professional knowledge, including assistance in getting just the right dance teachers, advice on future funding to help them become sustainable, and lots more.’

Helen Tiplady says: ‘It’s really easy to apply: we need to know who you are & what age range you are, where you’re based and what space you plan to meet in, what kind of dance you are interested in, and why your group needs support from Dancing On Your Doorstep.’

To get advice and to apply contact Helen Tiplady & The Works team on 01872 261770 or email info@dtcworks.co.uk for a simple two-page form to return by the deadline March 25th.

Helen Tiplady adds: ‘We very much look forward to hearing from you. It’s exciting to see how much interest there is out there for dance in the region and I’m very pleased to be able to say that we really are Getting Cornwall Dancing.’

Image: Peter Dukes, Class Photography