Howdy y'all!!
So here it is - I am going to run the British 10k event on the 12th July....
Anyone who knows me and my dodgy old knees will know how much I HATE to run, but this is for such a good and worthy charity that I am prepared to suffer a little bit!
Candoco are one of the pioneers of inclusive dance in the UK and their apprentice scheme for young dancers is such a great scheme to help develop young talent. You might recognise the name as they appeared at the handover ceremonies for the London Olympics in Beijing and say what you like about the ceremony itself, the dancers were incredible.
As you may (or may not) know, I trained to be a dancer years ago and have always love Candoco and their unique and accessible take on contemporary dance as an art form - this seasons choreography by Nigel Charnock and Hofesh Schechter is just sublime and by donating we can really help young dancers who struggle with the funds to actually finish their training (trust me, its bloody hard!)
Give what you can, don't worry if its not a lot, don't forget to gift aid and thank you
Big love
Tony
Further background information to the Dancer Apprentice Scheme
Since its inception in 1991 Candoco has actively campaigned to expand the possibilities of disabled artists interested in dance, and to enrich the dance experience by including disabled artists.
From 2004 to 2007, the company ran a Foundation Course for disabled students, the first of its kind. However, changes to Learning and Skills Council funding meant that the grant for this activity was redistributed to learning institutions.
At present the company is a partner in the ADAPT project with the Urdang Academy, aimed at introducing young disabled people to contemporary dance and musical theatre.
Parallel to this Candoco runs three youth companies: at The Place School in central London; at the Siobhan Davies Studios in south London; and at our own studio in Stanmore, north London. Candoco is an active participant in seminars on integrated practice and training, and delivers teacher-training programmes to support dance practitioners to work with disabled people.
Candoco often receives requests for work experience and has allowed many individuals to shadow the company in an informal basis, so we know there is demand for this learning model. Disability Discrimination Act clauses - which prevent exclusion from vocational training on the grounds of disability – have been in place for several years, but the training sector is still slow to respond to disabled artists’ needs. The same can be said of professional choreographers and companies with very few taking the risk, or displaying interest in, employing disabled dancers.
This could be due to the current lack of trained and experienced disabled dancers. But without working opportunities, how will artists develop?
• Ensure outcomes can be more closely monitored and learning shared
• Enable Candoco’s expertise to be instrumental in enabling the arts sector to embrace diversity
• Help dancers to be in a stronger position to create and look for opportunities in the competitive dance market.
