Christopher Reid is 24 years old, from East London. He is a keen athlete who hopes to represent Team GB in the next Paralympic games in 400m and 800m running events. Christopher has a learning disability and has had mental health difficulties in the past and he blogs about his experiences to raise awareness and advocate for others who may need support. As part of his work, Christopher is a Star Supporter for DanceSyndrome, helping to promote our work. He is taking this to the next level in August with a fundraising walk to raise money in memory of his late father.
Christopher met DanceSyndrome Founder Jen Blackwell and Ambassador Becky Rich at the Dimensions 2019 Learning Disability Leaders List celebration, where they all received awards. They were all inspired by each others’ stories and they wanted to collaborate and work together to further advocate for people with learning disabilities, so Christopher was invited to be a DanceSyndrome Star Supporter and he was proud to accept.
As well as having a learning disability Christopher has dealt with bi-polar as a result of bullying in school. After living independently prior to the pandemic, he had to return to his family as a result of another episode during lockdown. All these things made him a stronger person and has made him determined to help people that are going through the same problems. He has raised over £7,000 for charity in recent years and now he is on the road to recovery he is determined to raise money for DanceSyndrome too.
He said “My name is Christopher Reid I have a learning disability. I met Jen and Becky at the Dimensions Leaders List awards and was impressed by their talent and enthusiasm. My dad passed away 3 years ago and he loved to dance so it seems a fitting charity to raise money for in his name.
“I am planning to do a walk on Saturday August 21st (the day after Dad’s birthday) from our house in Leyton to Cadogan Terrace in Hackney where he was born.”
DanceSyndrome Managing Director Dawn Vickers said “We are hugely grateful to Christopher and people like him who help us, especially as we are adapting to life after the pandemic. This has been such a challenging time for individuals like Christopher and for small charities like DanceSyndrome and it’s wonderful to see collaboration like this by people who want to empower other people with learning disabilities and create a better post-pandemic world. This fundraising will have a big impact on our work!”
For more information about Christopher’s fundraising, please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/christophermemorywalk or you can donate to our work directly using the form below.
Sue & Malcolm’s fundraising sailing challenge
DanceSyndrome was founded in 2009 by Jen Blackwell, who happens to have Down’s syndrome, because she found it difficult to find opportunities in community dance due to her disability. Her parents Sue and Malcolm Blackwell wanted their daughter to be able to follow her dreams of a career in dance, so together they started the charity to support Jen and others like her who might be excluded from mainstream dance.
In the 12 years since DanceSyndrome was formed, the organisation has gone from strength to strength. It is a small charity with a big impact, constantly evolving and continuing in a whole new way through the pandemic.
Sue and Malcolm are active members of #TeamDS. Sue holds the position of Chair of the Board of Trustees and Malcolm’s business experience and management skills have been vital to the survival of the charity, particularly in recent months. Their dedication is unwavering and now they have gone above and beyond and committed to an exciting charity challenge to help to raise funds for our work.
They have decided to take on a serious sailing challenge of sailing the full perimeter of the UK coast – without stopping! We want to keep you all up to date with their progress, so will be adding updates on this page, but you can also read all about it on their Just Giving page.
Sunday 27th June:
This is amazing! Thank you so much to everyone for getting donations off to a flying start.
Today’s the day! We’re dressed to impress and plan to depart Whitehaven around 1330 heading north, so clockwise round the UK. The excitement is building as we do final preparations for departure – more sunscreen would be a good idea but then if we’re wearing thermals for weeks that hardly seems so important. However, more butter for more flapjack is seriously important!
Weather watching will become our main sport along with mini-celebrations as we pass serious headlands, the first 2 being Mull of Galloway and Mull of Kintyre.
More soon S/Y Sukama
Monday 28th June:
It’s tough out here. Cheers! Going nowhere fast but sublime beauty in every direction. We’re tacking which is sheer craziness. We’d expected a N or NE wind. Instead we have a westerly which makes going west remarkably hard work with many extra miles required. All part of the rich tapestry of life!
Tuesday 29th June:
Words are failing me for the generosity that people are showing through their donations, friends, family, and total strangers too! Thank you one and all. It’s absolutely incredible and wonderful. I’d never thought before of shining a light on people with a learning disability and DanceSyndrome in particular through sailing adventures, but how wonderful that this is happening. Here is the update from today:
First headland down. We’ve conquered Mull of Galloway! As many people do all the time, but if they have any sense possibly not at night in a F5 on the nose! Seriously lumpy, bouncy, wetting, and good fun! 3 hours before needing to be at Mull of Kintyre with 25 miles to go we accepted the inevitable (every pilot said it wasn’t possible but thought we’d try anyway) we made the decision to go and spend a peaceful calm night on Arran instead – a prudent passage pause rather than a stop you understand! Wonderful, beautiful. Need I say more. And champagne sailing all the way. It’s at times like these I have to pinch myself to check I’m really alive.
Instead of chilling with a glass of wine like sensible people (it just got delayed) we spent hours deliberating over charts, pilots, grib files, forecasts searching for the best option to achieve the Outer Hebrides. It’s harder than you might think. Scary comments like the most severe overfalls in the UK make you dig deep into every ounce of information you can find. Seems that it’s definitely not a passage for the faint hearted but armed with the forecast this morning which is markedly more encouraging and a determined mindset we’re off!
Expecting a good soaking round Mull of Kintyre though. Forecasting a F6.
More soon S/Y Sukama
Wednesday June 30th
A sluggish lumpy sort of day. Grey from horizon to horizon. The sea felt and appeared leaden, even the wind gave up by mid morning. But before that, at 4am in the morning to be precise, we’d achieved our 3rd tidal gate in 3 days! Couldn’t help but feel just a little smug!
After spending the rest of the day hunkered down below decks keeping warm, having bit of a cook in, debating weather and routing – of course – around 6pm the skies began to lighten, the sun came out, the sea sparkled and dolphins danced on the bow wave. A truly memorable end to a very grey day.
See photo – Dolphins near Tiree
Thursday July 1st
Heading north up The Sea of Hebrides, further north in the UK than we’ve ever been before. We’ve entered the land of the midnight sun. Wow!!!! I turned the nav lights off at 4am and by 5am I needed sun glasses! This is priceless. 3.30am – 4.30am left me speechless as each next vista unfolded, each more stunning that the last. As we ghosted along with 5 knots of wind making 2 knots of speed I found myself with the best seat in the house. Incredible majesty all around as the Isle of Skye was silhouetted against the sun which refuses to set. Total tranquillity, restorative for both body and mind.
See photo – Sun setting over Outer Hebrides
So many moments I want to bottle, save them forever, and share with everyone I love. That is everyone who believes in a fair equitable civil society, the society in which I choose to live. One such society is the dancing family DanceSyndrome!
Heading up to Cape Wrath. Expect to arrive at midnight.
It’s not often that sailing slowly is the preferred option, but today we totally embrace it. We stormed up from Cape Wrath to the Shetland Isles. Happy to slow time it back tracking the major storm crossing south of us Mon/Tues #sailing #charity #fundraising @DanceSyndromeUK pic.twitter.com/x8Sk6PdA5p
— Sue Blackwell (@sueblackwellDS) July 4, 2021
Look at this amazing video that Sue and Malcolm sent us from their #MoveItMoveIt #fundraising challenge – non-stop #sailing around the #UK!
This is a really amazing challenge. If you want to read more you can read the full blog on our website:https://t.co/FX2hQuUSg2 pic.twitter.com/1JQ9Oh5yFT
— DanceSyndromeUK (@DanceSyndromeUK) July 5, 2021
Saturday July 3rd July
Strange how one fog bank looks very much like another fog bank! But at least we know where we are and where we’re headed thanks to techy toys. We arrived at Cape Wrath – the clue is in the name – at the top of the Minch at 2200 yesterday with our plan and the aid of the iron horse – there’s really not a lot of sailing to be done with 1 knot of wind.
Today dawned grey with the sun trying manfully to burn off the cloud, but failing miserably. So for the most part we’ve been down below doing those chores one probably doesn’t choose to do but must embrace – cooking and cleaning spiced up with weather monitoring/checking/updating/downloading/considering, an all consuming sport for some! And a bit of time to recuperate.
After romping along all day at 8/9 knots in the murky gloom I’m glad we’ve detuned the rig for the nighttime, partly because it’s less frenetic, but also because we‘ll otherwise arrive way too early for the tide, definitely not a Sue and Malcolm trait! We have a reputation to live up to!
We’re not planning on stopping with just 12 hour forecasts here because the weather changes so rapidly, but look at the names of the places to greet you- Toolie, The Noup, Holm of Skaw, but best of all is the northernmost tip, Muckle Flugga! Happily we’re both still glad we made the decision to head to Shetland. You really can’t get further north in the UK!
Sunday July 4th July
WE DID IT!!! Tip of Shetland. Northernmost point of the UK. Muckle Flugga!
Passing Muckle Flugga- the most Northerly tip of the Shetland Islands and UK.
Will now turn south!!
Monday 5th July
How do you follow Muckle Flugga? With wall to wall fog it seems. Today was exactly that day after our 1 minute of glorious sunrise.
Heading south now towards Aberdeen on our Non-Stop Charity Sail around UK to raise support for DanceSyndrome.
Latest position at 19:00 on 5th July after eight and a half days sailing.
Tuesday 6th July
As for never knowing what’s around the corner, Malcolm awoke at 0530, checked the battery read out and declared we have a problem. The batteries weren’t charging and we were motoring. In fact almost the reverse. They were losing charge at a worrying rate.
But we were running for cover from the strong winds in the last forecast albeit that at that time there was no wind so motoring was the only option.
Options
Ignore it, but that came with the risk of fire – normally they spin at c. 4000 revs/min but rated for up to 8000 revs/min.
Disable the 2nd alternator by taking the fan belt off and charge the batteries using the generator, or the engine alternator remembering to switch the charger on and off manually.
Or do the job properly. Malcolm being Malcolm we carry a spare alternator – his Boy Scout mentality stood us in good stead again!
During the next frenetic hour 0545 – 0645, whilst drifting 14 miles offshore with a storm approaching and no wind, we advised the coast guard we had a mechanical problem, disconnected and removed the defunct alternator and fan belt, installed the new alternator and fan belt and checked that all was working. Or rather he did. I proffered spanners and sockets as required, and held my breath trying to be helpful, mor at least not unhelpful! It worked!! We advised the coast guard that all was well and allowed ourselves a huge sigh of relief. Time to put the kettle on. Phew!!
Wednesday 7th July
The past few days have thrown everything at us. Fog, sun, strong winds, no wind, kind winds, torrential rain, thunder and lightning when we put our electronics in the oven as sailors are prone to do, but for our pains we were treated to a complete and beautiful rainbow. We were gearing up for the approaching storm on Tuesday but our strategising was almost too perfect. It meant that we avoided the F8/9 winds which passed safely south and east of us but we were left with the legacy of the seas. Rounding the southern tip of the Firth of Forth was infinitely more ‘interesting’ than we’d anticipated with conditions comparable to crossing the Atlantic in a diminutive form, and a tidal race for added spice around St Abbs Head.
Thursday 8th & Friday 9th July
No wind days following the weather system which sucked up all the wind leaving a vacuum behind. So precious little sailing to be done. Instead we motored incessantly, hours against a slug tide north of East Anglia, making it just in time to a passage anchorage off Cromer to wait for the tide and join DanceSyndrome for their live performance which was yet another incredible feather in their cap. We spoke to a euphoric Jen and Donna following it who along with the whole DanceSyndrome team yet again had us captivated by their professionalism.
But what a performance to get the anchor to hold. The ‘sand’ was more like concrete and took 3 attempts to achieve after having ferry glided through the forest of fishing pots specifically designed to finish off props and rudders of the unwary.
On the 9th, a 4.30am start gifted us an amazing sunrise and the tide we needed to barrel around the inland route of East Anglia at up to 9 knots, a speed generally unheard of but we were glad of flat water, no overfalls, and seals for company. We found ourselves celebrating achieving the most eastern point of the UK with a cup of coffee (it was a little early for the scotch) and chocolate at 9.30 in the morning.
But now we’re snookered. Made 2 nautical miles in 2 hours. Still no wind. And nothing in the forecast for the next few days either. So with a heavy heart, and very frustratedly, we’ve come into the Stour, dropped the hook, and will wait for the wind.
We checked updated forecasts again late in the day. Still no change. We’re likely to be here for a while.
Saturday 10th July
There may be no wind but every cloud has a silver lining. We’ve caught up on some sleep, and today for the first time for years and years, I’ve been close enough to land to be able to watch the women’s finals of Wimbledon! With every likelihood that we’ll be here tomorrow too we’ll be able to see the men’s finals and who knows, maybe even the football too!
After 13 days of voyaging we’ve just dined like royalty – pot roasted bacon with carrots and courgettes followed by homemade lemon and lime cheesecake. There are real benefits to a big fridge and freezing capability too when on long passages 🙂
Tuesday 13th July
Eventually! We escaped the Stour in the small hours, but how wonderful the weather chose Wimbledon finals weekend to give us the challenge of no wind to sail by. That was a very definite bonus for some of us whilst others busied themselves with servicing toilets!
So we left with an encouraging forecast – going NE Force 3 – 5. We romped across the Thames estuary making 8 knots at times before slowing to a crawl round North Foreland and past Dover at 6pm which was busier than I’ve ever seen it. With only 2 hours of fair tide left around Dungeness we finally put the engine on with the NE behind us now clocking in at 5 knots – totally useless when it comes to moving a yacht of 20 tonnes. Yet again thwarted by lack of wind but what an amazingly beautiful sunset over Rye by way of compensation. We even considered feeling our way in at 9pm to layover and wait for wind but decided instead to continue on into the black of the night having had too much by way of waiting already. There was a particularly special slither of a crescent moon, but nothing like enough to light our way. That’s the promise in store for next week.
After 13 days of voyaging we’ve just dined like royalty – pot roasted bacon with carrots and courgettes followed by homemade lemon and lime cheesecake. There are real benefits to a big fridge and freezing capability too when on long passages 🙂
14th/15th July
Wednesday was an interesting, challenging, annoying, frustrating day as we tried and tried to sail towards the Isle of Wight, but ending with joined up thinking heading out into the Channel bound towards Guernsey and the Channel Islands! Now passaging along the south coast of the UK all of a sudden is turning into fun again. By 8pm Thursday we’d had a great sail across with wind to fill our sails topping out a t 9.7kts SOG (speed over the ground). We arrived 6 hours too early for the Alderney Race so with time to kill we staunched the tilde, ran the Race at its most benign and marvelled at the beauty of yet another glorious sunset, but this time over one of our most favourite of haunts in the world. And one we had absolutely no intention of encompassing within the scope of this sailing campaign. What an incredible bonus. Thank you Sark. And thanks to the Sark authorities for allowing us a passage layover whist yet again we wait for the wind to sail by.
After 13 days of voyaging we’ve just dined like royalty – pot roasted bacon with carrots and courgettes followed by homemade lemon and lime cheesecake. There are real benefits to a big fridge and freezing capability too when on long passages 🙂
Friday 16th July
What a treat! Paradise! Anchored off Derrible Bay, Sark, gently rocking as the tide laps the hull, bathed in sunshine, and no alarms to have us up for the next watch. In fact, I hardly like to share, but we slept in until 11am, a time when most mortals have already done half a days work! A wonderful brunch with Swiss shirred eggs, crispy breakfast rolls and melon with prosciutto all washed down with lashings of tea and fresh orange juice set us up for the day! Rest and relaxation.
Picture: Derrible Bay, Sark at 6pm Friday July 16th 2021. Need to pinch myself to make sure I’m not hallucinating!
If you’re inspired by Sue & Malcolm’s dedication to their fundraising sailing challenge, you can support them via Just Giving: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Madcapsailcampaign or you can donate to DanceSyndrome directly using the form below:
Millie Kingsnorth is from Biddenden, Kent. At the age of 21 years old, she was able to join DanceSyndrome remotely on a student placement, thanks to online dance opportunities that were offered during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Millie carried out a university placement with DanceSyndrome in early 2021. As a placement student, Millie delivered 6 dance sessions of various lengths, as well as participating in classes with the DS Collective performance team. She completed this placement at the end of April 2021. The placement was part of her final year of university at Canterbury Christ Church University studying Dance Education. Through the degree she gained a lot of experience teaching a range of age groups and completed an inclusive dance training course with Parable Dance.
Millie discovered DanceSyndrome whilst doing some admin work for Parable Dance after the training course. She worked closely with Natasha Britton who is a Trustee at DanceSyndrome and Natasha explained that DanceSyndrome were facilitating a lot of online classes and thought that they would be a great organisation to organise a placement.
Talking about her time with DanceSyndrome, Millie said “DanceSyndrome has allowed me to hone my skills in inclusive practice as well as build my confidence in teaching people with additional needs. I have been passionate about inclusive dance for many years but this experience has given me the knowledge and experience to pursue a career in the field. I feel better equipped to lead my own classes similar to those run by DanceSyndrome in my local area.
“I always knew disabled people had a lot of potential when it comes to dancing and I am a big advocate for giving those with disabilities room to build their skills and become leaders. DanceSyndrome is a fantastic example of how this can be implemented and I definitely learnt so much from the dance leaders and members of the DS Collective.
“The placement far exceeded my expectations and I am so sad that I am so far away so I can’t come and join every week! I hope to come and visit one day so I can meet the DS Collective in person and hopefully I will cross paths with DanceSyndrome again once I have built up my own company. Until then, I will be a big cheerleader for DanceSyndrome from afar!”
Outside of her work with DanceSyndrome, Millie is an administrative assistant for Parable Dance and is currently nearing the end of dance research internship with Dr Angela Pickard. She plans on setting up an inclusive dance company in the summer of 2021 and starting classes in the community in the autumn.
If you would like to support our work sharing inclusive practice with future dance practitioners like Millie, you can donate directly using the form below, or visit our Fundraising page for ideas about activities you can do to raise money and awareness. Thanks for your support.
This year Father’s Day falls in Learning Disability Week so we wanted to share some words from a father on the theme for this year of “getting creative”. Who better to share their thoughts than Malcolm Blackwell, father of our Founder Jen?
For Father’s Day, Malcolm (pictured with Jen) reflects on this year’s Learning Disability Week (#LDWeek21) theme of creativity:
“We all know how creative activities have been a bedrock for many as we all navigate our way through the challenges of the past year. They have provided a focus and purpose that has helped people deal with this. In many cases, creative activities have helped with isolation, provided connections and, in DanceSyndrome’s case, also provided physical activity through dance and opened people’s eyes to what inclusion and people with a learning disability who are well supported can do.
“It has been remarkable to witness how the Dance Leaders quickly mastered Zoom and a new way of delivering the workshops, as well as continuing to develop their own talents. Leading these sessions has provided structure, purpose and a valuable contribution to society. The frequent Zoom sessions have given an opportunity to reach a wider audience on an international level, demonstrating what inclusion can really do. It is what Jen gets up for in the morning and I think she has never been busier and as her father it is great to see her thriving!
“However, getting creative is not just about activities but also how one goes about solving the issues that we all face as parents of a person with a learning disability. One can accept the status quo or one can find creative solutions. As a father my aim has been to support our children to do what they want to do and hopefully be happy, healthy and fulfilled. We could have easily stopped at ‘there was no training for Jen to become the dancer she wanted’. Instead we set up the dance company to provide that opportunity with no expectations of how it would turn out. We were surprised to find a lot of other people wanted to join and it has gone from strength to strength. All the way through Jens life we have had to be creative to enable her to be fulfilled and I do not think it will stop!”
If you’re inspired by Jen’s energy and passion for dance, why not join us in a Zoom session? You can find the full list of upcoming sessions on our Events page. If you would like to support the work that we do and enable our small charity to grow it’s life-changing impact, you can donate directly using the form below, or visit the Fundraising page for information about how you an get involved with our fundraising campaigns.
DanceSyndrome COVID Update – June 2021:
This update will give you all the information that you need about our continuing online dance sessions and forthcoming indoor sessions. This is quite a long update, if you prefer a visual summary, please click here.
UPDATED 15th JUNE 2021 with revised dates following the government announcement
As lockdown easing continues, our team are busy preparing for the final stage of the government road map. If the national lockdown easing continues to go to plan, we hope to return to indoor dance sessions at this stage. Of course, we appreciate that our participants may be anxious about this and so we are continuing to offer a significant online dance timetable alongside our returning face-to-face dance sessions.
We are so glad that people are enjoying the new way of dancing online! Because there is so much demand from across the UK we want to try and offer as many different opportunities for our participants as we can and we will have a new timetable to make this fit around our face-to-face sessions so that participants can enjoy both if they choose.
The return to face-to-face activities is exciting but for the benefit of our participants, volunteers and staff we are taking this slowly and safely. For this reason we are bringing back different sessions on different dates to enable us to re-evaluate risk assessments for different groups.
The phased return of activities is outlined below and a visual planner is available at the bottom of the page.
PLEASE NOTE: this is subject to the government approving step 4 of lockdown easing and so is subject to change.
Monday 19th July 2021 at Plungington Community Centre
EXTEND: Jazz will return at 11am – 11:45am from Monday 19th July. Cost £10 per session.
EXTEND: Contemporary will return at 11:45am – 12:30pm from Monday 19th July. Cost £10 per session.
EXTEND: Street will return at 1:15pm – 2pm from Monday 19th July. Cost £10 per session.
Wednesday 21st July 2021 at Plungington Community Centre
Everybody Dance – Preston will return at 10am -11am from Wednesday 21st July. Cost £7 per session.
EXTEND: Ballet will return at 11:15am – 12:15pm from Wednesday 21st July. Cost £10 per session.
DS Collective rehearsals on Wednesday afternoon will take place in Avenham/Miller park from 19th May to 16th June. This session will go indoors in Plungington Community Centre on Wednesday 21st July from 1pm – 3pm. Cost £10 per session.
EXTEND: Rave a new face-to-face session building on the success of our Zoom Rave with Bex and Dave session. Wednesdays at 7-8pm. Cost £10 per session.
Saturday 24th July 2021 at St Mary’s Centre, Clitheroe
Everybody Dance – Clitheroe will return at 10:30am -12:15pm from Saturday 24th July. Cost £7 per session.
PLEASE NOTE: Don’t worry if your regular session isn’t included above. This is a phased return and we are still looking at how to safely return to other venues. This is an extensive process and the first phase of the return required us to focus on one venue at a time. We will be in touch soon as further sessions re-open. In the meantime, everyone is welcome at both our face-to-face and online sessions, so why not try something new?
As part of our Health and Safety risk assessment for a safe return, we are asking that, at the present time, people pre-book and make payments online for face-to-face sessions wherever possible. Booking will be via www.dancesyndrome.co.uk/events
Monday 12th July – Online sessions
Zoom sessions will continue on the current timetable until Friday 9th July. From Monday 12th July there will be a NEW timetable:
ZOOM: Wake N Dance – every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10:00am. £3.50 per session.
ZOOM: Contemporary Dance Tuesday 10am -11am – a block of 6 sessions costs £21 (£3.50 per session). Starts Tuesday 13th July.
ZOOM: Street Dance Tuesday 11:30am -12:30pm -a block of 6 sessions costs £21 (£3.50 per session). Starts Tuesday 13th July.
ZOOM: Everybody Dance Tuesdays at 2pm – £3.50 per week.
ZOOM: Funk Out Tuesdays at 7pm – 7:45pm – £3.50 per week.
ZOOM: Ballet Thursday 11am -a block of 6 sessions costs £21 (£3.50 per session). Starts Thursday 15th July.
ZOOM: Rave with Dave & Bex Thursday 7pm – 8pm – a block of 6 sessions costs £21 (£3.50 per session). Starts Thursday 15th July.
Zoom: Musical Jazz Friday 11am-12pm – a block of 6 sessions costs £21 (£3.50 per session). Starts Friday 16th July.
ZOOM: Junior Dance – Saturday 10am -10:30am. Dance for under 16s. The session is free thanks to funding.
ZOOM: Infant Dance – Saturday 10:45am – 11:15am. Children of all ages are welcome, but the session is aimed at pre-school aged children. The session is free thanks to funding.
YouTube sessions – This new schedule means that our weekly YouTube sessions will be coming to an end on at the end of June after 16 successful months! Please join us for a special final session!
Booking for all sessions will be via www.dancesyndrome.co.uk/events
If booking online is a challenge for you, or you would like to discuss our hardship support, please email info@dancesyndrome.co.uk or call us on 07597 942494.
Whatever way you choose to dance, we hope to see you at one of our sessions soon. In the meantime, please contact us if you have any questions.
Thank you for your support throughout the pandemic.
From #TeamDS
We are thrilled to have received a grant of £9,500 to support the work of our Dance Leaders with learning disabilities as the UK follows the roadmap out of lockdown.
Funding from the National Lottery Awards for All will enable us to safely adapt as we return to face-to-face dance sessions in the community after 14 months of offering dance sessions online via Zoom and YouTube.
DanceSyndrome supports many vulnerable adults across Lancashire, and beyond, many of whom have been shielding during the pandemic. The DanceSyndrome team adapted quickly in the early stages of the pandemic to offer online dance sessions via Zoom and YouTube. We wanted to limit the impact of isolation on participants and continue to make them feel a part of our “dancing family”. We took our pre-lockdown workshops online to bring the sessions to regular participants and anyone else who wanted to use them to stay active at home during isolation. The sessions have been a real success, attracting new participants from across the UK, and even as far as Europe, South Africa and the USA! There are now 15 sessions a week running and many of these will continue after lockdown ends.
https://twitter.com/DanceSyndrome/status/1397175722167439362
The National Lottery Awards for All funding will help the DanceSyndrome team to add to the current weekly programme and start moving back to face to face activities. Step 3 of the government roadmap is allowing the “DS Collective” performance group to meet outdoors in Miller Park, Preston. Their first session on Wednesday 19th May was the first time they have been together as a full group since March 2020. Understandably after all this time, the dancers are thrilled to be able to get back together as a full team of 26, after only dancing in small groups of 6 in the summer of 2020. DanceSyndrome Founder Jen Blackwell said “It was incredible to see my dancing family reunited! Absolutely incredible. It was very special to be together, united as one big dancing family. What a special experience to be in the outside world. And the sun was shining! Yahoo!”
The funding provided by The National Lottery Awards For All will bridge the gap between the online sessions, to outdoor dance and then, at step 4 of the roadmap, regular group workshops in community venues. The aim is to ensure that participants can still access creative activity in one form or another, even if they are still cautious about lockdown easing.
DanceSyndrome MD Dawn Vickers said, “As a small local charity, DanceSyndrome has had to adapt quickly and creatively at every stage of the pandemic and funding like this has enabled us to do that. Many of our participants face barriers in all aspects of their life and at DanceSyndrome we pride ourselves on removing as many of those barriers as we can. We know many people have found it difficult to use the technology needed to dance online and may still not feel comfortable going back to indoor sessions because they are vulnerable. We need to make sure that nobody is excluded and everyone who wants to can still access physical dance activities in a format that works for them, to help them maintain good physical and mental health. We are thrilled that we are able to expand this vital work thanks to this funding!”
If you would like to find out more about about upcoming dance sessions, please visit www.dancesyndrome.co.uk/events. If you would like to support our life-changing work yourself, you can donate directly through the form below:
We all need to keep moving during lockdown, why not fundraise while you do it? Whether it’s through sponsored dancing, walking, running or swimming, we need your help to continue to change the lives of people with learning disabilities through dance.
Throughout the pandemic, DanceSyndrome has worked hard to keep people moving and keep people connected. Dancing during the lockdown has become more of a lifeline than ever to the hundreds of adults with learning disabilities who join in every week. Please help us to keep everyone dancing. Your donation or fundraising will ensure that the people we support can stay connected, stay involved and stay well.
DanceSyndrome has always strived to prevent social isolation, but this year in lockdown has provided a whole new challenge. Our team has worked hard to adapt our services to operate online and our dance sessions have become more of a lifeline than ever to the hundreds of adults with learning disabilities who join in every week.
People with learning disabilities have been disproportionately affected by lockdown and we face more challenges before we return to face-to-face dancing. That is why we have launched our We Like to Move It Move It campaign.
People with learning disabilities have been disproportionately affected by lockdown & dance has been more of a lifeline than ever to 100s of participants each week. Thats why we've launched our We Like to Move It Move It campaign
Find out how you can helphttps://t.co/wIX7TA35GD pic.twitter.com/oPO9B3kSbp
— DanceSyndrome (@DanceSyndrome) April 27, 2021
Please help us to keep everyone dancing. Your donation and/or fundraising efforts will ensure that the people we support can stay connected, stay involved and stay well.
We have lots of ways you can get involved:
Captain Tom 100
Could you support us in the #CaptainTom100?
Choose your 100 challenge.
Visit this Just Giving Page & click “fundraise”.
https://captaintom100.justgiving.com/get-involved?charityId=700344
Ask your friends/family to sponsor you.
Complete your 100 challenge between Friday 30 April & Monday 3 May.
Have fun!
5k May
Could you take part in #5kMay to help us?
Participate in a 5k during May, donate £5 to charity & nominate 5 of your friends to take part. After donating you’ll unlock a goodie bag too!
It’s the perfect way to get active & give back!
Sign up on our Just Giving Page.
https://runforheroes.justgiving.com/get-involved?charityId=700344
Create your own event or fundraising activity
Why not create your own movement based fundraising activity like Peter?
Or pack a punch like Becky?
This time last year Becky got us all moving at the start of lockdown with this great routine. She’s now started boxing to keep fit &raise money for our work, which has been a lifeline to her during lockdown.
We’d love it if you could support her!https://t.co/yER6mTHrPC #WDSD21 pic.twitter.com/ff5s8Q71fq
— DanceSyndrome (@DanceSyndrome) March 21, 2021
You can do anything you choose and you can do it alone, on Zoom or in an outdoor group (please follow current social distancing rules). You can create a fundraising page on Just Giving and tell us about it on social media!
If you prefer to make a donation instead of fundraising, you can donate directly through the form below.
Thank you for your support!
DanceSyndrome selected for U.Dance North West online festival
Members of the DanceSyndrome DS Collective performance team were thrilled to be announced as one of the groups selected to be part of the U.Dance North West online festival.
David Corr, Ellie Bamber and Jessica Reid all took part in a video performance of “Blind Reaction”, supported by Dance Artist David Darcy.
Filmed over three hours, Blind Reaction is an experiment that explored and recorded the three dancers’ individual responses to multiple stimuli – all whilst blindfolded. Introducing the blindfold challenged them to think differently about their movement responses and not be informed by the other dancers.
The team had a wonderful experience while making the film and you can watch the outtakes video here:
The full piece will be shown as part of the U.Dance North West festival on 24th/25th April.
Presented by One Dance UK, the U.Dance Festival is a national celebration of dance for young people aged 11 to 19 or under 25 for dancers with disabilities. Their aim is to open dance up for everyone, showcasing the variety and diversity of dance styles and genres. Groups selected from U.Dance Regional Platforms are invited to experience a summer celebration of dance. During this unique event, groups perform on the biggest stages, take part in workshops with leading dance professionals and are offered inspiring dance careers information.
In the North West, the Regional Platform is delivered by Ludus Dance, North West Dance and The Lowry. The North West festival will take place online on 24th & 25th April with performances, workshops and career Q&As. An independent panel will meet to review and celebrate all the applications. They will select the pieces that showcase North West youth dance to be shared at the national festival. The groups will have the opportunity to represent the North West at the One Dance UK National celebration in July.
The 2021 festival isn’t the first time that DanceSyndrome has been involved in the U.Dance festival. In 2019, David Corr and Jessica Reid were excited to be chosen to represent the North West at the national festival. They travelled to London, supported by DanceSyndrome Lead Artist Sophie Tickle and Dance Artist David Darcy. This video documents their incredible experience at the festival:
Things may be different this year as a result of Covid restrictions, but we are sure it will still be an amazing experience and we wish our team the best of luck in this year’s festival!
More information about the North West Festival can be found on the Ludas Dance website. Or check out #UDanceNW21 on social media!
If you would like to support DanceSyndrome to continue to offer life changing experiences like this, you can donate directly to our work using the form below:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
As a small charity we were fortunate to secure grant funding during 2020 and as a result were able to offer free and subsidised dance sessions online. Now that funding has come to an end and from April 2021 our prices for online Zoom sessions will be increasing to £3.50 per person per session.
