DanceSyndrome is excited to share the news that we have been shortlisted as a finalist in the prestigious Charity of the Year award category at the 2018 E3 Business Awards.
Members of the DanceSyndrome team will now attend an interview with a judging panel, where they will speak to the judges about the way that the charity makes a positive impact on our community and the individuals that we work with and what plans we have for the future.
The team will then attend the awards ceremony which will be held at the Macron Stadium in Bolton on Thursday 12th July 2018.
DanceSyndrome Managing Director, Dawn Vickers said: “We are so proud to be nominated for another award! It is a real privilege for DanceSyndrome to be recognised in the company of so many excellent organisations from across the county. We hope that this nomination will introduce us to even more people who may want to join us and be inspired to follow their dreams, whether that is in dance or other areas.”
DanceSyndrome was established in 2009 by Founder and Creative Director Jen Blackwell. Jen has Down’s syndrome and wanted to follow her dream of being a dancer and Dance Leader. The DanceSyndrome ethos is that everyone has the right to follow their own interests and passions, whether they have a disability or not. We offer dance leadership opportunities to people with learning disabilities and empower them to co-lead high quality inclusive dance workshops which are delivered to disabled and non-disabled participants across the North West.
Our work has been recognised at several awards ceremonies in recent years. The hard work and innovative approach of DanceSyndrome Founder and Creative Director Jen Blackwell was recognised when she was chosen as the winner of the Inspirational Woman of the Year award at the Enterprise Vision Awards in September 2015.
Our Dance Leader Team were recognised at a national level winning the Sporting Chance Award at The National Learning Disability and Autism Awards in July 2016 and we were chosen as Not-For-Profit of the Year at the 2017 Red Rose Awards. Our team would be thrilled to add Charity of the Year 2018 to this list of accolades!
If you would like to know more about how you can get involved with our award winning work, please get in touch with us by email at info@Dancesyndrome.co.uk.
As DanceSyndrome’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2018 fundraising campaign gains momentum, Dance Leader Pauline Hall completed a sponsored swim last week to help with the fundraising efforts. Her friend and fellow dance leader Becky Rich went with Pauline to cheer her on, and she has written a brief blog about the fundraising event.
Here is an account of the day in Becky’s own words:
Pauline Hall has a very special talent. She is a fantastic swimmer! She is also a pleasure to work with and a great work colleague in the Select Team Committee. She is a very special young woman. She was willing to put herself through 32 swimming lengths and I can tell you Pauline was battling it out during the 32 lengths and getting tired. All of us, Shirley and I, Nicole, Sue, Chris and my Dad were all cheering for Pauline and to give it some Welly and she did! Pauline completed the 32 Lengths of her swimming challenge for a great Cause, our Dancing Family “Dance Syndrome”. We are all very proud of you Pauline. We all really love you and we are very honoured to have a special member in our Dancing family. Angela, Pauline’s friend swam the 32 lengths as well. They both did a really great job!
Many Congratulations. May the celebrations commence!
Written by Becky Rich, fellow Dance Leader.
Thank you so much to Becky for her account and to Pauline for her wonderful fundraising efforts.
We would also like to thank Pauline’s sister Susan and her friend Paul who ran the Blackpool Marathon yesterday to raise money for DanceSyndrome!
It’s not too late if you would still like to sponsor Pauline, Susan and Paul. You can donate via Just Giving or directly through the Fundraising page on our website.
Here is a great video of Pauline completing her swim, courtesy of Susan.
Posted by Susan Carol on Friday, 20 April 2018
Anna James, age 20, is a Dance Performance and Teaching student at the University of Central Lancashire. She is also a volunteer and dancer with DanceSyndrome. Here she shares her story about why the charity is important to her.
“DanceSyndrome performed at UCLan in the first few weeks of my first year at University and their performance was amazing! Around Spring time 2016 I starting looking into what I could get involved with over the summer and I remembered DanceSyndrome and wondered whether I could get involved.
I applied to be a volunteer and met with Dawn (DanceSyndrome’s Managing Director) and then I first got involved in the sponsored dance in July 2016. From then on I attended the Wednesday workshop at Plungington Community Centre with Jodie, plus the performance group sessions. This meant that I was able to take part in the filming on Crosby beach (below) and the Orbit performances in 2016/17.
Dancing makes me feel free, connected with spaces and people, and energised. The best thing about dancing is that I can discover how my body moves and experiment finding new ways of moving. Learning how my body can develop new movement vocabulary. Working with DanceSyndrome has enabled me to meeting new people with this shared interest and explore ways of moving with the individuals and as a group. I have learnt new ways of delivering workshops, assisting and overall enjoying the outcomes.
My career in dance is shaping to be around community dance, I am interested in working with people and supporting their development, whatever it may be.
I am looking forward to graduating in May! But I am super excited to be performing with DanceSyndrome at the Edinburgh Fringe in August. I could not perform last year as I was working abroad, however, I have been to the Fringe before as an audience member and the whole environment is exciting, so I am excited to perform and watch other amazing performers.
DanceSyndrome brings no worries to my life; at the moment I am in my final year of university so it can get really busy. I enjoy attending the workshops and rehearsals and simply moving and interacting with all of the members.
Apart from dancing and being a volunteer with DanceSyndrome I am involved with other companies as well as attending university. I am a season ticket holder for Manchester City where I meet up with my family to watch the games. I love watching films and listening to music!”
Despite her busy life, Anna took time out last week to walk the Preston Guild to raise money for DanceSyndrome’s Edinburgh Fringe campaign – it’s not too late to sponsor her, you can find details on her Just Giving page.
We are incredibly grateful for all that Anna does to support DanceSyndrome and we wish her every success on her graduation in May!
EDIT: Congratulations to Anna on being awarded UCLan Student Volunteer of the Year at the Centre for Volunteering and Community Leadership (CVCL) Awards ceremony on 4th May 2018! It’s very much deserved!
Wednesday 21st March 2018 is World Down’s Syndrome Day. People around the world are celebrating their friends and relatives who bring love, happiness and joy into their lives, and also happen to have Down’s syndrome.
This is something we aim to do every day at DanceSyndrome, and we always choose to celebrate people’s abilities, rather than focus on their disability.
This brilliant video was made to demonstrate that every person, regardless of ability or disability, has something amazing to offer to society, all we need to do is offer support and positivity!
For regular updates about DanceSyndrome, please visit our Facebook and Twitter pages, where we will be sharing regular updates on World Down’s Syndrome Day!
If you would like more information about how you can get involved with DanceSyndrome, please email info@dancesyndrome.co.uk
DanceSyndrome believes in true inclusion. We are proud to be disability led and to provide opportunities that empower our participants to focus on their abilities, rather than their disabilities. For inclusion to be successful, it is necessary to work closely with people as individuals to find out their hopes, dreams and passions and then to work to enable and empower people to fulfil their goals.
At DanceSyndrome, inclusion starts with dance, but it can be applied to so many more activities. A really good example of inclusion being put into action in all aspects of our work is the recent formation of DStreet Crew, our new street dance team.
DStreet Crew came into being after some of our regular participants voiced their opinions in a focus group. They wanted more variety in the types of dance offered to them, and in particular, they wanted to do some street dance. The DanceSyndrome team took this on board and planned a series of 6 workshops in late 2017 that would introduce participants to the basics of street dance.
The response to the sessions was incredibly positive. The participants loved the content of the sessions, and Donna Harrison the Dance Artist running the sessions was impressed with the participants’ natural talent for street dance. They worked on a short routine that would develop over the course of the 6 weeks and everyone involved had a great time. In fact, they had so much fun that they wanted the sessions to carry on into 2018!
Here is a video of them rehearsing in March 2018:
The DanceSyndrome team organised the sessions and everyone came back in January. But that wasn’t enough for the group, they wanted to perform too! They decided that they wanted to form a proper street dance crew and arrange some performances. They worked as a team to chose a name they were all happy with and then Helen Shepherd, a member of the crew, looked for performance opportunities, booking their first performance on 4th May. With this target to work towards, the group worked with DanceSyndrome project Coordinator Sarah Calderbank to develop their own logo. They were all asked for their ideas about the logo and they decided on colours, styles and fonts that they liked, finally settling on the design below:
The logo is now ready to be printed on to team t-shirts ready for that first performance in May!
We think that this is a great example of inclusion, which is why we are proudly sharing it with you during Down’s syndrome awareness week, which has a focus on why inclusion matters. Participants with and without disabilities have been working together at all stages of the development of this project, all being given equal chance to participate, to share their opinions and to influence the future of their shared team. We are incredibly proud of what they are achieving together, following a shared dream and achieving their own goals!
If you would like to read more about DanceSyndrome’s inclusive approach, you might be interested in this blog about our Select Team.
There are a wide variety of opportunities available to work with DanceSyndrome, whether you want to participate, volunteer, fundraise or book a performance/workshop. If you would like to know how we can work together, please contact us via info@dancesyndrome.co.uk
Jen Blackwell and Becky Rich are the best of friends. They share a passion for dance and spend many hours enjoying each other’s company. But they are not just the best of friends, they are a force for good, challenging perceptions and trying to make the world a better place, using dance as their weapon of choice!
Jen and Becky were brought together through DanceSyndrome. The charity was founded by Jen and her mum Sue Blackwell in 2009 after 10 years of unsuccessfully searching for suitable training to enable Jen to become a community Dance Leader. Jen, who happens to have Down’s syndrome, had attended mainstream school but could not find mainstream dance training that could accommodate a person with a learning disability. During the search for training, Jen and Sue had met many other people with disabilities in similar situations and they were inspired to do something to make the world of community dance more accessible. The charity now runs community dance workshops, leadership training, professional performances and much more.
After working together for 4 years now, Jen and Becky are on a mission to break down barriers and create opportunities for anyone who wants to follow their dreams and maximise their potential.
Both Jen and Becky are confident public speakers and they are passionate about disability rights. In 2017 they travelled to many high profile events across the UK to talk about how DanceSyndrome has empowered them and how they want to challenge perceptions of disabled people and see more opportunities for inclusion. Their speeches combined with emotional dance performances have a huge impact on audience members. Seeing is believing and Jen and Becky both demonstrate that disability doesn’t have to be a barrier; people of all ages and abilities can follow their dreams with the right support. They truly demonstrate how we can all walk the walk, not just talk the talk when it comes to diversity by creating inspiring leaders through inclusion.
Audience feedback:
“I thought this was an amazing, powerful session! I took away a very strong learning message relating to the possibilities that are open to us when we are all included.”
“When attending an awards ceremony, the last thing I expected was to be stunned by disabled dancers. Thank you for being you!”
“This visit totally changed my perception of people with learning disabilities.”
Are you inspired?
If you would like Jen and Becky to perform at your event, please contact us for more information about availability, costs and the content of the performance that you require.
You can email our team on info@dancesyndrome.co.uk or contact us by phone on the following numbers:
Dawn: 07875 128015
Sarah: 07597 942494
DanceSyndrome can also offer other dance performances, ranging from 5 minute solos, to full group performances of up to 45 minutes.
If you would like to know more about the other life-changing work that DanceSyndrome does, you can visit the What We Do page or email info@dancesyndrome.co.uk
My name is Jen Susan Blackwell. I’m 36 years old and I set up my own dance charity with my mum and dad. My charity is called DanceSyndrome and we are an award winning charity, and we are led by adults with learning disabilities. Our motto is ‘Dancer Led, Disability Inspired’.
Me and my fellow dance leaders in DanceSyndrome lead inclusive dance workshops across the North West and we perform in different venues, and we have performed at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh. Here are some videos of us in action, I hope you like them:
This is our “Orbit” performance at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2017
This is a film about the work that DanceSyndrome does called “Dream, Believe, Achieve”
It would mean the world to me and my fellow leaders in DanceSyndrome if we could recruit a celebrity patron for DanceSyndrome. DanceSyndrome stands for justice and equality and against discrimination. My passion for dance is my life, my life depends on it and I would love to have your support with my charity.
Ps. we are going travel the world with my dance company DanceSyndrome to give dance workshops in different countries by coach and a private jet plane too
Love Jen – the Queen of DS and lead director of DanceSyndrome
If you, or someone you know, is interested in becoming a Patron for DanceSyndrome, please contact us by email at info@dancesyndrome.co.uk or call Dawn Vickers on 07875 128015 for an informal chat.
Our dancers are very excited to share the news that we will be returning to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival after a huge success in 2017!
DanceSyndrome’s dancers perform live at special events across the UK with the aim of inspiring people and demonstrating that people with disabilities can live a life of their choosing and demonstrate that their abilities are more important than their disabilities.
In 2017, the dancers followed their dreams and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the world’s largest arts festival. This was a huge opportunity for the dancers to shine on an international stage and audiences at the festival were surprised and delighted at the passion, energy and ability of the dancers, who have overcome many personal barriers to achieve success.
The DanceSyndrome dancers had an amazing experience in Edinburgh, learning lots about the performance industry, including how to successfully promote their own show to get a good audience. The success of the 2017 trip gave the dancers a significant confidence boost and as a result, they now feel able to do an even bigger trip to the Fringe in August 2018.
Dance Leader Becky Rich speaks out positively about how having Down’s syndrome does not define her. About last year’s Edinburgh shows Becky said “We were very touched by the positive response that we received when handing out our flyers on the Royal Mile to promote our show. Also we had fantastic audiences on both days which made it really special for us as performers and we think we really connected with the audiences in a special way. We all had a very special and fun time in Edinburgh.”
Becky Rich is interviewed by a journalist from Humans of the Fringe on the Royal Mile.
Inspired by the dancers’ confidence and ambition, the DanceSyndrome team were challenged to enable them to turn their dreams into a reality. They are currently working hard to generate enough sponsorship from businesses and individuals to cover the costs of a longer stay in Edinburgh.
The dancers will also be taking fundraising into their own hands to generate the money needed to fund the cost of the rehearsal process, performance space, performance marketing, travel and accommodation for themselves and their carers/support.
DanceSyndrome Managing Director, Dawn Vickers, said “We have been overwhelmed by the success of our 2017 Fringe Festival performance and we are so proud of what our dancers have achieved! We are absolutely thrilled at the prospect of returning to Edinburgh in 2018 and we are really inspired by the ambition and determination of our dancers to raise the money to make this a reality. I really hope that local people and business will get behind their appeals and help them to follow their dreams!”
If you would like to support the 2018 trip to Edinburgh, you can donate via Just Giving www.justgiving.com/dance-syndrome
If you have any great ideas for fundraising and would like to get involved, please contact the DanceSyndrome team on 07597 942494 or email info@dancesyndrome.co.uk
Here is a video of the higlights of the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe performance.
Helen Shepherd is a Dance Leader and Administration Assistant with DanceSyndrome. She is a valued member of the team who has a unique understanding of the value of inclusive dance and the complex logistics of delivering workshops and event performances. Here Helen talks about how her work with DanceSyndrome started and why she thinks volunteering is incredibly valuable, not just to the charity, but also to the volunteer.
In July 2015 I attended an induction day for the Dance by Example training course run by DanceSyndrome. I wasn’t to know at the time but going to this induction would change my life for the better. I enjoyed the induction and signed up for the course; the course was really good and well run by Sophie & Peter.
I attended the sessions every week, completing both theory and practical exercises and visited other workshops to see how they were delivered. Then, towards the end of the course, I started to volunteer for Dancesyndrome.
This was a really exciting opportunity! I was offered the chance to run a dance workshop in Clitheroe, alongside established Dance Leader Peter Pamphlett. We partnered with a local group called Spring into Phab, a multi-activity group lead by young people with disabilities, who managed to secure funding for us to run the workshop for 8 weeks.
I was nervous about leading a workshop for the first time, but the support from Peter, DanceSyndrome Lead Artist Sophie and the rest of the team was excellent!
The group was really good and it grew over time .When the initial funding finished, Spring into Phab and Dancesyndrome came together to continue the sessions as a partnership and major funding was secured from Spirit of 2012.
I loved volunteering for Dancesyndrome and I became more confident over time. In March 2016, I was offered a paid position with the charity! I was over the moon and accepted the offer. My partnership with Peter has gone from strength to strength and the group is thriving we have a really good time every Saturday.
Time is a valuable thing and giving a little bit of your time can make such a difference to help people to thrive in things they love and have a more fulfilled life. Seeing people succeed and grow gives such a reward for your time. If you invest time and it leads to paid work, or to help you fulfil your own goals, that’s a lovely bonus and a great reward for all your hard work.
I believe volunteering your time is a valuable way to get into work. I have done this on many occasions in the past and 9 times out of 10 it has paid off and led to paid work.
So if you have a little time to give, consider trying something new to help someone out. You never know where it may lead….
If you would like to know more about how you can volunteer with DanceSyndrome, please visit the Support Us page. Volunteering can be anything, from helping at dance workshops or taking photographs/video at events through to actively fundraising for us or even micro-volunteering, like sharing our social media posts. If you would like to know more about micro-volunteering, you might be interested in this previous blog.
We’re changing lives, unlocking potential & challenging perceptions with our “ability, not disability” approach! Can you help us?
We are looking for new Trustees and a Chairperson to join our Board of Directors.
Trustees have overall control of a charity and are responsible for making sure it’s doing what it was set up to do. They lead the charity’s strategy and decide how it is run, using their skills and experience to support the charity to achieve its aims.
Applicants will be energised and motivated, believing passionately that society is stronger when we are all embraced, included and welcomed. They will believe that engagement in dance and the arts can transform lives. They should be well connected in business, corporate or community networks.
This is a voluntary role (travel expenses will be paid) which requires a commitment to attend 4 Board Meetings per year in central Manchester.
For more information about the Chairperson role, please see our online advertisement.
