Press Release: Strictly fun dancing at Warwick Arts Centre as 2012 approaches

A new Olympics-inspired project which aims to engage boys across Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire in dance has been launched.
Boys Dancing is being run by Warwick Arts Centre and aims to get as many boys as possible involved in dance over the next three years.
Part of a wider West Midlands Culture Programme for 2012 called People Dancing, it is funded by Legacy Trust UK, Arts Council England West Midlands and Advantage West Midlands and is supported by the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership for the 2012 Games.
The project aims for over 1,000 youngsters from across the region to have participated in dance by the end of the first 12 months with a view to expanding the scheme across the wider West Midlands region by 2012.
Brian Bishop, education director at Warwick Arts Centre, said: “The aim of this project is to prove to boys that dance is exciting, engaging, challenging and fun.
“We want to show that dance is a wonderful mix of spontaneous physical and mental activity - it requires physical strength like in sport and it provides a great workout for the mind.
“The 2012 Games and the support it brings to projects like this can help it be even more of a success as often dance is worked into schools through PE which means it can be given a lesser focus than sport.”
The project has already made two dance films with pupils from Foxford School in Coventry and Henley-in-Arden High School and is producing dance performances with nine other schools and four youth centres in the sub-region.
Tom Clift, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership manager for the 2012 Games, said: “Part of the reason our bid for the 2012 Games was a success was the promise that if the UK hosted the Games a lasting cultural and sporting legacy would be created – and this project is about doing exactly that.
“We want as many people as possible to engage with the 2012 Games and be inspired to take part in cultural and physical activities they might not otherwise have done.
“We are delighted to have such an exciting project taking place in our region, it has a great team of people behind it, and we are sure it will prove to be a huge success.”
ENDS

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