More than 800 Shropshire schoolchildren learnt new music and dance skills from around the world as part of a Shrewsbury Folk Festival project, it has been revealed.
Helping Hands, Dancing Feet was a flagship education programme run by organisers of the popular four-day festival as part of a wider project called All Together Now that aimed to bring different folk traditions to a new audience.
Specialists in traditional English clogging, Indian kathak, African dance and Spanish flamenco hosted dance displays and workshops at eight county primary and secondary schools for Helping Hands, Dancing Feet.
Sixteen pupils from two schools – Baschurch Primary and St Andrew’s Primary School in Nesscliffe, Sundorne School – also took part in a main stage performance during the festival that featured students from Sundorne School and the Severndale Specialist Academy in Shrewsbury via digital technology.
The festival’s project manager Joy Lamont said the children’s response to Helping Hands, Dancing Feet had been very rewarding.
“Many of them had never experienced dance like it and were thoroughly engaged with learning new skills. It was a great way to teach them about different and diverse cultures, which they may not normally be exposed to.
“The filming in schools was done by students from Media Active in Wem who also edited the three sessions allowing more young people to benefit from the project.
“Working with young people has been a major focus of the overall All Together Now project so we were delighted to reach so many through Helping Hands, Dancing Feet.
”All Together Now included new music and dance commissions performed at the 2015 and the 2016 festival, including this year’s They Shall Not Pass – a celebration of the cultures and art forms that exist in the UK including world music, dance and poetry.
There have also been music workshops and mentoring opportunities, the launch of the Shropshire Youth Folk Ensemble for gifted and skilled young musicians and the creation of the first ever archive of Shropshire songs, curated by county musician John Kirkpatrick.
A final sharing event to celebrate the completion of all aspects All Together Now will be held in Shrewsbury in early 2017.
Footage of Helping Hands, Dancing Feet and They Shall Not Pass can be seen on the festival’s 2016 playlist on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/shrewsburyfolkfest/playlists.
Editor is the team behind Love Shrewsbury keeping you up to date with news and events.
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