Dare to Dance Empowerment Day

February 2009

On Friday 6^th February a group of seven Year Nine students were selected to participate at Westminster Sports Unit’s ‘Dare to Dance Empowerment Day’ at the Moberly Sports and Education Centre in Kilburn.

‘Dare to Dance’ is a pilot project which aims to increase participation in physical activity through the medium of Street Dance using Hip Hop Dance Techniques.

This project aims to attract young women through a medium that they can engage with. Hip Hop is a dance form that has become the voice of young people, breaking down racial, ethnic, gender, class, language and regional barriers. In terms of other physical activity, dance also continues to reach out to girls and young women many of whom prefer the more creative physical activity that dance offers, over the competitive aspect of other sport forms.

Throughout the day the students participated in a variety of different sports activities. These included workshops with a professional break dancer as well as a professional street dancer who is part of Nike’s ‘D-Clash’ Dance company.

In addition to the dance workshops the students also had the opportunity to participate in a boxing workshop which aimed to raise their awareness of self defence and the students also experienced a ‘Parkour’ or ‘free running’ workshop with some of the most experienced instructors in this discipline.

During the day the students also listened to an inspirational speech by Michelle Brown who is an ex-professional basketball player. Michelle spoke to the girls candidly about her life and the trials and tribulations that she had experienced.

Here are some of the comments from the students about the day:

‘The day was fun, challenging and a very new experience’.

‘It was definitely challenging and fun, the parkour is something I want to try again’.

‘I think today has been great as we have learned different things which have helped to build our confidence. I hope an opportunity like this comes up again’.