Calling all dancers – the stage is yours! (28/06/10)

Twinkle-toed Walsall residents are urged to sign up for a contest designed to find the borough’s best dancers.

Walsall Housing Group (whg) has thrown down the gauntlet to street, sequence, ballet and other styles of dancers with the launch of NOW! You Think You Can Dance?

The challenge has been devised by whg’s NOW! (New Opportunities in Walsall!) Team, tasked with improving the health, wellbeing and life chances of Walsall residents.

For beginners, there will be dance lessons and other activities during August and September at community and voluntary organisations in areas including Brownhills, Goscote, Darlaston, Moxley, Pleck and Caldmore.

Drop-in sessions will be held for experienced dancers on 14th and 16th October, at a venue to be confirmed, when they can register to take part in the final. The final will take place in October.

Dance tutors available to work with participants between August and October should contact Julie Elwell at whg on 0300 555 6666.

The contest was the brainchild of Barbara Fairclough, NOW! Programme Co-ordinator. She said: “It will provide people of all ages with the chance to use dance as a way to improve their fitness levels, manage their weight, develop their confidence and self-esteem and have fun!

“Dance is a great way for people to meet on an informal basis and use their leisure time in a positive way. It is also an opportunity to experience different kinds of dance, exploring the cultures the dance styles originate from.”

As part of the scheme, whg will be running informal support sessions where people can try line, ballroom, Irish, street, banghra and Bollywood dancing. Along with visits to shows exercise and advice on health and nutrition.

For more information about NOW! You Think You Can Dance, and to register for the dance sessions, call or email Jo Perry on 0300 555 6666 Joanne.Perry@whgrp.co.uk

To find out about volunteer roles with the NOW! Team, which will provide community based work experience, call the number above.

 Photo shows (clockwise from top left) whg colleagues Joanne Baker, Vicky Dodd, Kieran Turner, Barbara Fairclough and Richard Farmer.