Young dancers’ unite
16 March 2022Chameleon Youth Juniors were delighted to be invited to participate in the 2022 Wigan Borough Dance Festival performing “…and then I woke up” choreographed by Amber Calland, Alice Bonazzi, and the youth company.
Representing Company Chameleon and Manchester, the youth company took part in the festival on Saturday 12th March as part of the community showcase, taking part in workshops as well as performing.
Amber Calland, Learning & Participation Officer said “It was a really incredible and valuable day for everyone. During the pandemic, performance opportunities were reduced to zero, therefore it’s massively important to take advantage of every opportunity to perform.
There is so much value that comes from being part of festivals like this. It’s wonderful for young people to have the opportunity to unite with other artists, immerse themselves in the youth dance community and develop through workshops delivered by different companies and professional artists.”
Co-created by the youth company, “…and then I woke up” explores what happens when we fall asleep and enter a dreamworld, and how our dreams can take us to places that don’t exist and have us do things we didn’t know we were capable of.
21 young people, age 11-16, are currently part of Chameleon Youth Juniors. Talking about their festival experience, the dancers said:
“The vogue workshop was the perfect confidence builder before the performance and was a great way to experience a new style of movement”
“It was a new atmosphere, I enjoyed meeting new people and I really enjoyed watching other people’s performances and how their styles of dance varied to ours”
“I really enjoyed Saturday. It was really nice seeing other companies’ dance styles. I really enjoyed the workshop with Kaea Pearce as she is from my favourite dance group”
If you’re an aspiring young dance artist, Chameleon Youth auditions take place annually in the Autumn. In the meantime, why not check out The Saturday Sessions, our weekly classes for young people, which provide the perfect introduction to our original movement style.