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Traditional and Contemporary Dance in Community Settings

Dance Base

Purpose

Dance Base provides a specialist dance space which is used to promote a range of dance classes for the general public and for professional dancers.

Provision

Dance Base is currently housed in the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh but has recently received £4.9m from the Lottery Fund to develop a new dance base in the Grassmarket area by 2001. The new facility will house four dance studios and will become a major focus for dance in the city. It will also become one of a network of national dance agencies and provide performance and rehearsal spaces, professional training opportunities, community education and outreach work and information and advice services. Dance Base has been a significant force in developing dance activity in the Edinburgh area and is a key organisation within the city's cultural provision. It is also developing its outreach programme to enable specialists to reach new audiences. Staff have adopted a policy of actively seeking to collaborate with other organisations such as Youth Clubs Scotland (YCS) and Capability Scotland.

Working in association with YCS, Dance Base supports one of its dance companies - Freshmess - to tour youth clubs around the country and offer locally-based workshops. Freshmess provide high energy breakdance and streetdance which appeals to the younger age group. The aim is to build up a dance base within the youth club scene and to encourage young people to start their own dance groups. It could also help to break down some of the cultural barriers by attracting boys to high energy breakdance and the Brazilian dance and martial art of Capoeira.

Capability Scotland is the country's largest disability organisation and provides a wide range of services for children and adults with disabilities. Dance Base staff are working in conjunction with staff from Capability Scotland to develop a course for carers so that they can gain the confidence to provide dance and movement activities to disabled adults on a regular basis. This type of innovative work illustrates the manner in which dance as a social activity can help to develop the confidence of adults with complex difficulties.

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