This year, the Yorkshire Schools Dance Festival are supporting the Rugby League World Cup to celebrate a shared message - 'The Power of Together’.
The 2021 Yorkshire Schools Dance (YSDF21) will be staged at the University of York across the weekends of the 13th/14th and 20th/21st November. 1200 children and young people from 55 schools, colleges and groups across the Yorkshire region will be performing. Taking place around 12 months before the Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) begins, YSDF21 will celebrate the tournament’s ‘Power of Together’ theme. In a breakthrough moment for Rugby League, the men's, women's and wheelchair games will be coming together for the first time on the sport's biggest stage - bigger, better and bolder than ever before. The theme has been adopted for YSDF21 with all participating schools, colleges and groups creating unique performances in response to ‘The Power of Together’. We’ll see interpretations that celebrate human and emotional connections. We’ll also be celebrating the creativity of the teachers, dance leaders and young dancers as well as the power of dance to communicate important messages that connect us together as communities. The Festival, sponsored by Yorkshire Education Recruitment, supports and promotes dance within schools.
Colin Jackson, Producer of the Event says, “The theme has never been more relevant. After a difficult year for all of us, this is a unique opportunity to put the voice of children and young people centre stage. We know that their message will be clear - that by working together towards shared aims we can achieve almost anything.”
Cllr Darryl Smalley, executive member for culture at City of York Council, said: “The Schools Dance Festival is a very fitting way to mark the one-year-to-go milestone of the Rugby League World Cup, something to which York and the whole country is eagerly anticipating. The shared theme of our ‘Power of Together’ is a relevant and increasingly important message which we can all relate to. As a city, York has put this message into practice throughout the last 19 months, as communities have come together in a time of need.
“I’m really looking forward to the excellent displays of talent and enthusiasm of all those participating. After a difficult year, it’s events such as these that bring burst of much-needed joy to us all.”
Laura Pagan, a teacher at Scarcroft Primary School in York said: “Our School are exploring how it feels to be excluded by friends or society and thinking about how coming together in support of others is a powerful tool to avoid people feeling isolated. We have a very large group of enthusiastic dancers who are looking forward to taking part in the dance festival again.”
Tickets for the 2021 Yorkshire Schools Dance Festival are available via the website. Anyone purchasing tickets for YSDF21 will be entered into a prize draw to win 4 tickets for the Rugby League World Cup matches scheduled for York’s Community Stadium.
Tickets for next year's RLWC2021 Tournament will be available to buy in winter 2021 once the full 2022 schedule has been released. Visit www.RLWC2021.com for more information and for details on how to sign up to receive ticket alerts and all the latest news first.