When Norfolk County Council’s Drama Advisor Mr Hubert Mitchell stood before a group of interested people one Sunday afternoon in 1981, it was with these aims in mind:-
1. To create a fund to assist young dancers
2. To promote a central forum for schools of Dance, teachers and dancers
3. To initiate and organise courses, workshops, festivals, exhibitions, conferences and other events
4. Provide information on local and national matters and events
5. To speak for teachers and dancers in the county and to advise the County Council
The Norfolk Dance Association began and by the 1st May 1981, had 264 members.
The first workshop was held in June 1981 and that summer 42 young dancers descended on How Hill for a residential summer school. A move to Wymondham College the following year doubled the number of students able to attend and an annual tradition was established that continues to this day.
Many workshops and events followed as the Association continued to encourage dance within the county, providing the opportunity to experience a wide range of different disciplines. The Janet Lewis Young Ballet Company was formed and a committee established to organise the annual occurrence of a non-competitive Festival of Dance, providing a performance opportunity for many pupils from throughout the region. This continued for many years and was especially exciting for those talented enough to be chosen to take part in the Festival Galas held at the Theatre Royal.
By 1983 membership had exceeded 500, a special family membership had been introduced and workshops with 9 top teachers had provided 1,000 places. Fund-raising was always a necessity. A Day of Dance in Earlham park brought together many different dance disciplines, as well as raising money in the tradition already set up by a sponsored maypole also held in the park, which had raised a staggering £1170 and the £1000 raised by a sponsored tap. The association was going from strength to strength and in 1988 happily secured were two new patrons, both important names in the ballet world; locally born Sir Kenneth MacMillan and Mr Christopher Gable.
The formation of the Young Norfolk Ballet Company by Michael Pink and Jackie Barrett was an exciting time for the association. 1988 saw them dance an original piece with Ballet Central set to Elgar’s ‘Wand of Youth’, followed the next year by a space ballet ‘Spirits of Sparras’ set on a mythical planet, for 106 young dancers and 14 Ballet Central dancers at the Theatre Royal, Norwich, to an original score by Philip Feeney. In 1990 The Young Norfolk Ballet extended the regions boundaries and included 10 Danish students, starting a connection that was to lead to an exchange summer school for a party of our students in Denmark in 1992.
Where we are today? Our connection with famous names from the dance world continues not only in our popular double bubble workshop days and Summer School week but also through the Norfolk Scholars, where talented pupils are chosen by audition to attend monthly lessons in Ballet and one other discipline. Children grow up and many of our members have gone on to both full time dance schools and a professional career in the world of dance, The Norfolk Dance Association however still exists with the same aims and objectives set out in that inaugural meeting on a Sunday afternoon in 1981.
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