DISCO QUEEN - ACE reporting attachment

The creation of the new high energy, glitter filled dance-theatre show about growing up as a competitive Freestyle dancer.

WHAT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED?

• An initial R&D into choreography, text, sound & visual material to be included in the show.

• Interviews recorded with young Freestyle dancers in priority places, with Anna Jones - Freestyle dance pioneer & ex Freestyle dancers

• Development of initial marketing assets

• Development of relationships/engagement with 3 x Freestyle dance schools in Bradford/Leeds - Bingley Dance Studio, DAZL & Soul Dance Academy

• Development of Freestyle collaborators; costume designer, make up artist, Freestyle specialists (dance teachers)

• Development of engagement activity pack for Freestyle dance schools

• Leading Disco Queen workshop for professional dancers - introducing them to movement vocabulary of Disco Freestyle

WHAT IS DISCO FREESTYLE DANCE?

Freestyle dance evolved out of the 1978 film Saturday Night Fever. The dances in the film were so popular that people fled to discos and clubs to learn the routines danced in the film and Disco dancing was born! Pioneered by Anna Jones and colleagues, Disco dancing over the decades since 1978 evolved into Freestyle dance. A competitive dance form practiced by young people across the UK. In 2024 Freestyle dance is divided into fast and slow dance; with fast being what Freestyle is recognised for - the routines consisting of drag runs, high kicks, illusions, barrel jumps, split jumps, acrobatics and intricate fluid transitions to ensure dancers get seen by every judge around the floor in the 40 seconds they have to compete against the other dancers in their category. It is practiced to hardcore dance/techno music featuring remixed pop songs at paces of 180BPM.

ENGAGEMENT AT THE BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS

WHAT THE YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE SAID ABOUT DISCO QUEEN

“This workshop was very fun and doing creative tasks with Freestyle was very new to me. I enjoyed learning how to tell my story through dancing” Sophia, Bingley Dance Studio

“I realised how to feel my emotions in my dancing through the contemporary routine and I learnt that being a Freestyle dancer makes me unique” Millie, Bingley Dance Studio

“Freestyle dancing means everything to me. I couldn’t imagine my life without my dance school and teacher and I just want to make my dance teacher proud”, Freestyle Dancer’s written comments from The British Championships

TESTIMONIALS FROM DANCERS/WORKSHOPS ETC

"I enjoyed the disco freestyle as it was something I did when I was younger and it was nice to do something different to what I usually do which is creative/contemporary. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me question how my assumptions about dance changed when I went into contemporary dance" Moving Forwards workshop participant, January 2024

“I have never done anything like Freestyle before! What a style - high energy, thrilling, exhilarating - it made me feel alive and it felt important to own my body as a women and dance in ways that feel sassy and feminine” Moving Forwards workshop participant, January 2024

“I know that you yourself was a former freestyle dancer, so it's great that you are following through and doing this project to show , which I hope will be a great success” Anna Jones, Pioneer of Freestyle dance