By Sam Brooksbank
Three hundred youth dancers will be at the West Yorkshire Playhouse on Saturday.
Fresh is an annual event set up by Yorkshire Dance and One Dance UK and encourages dance groups aged 11-19 from every corner of Yorkshire to apply.
Yorkshire Dance is a regional dance centre for Yorkshire supporting artists and emerging artists in the region. It provides support to anyone and everyone who want to dance.
The young dancers will come to Leeds on Saturday for a full day of rehearsals and workshops covering a wide range of styles, including Irish Dancing and Hip Hop Folk.
Sarah Lyon, youth and community dance manager at Yorkshire Dance, said: “The groups will get to take part in high quality, fun accessible dance workshops, that to engage people in different styles.”
As well as the workshops the youth dance companies will be performing their own material. A panel of judges will select two groups to represent Yorkshire at U.Dance 2017, Youth Dance England’s flagship event at Birmingham Hippodrome in July.
Sarah added: “It’s a chance to be inspired by other young people in the area and a chance to share your work on a professional stage to a massive audience and giving them a chance to show what they can do.”
Performing for the first time this year will be dance group, Explosive, from Leeds City College. It is an enrichment class which has been running for the last 10 years, and varies from 20 students to 60 students.
Samantha Rutter, choreographer for Explosive, said: “The students are really excited, they do a lot of dancing but this gives them a chance show what they can do in front of other people.
“There is a nervous excitement with the students because they know that a platform like this could lead to a career as a professional dancer. It’s an achievement that we have been selected for Fresh but it will be a massive achievement if we can make it to U.Dance, and the confidence it will bring.”
Samantha added: “We have a mixture of different dancers, ranging from your classical contemporary dancers to break dancers.”
Samantha described their routine as “Contemporary Urban, hard hitting and political.”
Fresh takes place this Saturday at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and tickets are still available for the evening performance at 7:30. Tickets cost £8 for adults and £6 for concessions. Call the Box Office on 0113 213 7700