016 Dance - Sport In The City

The programme, now in its 15th year, will take inspiration from Stoke City Councils celebrations for European City of Sport. The festival brings together over 60 dance groups from across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire to take to the stage and perform their routines which have been specifically choreographed to the theme 'Sport in the City'.

For the Creative Learning Team at The Regent Theatre, the festival is all about providing a high quality experience on a professional stage. There are many amazing groups with the most talented and hardworking young people and adults meeting week in, week out across the county. They dedicate their time to learn new skills, perfecting technique, socialising, improving wellbeing and having fun; 016 Dance Festival is there to celebrate their hard work.

As part of the event, The Regent Academy of Performing Arts, showcases their own students who attend weekly workshops with choreographer Caroline Sherratt. As the hosts, the young people will open the festival each night, performing 9 times over the programme. This a great platform for young people to share their work but also to get a real taste for the professional world.

Groups have been asked to take inspiration from sporting heroes, role models, electrifying sporting moments, dazzling ceremony’s, the dedication, the training, the winning, the losing and the taking part. Routines should capture the feeling of the big game, the final round, the last lap and the split second decisions we see in all areas of sport. Of course dancers are athletes themselves and using dance to interpret these moments will set the stage for some amazing moments in 2016!

The festival will have full technical support from the team of professionals who work at The Regent Theatre. All groups arrive at the venue for a technical rehearsal, where they can plot lights and take advantage of the stage for a dress rehearsal. It's really important that the dance groups get the full experience of the professional stage, working with the stage crew to add another layer to their performance.