00:00My name is Sharon Watson. I'm the CEO and the principal of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance.
00:04And here we are in this wonderful building celebrating 40 years of our history and hopefully 40 years to come.
00:09This school didn't exist when I wanted to go into professional training.
00:13So it was the last year of Nadine Senior, the founding principal, that said actually she's no longer going to send any of her pupils to London.
00:21Some weren't surviving, some were finding it challenging, but she felt she could do the job.
00:25And she wasn't wrong. So, you know, she set about getting a school in the north of England.
00:30Hale's Middle School was the real beacon for contemporary dance development, creative movement, artistic expression.
00:38And all of those students were part of that vision.
00:42They made the success. And it's a first opportunity we've had really to say thank you.
00:47Thank you for being good pupils and understanding why the arts matters.
00:50This project's a start of a bigger project. It's going to take place throughout the year, celebrating culture, diversity, dance, poetry, anything to do with the arts.
01:04And the Dance of Leeds started right here in this school under Nadine Senior and Pauline Fitzmorris was a drama teacher.
01:14So it was dance drama, creative dance.
01:16So it's a celebration of memories, stories, pictures, reminiscing.
01:21The teachers were instrumental and, you know, they encouraged us to be creative and to be excellent.
01:30And, you know, that shaped us into the people who we are today.
01:34And hopefully through conversation, we'll remember, by the end of the night, we'll remember far more than we came here remembering.
01:41We've survived 40 years against the odds, but also we survived 40 years because we are incredibly good at what we do.
01:49But we didn't do it on our own. There's been a lot of involvement with a number of individuals.
01:54We've had some amazing students over the years and we are still producing the students through the delivery of our teaching.
02:00Leeds is a home of dance. There's a rich dance culture here.
02:07And, you know, we feel as though we were instrumental in the start of that culture.
02:15We've had flourishing professional careers with Phoenix Dance Theatre and various other companies that we've danced with.
02:23Part of the project is to archive all the material. So tonight is very instrumental.
02:31We've always been able to pass on our skills to younger people.
02:37We are constantly fighting to say that this is such a magnitude of opportunity that you need to hold on to and more so elevate.
02:45So don't take it for granted. It's not soft skills.
02:49These are essential skills that we're delivering through our young people and for the industry.
02:54So collectively, we're really proud of that. But I do feel that we need to keep championing what it's about.
Comments