Aspire Dance Mentoring Scheme

The Aspire Dance Mentoring Scheme is a joint initiative by London Youth Dance and the Council for Dance Education and Training. It is a three tiered mentoring scheme which partners up a young person showing particular promise and ambition with a vocational dance student, in turn matched with a professional mentor. This year the two London Centres for Advanced Training played a key role in selecting the talented young participants, some of whom have already been approached by the CAT schemes to apply for their courses.

The Aspire Dance Mentoring Scheme is designed to open up communication between aspiring young dancers and those in professional training and the participants are encouraged to communicate regularly of their own accord and meet up outside of the scheme whenever they can. A number of workshops and theatre visits are scheduled throughout the scheme's duration in order to both stimulate conversation and also to expose young people, students and professionals to the facilities and services provided by Londons' dance agencies and venues. The group visited The Place in December to see 'Fresh' and will venture south to Greenwich Dance Agency in January to attend a GDA Cabaret. We have been invited to join Mousetrap Theatre Projects C145 scheme in February to see Spring Awakening and a trip to East London Dance's youth dance platform, Blueprint, is earmarked for March. Each young person will also have the opportunity to visit their vocational mentors' school and shadow them for a day - getting a valuable and sometimes shock- inducing insight into the life of a full time dance student!

The pairs access a designated Facebook group which serves as a buzzing communication channel and allows the mentors and mentees to 'cross fertilise' and chat to other pairings. The vocational mentors also have their own mentor, someone currently working within the professional dance industry, and often the professional mentors have also found the time to join the young dancers and students on their theatre trips and be introduced to the entire group.

A package of resources is offered as thanks to the Aspire mentors. in 2008 - 2009 thsi included annual membership to Dance UK and the Foundation for Community Dance and priority booking for the NDTA's Dance Links course.

Some of the relationships created may only last the duration of the scheme, but many more will continue on indefinitely. Kerry Biggin, principal dancer for New Adventures and a mentor on the 2007 - 2008 scheme is still in regular contact with her vocational (now graduate) mentee, Ruth.