6th September 2018

New terms for Youth Dance groups all newcomers welcome!

DU Dance (NI) is a professional dance development company that introduces young people to dance and the creative arts building personal and social skills of confidence, self-esteem and team work.

Our innovative youth engagement programmes use dance, movement and music in fun, energetic workshops leading to performances.

No experience is necessary and everyone is welcome!

If you have young people interested in joining one of our youth groups please get in touch.

T: 9033 0956

E: info@dudanceni.com

Suteminis

• Starting Date: Wednesday 12th September
• 6pm – 7pm
•  For 8 – 11 years
• Dungannon Youth Resource Centre
• Artist: Sheena Kelly
• £1 per session

Sutemos

• Starting Date: Wednesday 12th September
• 7pm – 8:30pm
• For 12 – 24 years
• Dungannon Youth Resource Centre
• Artist: Sheena Kelly
• £1 per session

Belfast Boys

This group is for boys only.

• Starting Date: Saturday 15th September
• 2:30pm – 4.00pm
• For 8 – 11 years
• Girdwood Community Hub
• Artist: Adib Ma’ani-Hessari
• £1 per session

Alternatives

•  Starting date: Friday 21st September
• 4pm– 5 pm
• 8 – 11 years
• Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre, Ballymoney
• Artist: Kelly Neill
• £1 per session

Alternative Energies

Starting date: Friday 21st September

• 5pm – 6:30pm
•  12 – 24 years
• Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre, Ballymoney
• Artist: Kelly Neill
• £1 per session

30th August 2018

Our Youth Engagement Summer Sessions are now finished.  Alternatives, Alternative Energies and Belfast Boys had an amazing time this summer on their week of youth dance.  Alternatives finished up their week with a trip to the Jet Centre for some bowling, Alternative Energies had a splash doing aqua dancing and Belfast Boys went to out of space at the cinema with Luis and the Aliens.

20th August 2018

Filming has ended for our second young carers project in Derry/Londonderry!  Two days of rainy weather and a lot of hard work paid off and we now look forward to the premiere which should be in October time.  Thank you to all of the young people that took part and we hope to see you soon.

19th July 2018

Congratulations to Sutemos for their performance at the Irish Youth Dance Festival in Dublin on Sunday 8th July.  Even when there were technical difficulties with the sound and lights they kept on going….true professionals!

23rd May 2018

Our Youth Engagement Groups in Ballymoney and Belfast will finish up their weekly sessions with some sizzling summer schools and performances. This is also an opportunity for other young people to come along and try out dance and movement in fun, friendly atmospheres… and if they like it and want more they can join up in September when the regular classes start again.

Alternatives (8-11 yrs)

Belfast Boys (8-11 yrs)

Alternative Energies (12-18 yrs)

(Click to veiw)

In Dungannon our groups are out and about over the summer months. Suteminis (8-11 yrs) will be performing at the Oaks Shopping Centre, Saturday 16 June, 1pm and the Cookstown Carnival, Friday 29 June, 7pm whilst Sutemos will be taking part in the Irish Youth Dance Festival, Sunday 8 July at the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin.

Please note there are no summer schools in Dungannon this year but new comers are welcome to join when regular sessions start up again in September.

We’re excited to be planning our second film with Young Carers, working in partnership with Barnardos NI and Triplevision Productions, with a new group of young people aged 13-17 years from the Derry/L’Derry, Limavady and Strabane areas. Due to the wide geographical spread we will undertake three days of intensive workshops followed by two days filming in August. We expect the screening to be in October 2018.

Meanwhile we’re delighted that the first Young Carers film Who Do You See? has been selected to be screened at the Sleeping Giants Film Festival in Warrenpoint, Co Down, 30th June -2nd July 2018 and we eagerly await more film festival selections over the coming year.

21st May 2018

We delivered our 10th annual Primary Dance Festival at Belvoir Players Theatre on 16th & 17th May 2018 with up to 200 young people taking part as both performers and audiences members, along with their teachers, classroom assistants and eager parents in the audience to cheer them on. This fun, exciting, non-competitive event incorporates all styles of dance at all levels by children of primary school age. It is a chance for pupils and teachers to share their work with other schools in a professional theatre setting and this year we had our very own Belfast Boys performing for the first time. We were also delighted to invite Palmira Rendilheiro, from Cape Town, South Africa as our special guest artists this year, who performed in Northern Ireland for the first time with a beautiful fusion of contemporary dance and jazz which left our audience in awe. To find out more about the project click here.

A special thanks for supporting our 10th festival to our Principal Funder Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council Sports Development, Ulster Bank, Asda, Lidl Northern Ireland and Marks & Spencer.

11th April 2018

A massive well done to everyone who joined us for UNANIMOUS 2018 at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, including; Alternative Energies (Ballymoney), Brona Jackson Dance Company (Derry/Londonderry), Company B (Dublin), CoisCéim Broadreach | Creative Steps (Dublin), Dublin Youth Dance Company, Laois Youth Dance Ensemble, Sutemos Youth Dance (Dungannon). Thanks to our MC Sean Michael, our photographer Joe Fox and the rest of our team of volunteers and staff.

To find out more about the project click here.

It was a brilliant night, see photos below.

GROUPS THAT TOOK PART THIS YEAR

Here’s what people are saying about Unanimous 2018!

2nd March 2018

From 12th -17th March the company will be hosting Ethiopian dancer/choreographer Meseret Yirga. From Addis Ababa, Meseret is
a leading figure in the dance development movement that has put Ethiopia and Africa at the forefront of innovative, capacity building development initiatives.

Like many young Ethiopians, she left the formal school system aged 12 to help support her family. Her experiences selling used clothes in Mercato, the largest market in Africa, immersed her in the world of the city’s estimated 50,000 street children. She was one of the original members of Adugna Community Dance Theatre, an initiative from which DU Dance (NI) was born. Over the past seventeen years, Meseret has used dance to support some of the most vulnerable people in Ethiopia, including sex workers, disabled people and street children. Her work has taken her all over Ethiopia and internationally to Kenya, Senegal, Britain and now to the island of Ireland. Here she will be working with three groups from DU Dance (NI)’s Youth Engagement Project.

28th February 2018

New project for 8 – 11 years

Free fun physical activity for the family, come along and give it a go!

No experience necessary

Fridays 3:30 – 5:30pm

23rd February, 2nd, 9th, 16th, & 23rd of March

Joey Dunlop Centre, Ballymoney, BT53 7DB

We would welcome parent/older family members coming along to participate and accompany their children, but this is optional.

For more information come along to any session or email: info@dudanceni.com or telephone: 028 9033 0956