Belfast Boys selected for U.Dance National Festival 2025
DU Dance (NI) is excited to announce our Belfast Boys have been selected again to perform at the U.Dance National Festival 2025.
Presented by One Dance UK, the festival will be take place 25-27 July 2025 in partnership with Sadler’s Wells, at their fabulous new venue, Sadler’s Wells East in London’s Olympic Park.
The largest event of its kind, the U.Dance National Festival is a celebration of youth dance. Young people aged 11–19 (or up to 25 for dancers with disabilities) from around the country perform in world-class venues, take part in workshops with leading dance professionals, connect with like-minded dancers and are offered inspiring dance careers information.
U.Dance National Showcases feature talented groups from around the UK, selected from hundreds of groups to represent their home region or nation. Groups who take part represent a wide range of dance styles, and are normally selected via a U.Dance Regional Platform, held each spring across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Belfast Boys’ performance day at Sadlers Wells East is Saturday 26 July and, if you would like to come along and support the boys, tickets are on sale now HERE.
Watch this space for more details on the fundraising campaign to support this exciting opportunity for the group.
#UDance2025
The event is supported by Northern School of Contemporary Dance, our Bronze Sponsor of the U.Dance National Festival, and Trinity Laban, the Access Sponsors, for help making this event possible.
Over the past thirteen years, the Unanimous platform has continued to expand and help young people from the ages of 12-24 years to get together in a professional theatre, develop skills, share their experience and form new connections.
This year we were delighted to be joined at The MAC Belfast for the first time by Mannin Youth Dance Company from the Isle of Man and the National Youth Dance Company of Scotland again performed as part of their touring schedule. Then, alongside two groups from DU Dance NI’s Youth Engagement Programmes; Sutemos Youth Dance and Belfast Boys, Unanimous also welcomed Claire Novaes Dance (Moira), Dublin Youth Dance Company, FYI Dance Club (Wicklow), High Points Youth Ballet (Belfast) and Laois Youth Dance Ensemble (Juniors and Seniors).
It was a fantastic evening compèred with great energy and professionalism by the Youth Steering Group. As with previous Unanimous showcase events, audiences enjoyed a great variety of powerful performances and feedback was really positive:
Brilliant, really diverse showcase and really passionate dancers
Energetic and energising!
It was a very inspirational event and the variety of dance styles plus the variety of groups was amazing!
A wonderful display of talent and energy from all dance groups.
Fantastic and full of energy, very much enjoyed and can’t wait for next year. Watching all the dancers develop has been an honour.
Unanimous brings together some of the best youth dance groups in a non-competitive event. The diversity of the line-up for Unanimous always serves to reaffirm DU Dance (NI)’s commitment to fostering dance talent and providing a supportive professional environment for dancers of all backgrounds. When asked why youth dance is important, there were some powerful responses from the audience:
So few creative and artistic opportunities for young people. Youth dance which is non competitive is vital.
Youth dance helps young people express themselves and maintain a healthy outlook on life. It is an essential part of maintaining good mental health for many young people.
This audience member summed up the very essence of Unanimous perfectly:
It gives young people a place to belong, and be allowed to be themselves and voice their opinions and feelings. It teaches young people to connect with their body and build physical intelligence, a skill which allows them to have agency over their own body, how they hold themselves in their day to day life, and how they cope with difficult situations. Youth dance encourages team work and collective thinking.
We look forward to doing it all again in April 2026!
Last week, Mags took part in a Professional Learning Event with the Creative Connections programme which will be delivered in schools in the 2025-26 academic year. Creative Connections gives children and young people the unique opportunity to work with professional artists, bringing creativity and the arts directly into their learning. Schools from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have been selected for the programme and will work in clusters of four, with two schools from each jurisdiction, collaborating on bespoke creative learning projects across borders.
The Creative Connections programme builds on the success of the Creative Schools Partnership Programme in Northern Ireland and the Irish government’s BLAST (Bringing Live Arts to Students and Teachers) and Creative Clusters initiatives. This programme gives children and young people the unique opportunity to work with professional artists, bringing creativity and the arts directly into their learning.
Each school will work with a professional artist and Mags is thrilled to have been paired with St Joseph’s Primary School, Crumlin. The in-school residencies start soon and it is exciting to be part of this evolving creative journey where young voices will lead the way!
The programme funders are:
Excitement is building as we approach UNANIMOUS, our annual youth dance platform, which takes place at The MAC on 17th April.
One of this year’s participating groups, FYI Dance Club from Wicklow, has been a regular at UNANIMOUS for over five years. In a short interview, their founder, Zoe Patterson, shares how experiences like this inspire young dancers, build confidence, and create lasting connections.
Zoe started dancing as a child alternating between ballet and modern before starting at dance college aged 15 which involved a daily commute to Dublin which started at 7am and finished at 7pm.
After finishing her Leaving Cert and a year studying in Liverpool, Zoe realised she was enjoying teaching dance more than professional performance. It took some time and personal conviction to come to terms with not pursing a career as a professional dancer and managing feelings of failure. However Zoe became increasingly convinced of the importance of teaching, and after delivering hip-hop classes in primary schools, where she was able create safe and enjoyable place to dance for all children, she decided to embark on a BA in Dance Education.
Zoe founded FYI Dance Club in 2003 and the company includes students from street dance and modern theatre classes, ranging in age from 11 to 18 years old. Being teacher and owner, the business has been able to change shape and focus as her son, Oliver – now 11, has grown up alongside. Oliver now dances in the school and helps his mum with set-up and preparation. It has become a real family affair!
Zoe and Oliver at SHIFT, August 2024
FYI Dance Club has always brought together young people from different schools and different backgrounds and undergone significant growth and development. But last year, Zoe, by her own definition, was experiencing burnout and increasingly felt she had become a ‘”Dance Doubter”; unsure if dance was making a difference to people’s lives. Ultimately she didn’t feel her classes resonated with young people and so she questioned if she was still relevant. Zoe decided that the club’s involvement in SHIFT, DU Dance (NI)’s youth dance and music residential and performances focused on the climate crisis last August, would dictate the future direction she took.
Fortunately for Wicklow’s young dancers, the week in Belfast meeting, creating and performing with other dance groups and working with Southpaw Dance Company was to be an incredibly positive experience for Zoe and one which emboldened her to set off on a new trajectory. Now Zoe is more determined than ever to challenge the perceptions perpetuated by social media and television that dance isn’t accessible. She firmly believes that there is a level and place for everyone to get involved and recently started a wheelchair dance group.
Fast forward 6 months and FYI Dance Club will again, as they have for over the past five years, be joining DU Dance (NI) at their annual youth dance platform UNANIMOUS in The MAC on 17th April 2025.
For Zoe, coming to Belfast for Unanimous was the first time she found a like-minded community in Ireland focused on giving young people a voice, a stage, a space to share and collaborate. The simple act, sanctioned by Mags Byrne, Artistic Director of Unanimous, of encouraging the young people to watch the other groups’ rehearsals and performances – rather than waiting backstage – expands their ambitions and ignites creative sparks. Furthermore the experience of working with a tech team, designing costumes, and importantly telling a story all means the Unanimous experience is layered and rich. When Zoe first brought a group to Unanimous they simply presented three hip hop performances. Now the pieces have evolved; exploring more challenging choreography and taking on more complex themes and ideas.
Inspired by a song, Zoe worked up the concept for his year’s piece Disrupt and Rise but is quick to make clear that it is 98% choreographed by the young people. “They have considered what story they want to tell and the resulting work provides a profound and candid examination of the world and how individuals react to the achievements of others. During an ascent, you receive encouragement and support. However, once at the top, it often feels like everyone is trying to pull you back down. Although the song addresses this issue specifically for women, the young people has explored how it can resonate with everyone,” explained Zoe. One can’t help wondering just how influential Zoe, and her journey to this point, have been on the young people who join her classes. The work in progress was shared at last September’s Culture Night in Wicklow to great acclaim and interest and will no doubt delight audiences in Belfast.
The Unanimous experience starts the moment the group leave Wicklow at 7am. The bonding and banter on the bus, the sense of being part of a tribe, of not having to put on a façade, all adds to the experience. Zoe is clear with the young people that they are needed, respected but also responsible and carrying high expectations. As a result they rise to the challenge with a sense of pride. Unanimous is a hugely important date in the diary for the dancers. For Zoe, Unanimous, a youth dance festival with youth at the centre, has been the catalyst for ever expanding contacts and networks across the Irish Youth Dance Culture sector, for a busy diary of festivals and events, for performance and collaboration opportunities and for the confidence with which she is taking FYI Dance Club forward.
(Article originally published by Theatre and Dance NI on 1 April 2025.)
Tickets for Unanimous are available to purchase from The MAC: 028 9023 5053 / themaclive.com. Tickets are priced at £10 for adults / £6 for Under 16s and concessions.
Contact tickets@themaclive.com for information about group rates.
Did you catch Artistic Director Mags and Youth Steering Group member Oisin Gordon Barrerra on BBC Radio Ulster’s ‘The Ticket’?
In the busy run up to Unanimous, the pair took time out to head to Broadcasting House in Ormeau Avenue. During the interview with host Kathy Glugson they took every opportunity to encourage listeners to come along to the performance showcase for youth dance. Oisin also did a great job expounding why he is involved in Belfast Boys and Mags talk about performance being an important catalyst for change.
Have a listen from about 36 minutes 20 seconds in:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0029qpc
We are back on May 20th and 21st with our 16th annual Primary School Dance Festival! Once again it will take place in the Belvoir Studio Theatre and is a wonderful opportunity for children to perform in a professional theatre and in a non-competitive environment. The feedback is always great: “I loved getting to dance. Can we go back?”
If you know a school in the Greater Belfast area who might want to get involved we still have a some spaces.
Please drop us an email to info@dudanceni.com or phone 02890 230877 to find out more.
On Friday it was great to meet and chat with our youth dance colleagues from across the island of Ireland at Youth Dance Matters: A Research Sharing and Feedback Session. Particularly heartening was hearing from young people on how significant being involved in dance is for them.
There were interesting conversations regarding partnerships between dance and sports organisations in Cork, where they are helping address the recognised decline in teenage participation in physical sports.
Tori and Aoife from Queen’s University Belfast are to be applauded for giving youth dance a place at the table and conducting this research with empathy and rigour. The Youth Dance Matters research is particularly important in the present climate when resources and morale are low.
Tickets for Unanimous 2025 on Thursday 17th April at 7pm are live!
Visit The MAC Belfast or phone the box office on 028 9023 5053.
Tickets are £10, £6 for concessions and Under 16s. Please get in touch for information on our special group booking offer.
Ten of the best youth dance theatre groups from across the island of Ireland will perform in this celebratory, non-competitive event. This year we are delighted to include the National Youth Dance Company of Scotland and for the first time, Mannin Youth Dance Company from the Isle of Man.
Lots more information on the groups coming your way over the next few weeks!
Photo is of Ohr Dance Company, Laois at Unanimous 2024. Credit: Jim Kerr Photography
We are delighted to spread the word about our intergenerational project Alternative Energies with a brand new leaflet. Aimed at encouraging new faces to join the weekly sessions, the leaflets will be available for people to pick up in community centres and businesses in and around Ballycastle. If you know of any opportunities to share just how important the group is, please let us know at info@dudanceni.com.
On Saturday 1st March, Mags, with DU Dance board member Marie O’Donoghue, hosted a workshop session at the New Visions Symposium.
The event was part of a wider project, supported by the Freelands Foundation, which will explores the current challenges facing post-primary arts education in Northern Ireland and imagines possible solutions.
The symposium took place at The MAC, Belfast, and was designed for people who are passionate about rethinking arts education including head teachers, art teachers, artists, academics, and policymakers. The day featured panels and discussions focused on the key educational issues identified by those working in the field.
In their popular session, Mags and Marie examined the Creative Schools Partnership programme. It is a cross-government programme that Marie runs and that targets schools located within the Urban Village areas of Northern Ireland, encouraging them to think outside of traditional learning approaches and introduce professional artists into classrooms in order to build student confidence, make community connections and develop new skills. DU Dance (NI) has been involved in the programme for a number of years delivering workshops and intergenerational community dance projects. Through informative and practical fun activities, Mags and Marie demonstrated the role of the creative arts in education and advocated the arts as an invaluable tool for facilitating personal and social development.
The Creative Schools Programme is funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Education Authority and the Urban Villages Initiative.
(Marie O’Donoghue is Creative Schools Manager School Improvement, School Development Service at Education Authority NI)
