Dance event will benefit community (From Malvern Gazette)

Dance event will benefit community

11:10am Friday 27th March 2009 in News

DANCE for Joy is the name of a new dance troupe and social enterprise which aims to put a spring in the step of Bromyard people.

Instructor Joy Simmonds has got together with some of her finest students to put on a showcase performance of traditional Indian, belly dancing, burlesque, and other dance forms at the Conquest Theatre on Saturday, April 25.

Money raised from the evening will be ploughed back into the community, allowing people to apply for arts-related grants.

Mrs Simmonds, who has been instructing for more than a decade and learnt her art from experts around the world, said: “If someone thinks ‘I would really like to try that musical instrument’, but can’t afford it, they can come to me and I will see if it is worthy of the money.”

The group features a wide range of abilities and ages, spanning mid-20s all the way through to pensioners, and Mrs Simmonds believes it really demonstrates the inclusivity of dance.

She said: “We’ve got grandmas, and a mother and daughter duo. Anybody and everybody can get up and dance.”

Also featuring at the show will be Sue and Paul Harnsby’s modern and Latin dancers, as well as the Dakota and Silver Horseshoe Line Dancers, 17-year-old singer/songwriter Euan Onions, and singers Sharon Moult and Claire Weaver.

Mrs Simmonds said: “There’s so much going on in the town with all the different classes and I thought it would be really good to showcase it all.

“People are saying there’s nowhere to go and nothing to do but there is actually.”

Tickets for the event, which cost £7 or £5 with concessions, are available from the Conquest Theatre box office by calling 01885 488575, visiting conquest-theatre.co.uk, or calling in at the Tenbury Road centre. The show starts at 7.30pm.

For more information on the Dance for Joy social enterprise call Mrs Simmonds on 01885 490464.