To celebrate the Olympic Torch Relay visiting Stoke on 30th May, B arts are creating a spectacular welcome procession as part of Dancing for the Games’ World of Dance project. 100 Moves will involve over 900 children and young people, 90 specially designed flags, a kinetic carnival sculpture, supported by a carnival band and dancers.

You can be part of the event by joining the 100 Moves dance team. If you’re interested in taking part, contact B arts on 01782 717326 or info@b-arts.org.uk with ’100 Moves’ in the subject line.

100 Moves choreographer Clare Reynolds says; “People don’t need to have dance experience but we’d like you to have a reasonable level of fitness and a willingness to have a go. It’s a great way to get some exercise and have some fun as well as taking part in a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Following its success in 2008, youth dance extravaganza International Raw Energy returns to International Dance Festival Birmingham.

sampad South Asian arts will be creating a new youth company to work with Delhi-based Sadhya Dance Company, to develop a new piece to be performed in the grand surroundings of Birmingham’s Town Hall on Saturday 19 May 2012. They are looking for young dancers to take part in the event which offers a unique opportunity to participate and perform on an international platform. Auditions are 12-3pm on Sunday 15 april at mac.

If you are interested in this opportunity you can register your interest by emailing Anne Cockitt or calling 0121 446 3265 by Tuesday 10 April 2012. There is more information on the IDFB website and you can download a rehearsals schedule doc [PDF].

Get Active and Dance 3 with Cultural Dance Fest returns to The Public in West Bromwich on 24 and 25 March fusing all types of dance from Street dance and Bollywood to Hip-Hop and more.

You can get involved in a wide range of dance workshops and art activities, learn new dance moves and watch dance performances, including a live performance from Matt Flint, winner of BBC One’s ‘So You Think You Can Dance’, and Antics, finalists of Sky1′s ‘Got to Dance’. You’ll also have the chance to enter Breathe The Beat, an online competition where you can upload your own dance inspired by award-winning Hip Hop artist Salah, and local crews will have the opportunity to take part in the Breaking Free Street, Hip Hop, and Break dance competition.

For more information, visit The Public website or email dancedesk@talktalk.net.

The West Midlands Youth Dance Forum (WMYDF) is made up of young people aged 14-19 from across the West Midlands who are passionate about dance and want to develop a future in the industry. WMYDF members are young people across the region who want to develop leadership skills, see and review dance, take part in dance and act as a representative for Youth Dance.

The group are currently working towards their Silver Arts Award, and have been working with International Dance Festival Birmingham 2012 on Home. The group will be creating their own workshops to deliver to youth groups and in preparation the group took part in a Home workshop with Dance Leader Kate DeRight.

This is the Home contribution they created:

GLOW Dance Festival is looking for short dance films to feature in its film tent. GLOW is a large-scale outdoor dance event as part of Dancing for the Games taking place on Castle Green in Hereford on Saturday 30 June. Up to 3,000 people are expected to attend GLOW over the course of the day and evening and this is an opportunity to gain exposure for your dance film, group, project or company.

If you’d like your film to be considered for screening at GLOW, email hr1@2faceddance.co.uk for an application pack. Do not send video files to this email address. The deadline for submissions is 5pm, Friday 30 March 2012.

Talent UK is…

…a dynamic and innovative youth & entertainment project aimed at improving the life chances of young people in the West Midlands. It is an annual project funded by the Big Lottery Fund and run by Aspire4u CIC. Project participants receive expert tuition in the form of master classes and workshops from a team of industry experts. Areas include choreography, fashion design, vocal coaching, music industries and much more.

They were recently featured on BBC Midlands Today and you can see a video of the coverage on YouTube.

ACE dance and music are kicking off the new year by offering professional dancers the opportunity to participate in an intensive residency with internationally acclaimed South African choreographer Vincent Mantsoe. This professional development opportunity will take place at the ACE dance and music studio, the Link Dance Space, in Birmingham from 19  – 23 March.

Multi-award winning Vincent Mantsoe previously collaborated with ACE dance and music on their celebrated production Skin, which toured successfully both in the U.K. and abroad from 2007 – 2008. ACE dance and music are looking to build on this creative relationship and use this residency as a research and development period for their next production ‘Mana’.

Ace dance and music are also welcoming back Revival, its dance and drumming project from 6 February.

Photo: Bill Cooper

Birmingham Royal Ballet artistic director David Bintley picked up the Best Classical Choreography award for Cinderella at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards 2011.

The awards, held at The Place’s Robin Howard Dance Theatre in London this week, are decided by the 60 members of the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle after an extensive round of nominations and voting. To be eligible, performances had to be given in the UK between 1 September 2010 and 31 August 2011.

The current Birmingham Hippodrome season features a host of David’s other work, including the full-length narrative ballets Hobson’s Choice (22-25 February 2012) and Far From the Madding Crowd (20-23 June 2012). He is also creating a brand-new one-act work to be performed as part of our Summer Celebration programme. David’s one-act jazz tribute to Dave Brubeck, Take Five, will also be performed as part of this year’s International Dance Festival Birmingham.

For more background on the making of Cinderella, you can check out BRB’s Creating Cinderella blog.

Parisian streetdance group Elektro Kif are giving you the chance to dance in the opening act at the Southbank Centre as part of a national tour that stops at Warwick Arts Centre in March.

For a chance to win the digital dance competition all you have to do is create a one-minute video in front of an iconic landmark in your city and upload it before the 6th February deadline. If your group wins you will be dancing in the opening act for Elektro Kif at the Southbank Centre on Fri 2nd March 2012.

If there is enough interest from dance groups in the West Midlands dancers may also be asked to perform at Warwick Arts Centre. Pick a landmark and get entering!

International Dance Festival Birmingham are looking for 1000 individuals from across the West Midlands to contribute towards Home, an inventive new dance production that will move through the streets of Birmingham city centre during International Dance Festival Birmingham 2012 between 23 April – 13 May 2012.

We are collecting creative contributions in any art-form from individuals, friends, families, work colleagues, community groups, and professional artists – anyone who would like to share their thoughts of home and be a part of this flagship festival project.

If you could sum up what home means to you, how would it look? What would it say? How would it sound? What would it do? How would it move? When you think of home what do you see, hear, taste, smell and feel? Is it about feeling like you belong, having a sense of identity, or being part of a community?

To get involved download the application forms on the Home website. You can find out more about the creative process behind the performance on the Home blog and you can see some of the submissions made so far on the Home YouTube channel.