Published at 11:56, Wednesday, 11 July 2012

DANCERS from Cumbria will join 1,200 people in Liverpool on Sunday as the North West unites for a mass performance to celebrate the Cultural Olympiad, reports JO DAVIES

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SCHOOL children from Barrow will get their moment of Olympic glory this weekend when they represent Cumbria in the Big Dance North West Link Up.

Year Three pupils from Roose School will be among 1,275 dancers to take part in the spectacular finale of a show-stopping season of dance.

Since a dance world record attempt kicked off the fun on May 18, Big Dance has had the nation on its feet, celebrating dance in unusual places for all ages and abilities.

Now groups from Cumbria, Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester are coming together on Sunday at 2.30pm for the Big Dance North West Link Up, when dancers aged from six to 86 will perform choreography representing the history and landmarks of their region.

Among the youngest performers are the 29 eight-year-olds from Roose Community Primary School.

Year Three teacher Gaynor Stevens said: “We started rehearsing after Easter and all get together once a week to practise.

“The Walney Family Fun Run was our first performance. We were a bit nervous because it was our first outdoor performance. Then we went up to Bitts Park in Carlisle and did our dance with 200 others and stayed and watched the Olympic torch. That involved people from all different areas of Cumbria. We now have our dance for Cumbria, made up of slightly different elements and moods.

“We will all come together in Liverpool and it will turn into one enormous production.”

Streaming down the steps of Liverpool One’s Chavasse Park and spreading along the length of Thomas Steers Way, the performers will provide a spectacle of mass movement never seen before in the region.

Merseyside Dance Initiative has led on Big Dance North West, with regional partners Ludus Dance (Lancashire), DiGM (Manchester), Dance Cumbria and Dare Dance (Cumbria) recruiting people in their own areas for performances across the region.

The project culminates in the dance extravaganza in Liverpool One.

Director of Dare Dance, Amanda Mortlock, said: “Roose School have been wonderful – the children are so full of ideas, energy and talent.

“The teachers and parents who have taken part are also a lot of fun and we have had such a great time creating, rehearsing, performing and seeing the Olympic torch at Carlisle. It has been a great experience for me to work with such a great team of teachers and children. I am so excited about Sunday and I think that the Roose School dancers will really enjoy visiting Liverpool and enjoy being part of a 1,200 people mass dance. “Attending one of final rehearsals the excitement at Roose School is tangible.

“Each area has done a dance which represents their local area. Because we’re Cumbria, we’re ‘water’ and ‘mountains’,” explained Gaynor.

The children have also learned the symbols of Lancashire, a “rose”; make the shape of a crane to represent the steel of Greater Manchester and frame broad grins with their hands for the “Cheshire cat”.

A straw poll of children revealed they are looking forward to participating because “we’ve been practising a lot”; “the Olympic torch won’t come again when we’re alive”; and “we’ll be on television”.

Eight-year-old Hannah Barrow said: “It’s a great opportunity for us.”

Shelby Cooke, also eight, added: “I’ve been practising so my family can see because they haven’t been to Walney or Carlisle and they’re not coming to Liverpool. They thought it’s good.”

“What it has done is really helped enthuse them about the Olympics as a whole,” added Gaynor.

Cumbria’s contribution to Big Dance include Roose School and Furness Academy; a mixed group of children and adults from Alston; Carlisle Youth Dance Company; Shap CE School, Zumba, Commercial and Contemporary classes from Penrith, Brewery Arts Centre’s dance groups, Rigney Bank School, and University of Cumbria students.

Karen Gallagher MBE, director of Merseyside Dance Initiative, said: “Big Dance 2012 is a chance to shine a light on our region and show the rest of the country and the world what wonderful dance activity goes on here. Along with our partner organisations we have brought dance into the heart of local communities, and bringing all the boroughs together in Liverpool One will unite the whole North West in dance.”

Roose School have received funding from CN Charitable Trust; Sir John Fisher Foundation; Furness Lions and Kimberly-Clark to cover the cost of T-shirts and transport.

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