The Place and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures join forces for Boys in Motion

This December, Centre for Advanced Training at The Place and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures join forces for a very exciting and important project: Boys in Motion is a whole weekend of dance designed to offer young boys an introduction and a pathway into dance.

At The Place, we are passionate about making dance accessible and meaningful for everybody, but it is no secret that boys only make up a fraction of students in most dance classes. According to the National Dance Education Organization, there are 3.5 million children in the U.S. who study dance. Only 10% of those are boys. Dancing has many benefits for health and wellbeing, from the pure joy of physically moving and staying fit to finding community, belonging, confidence and an outlet to express ourselves creatively in our individuality and through our bodies.

The Place is determined that this transformational power of dance should be accessible to discover and experience for every young person. Partnering with New Adventures as they are touring the 30^th anniversary production of their genre-defining Swan Lake, featuring a whole new generation of male swans, is certainly making a strong case for one of the most inspirational experiences young boys can have through dance.

Rather than the ethereal, fragile beauty of tutu-clad ballerinas in the traditional productions of Swan Lake, Matthew Bourne brought out the more muscular, aggressive side of swans in his male-led version. It was a change in ballet history and inspired a generation of boys to take up dancing to be in THAT show.

30 years on, it has lost nothing of its force, and we are thrilled to offer the next generation of boys aged 10-14 and 15-18 the chance to be swept away by the power of dance.

Over the course of the Boys in Motion weekend, they will get the chance to engage in warm-up games and creative exercises taught by New Adventures dancers, hear about the iconic Swan Lake story and learn choreography from the New Adventures' Swan Lake show. This will culminate in crafting their own unique dance piece inspired by Swan Lake to share with families and friends on the final day. There will also be a Q&A with current and past Swan Lake dancers followed by an extraordinary opportunity to watch Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. The weekend is open to all levels and abilities, and even beginners are welcome.

Three of the boys taking part in Boys in Motion, Freddie (14), Dimieari (13) and Dennis (11) have all caught the dance bug already, but found their way to dance through different paths. Freddie discovered dance because his sister went to classes. Dennis started dancing very young through the Primary Steps national junior schools programme. Dimieari attended a very formal ballet school and his teacher suggested he try something more creative and expressive to further his dance development. All three boys are certain that dancing has made them more confident and sure of themselves, and given them a tool to express themselves and find their creativity and self belief.

There have also been challenges. Boys face particular barriers to dance that stem from societal pressures and gender stereotypes. “I never tell people at school I do dance as it leads to jeers or comments about me”, says Freddie. “But actually, doing dance has really helped me with other sports as it’s made me more flexible and have complete control of my body. So in fact I’m better than my friends who do regular sports!”

There are also anxieties around trying something new. Boys may want to try dancing but don’t know how, or don’t want to be made fun of in front of a class of girls who have been taking lessons since they were four.

One thing that they all find really helps is having a space dedicated just to them, such as Boys in Motion, where they can feel surrounded by likeminded people . “It is always better to have a few boys in the class rather than being alone”. In some dance forms, such as ballet, boys tend to move quite differently to girls, so they find it helpful to talk to other boys about how to do different moves.

Freddie, Dennis and Dimieari all haven’t seen Swan Lake yet, but they have heard a lot about the male swans and can’t wait to experience it!

Boys in Motion is taking place on 14 & 15 Dec at The Place and Sadler’s Wells