WEST MIDLANDS YOUTH DANCE FORUM The forum is made up of young people from across the West Midlands who are passionate about dance and want to develop a future in this industry. “The Youth Forum allows us to experience what goes on behind the stage such as leadership, management and programming. The Forum allows us to be involved in the industry in roles other than performance.

It is a very interesting and rewarding experience that I would strongly recommend for young people who aspire to work in the arts.” Grace C, WMYDF member. How does it work? The West Midlands Youth Dance Forum (WMYDF) is made up of young people, aged 14-19, 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 in the region. Members will also gain valuable experience and sessions in networking, project management, funding and more…

Members also have the opportunity to work towards an Arts Award which means they can:
Set an arts challenge • Go to live arts events • Research arts careers and see how people get started
Share arts skills with others • Organise their own projects
Put together a portfolio in their choice of format (written, film etc) Members will have the opportunity to develop and deliver their own projects with the support of a range of dance practitioners and specialists. The Youth Forum engage with a wide range of experiences from creating presentations for the dx board of trustees, creating and delivering workshops. Most recently the group worked with My Dance Festival 2013, programming MY World; a creative mixed media creative installation for festival and fringe particpants. Participants decorated individual paper cut-outs and affixed them to a specially constructed globe; the installation grew throughout the day culminating in an exhibition and foyer performance by WMYDF. The Youth Forum are now working towards MY Dance 2014 and International Dance Festival Birmingham 2014. When? We hold around 2 sessions per month where the group will get together to take part in various activities and training. What?
Practical peer-led dance sessions and the opportunity to have meetings with dance professionals to support your dance development.
Leadership training sessions
One-to-one tutorials If you are interested in becoming a member of the WMYDF please contact Lucy Kenny, lucy.kenny@dancexchange.org.uk // 0121 689 1081. To find out more watch MY World at MY Dance Festival 2013 produced by young filmaker Brett Blundell, who was chosen by IdeasTap to create a short film about the event and WMYDF Visit DanceXchange Online on You Tube and look for MY World at MY Dance Festival 2013 – Brett Blundell Also visit WestMidlands dance.com where Lucy Kenny, DanceXchange’s Community Engagement Manager, talks to West Midlands dance.com about the West Midlands Youth Forum – https://www.westmidlandsdance.com/feature/west-midlands-youth-forum