Flash dance for Sheffield city centre

Date: 03/07/2012. Story submitted by: SuzanneRutter

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From salsa to sequence and Bollywood to ballroom – thousands of hot-footed dancers had the chance to waltz, fox-trot and jive their way around the city centre this weekend.

More than 30 dance groups from across Sheffield joined forces for the Chance to Dance festival, which returned to the city after a year’s break.

The all-inclusive, one-day event aims to reflect Sheffield’s diverse range of cultures and encourages people of all ages and abilities to put their best foot forward and have a go and dancing.

A different performance started every half an hour on Fargate, Barker’s Pool, the Peace Gardens, Leopold Square, Winter Garden and Tudor Square.

Every style of dance was on offer to entertain shoppers and visitors to the city centre, from the Hype Dance Academy, Steel City Salsa, the Sheffield City Morris dancers, Stepz Dance Academy, City Limits, Age Active and Mulembas d’Africa.

Mark Gamsu, one of the event organisers said he was delighted the event had returned after being axed last year due to public sector funding cuts.

He said: “Chance to Dance has been going for 11 years, although it sadly didn’t happen last year because it’s funding was cut.

To bring the event back we decided to set up a new voluntary organisation and have raised enough money to ensure we once again bring dance back to the city centre.

“It’s a fantastic celebration of different cultures offering a taste of dozens of dance styles from salsa to Mexican to tap and Bollywood. And the best part is that people of all ages can join in and hopefully take home contact details for people who run the dance clubs.

“It has been a great atmosphere and I was particularly impressed with all belly dancers who danced through the rain!

Members of Age Active, a charity which encourages the over 50s to keep fit at Victoria Hall, Norfolk Street, attended Chance to Dance to show off their line dancing skills.

Organiser David Schofield said: “This event is a fantastic opportunity for people to enjoy themselves while dancing and enjoy being part of a group. There’s a great deal of community spirit here in Sheffield and everyone has been enjoying it so much.

“At Age Active we host weekly dance classes, including line and sequence dancing and Zumba, for 500 people aged over 50. A lot of older people can feel isolated once they finish work but this event is a great opportunity for us to show that you can keep fit, active and make friends at groups like ours.”

Additional info

Address: Sheffield City Centre Sheffield South Yorkshire S1 2HB

Tags: Chance to Dance

Web link: http://chancetodance.org/