Youth Services

Philippa McKee

Grants are available to support Spring Fling events

Hello fellow dancers! I have just returned from St Andrews where a fun and energetic Junior Summer Camp (JSC) was reaching its conclusion. It is inspiring and encouraging to see the enthusiasm for music and dance from the young dancers. During the week we launched the 2023 Virtual Festival. We look forward to seeing the contributions to this year’s Festival. Entries are being sought under for two categories; “Dances through the Decades” and “Creative” with winners to be announced and celebrated at the Autumn Gathering. Thank you to our judges who have volunteered for the task of judging this year’s entries.

We were also able to launch our new Junior Members’ Booklet along with the opportunity for juniors to sign up to the new membership category. We talked to parents and guardians and were able to give JSC participants copies of the new booklet. A lively conversation about opportunities for young dancers ensued and certainly gave me some food for thought with regard to how Youth Services are placed to support events, initiatives and the fantastic work already done by branches and groups from around the world. I’d be very glad to hear from any readers with thoughts on this. Parents of young dancers can find out more and sign up for Junior Membership here:

https:// rscds.org/get-involved/young-dancers/join-young-dancers

We are very grateful to the support we have had from the Coates Crescent staff who worked so hard to get the Virtual Festival and Members’ Booklet ready for Summer School. We are so lucky to have their creative input and the time they put towards these projects.

Away from the dance floor we have been speaking with organisers of previous Spring Flings to document thoughts and considerations for these events. The organisers from Edinburgh’s 2023 Spring Fling have drawn together a document which will provide a helpful reference for future organisers. We plan to do the same for Junior Summer Camp and other events such as the youth offering at the Autumn Gathering. I hope that a combination of these will provide a useful handover for future YSC members. We are also looking forward to a closer relationship with the Scottish Schools Working Group as we consider our role in this alongside Education and Training Committee.

Information will be released soon regarding arrangements for Spring Fling 2024 so please look out for details in Branch Mailings, Dance Scottish Together and on social media.

Abbie Brown and Erica DeGannes conclude their term on YSC this year and we would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to both for their contributions, creativity and insight throughout. It has been a pleasure to have them on our committee and they have brought some very valuable skills and experience to the team. We hope to welcome new members to the committee in November.

Please get in touch regarding this, or any other matters relating to young dancers and musicians by emailing ysc@rscds.org