Time to come dancing
Even my kindest friends wouldn't think I was designed to be a dancer. I avoid taking to the dance floor at any kind of event, and on the odd occasions I've been "persuaded" - usually after a bottle too many - the outcome is not pretty.
I was born with two left feet and no sense of rhythm, so the idea that I'd become one of Britain's "" would be on the extreme end of improbability. But it's happened, and this week I was among the delegates at a Dance Summit in the City of London alongside the likes of Arlene Phillips, Lisa Snowdon, Angela Rippon and Mark Foster.
To avoid any ambiguity, I should explain that being a Dance Champion means that we champion the cause of dance in the UK - not that we've won a prize. And in fairness there are some other people more like me in the group: our chairman is who's a successful businessman and we have colleagues from the Arts Council and the Central Council for Physical Recreation as well as some patient civil servants in attendance.
The aim is straightforward: "to inspire, enable and empower people of all ages and backgrounds to try dance" - and to help meet the national targets of getting more people involved in physical activity.
So my involvement isn't, thankfully, because of potential in the Pasa Doble. It's because it ties in with the sport and activity legacy around London 2012 that I've talked about here before - and also, inevitably, because there was an idea at one stage that we should concoct a national dance event that might have links to the Olympic opening ceremony.
I'm pleased to say that the expert choreographers and I are as one here: the biggest event on the planet is not the place for amateur dancers, and much as we love him it's not the right venue for the John Sergeant experience.
But there's a lot we can do. The 91Èȱ¬'s Sport Academy included dance as part of its , and the evidence suggests there are millions of people who wouldn't take up sport but might well be persuaded to dance if they could find the right environment.
Worries - and I know this only too well - include: "will I make a complete idiot of myself?" "am I the wrong shape for dance?" and even "what do I wear if I turn up for a dance class?" - with those being the kind of questions we need to address if people are going to have a bash.
Miguel Doforo, Darren Bennett, Angela Rippon, Mark Foster, Arlene Phillips and Rod Aldridge attend the launch
Now, this may seem a long way away from the 100 metres and the brilliant sport we hope to see a couple of years from now, and you could argue activity through dance is something that should be happening anyway - irrespective of the fact we're the host country for the OIympics. But what I witnessed at the Dance Summit and I pick up frequently is a growing sense in the UK that 2012 is a special year and it does have the potential to inspire people above and beyond the routine.
Sometimes this can be represented by people feeling grumpy if they suspect they're being left out: there's been some crossness in the Dance world that the didn't seem to have much dance in it. But at its best it's a feeling that this is a chance of a lifetime to do something uplifting and different, and if we can't create the right spirit in Britain in 2012 then we might as well give up.
So we'll see how dance fits into that, as we continue the quest to define the sporting legacy for the nation too. This remains not as straightforward as it might be because as in many sectors there's almost always good work underway at grassroots level across the country, but it struggles to achieve national impact and often there are overlaps between different 'official' bodies and problems in co-ordination. "Dance Champions" is one attempt to address that.
But the question that's been nagging away as I've been writing this is can I say I'll have a go myself? Still not sure, to be honest. But I just used the Dance Champions website to see whether it had any classes near me, and it does - and as I'm now firmly in middle age a group called "Mature Moves" caught my eye. The cheering thing is I'm still too young for it: it says it's for people between 60 and 100. So I'm afraid I'll have to cede my place at that one for eight more years at least.
I'm Roger Mosey, the 91Èȱ¬'s director of London 2012. That means I'm overseeing all the 91Èȱ¬'s 2012 preparations including not just sport but the Cultural Olympiad, our Olympic news and information services and everything that will bring the story of the London Games to audiences at home and abroad. I want to share here what we're planning - and debate some of the big issues. You can also follow me on .
Comment number 1.
At 26th Feb 2010, rjaggar wrote:I knew a German who grew up in England/Scotland once who regarded dancing as 'a socially acceptable way of finding out what shapes of women you enjoy embracing'. Yes, he did dance for Cambridge (yes, there was a match with Oxford), but it was an insight which might be interesting for you lot who are looking to inspire.
Dancing well makes you, in the eyes of many, more sociable. I knew those in Manchester who went to a Salsa class to meet new people whilst studying abroad. There is Scottish (the only form of dancing I became remotely competent at, my normal reticence usually somewhat reduced by the liquid intake regarded as normal in mountaineering clubs in the 1980s and early 1990s), ballroom and, perhaps of more interest to the younger, disco, rock, rap etc etc. There are social graces to dance and it can be at almost any intensity you desire. And the music can be at any decibel intensity desired.......which I guess makes it, if targeted well, a mass participation potential.
I can't speak for all, but my take on dance growing up was that I needed a 'Delia Smith'/'Dancing for dummies' guide to it all. Delia didn't exist in those days, although she did when I went to Uni, so presumably the dancing for dummies guide didn't either. So I didn't get it and, rather like those lost to languages at school, regarded myself as a social misfit on a Friday night throughout my youth. It wasn't done to say you were useless at anything non-intellectual in those days, so you remained useless as there were no GCSE classes in dance. A shame.
So my take on this would be: there will be some who need rather rudimentary lessons and tolerant members of the other sex to reach a basic plateau of acceptable incompetence. You may need to reduce the 'coolness' of this if you want to make them comfortable trying it out, as their belief that they could be remotely cool on the dance floor may be at the height of self-regard sadly manifest in some rather agreeably buxom women who think that tall beanpoles are the ultimate attractor of 100% of the male species (namely fairly close to rock bottom)......
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Comment number 2.
At 27th Feb 2010, Roger Mosey - 91Èȱ¬ Director, London 2012 wrote:I think that's a first appearance on this blog for the word "buxom"... But rjaggar, you're right about the need for something like Delia for Dancing. We'll take that on board.
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Comment number 3.
At 4th Mar 2010, Will Evans wrote:As a rugby player I never considered myself to have any interest in dance. However, I am now heavily involved in the promotion and delivery of dance opportunities for young people across Derbyshire - effectively viewing dance as a sport.
Although the blog above suggests there is little dance included within the Culutral Olympiad, we have been succesful in obtaining funding through the Igniting Ambition fund to deliver a series of workshops to develop the abilities of young people ahead of a performance at Buxton Opera House on 17 May at the County Youth Dance Platform.
Hopefully, this work will provide a link between the Olympics and Paralympics and the opportunities for young people to active through dance. We are now starting to look at how we develop opportunities around National Olympic Day on 23 June, through National School Sport Week the following week and onwards towards the Games themselves in 2012.
The work I have done in dance has been eye-opening for me and I now have a far greater respect and interest in dance than I would admit on a Saturday at the club. The engagement of non dance experts like yourself in these developments is very encouraging for the future. Any of the Dance Champions would be more than welcome to come and see our work in Derbyshire.
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Comment number 4.
At 4th Mar 2010, Roger Mosey - 91Èȱ¬ Director, London 2012 wrote:Thanks, Will - and we'll make sure Derbyshire's on the map. What I meant about the Cultural Olympiad was really the national schedule and the major projects: originally there was no dance at that level. But it's really good to hear there's plenty going on around the UK - some of it, I know, with the 2012 Inspire mark.
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Comment number 5.
At 5th Mar 2010, Will Evans wrote:Thanks Roger
The Inspire Mark is the next stage for us with the dance work we are doing. It is great that we now have the opportunity to put the a version of the 2012 logo alongside our work - it will really help to capture the imagination of children.
It's great to hear that this work is taking place at a national level. I am also pleased to hear that people far more senior than I are going to meetings about dance with that same confused look on my face that I have had any number of times...
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