BT Festival Celebrates Young Dance Talent

Young dancers from across the UK take to the London stage next month as part of the country's biggest celebration of youth dance. The BT Festival of Dance - an annual showcase for the best young dance groups - combines tap, contemporary and traditional Scottish and Irish dance with physical theatre and hip hop, promising a feast of young dance talent.

The Festival takes place at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Sunday 5 July 1998. Dancers aged 10 to 19 years will spend a day rehearsing at the South Bank Centre before putting on a public performance at 7:00PM.

Eleven dance groups were selected at regional festivals in February and March this year, when over 1,000 youngsters competed in Belfast, Birmingham, Brecon, Edinburgh, Exeter, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Portsmouth, Solihull and Swindon, for a place in the London showcase. The showcase itself is non-competitive, though each group will be presented with a trophy and a BT bursary for £250 by dancer Wayne Sleep.

Since it began in 1996, the Festival of Dance has given a public platform to over 1,300 young dance groups from across the UK. This is the third and final year of BT's partnership with the festival.

Tickets for the Festival of Dance range from £6 to £8.50. Call the South Bank Centre box office on +44-171-960-4242 for further information.

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