Sound Moves: Music and Dance Celebrated at Southbank Centre

Over two days in March, Southbank Centre will be overflowing with performances, open rehearsals and workshops by some of the UK’s most talented young musicians and dancers with Sound Moves.

At the centre of the event is an energy-packed show in the Royal Festival Hall, featuring classical ballet, big band jazz, contemporary dance, choral singing, Kathak dance and percussion.

All the performers, aged 8 to 19, receive training from specialist schools, conservatoires and centres for advanced training in London and the South East participating in the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ Music and Dance Scheme.

The scheme gives young people with exceptional potential in music or dance the opportunity to receive the highest level of training by providing them with means-tested bursaries. Schools and centres participating in the scheme have produced some of the world’s greatest musicians and dancers, including Nigel Kennedy, Alison Balsom, Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope.

Started in 1981, the scheme currently helps some 2,000 students aged between 8 and 19, with just under half of them holding aided day and boarding places at designated specialist schools; the others, who are in mainstream schools, receive grants for specialist training out of school hours at Centres for Advanced Training (CATs), which include the top music and dance colleges and conservatoires.

A recent Music and Dance Scheme participant comments:

“The training I received was incomparable: the teachers were supportive and inspiring mentors who guided me throughout my time at the school, working tirelessly to make me a better dancer. The experience I gained with many renowned artists and choreographers was invaluable for my professional life.”

The organisations taking part in Sound Moves are: Aldeburgh Young Musicians, Centre for Young Musicians, DanceEast Academy, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Laban, The Place, The Purcell School, Royal Academy of Music, Royal Ballet School, Royal College of Music, Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, Trinity College of Music, Westminster Abbey Choir School, Westminster Cathedral Choir School, Yehudi Menuhin School, Youth Dance England.

Further details on Sound Moves can be found at: www.southbankcentre.co.uk/soundmoves