TR14ers Community Dance Charity Limited

TR14ers work and experience

 Research by the University of Exeter Medical School found that children who attend TR14ers have physical and emotional health levels above the national average which is far higher than would be expected in a town as disadvantaged as Camborne.

 TR14ers has delivered free to join and attend weekly dance workshops for children since October 2005. We now see children of ex-members at our sessions. A registered charity since 2009, 66% of our board are female, under 24 and from Camborne. Over the years 3000+children have attended the dance sessions, and we are part of the community fabric. We do not target gender and approximately 80% are girls. Our younger trustees live in Camborne and join at ages 6, 8 and 15 and are

currently all aged 18. TR14ers is known in every school in Camborne because we have delivered dance sessions in break times  resulting in referrals to TR14ers. In 2009 we organised and delivered a Royal Gala Performance at the Hall for Cornwall compared by Sir Tim Rice.

 Our project and what we want it to achieve.

At TR14ers every session is free of charge with no obligation to attend and the children keep coming back so we know they enjoy it. Our programme helps young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods access to the performing arts, reaping the benefits of an active and healthy lifestyle. Dance is a highly physical and collaborative activity and the University of Exeter Medical School research shows that regular participation at TR14ers dance sessions improves children's physical and emotional health up to the national average which is well above the average for Camborne. Leadership qualities emerge from this physical and emotional health and are nurtured with more challenging dance #sessions and opportunities to bring new skills to the main group.

The dance workshops we provide promote resilience, confidence, physical and emotional health and inspire young people to adopt an "I can do it" attitude. 

Our #aims:

1.Improve young people's health and well-being - we aim to help improve young people's physical and emotional health, through dance, collaboration and relationships based on trust and respect

2.Improve young people's confidence to have higher aspirations - TR14ers provides a safe space for them to express themselves through dance and find ways of building the confidence to foster and build interpersonal relationships and discuss their ambitions. Continued in next box.

3.Develop young people's Leadership qualities - young people empowered to inspire and mobilise themselves and others towards a common purpose, in response to personal and/or social issues and challenges, to effect positive change in the TR14ers and the community.

Achieving these aims gives children access to their human right to the best possible health (physical and emotional) which in turn gives them the space and energy to consider new aspirations and to engage in the creative arts outside TR14ers. Our new project to achieve these aims is collaboration with Studio4Dance in which the children will attend advanced dance sessions to improve their dance skills and bring them back to TR14ers using their new found leadership qualities to distribute those skills to their peers at more advanced TR14ers dance sessions. We have piloted this approach with support from other funders and know that it works having sees the rapid development of dance and leadership skills.

 How donations will help to develop our work.

One thing children in Camborne don't need is being told what they need. Our approach creates the space for the children, young people and volunteers to offer their abundance of assets by opening their hearts and minds simultaneously and empathetically so that the things they want to happen will happen. The children and young people can self-select as dance leaders at any age though generally it’s at about 11 years old; choreographing and teaching routines to groups of up to 60 peers with the support of the dance tutors. At 16 they are invited to become directors/trustees and sit on the board of trustees. Hence young people drive the development of the organisation, identifying opportunities and challenges and implementing their own solutions, ensuring it responds to the current environment. At the beginning of each dance session the group (including the young board members) hold a discussion on whatever is current. The board members answer the children's questions at the time and/or bring them to the next board meeting.

A TR14er who went on to attend Studio4Dance, graduated from ShockOut dance school in Manchester and performed on stage in February 2020 with Stormzy at the Brits awards. Inspired by her, the children told us to put something in place that gives them the chance to develop their skills without having to leave TR14ers. Therefore, we fund places with Studio4Dance (founded by an ex TR14er) offering them higher level dance skills. The children use these new skills to enhance their repertoire and teach the new choreography to the TR14ers on Fridays. One of the children who attended joined ShockOut this term and others achieved two firsts and a second place at a recent dance competition at Alton Towers. 

The children attending Studio4Dance meet people they would never normally meet, make new connections and develop their dance and leadership skills through practising and performing advanced performing arts. When they reach the age of 16 they atre offered the opportunity to become Trustees. This enables the young trustees to develop the charity and the project in whatever way they see fit with the older Trustees alongside them until it is time to hang up our boots and step away. 

Our wider impact

 TR14ers features in Lord Nigel Crisp's (former head of the NHS) book "Health is made at home. Hospitals are for repairs" pp 53-58 and the young people presented on Nigel's international webinar series.

TR14ers attended the Council of Europe Enter! Youth Week (European Youth Conference) in Strasbourg in 2019 as keynote speakers. They contributed to a recommendation to the Council of Ministers which has been distributed to all 47 member states.

The children in TR14ers work with the Camborne Town Business Improvement District (BID) and have been consulted on what to do with the £23.7million government grant received by Camborne. As the children become more involved with the Camborne Business Improvement District they will meet new people in new contexts giving us the space to try out new approaches with the Town Council and BID teams.

As the children transition from children in need to young people that are needed by their community, young people that are socially embedded and more able to fully participate in the civic, environmental and economic life of their community they will benefit from our project's wider impact beyond its own development locally, nationally and internationally.

Attendance

Children: TR14ers is open to any child who wants to attend our free dance sessions. We do not ask for any prior experience in dance.

Here are some quotes from children:

Emily 13 – TR’s means a lot to me because I haven’t been at TRs long and ever since I’ve joined my life has been so much better. TR’s has helped me in my confidence issues and helped me stay out of trouble. I have friends at TRs that I didn’t know nearly a year ago and now I feel like I can tell them anything’

Bea 13 – TRs mean a lot to me. TRs have impacted my life a lot. If it wasn’t for TRs I wouldn’t of had such great opportunities. I think that TRs has helped me with my confidence and ability. TRs have made me more confident so helped me to make really good connections with my peers Xx is that alright?

Tia 14 – TRs is basically my safe haven… It’s where I can share my troubles with others, it’s the thing that I always look forward to every week. It’s definitely impacted my life because when I joined a few years ago I was a timid little girl with confidence issues. However, this charity had enabled me to be ambitious and gave me a social and healthy lifestyle. Everyone there is like my second family, and I’ve made so many amazing memories with them.

Sophie 14 – TRs means a lot to me and not only in a way where I like to dance. It’s also a place where I can let all my troubles go and become more confident. I’ll admit I have troubles outside of dance and I don’t tell anyone about it but when I come I don’t feel intimidated by anyone because it’s such a great atmosphere. It has definitely helped with confidence because I was always so shy at school and at dance when I first came. It helped me bring out my confident side and still getting better. I definitely wouldn’t have had this life if it weren’t for TRs and I don’t care about how good or bad I am at dancing because the whole point is putting away your feelings and having fun and that is exactly what TRs does.

Parents and carers: Benefit by seeing their children develop and perform. 

As one parent said "They give [my daughter] the chance of having amazing instructors that will teach [her] that dance is not just about movement but about life. The opportunity: to learn to be disciplined, to learn to take care of her body, to learn to work with others and to be a proud, supportive, kind and respectful team member, to learn to deal with disappointment, to learn to make and accomplish goals, to learn that it takes hours and hours of hard work and practice to achieve success for everything in life, and that success does not happen overnight. TR14ers provides [her] with the ability to develop attributes that will serve her well throughout her life and give her the opportunity to bless the lives of others through dance. TR14ers are not just a Charity dance group they are a family to all these young children, teenagers and adults". 

How we make sure TR14ers reaches people.

The children know about TR14ers because many of their parents attended in the early days. We have a social media presence on Facebook and Instagram managed by one of our young directors who is also undertaking training in running our website. There is one secondary school in Camborne and nearly every teenager in the town attends it. We have taught lunch time dance sessions in some of the primary schools We support and perform in local fetes. 

In short "TR14ers" is in Camborne's children and family’s vocabularies from an early age because we are so well connected in the town. That is why we rely on children's and their parents/carers word of mouth at school or social media rather than expensive advertising and marketing. Our recent successes winning first place at a dance competition in Alton Towers and girls joining ShockOut are publicised on social media by the children and we are seeing new membership as a direct consequence of that. We know this approach works because every week brings new joiners.