Always on
This project successfully funded on 27th March 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
NYDCS Foundations removing barriers to dance
Glasgow, Glasgow City, United Kingdom
First target reached!
We need to raise as much money as we can to make NYDCS Foundations possible. Any do...
Aim
Remove financial barriers and increase access to high quality dance for young people in two new free groups in Aberdeen and Greenock.
Who. YDance (Scottish Youth Dance) works throughout Scotland to improve lives through dance. The national organisation for dance for children and young people in Scotland, we work with over 3000 young people a year in partnership with councils, charities and schools. Through high quality classes and performances, we help young people build confidence, skills, improve physical health and mental wellbeing and aspiration.
Dance is only available to those can can afford to pay.
Dance is popular, accessible and fun but less than 1% of all classes and groups in Scotland are free of charge. We believe that dance should be accessible to everyone. 83% of our work is in areas of multiple deprivation and 99% of classes are free of charge.
There is a lack of high quality dance training for 14-18 year olds in Scotland. In England, Centres for Advanced Training schemes provide specialist tuition for talented dancers. In Scotland there is no such scheme.
We need your help
NYDCS Foundations has funding from the Leverhulme Trust but there a £9,500 shortfall. We are asking for your help to keep this programme free of charge, to give young people an opportunity they would never otherwise get.
What is NYDCS Foundations
NYDCS (National Youth Dance Company of Scotland) is Scotland’s flagship youth contemporary dance training programme for talented dancers aged 16-21. As part of NYDCS 12 dancers gain advance technical and choreographic skills and perform at Festivals and events across the UK and internationally.
NYDCS Foundations is a new pathway programme, designed to increase access for young people who otherwise are excluded.
Led by professional dance tutors and choreographers, 30 young people (age 14-18) from Greenock and Aberdeen will take part in free classes and perform at local and national performances. They will build their technique, choreography and performance and develop key transferrable skills, improving communication and group working. Through mentoring, careers workshops and leadership training, young people will gain confidence, knowledge and skills.
To ensure that the course is open to all, around 200 young people will take part taster sessions in secondary schools and local dance groups. Participants will be selected following an open and supportive audition.
Why should you help?
Dance can transform the way that young people see themselves.
The young people we work with from under-resourced communities often lack confidence, struggle with anxiety, and have low self-esteem. Some are socially isolated or have additional issues such as neurodiversity or disabilities.
Evaluation of our programmes in areas of multiple deprivation show the difference that classes and performances make: 96% of young people reported increased confidence and 93% increases in wellbeing and mental health.
The young people in these groups will gain so much from taking part.
Young people learn new skills for life, make new friendships, become more physically active and grow in confidence and motivation.
Through this crowdfunder, and with Creative Scotland generously matching every donation, we are looking to raise £4000. Your support will help us cover:
- 10 full days classes and rehearsals led by two professional dance tutors. 30 young people will learn dance technique, improvisation, develop ideas for choreography, build leadership skills, and help create a performance piece.
- Young people will take part in two public performances experiencing what it could be like to be a professional dancer.
- They will receive personal mentoring and careers advice.
The budget to run the course is £27,350. Over half of these costs are for dance tutors who will work directly with the young people. The rest of the budget is for venue hire, materials, training, marketing and production costs.
We receive funding from the Leverhulme Trust of £18,900, but need to find money to cover the £9500 shortfall.
The budget doesn’t cover any YDance staff who manage administration, lead the project, or run the marketing, fundraising and social media.
How YDance helped Robyn Richford
Our Ambassador Robyn Richford is TV and radio presenter on ITV’s hit morning show Scrambled and her radio show on Capital Scotland FM. She told us how YDance helped her find her future.
“I started my journey with YDance back in 2008 when I participated in Project Y and then went on to be a member of the NYDCS. People often ask me how I ended up working in entertainment and truthfully, it’s been a long windy path, but I know where it started: Ydance! It opened my world up in ways I’ll be forever grateful because this is the first time I really realised that someone like me could have a career in the arts. The timing was also crucial as the opportunity came at a time my personal life was really difficult and my hope was fading. Alongside the obvious dance training Ydance provided me with escapism, a sense of community and they believed in me which has undoubtably had a positive impact on my life and career.”
More about YDance
There is a lack of contemporary dance training in Scotland. YDance fills that gap, leading free programmes teaching advanced skills, offering performance opportunities, post-graduate internships and employing freelance dance artists.
We work to build a youth dance sector that is accessible for everyone. We train and employ young people with learning disabilities so they can co-lead our Horizons group. We also lead classes for young people who would otherwise struggle to engage with classes due to a lack of confidence and self-esteem caused by experiences of trauma and neglect.
We lead specialist classes which build health and wellbeing and social inclusion of young parents, young carers, young people excluded from mainstream education and refugees.
Creative Scotland core funding covers only 35% of YDance costs. We have to raise the remaining project funding from trusts, statutory grants and individuals.
All our programmes are designed to make a difference to the lives of the children and young people we work with in local communities.
Creative Scotland Crowdmatch has provided £2,000 of match funding
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made