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Dance Students Reach Higher Than Ever

Dance students attending Inveralmond Community, Deans Community, James Young and West Calder High Schools plus Bathgate and Linlithgow Academies achieved 7 A grades, 6  B grades and 3 C grades in Higher Dance.

The Higher curriculum dance programme was launched in 2004 in the face of a growing obesity problem and as a response to research that showed high numbers of young people, between 13 and 17, dropping out of PE lessons.  The classes began with 11 pupils studying dance in one school. Today West Lothian has over 140 pupils studying dance in school, some lessons provided by Arts Services and some by individual schools.  Inveralmond Community High, where it all began, has now been awarded Scottish Qualifications Authority accreditation to deliver its Intermediate level 2 and Higher dance course and West Lothian Council?s Dance Development Officer now sits on the dance qualifications panel for Scotland.

Andrew Miller, Executive Councillor for Education said: ?These results are excellent and I congratulate each of the students and their tutors for the hard work that went into achieving them.   I believe that our dance programme, both in schools and in the community, is making a real difference to young people in West Lothian, particularly young women who so often seem to stop taking part in organised physical activities after leaving school.  I am particularly pleased that so many schools now offer dance as part of the curriculum taking new opportunities into communities from
Livingston to Bathgate, Blackburn to Linlithgow.?

Former West Calder High School student Fiona Fyfe is particularly proud of the service?s achievements.   One of the first group of 11 dance students in 2004,  Fiona achieved a B grade Higher and went on to get her dance degree from Telford College before returning to contribute to the development of dance in West Lothian.   Today Fiona has her own dance company called New Raw Soul, has formed Foundations Dance Collective to support new graduate dancers and is a freelance tutor helping to deliver the Arts Services dance programme.

Fiona said: ?I am really excited to be working in dance at home in West Lothian.   For me  it seems like a long time since I first started dance classes at school, it is almost impossible to think that it was only 6 years ago.   I can safely say that enrolling in that first class changed my life and I am looking forward to the opportunity to introduce more young people in West Lothian to the joy of dance and the heights you can reach with a bit of application and hard work?. 

For more information contact Maggie Mackay 01506 773851 email maggie.mackay@westlothian.gov.uk

Date Published: Tue Sep 07 10:09:09 BST 2010