Since graduating from De Montfort University in 2007, Kirsten has been working as a freelance dance artist, teaching in educational and community settings for Dudley Performing Arts. She has also performed in various projects including Resolution at The Place in January 2008, and Watch This Space in the International Dance Festival Birmingham. She is currently working for Dance 4 in Nottingham as Projects Assistant.

Hayley Duffield

Hayley trained at Coventry University from 2001-2004, gaining a first class honours degree in Dance and Professional Practise. Since graduating, Hayley has taught extensively in Community and Education settings, working as a professional dance artist for Dudley Performing Arts, DanceXchange and Solihull Arts Complex. Hayley teaches contemporary/creative dance, street, physical theatre and other dance styles from a range of cultures and time periods.

Hayley has an ever-extending collection of music – which is a major inspiration for new creative work. She is also influenced by modern culture and current issues. Hayley started dancing after training as a Gymnast and still likes to include in her dances as many ways as possible to be upside- down!

While Paul and Stacey are looking after the boys, Hayley and Kirsten are working with the girls. We asked them what they were up to in their sessions -

We caught up with the girls after one of their sessions to ask them how things were going -

Prior to the start of the project the girls had discussed issues about body image, what they had seen in the media and the impact of this on themselves and others.  The Move It! project was a great way of getting the girls to explore some of these issues in a creative way and it also gave them the opportunity to learn some new styles of dance which they loved..

Raqia tells us what she hopes will happen with the girls group -

The young men had highlighted an interest in dance and had discussed issues with regard to not having a healthy lifestyle, which was related to a poor diet and a lack of exercise.  The young men were also very creative and expressive, and wanted to be able to learn new skills and channel their energy in a positive way.  They used the medium of dance, which they were not comfortable with, so this took them away from their comfort zones and challenged their perceptions in order to develop their confidence and self esteem.

At the end of the project we caught up with Raqia to ask her what she thought of the project and how the boys had got on -

Five weeks into the project and we catch up with Paul and Stacey to see how things are going -

It’s the end of the project so we asked Shuhan for his thoughts -

We caught up with Suhel to ask why he’d got involved -

He wanted to take part in the dance project because he wanted to learn how to break dance and initially he was apprehensive because he felt it would be too difficult but as he progressed his confidence grew and he discovered that he can breakdance really well.

We caught up with Arosh at key points during the project to see how things are going -

Muktar undertook the dance project because he was very interested and wanted to develop his confidence in breakdancing, which he has.  Through taking part he has realised that he has a natural ability for dancing.

We follow Muktar’s progress through the project in his video diary -