Elevate helps dancer build confidence and reach their dreams.

As you may have heard, Elevate is one of the newest offerings at The Movement Factory. A special self-development programme created for those aged 16-20 to help build their confidence, resilience and dance skills. We spoke to Ethan, a dancer at The Movement Factory about his inspirations and how Elevate can help him reach his goals.

As a creative dancer, Ethan notes that he uses a range of dance styles that complement each other when performing. “I don’t necessarily resonate with just one style. This inspires me to collaborate new styles together and learn more about them,” he says.

This is a key complement of the Elevate programme. The programme features a monthly skills workshop as well as a weekly drop-in session with highly skilled youth workers that will help dancers learn new skills and strengthen old ones.

In addition to the dance focused workshops, Elevate is also going to focus on supporting the mental health of the dancers. Along with the workshops and drop-sessions, Elevate also offers free counselling with one-to-one sessions for those who may want the extra support.

For dancers such as Ethan, Elevate will help him create a network of like-minded individuals which could help him in pursuit of his other life goals. Ethan owns a clothing brand, and with the opportunity to interact with other dancers he may have the chance to forge new collaborations in the future.

In speaking about the impact that dance has had on his life, Ethan says, “When I was younger, I was very shy and I would say that dance had helped me overcome my shyness/anxiety day by day, giving me a voice through movement. Dance has made me more confident in myself, helping me to achieve things I wouldn't have thought I would have done such as performing in front of thousands of people across the world or doing advertisements for brands such as Nike.”

We hope that through Elevate we can support more dancers and give them the tools to be more confident in themselves and in their dancing.