00:00:00:00 - 00:00:03:20 Speaker 1 You're listening to. Listening to Echo Radio. I would. 00:00:03:20 - 00:00:22:02 Speaker 2 Rate. Now for our final story of the day here on The Ripple Effect at Echo. Would radio listeners may remember critical Mass united by 20 two's inclusive dance program, who famously opened up the games and then branched out into a number of different engagement streams, including Ascension Dance in Coventry. I went over to one of that dance rehearsals to speak with their director. 00:00:22:05 - 00:00:23:20 Speaker 2 AJ welcome, AJ. 00:00:23:22 - 00:00:25:19 Speaker 3 Hey, thank you for having me. 00:00:25:20 - 00:00:29:16 Speaker 2 Absolutely. So tell me, what is Ascension Dance and where did it come from? 00:00:29:18 - 00:00:54:05 Speaker 3 So Ascension Dance is a Coventry based dance company with the ethos of trying to inspire young people by giving them opportunities to get involved in dance and movement, and it's as open as that. And we use dance and we use parkour. We use sensory play to try and get all our young people, whether they are young people, whether there's no needs or neurotypical young people, to experience that, to be creative, to feel supported and have a sense of focus and basically get that sense of pride from what they're doing. 00:00:54:05 - 00:01:05:17 Speaker 3 So and a kind of echoing back to me and Ben, who's there, the directors kind of history trying to give those young people or young people now some opportunities that we had to connect with dance and movement and kind of enjoy themselves. 00:01:05:22 - 00:01:09:21 Speaker 2 Amazing. And what programs you have at the moment and, and what age groups fit into those different programs? 00:01:09:23 - 00:01:25:23 Speaker 3 Oh, okay. I mean, this could take a long time, but, we have Ascension Youth, which is our youth program, which goes from four into 18, and they have different groups in there. So our four six year old group is called Leap. And then we have apex midwives which are 7 to 11. And so 7 to 10. We have 11 to 14 which is vertex and so on. 00:01:25:23 - 00:01:44:06 Speaker 3 And we have summit which is a performance group which is 14 plus. And those young people often get involved in performances and do little kind of performances in Coventry and walking around, and then we do parkour sessions on a Thursday, having that parkour sessions, schools, education settings, afterschool clubs, we perform and tours where we do the works. 00:01:44:06 - 00:01:52:02 Speaker 3 If we think dance can inspire someone or make someone smile and makes them feel that they've got a good time or, you know, bring the best out of them, then we normally do it. 00:01:52:05 - 00:02:04:11 Speaker 2 Amazing. And you see this, obviously been going for a couple of years. Do you see this legacy aspect of people that were in the under 14 classes are now moving up through from leap into other things as well. 00:02:04:13 - 00:02:18:18 Speaker 3 So really nice. When we first started the company, we did an after school club in a in a local primary school, and we had a boy in there and that boy joined our youth group when he was in year well, he started working with them in year three. He joined in our youth group and year four, and now he's get into it again. 00:02:18:18 - 00:02:32:13 Speaker 3 So he's got he's going all the way through the system. So it's really quite wholesome and also a stark reminder of time. And I'm at my age, when the young people kind of stay with us and progress through and feel like it's part of their personality, which is absolutely amazing. 00:02:32:13 - 00:02:36:07 Speaker 2 So essentially, we're going for at least seven years then and go from year to year. Ten. 00:02:36:07 - 00:02:38:04 Speaker 3 Yeah, eight years out and ten years old. 00:02:38:04 - 00:02:40:03 Speaker 2 And whether it's to how did it how it will begin. 00:02:40:05 - 00:03:03:18 Speaker 3 We, were super fortunate to apply for some city council funding many, many years ago. Yeah, nine years ago. And because it it's on a whim is with a friend of ours, the filmmaker, and, me and Ben, at the time, we were like, well, we've got this funding. We can't just record Ben and AJ. And so we came up with the name Ascension, and that was kind of the simple starting place. 00:03:03:18 - 00:03:20:02 Speaker 3 And we did a lovely dance film for the year, the City of Culture project, where we ran around loads of local environments and spaces and did like parkour and dance, and it was an idea to kind of showcase all the cool places in Coventry. And then from there it kind of took traction. We did some shows. People were like, can you do this Boyce dance workshop? 00:03:20:02 - 00:03:38:20 Speaker 3 Can you do this? Can you do that? And people kind of kept asking us to do bits and pieces. And, you know, eight years later we're sitting in a studio which is ours, having just, you know, performed up and down the country, been internationally performing, and also really developing our work with coaching loads of young people, which is amazing. 00:03:38:20 - 00:03:48:19 Speaker 3 Says, you know, sometimes it takes a minute to pinch yourself and get you're doing everything that you, as a university student or a young dancer artist, wanted to do. And you should be really proud. It's really quite nice. 00:03:48:24 - 00:03:57:18 Speaker 2 Amazing. And how did you get involved with United by 22? So you've gone through Coventry Works Coventry Council funding. You then meet United pertaining to what happened with them and how did they benefit you? 00:03:57:23 - 00:04:27:01 Speaker 3 Well, actually it goes back to this lovely project called Critical Mass, which was, you know, sort by unite by Trinity, with the Commonwealth Games, thinking about how we can get young people from across the whole West Midlands involved in some of their amazing opening ceremony opportunities, such as, one Day stories, which was the, cultural opening which happened in, I think it was March 2020, all the way through to the actual opening ceremony, where, you know, we start to have young people doing choreography before we open the games and have the torch running. 00:04:27:03 - 00:04:49:08 Speaker 3 And I was very lucky enough to be elected as an artist in 2021 who would help support that project to going. And, we had some youth groups in Coventry and Warwickshire that were part of it, and I'd led on one of those, and from then the journey of critical mass and getting these and giving these young people such an amazing opportunity was something that had to continue. 00:04:49:10 - 00:05:12:04 Speaker 3 They had to continue to have opportunities to dance and move and play. And, we were approached because Coventry at the time, I think we had lost a few of the after group a little bit, because obviously it's hard to maintain stuff when there isn't something to work forward to. And so we approached to kind of think about like, what could we do to try and create a youth group, an inclusive youth group that sustainable and gives the same sort of opportunity. 00:05:12:04 - 00:05:27:00 Speaker 3 And as a company that I already had a youth group thinking about performances and touring with that kind of stuff, it seemed like a no brainer that they could slot into, to our little world, into our world. And I guess we also had lots to learn about creative, inclusive, but inclusive spaces. So yeah, that's how we got involved. 00:05:27:04 - 00:05:39:15 Speaker 2 Amazing. And so you're the only person on today's program that we're speaking to you that sort of outside those other regions of Birmingham, do you feel that, you know, I suppose wanting to is helped connect Coventry into that more West Midlands region. 00:05:39:15 - 00:06:13:21 Speaker 3 I feel like, as a commentariat, you, we often think about big opportunities like the Commonwealth Games coming to Birmingham and we have that kind of, you know, oh, why is it us or how is it going to spread around the region? But it's been really, really clear from minute one when we've got to have a conversation about this project, but also understand some of the other projects being funded as part of this kind of round, that it wasn't just Birmingham Focus, but thinking about the wider region and how we can create more pockets of opportunity for young people to engage in the arts and and enjoy dancing and movement and, yeah, think 00:06:13:21 - 00:06:34:02 Speaker 3 about, how as a, as a region, we're really interconnected. We're not that far apart. And, and how maybe a youth group is being funded either in Warsaw can maybe can be part of summit with us. So it feels like United by 22 and the whole project that actually been really inclusive in terms of the spread and the breadth and the reach. 00:06:34:04 - 00:06:39:10 Speaker 3 And also we, of of the funding and also we can learn from other groups happening around the region, which is great. 00:06:39:12 - 00:06:41:13 Speaker 2 And tell us about a recent project you've done. 00:06:41:13 - 00:07:14:00 Speaker 3 We just did an inclusive dance platform very recently where the young people in being part of our inclusive group came and performed, which is really amazing. So we've already had a lot of people saying, do it again, do it again. And obviously we're thinking about what the funding streams are and how we can do that. But yeah, after April we're going into Easter, although just after Easter, thinking about our next term activities, continuing to work with this lovely space, touring our early years work and touring our international, outdoor touring work, the other side, and also just thinking about what the summer program is and trying to create and sustain some 00:07:14:00 - 00:07:28:21 Speaker 3 of these amazing opportunities, because it feels like we're on a bit of a roll and gain momentum. We want to make sure we, as a business, being viable and sensible and doing all the things we can to make sure more young people, for many more years to come are able to engage and have the same sort of opportunities. 00:07:28:23 - 00:07:35:14 Speaker 2 And now we are joined by some of those young people here. So we have Chloe, Hannah and Kate. Thanks for coming on the show. Chloe. 00:07:35:15 - 00:07:36:02 Speaker 1 Hi. 00:07:36:08 - 00:07:41:04 Speaker 2 So you've been involved in Ascension Dance for quite a while now. Can you name some of the projects you've been involved in? 00:07:41:10 - 00:07:50:01 Speaker 1 So I've been in Critical mass, in Birmingham. Center. 00:07:50:03 - 00:07:51:13 Speaker 2 And what was your favorite one? 00:07:51:15 - 00:07:52:00 Speaker 1 All of. 00:07:52:00 - 00:07:57:15 Speaker 2 Them. All of the new favorite. No individuals striking in your head and going. That was the one I want to do again. 00:07:57:17 - 00:07:58:22 Speaker 1 I'd love to do all of them again. 00:07:59:02 - 00:08:05:20 Speaker 2 All of them again. And are there any moments you can think of Chloe were like, oh, this is just amazing. This is the most amazing thing that's happened so far. 00:08:06:00 - 00:08:10:22 Speaker 1 It's an opportunity of a lifetime. It's just mind blowing. 00:08:10:24 - 00:08:12:23 Speaker 2 And what about it is mind blowing? 00:08:13:00 - 00:08:21:00 Speaker 1 But we get this opportunity to work with professionals and just about creativity. 00:08:21:02 - 00:08:24:16 Speaker 2 So what is it about dance that makes you just want to keep coming back? 00:08:24:18 - 00:08:37:18 Speaker 1 I love it because you can express your feelings and be a different person when you're on the dance floor, and all your worries melt away when you dance. And don't think about anything else except the movements and the dancing and stuff. 00:08:37:19 - 00:08:43:14 Speaker 2 And how important is it for you that this place exists somewhere, for you to go and do your dancing? 00:08:43:19 - 00:08:46:01 Speaker 1 Some really important. 00:08:46:03 - 00:08:47:10 Speaker 2 Yeah. Have you made any friends here? 00:08:47:10 - 00:08:48:21 Speaker 1 I've made loads of friends. 00:08:48:23 - 00:08:52:09 Speaker 2 Loads. How many number of top. Hi, Chloe. 00:08:52:11 - 00:08:53:16 Speaker 1 20. 00:08:53:18 - 00:09:00:07 Speaker 2 20 friends. And you've been part of this engine. Fantastic. And if you had to give a session a mark out of ten, what would it be? 00:09:00:09 - 00:09:01:13 Speaker 1 Yeah, a million. 00:09:01:15 - 00:09:04:09 Speaker 2 A million out of ten for his engine. 00:09:04:11 - 00:09:06:08 Speaker 1 Definitely. 00:09:06:10 - 00:09:06:24 Speaker 2 I'll be. 00:09:07:01 - 00:09:11:08 Speaker 1 A heartbeat. Very. You know, I tend to not make. 00:09:11:10 - 00:09:14:15 Speaker 2 An AJ if people wanted to be involved in this engine, how can they do that? 00:09:14:17 - 00:09:34:06 Speaker 3 They can go a website. They can go to Ascension UK and you can find out more about, dark visions, apocalypse visions, AI shows and any other opportunities that we run. But also you can go out onto social media and you can find us on all of them. Wow. Facebook, Instagram x blue Sky, TikTok. We're on every single one of this ascension dance. 00:09:34:06 - 00:09:42:17 Speaker 3 You can see what we get up to and you can be a fan from afar. Or you can actually come into the studio and join and yeah, hopefully experience the fun for yourself. 00:09:42:21 - 00:09:46:21 Speaker 2 Fantastic. Thanks for joining the show, AJ. And we, we hope to hear from you again soon. 00:09:47:01 - 00:09:47:10 Speaker 3 Thank you very. 00:09:47:10 - 00:10:04:20 Speaker 2 Much. Thank you.