YDance Active is a national programme that inspires and motivates young women to become more physically active through dance.
YDance Active is part of the sportscotland Active Girls programme. Active girls is funded by Scottish Government and delivered in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust and Youth Scotland. There are three key initiatives in the Active Girls programme: YDance Active, Fit for Girls and Girls on the Move.
The project has two strands: A youth training programme to train dance leaders who can increase and promote opportunities for dance and champion dance in their local area. The second strand focuses on workforce development to create more dance opportunities for teenage girls and support YDance Active trained dance leaders in their school and community.
Since the programme began in 2012, YDance Active has worked with over 8500 teenage girls across 27 Scottish authorities (figures correct as of April, 2015).
The aim of YDance Active is to tailor a training and development programme which best suits the needs of every local authority so that physical activity levels in teenage girls are effectively targeted.
What will my school get?
Your school will work in partnership with Active Schools and the other schools in your local authority as the YDance Active programme is most successful when delivered authority-wide.
YDance Active offers inspiring dance workshops leading to opportunities in Dance Leadership for teenage girls across Scotland. This programme of work is delivered by highly trained dance specialists with a wealth of experience working in the curriculum and adheres to Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes.
For local authorities participating in the project, you will be offered:
- A one day dance workshop in curriculum time (S3-S6 girls)
- The opportunity to host a (4/5 day) Dance Leadership course at SCQF Level 4 & QCF Level 2.
- Workforce Development Career-long Professional Learning (CLPL) for teachers, Active Schools Coordinators and volunteers working with teenage girls; Inspire to develop basic dance skills which will give you the basics required to run fun, physical activity workshops using dance, and Enhance to develop current dance skills by providing new ideas and methods of teaching.
The course was very fun and engaging as well as being informative. It offered practical tips on how to implement what we had learned and the girls who ran the course were fantastic.” (Inspire CLPL participant, Fife)
How to take part
For Schools:
- Contact your Active Schools coordinator to register your interest in the project
- Your coordinator will liaise with YDance Active to arrange suitable dates for: the 1 day curriculum time workshop, and the 4/5 day Dance Leadership course bringing together successful candidates from other participating schools in your authority.
- You will complete a Schools Partnership Agreement, providing YDance Active with information about the session (register, risk assessment etc.)
- Your session will be confirmed and we will see you there!
Find out more
To hear from those who have already been involved with YDance Active, check out our YDance Active film and the online case studies: