Step into Dance

“I first joined Step into Dance in 2016 at the age of 11. I was the youngest in the contemporary company at the time and had little confidence with contemporary, and performing. My time with SiD really helped me prepare for my future in dance, and helped me believe that I could choose dance as a career. The teachers were really supportive and I performed at the Southbank Centre in the Step Live event, which was an incredible experience.”

“Since my time with Step into Dance, I have been taking part in many dance events and competitions and exams with the RAD and most recently I had the pleasure of taking part in the the Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competition 2023, where we had the opportunity to learn and perform a new choreography by Valentino Zuchetti. Since the Fonteyn I have been working with The English National Ballet Company in their ballet Giselle. I’m very grateful for my time with step for helping grow not only in confidence but also as a dancers and find my pathway.”

“Step into Dance taught me that I have the freedom and the platform to speak my mind and let my voice be heard. I was able to go to university where I studied pharmacy and ran the dance society there and that was a great experience but I had the foundation for this from SiD.”

“I’ve had the experience of being a captain, or being in charge of a session and it’s helped me so much. Recently at work I had presentation that I had to do in front of doctors. I was able to speak to them with assertiveness because I prepared for it the same way I would have prepared for teaching a dance class. That made me feel confident and ready to speak to them and deliver my presentation.”

“Dance is great for your health on so many different levels. If you are in the right environment it can bring you a place of love, compassion and where you can share a passion with others that can relate to you. Dance is my main way of exercise and keeping active and its fun! Being able to explore and see what your body can do is quite amazing.”

“Step into Dance has helped me push myself to strive for so many goals and provided me with skills that are relevant in every aspect of my life. I have been involved in Breaking competitions, travelled, met so many dancers, performed at various locations and used my breaking skills to engage in charity work (creating fundraisers is one example). I am also aiming to use Breaking to inspire young people, by promoting STEM subjects and teaching concepts of Physics through dance.”

“I can not emphasise how much Step into Dance has changed me. I truly believe learning Hip-hop and Breaking, through Step into Dance and Mahdi, saved my life and shaped me into the person I am today. I feel as though I have been lucky enough to be handed the gift of learning to express through art, which carried me through many difficult emotions and situations.”

“The highlights were the lessons; being surrounded by a supportive community (teachers and peers) and having a safe space to learn and be yourself. I think this is really important for young people to have.”

“What I enjoyed the most about being a Step into Dance student was the diversity of people I met. Also, affordable training within an otherwise elitist industry is a rarity, and so the work that Step into Dance has done and continues to do I think is crucial.”

“One of the highlight was performing at Sadlers Wells which was incredible! We had so many amazing performance opportunities and getting to share all of our work from the year.”

“Without Step into Dance, I wouldn’t have the technique and confidence in my dance that has helped me to get where I am. After leaving at 18, I went on to train in musical theatre at ArtsEd and now I am about to open in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on the West End. Both the performance and life skills which Step into Dance helped to teach me are still proving invaluable in my daily life as I start this new project.”