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HomeNewsLEAP festival will make Liverpool dance this Valentine’s Day

LEAP festival will make Liverpool dance this Valentine’s Day

topLEAP festival will make Liverpool dance this Valentine’s Day

Dance students performing in the upcoming LEAP dance festival, March 1-12, will be romancing the streets of Liverpool this Valentine’s Day with pop-up street performances in prominent destinations across the city centre.

A new intern dance company, created in partnership with Merseyside Dance Initiative (MDI) and Liverpool John Moores University, will perform a special routine on the most romantic day of the year, simultaneously at different outdoor tourist spots within Liverpool city centre to give passers by a mesmerising flash-mob style preview of the company’s performance that will feature at the LEAP in March.

The project, sponsored by the Liverpool BID company, has been created as part of the World of Work programme offered at LJMU, that provides students with opportunities to gain work experience and further enhance their employability. MDI are supporting the programme by creating a temporary dance company that will give students from both the BA and MA degree dance courses the opportunity to work alongside a professional choreographer and experience working as part of a company.

Karen Gallagher MBE, artistic director of MDI, commented: 

“MDI have always been on a mission to inspire people to express themselves through movement and the intern company is the perfect opportunity to reach out to the community and take to the streets this Valentine’s Day, while giving something back to the city’s aspiring dancers. We are a big supporter of the World of Work programme that LJMU offers and regularly work with students to develop both their dance portfolio and business skills.

“With LEAP celebrating its 25th anniversary, we are not afraid to shout about how much we love Liverpool and how much talent is right here. So many people love to dance and we love to make people leap!”

From February 14 and leading up to International Day of Dance on April 29, the student dance company will be entertaining shoppers and residents alike by animating Liverpool’s high street with pop-up dance performances in high-street shop windows and among the crowds.

Bill Addy, chief executive of the Liverpool BID Company, commented: 

“We see dance as an essential part of our animation programme and Liverpool BID is delighted to continue its support for MDI. We look forward to this year’s exciting programme bringing life into the city centre”.

LEAP festival will celebrate its silver anniversary with a challenging programme of dance exploring this year’s theme of Camouflage, with the majority of the programme taking place at the pop-up dance house at MAKE Liverpool, in Liverpool’s North Docks. The festival’s confirmed line-up of national and internationally renowned dance companies such as Gary ClarkeBarrowland BalletStopgap Dance Company and experimental dance company Project O, will examine the role of identity, discrimination and discuss how misconceptions affect us all, while the festival’s community-focused day and artist takeover day aim to showcase the multitude of talent from across the region.

Tickets for the festival are available via The Unity Theatre box office and for more information about the festival please visit http://www.leap2017.co.uk

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