Relief after 10 dance centres for children across England saved from cuts

The Guardian

a day ago

Campaigners from the world of dance including Arlene Phillips and Matthew Bourne have been celebrating after a training scheme for children was saved that they say stops the art form becoming the preserve of the elite.
The National Centres for Advanced Training in Dance, or National Dance CATs, work with 10- to 18-years-olds to provide them with multiple sessions of training each week, which is combined with their mainstream education.
The centres use outreach programmes to attract dancers from outside of traditional backgrounds in a bid to make dance, which has had issues with elitism for decades, more diverse and equitable.
High-profile dance figures feared the 10 National Dance CATs could have been scrapped after a £300,000 grant for outreach work was cut in December 2024.
But on Tuesday, the Department of Education confirmed to the campaigners, including alumni, students and parents who wrote to more than 100 MPs, that funding for the centres had been secured for another 12 months.
Clare Connor, chief executive of The Place and London Contemporary Dance School, said: 'We are pleased to see government have listened … we will build on this good news and work to secure the long-term future of the programme.
'This is an encouraging step in the government's commitment to safeguarding the pathways to careers in dance, and a positive signal of the recognition of dance's contribution to our thriving and growing creative sector.'
Brendan Keaney, the artistic director and chief executive of DanceEast in Ipswich, said the decision to scrap the outreach funding was a 'retrograde step' that could have reversed the progress made in the last 20 years to make access to dance easier for people from ethnic minority and working-class backgrounds.
'The outreach funding was our search vehicle. It was the route into the programme – a first step into the pathway towards a career in dance,' he said.
'The National Dance CATs are sort of like little beacons across the country, where you can get high-quality specialist dance training without having to go off to a residential school. You can go to a regular school, but also get the kind of intensive training that is absolutely essential if you're going to compete as professional dancer.'
Dame Arlene Phillips, said: 'Every child should have the right to pursue the arts and dance and the opportunity to reach their potential, regardless of their background or where they live.'
Sir Matthew Bourne called the National Dance CATs the 'envy of international dance companies' and said without them we could enter 'a world with no more Billy – or Betty – Elliots.'
The centres were introduced by the last Labour government in 2004 in an attempt to make dance more equitable.
Manchester, Salford, Leeds, Newcastle upon Tyne, Swindon, Ipswich, London, Bournemouth and Exeter all host the centres that have produced dancers who have gone on to work with Wayne McGregor, Akram Khan Dance Company, BalletBoyz, Northern Ballet and Matthew Bourne's New Adventures.
Earlier this year the Guardian reported that artists, directors and actors had raised the alarm about what they described as a rigged system preventing working-class talent thriving in their industries.
There had been speculation before the spending review that more funding could be cut at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and even some suggestions DCMS itself could have been abolished – although this was dismissed as 'madness' by culture minister Chris Bryant.
The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.