Dancefest: Dance in Herefordshire and Worcestershire

Liberty is one of our youth dancers in Accelerate and DFY and has been with Dancefest since a young age. She has written this during her week of work experience at Dancefest.

"I’m Liberty, I’m 15, and I started my journey with Dancefest at a young age, doing the ‘parents and wobblers’ class. I then went on to do ballet, modern and tap until I was 11 with a dance school in Malvern. This allowed my technique to grow and I learnt the basis of dance however I wasn’t able to express myself as a young person and a dancer because of the very structured sessions and exams. I felt as though the exams put unnecessary pressure on me as a child and I wanted something were I was able to be free and expressive in the way I danced instead of being as structured as ballet. I am so glad I was able to have the experience in ballet as it has helped me in technique through joining Dancefest again.

I joined back at Dancefest when I was 11 and starting high school. I was part of Worcester Dancemakers and was able to start doing contemporary instead of ballet and this really allowed me to express and explore myself through my love of dance. Creating pieces and allowing my own input in the pieces was a new experience but it was something that I took on board and really embraced.

I auditioned for Accelerate youth dance company and joined DFY, which really allowed me to push myself as a dancer and really see what I was capable of. Dancefest has given me so many opportunities that I wouldn’t have got anywhere else and given me performances skills that have then helped in my performing arts GCSE. Through Dancefest I have been able to perform in so many amazing spaces including the pop up park in Worcester, Worcester Cathedral, various place in Worcester for the light switch on and the Hive.