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The West Midlands is to be home to the UK’s first ever Centre for Advanced Training for South Asian and Contemporary dance.

A partnership made of DanceXchange (National Dance Agency for Birmingham and the West Midlands) and sampad South Asian Arts, supported by a Steering Group consisting of the City’s leading dance organisations - Birmingham Royal Ballet, Elmhurst School for Dance, Birmingham City Council and Arts Council England, West Midlands – has secured funding from the Department for Children, Schools and Families to create the Centre for Advanced Training (CAT), aimed at exceptionally talented young dancers.

The Centres for Advanced Training (CATs) are organisations or consortia of organisations/partners that provide children with local access to the best available teaching and facilities and strong links with the music and dance profession.  They ensure that children who are talented and committed dancers and musicians have appropriate, tailor-made, specialist provision.

Pupils aged between 11 and 18 who have shown exceptional talent in Contemporary or South Asian styles will attend the CAT alongside their formal education. Successful students will receive means-tested grants to pay for the activity.

The CAT will offer three strands of technical training in the genres of Bharatnatyam, Kathak and Contemporary dance. Students will occasionally work together on complementary techniques, contextual studies, choreography and work with professional artists.

2008 will be a set-up year, with DanceXchange, sampad and the Steering Group working to set up, develop and raise the profile of the CAT. During 2008, an initial intake of forty students will be selected for a pilot course running from January – August 2009. By the academic year beginning September 2008 it is hoped that CAT will have 60 students.

The Contemporary strand will select students from across the West Midlands whilst the South Asian strand will select students from across the country (auditions will probably be held in three different locations outside of the West Midlands).

Students will be recruited through a selection process that draws on the experience of, and is consistent with, the experience of the existing CATs.

Robin Kiel, Policy Manager, Music and Dance scheme, Department for Schools, Children and Families (England) said: "The Department for Children, Schools and Families’ Music and Dance Scheme is pleased to support the setting-up of a new Centre for Advanced Training in Birmingham that will cater for the needs of exceptionally talented and committed young dancers.  This centre will be the latest addition to a nationwide network of regional centres that offer local young dancers access to first-rate training and facilities.  An especially exciting aspect of the Birmingham centre will be its focus on Contemporary and South Asian dance forms - and I wish it every success."

Les Lawrence, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families, said: “Birmingham's strategy for Children, Young People and the Arts sets out a clear aspiration that young people in the city should be able to develop their arts skills as creators, participants, audiences and leaders.  The CAT project will enable young people with talent to make progress in developing high quality performance skills for which the City's resident companies are already well-known.  Birmingham is at the forefront of arts education nationally and welcomes this opportunity to become a centre which will attract young people from across the country. Our specialisms in South Asian and Contemporary dance reflect both our place as Europe's youngest major city and our culturally diverse population.”

The CAT will involve a range of partners from across the City, building on their individual strengths and working together to provide progression routes for highly talented young people. Links will be made with leading Bharatyanatyam and Kathak teachers across the East and West Midlands and beyond, to complement and add value to the regular training they provide and to identify talent from across the country.

There are currently six CATs specialising in dance in England:

Dance City Academy, Newcastle upon Tyne

Yorkshire Young Dancers, Leeds

DanceEast, Ipswich

Laban, London

London Contemporary Dance School at The Place 

Swindon Dance Academy

The Birmingham CAT will be the first in the country to specialise in South Asian styles.