It's been amazing to see all the young people come together and I think for the French company
I think bringing them to England and just seeing a little bit about Birmingham and how
our young people live I think is really exciting for them.
My name is Gail Parmel and I am the Artistic Director of Ace Dance and Music.
Having exchanges like this where they not only meet once but actually meet twice
I think it's developed that understanding of each other's forms and each other's styles
and then they can get to understand it more and apply it more
and because they've built a relationship throughout the exchange I think it's just a great great atmosphere
so actually seeing them all working together as one has been the highlight for me.
My name is Mireille Barlet. I am the choreographer of the company Les Orteils de Sable
which is based in France in Saint-Etienne.
It's a great honour and a great pleasure to be able to share the dance with young English people
with English choreographers and to know their way of working.
We can bring things to them that they don't know about, they can bring things to us that we don't know about.
It's about exchanging things that we've both learnt from our paths, like our groups.
My name is Landin. I'm from Senegal and I teach U.S. African dance and drumming.
I use a rhythm called Macro. I teach them a routine in the dance where they use the signal to change
and a little bit of break in there and they were fantastic, good.
They exchange everything, which is from their culture, their everyday learning
and these people might be the future generation tomorrow, they might be leading us, who knows
and if they know how to exchange, to deal with other people, to be friends with other people
they have very open-minded, that's what we need.
Through music and dance we can do a lot of things
and you see them, if you didn't tell me some come from France, I wouldn't know
because they mingle together very well, that's nothing.
Aching legs is killing me now, from dancing like all day every day, it's just like
when I get out of bed I'm just like, ah, sort of thing, it's really bad for that, it's alright though.
Energetic, very very energetic, yeah tired now, so it was a lot of fun, very enjoyable.
Oh it was really interesting, especially when we did the French class with the French, how different their movement is.
They used the same sort of steps, like we could understand some like Tondue or Chasse
because we used words over here, but it was sort of quite a different way of moving than we do.
It was really fun, it's kind of tiring, it's really energetic, it's good fun.
I like the different styles of dance because you don't see stuff like this,
like we're up in Leeds at the moment training, we don't see stuff like what we're seeing around here,
so it's good because then you get everybody, you can take new stuff back and look at what I learnt.
Dance is one of the things that everyone can understand even if you're from different countries.
It's really good to have a symposium based just around Youth Dance because there's been lots of symposiums
where Youth Dance has been a part of that, but to have a symposium just about Youth Dance I think is quite refreshing and quite unique.
Our hope is that this first symposium is the first of many symposiums and that it's the start of a really strong Youth Dance network.
So this will raise questions, this will hopefully start to get networks established and then build from here.
It's been very interesting and also to hear an international perspective on Youth Dance.
The personal stories and insights from Holland, from France, from Switzerland and just looking at their models and how they operate
gives you good food for thought about how it can improve your practice.
So it's very important for us as practitioners and professionals to come and see where developments are taking place.
We've done exchanges before with other Youth Dance groups, but this is the first time we've done so many different things in patented on week.
So yeah, really good, really exciting.
It's a great platform. It's important for the kids to see other groups and very good quality groups.
We are the only one company to go to England for one week. And we are very lucky to be here and to be with other guys, very nice.
There's always that language barrier, but we've worked really well, really well and everything's just came together so great, perfectly.
Those relationships do mean something in the future. They sometimes carry on through their careers.
You know, it is quite intense, it's really hard work, but at the same time there's great enjoyment and you learn so many different things.
So I think they had a real taste of what the professional world is like.
I come from Saint-Étienne in France and I come now and I'm very, very in emotion because the work is very wonderful.
And the meeting of the two companies is very, it's a model for the work.
I think that seeing the kids join from the first day to the last day, it's always amazing to see.
Language barrier, broken down, two dance, communication is just so easy.
The language is not important anymore, I think that's amazing for us. I'll take that with me, I'll keep it.
It's not just about dancers, it's all about their confidence.
I think the beauty is if you can show with the body you translate all the language, it's the power of dance.
It's ambitious, it's innovative and it's an amazing ride for kids, it's very high standards.
Young people are people from two totally different cultures, two totally different languages,
can actually use dance as a universal language, come together and actually create something and share it
and the audience as well can get an understanding and an appreciation for what they're actually presenting.
So really cultural barriers and stuff are really totally broken down through this process of being able to work together and then present their work to audiences.
Music plays
I'm quite lonely.
Music plays
Oh, it's a lovely song.
No, it's a beautiful song, a good show.
Very good, nice to join, wonderful evening.
It was really good, yeah.
It was very good, don't hold up.
Amazing!
It was your favourite part.
The first one.
Very emotional.
Very emotional, I was on the edge of tears.
Definitely, I really felt that much.
I caught my breath a lot in time.
It was fabulous.
Excellent timing.
It was good.
What was your favourite thing?
I liked it when they always kept dancing around when they were doing different things.
It was really good.
Good, good, great stuff.
Come from Jamaica and this thing is really good.
Really good.
I thought it was excellent.
I really enjoyed the aftermath piece and I thought the issues were wonderful but then I am biased.
I liked all of it really.
I liked the beginning, tribal unity and I liked afterwards.
I thought all of it was really good.
Enthusiastic dance.
Enthusiastic dance.
Good show.
Very good show.
Nice one.
Good performance, good dancers.
Good show to watch.
I think it was great.
The passion they have in the thing they do, the lifestyle.
It shows every single emotion they have in their lifestyle.
I think it was great enough.
I will come again if they will organise anything else.
It made me feel happy.
I really enjoyed it.
It was fantastic and it was really brilliant.
It was well done.
It made me feel really good once you get up there and dance to.
It was really good.
It was fantastic.
It was absolutely wonderful.
Very proud of them.
All the hard work, commitment, dedication.
It's paid off.
I thought it was fantastic.
I really liked aftermath.
That one at the end was just beautiful.
Such a lot of talent.
Such a huge amount of work.
Brilliant.
I thought it was very powerful.
I thought it was absolutely amazing.
I want the film.
I want the film of it.
I want to keep it.
You know this week on the Culture Show, the BBC said there was no culture in Birmingham.
This is a cultural desert officially.
I don't know whether to tell them or keep the secret.
