An elite training programme for young people aged 11-18, who show exceptional talent and potential in Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Contemporary styles. CAT runs outside of school time.
The Contemporary strand, Dance Generation, recruits young people from the West Midlands, and the South Asian strand, Yuva Gati, is a national programme, recruiting students from across the country. The opportunity to study Bharatanatyam and Kathak at this elite level is unique to this CAT within the UK.
What will I learn?
The aim of the CAT programme is to nurture and develop confident, highly-skilled, creative and adaptable dance artists, with exceptional dance techniques, who are well prepared for the rigours of professional dance training and future careers in dance.
Throughout the year, Dance Generation and Yuva Gati students will train in four core areas:
Technical Skills
Choreographic Development
Performance Enhancement
Dance Industry Knowledge, with a focus on professional training options
This will be complemented by supplementary training and students will also have an opportunity to complete their Arts Awards. Each student’s progress is supported and monitored through tailored Individual Training Plans.
Who leads the CAT?
The Centre for Advanced Training for South Asian and Contemporary Dance (CAT) is the West Midlands partner in the national CAT network. Funded by the Department of Education Music and Dance Scheme, it is led by DanceXchange in partnership with Sampad South Asian Arts and Heritage.
We have an outstanding artistic team, and students have the opportunity to work with artists and companies from the UK and beyond. The CAT is championed by a broad network of dance tutors, community dance leaders, and teachers from around the country, who play a vital role in signposting their talented students to the programme and supporting their ongoing development.
Where is CAT based?
The Contemporary course operates at DanceXchange on Saturdays during term time, with intensives scheduled during school holidays. The Yuva Gati programme operates at DanceXchange on a residential, intensive basis during school holidays, and is complemented by local teaching provision delivered by each student’s Home Tutor.
Who can join?
CAT is designed for young people aged 11-18 years, but you must be under 16 to join the programme.
How do I join?
To join CAT, you’ll need to audition first. Find audition information here
How much does the training cost?
The Department for Education provides a limited number of means-tested grants for students. This is part of their national Music and Dance Scheme. Click here to find out more about funding and costs.
Once you’ve been accepted, you can apply for a grant-assisted place on the programme. Students who are successful at the audition but are too late or ineligible for grants can take up a place. However, this is on the basis that they pay the full fees. Grants can cover all or some of your tuition costs. You can also apply for bursaries towards extra tuition fees to support extra training.
Alex has been a member of the DanceXchange team since 2015 and as Head of Learning and Participation, her role is to oversee the learning and participation programmes including the Centre for Advanced Dance Training (CAT), Generate Feeder Route, Class Programme, DX Summer School, Education Work, Community Projects and U.Dance West Midlands.
Alex began dancing at the age of 3 at her grandmother’s dance school and her passion for dance has continued to grow ever since. Alex gained a BA (Hons) Dance Studies at Middlesex University, London and then joined DanceXchange on graduation for Birmingham International Dance Festival (BIDF) as a Performance Intern before progressing to her current role. Alex has also worked at a variety of other dance festivals including Dance Umbrella, More! Dance and MY Dance Festival.
Alex is currently studying at the University of Wolverhampton and on completion in 2021, will receive an MBA, Senior Leaders MA Degree Apprenticeship and Chartered Management Institute Level 7 Extended Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership.
Anuradha Chaturvedi is a Reading based Dancemaker and teacher. She has studied Kathak under late Pundit Arjun Mishra in Lucknow India and is a recipient of Sringaarmani from Sur Sringaar Samsad, Mumbai, India. Anuradha has been a performing artist for nearly 15 years and she works as dancer, choreographer and teacher in Reading and surrounding areas. She has done Sangeet Praveen from Prayag Sangit Samiti and also holds ISTD’s level 6 Diploma in Dance Pedagogy. She is the founder and artistic director of Drishti Dance, performing arts organization known for its Vibrant Youth Dance wing, which has represented Southeast Region in National U Dance in 2018 and 2019.
Dance Practitioner / Yuva Gati Outreach Coordinator
Camilla has worked as a performer, choreographer and dance teacher for over 10 years. She has performed professionally for many Midlands-based companies at venues such as The Hippodrome, The MAC, Symphony Hall and more. Alongside performing, Camilla has taught dance and gymnastics in primary, secondary, further education, higher education and private education. Camilla was a dance and gymnastics lecturer at The University of Worcester until she decided to go back to full-time work as a freelance dance artist. Camilla has been commissioned to choreograph professional works such as the European Wheelchair Basketball opening and closing ceremonies and multiple Ballets funded by Arts Council England and Google Rise. Camilla worked on the Beyond Borders 2021 project which focussed on inclusive dance and she is currently working on Critical Mass 2022 as a dance artist.
Divya Ravi is a Bharatanatyam practitioner, performing artiste, choreographer and educator. Recognized among the most prominent young soloists in the South Asian Dance arena, Divya’s sensitive and immersive performances are marked by conviction and ownership of the movement vocabulary, finesse and fluidity in expressions, innate musicality, and a commanding stage presence.
Divya’s artistic journey is driven by the quest to make indic ideologies relevant and accessible in a modern society. Her solo choreographic works for the stage - MANJARI, SARVASYA, POEMS OF LOVE, SAARINI and NARMADA, and for the digital medium – ‘Kanhopatra’, ‘The 12 names of Lord Ganesha’, ‘Kaapi with Krishna’, ‘Navadurga #NotJustAnIdol’, ‘Taaye Taalelo’, ‘Lal Vakh’, and ‘Tiranga’, have been lauded for their thought-provoking premise and path-breaking choreography. A graded artiste of Doordarshan and empaneled with the Ministry of Culture for Festivals of India Abroad, Divya is a recipient of many awards and accolades and has extensively performed at coveted dance festivals in India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Hong Kong, UK and China.
Divya's sound technique stems from rigorous formative training under Sri. Kiran Subramanyam & Smt. Sandhya Kiran, Dr. Soundarya Srivathsa, and Smt. Bragha Bessel. She continues to explore her artistic pursuits in the UK, training with Sri. Mavin Khoo.
Jack is a Birmingham/London based contemporary dance teacher and performance artist. After graduating from London Contemporary Dance School, they have worked as a performer often collaborating with other art mediums for magazines, online articles and live performances.
With a natural desire to help others grow and evolve their artistic abilities, individual confidence and flare. They have made it their mission to reach many in the Birmingham area, to inspire and develop them as artists.
Mira Balchandran Gokul had a rigorous full time training at the Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts participating in their world renowned dance dramas, festivals and lecture demonstrations. As a child she trained in Kathakali and Mohiniattam and have been exposed to a wide variety of dance and theatre forms of Kerala. These combined experiences have laid a strong foundation and appreciation of all art forms of performance and a passion to share her knowledge and experience with young people.
Mira has worked with pioneering tutors and choreographers in India and England. She is Co-Founder and CoArtistic Director of SANKALPAM, an international touring dance company that has created and toured over 14 new works and presented an annual programme of classical work with accompanying education and training programmes.
In the UK she has collaborated, as well as attended residencies, with a wide range of artists such as choreographers Luca Silvestrini, Lea Anderson, Stephanie Schober, jazz saxophonist Iain Ballamy, Yoruban Dancer Peter Badejo, lighting designer Lee Curran and Theatre Director and scholar Philip Zarrilli amongst many others. She brings to this role a wide network of contacts both in India and England, as well as a wide understanding.
In addition, Mira has worked with MDI, a leading national dance agency in Liverpool, as Youth Dance Development Officer to roll out the national programme for Children and Young People in Merseyside and as Big Dance 2012 Coordinator to lead on developing the dance programme in the North West, as part of the London Olympics Festival 2012. The flagship project brought together over 1000 participants aged 8 – 86 years from across the North West to create the largest dance performance in the country.
Mira was part of Kaleidoscope Arts, a combined-arts collective in Sefton that was nominated in 2008 and 2009 for the Cultural Champions of Merseyside award. Through a recent master’s programme from University of Manchester she has focused on the role of the dance artist in conflict situations. She has continued this research and in 2016, along with dance researcher Debbie Fionn Barr, presented work at conferences in Stockholm, Lincoln, Leeds and Oxford University. She was selected for the Dance UK mentoring programme 2015/2016. She has performed and taught extensively and has been a dance research consultant, mentor and judge on youth dance panels in India and England.
Mira was a Judge for the category finals of BBC Young Dancer 2015 and Mentor for the BBC Young Dancer 2017.
CAT Lead Artist, Kathak
Parbati Chaudhury is a London-based performer, maker, and teacher, working for a number of companies and choreographers, including Pagrav Dance Company (PDC), ReRooted Dance Collective, Akademi, Kadam Dance, and Amina Khayyam Dance Company.
Her training in kathak began in 1998 at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, and it continues with Urja Desai Thakore.
In the making of her own work, Parbati echoes the narratives she encounters through abstraction, dramatization, and subversion, using dance rooted in kathak, live music, and theatre, with collaboration at its heart. As one of DanceXChange’s 2020 Choreography Awardees, she is further developing her work-in-progress, Goodgirl.
As a teacher, Parbati leads kathak classes for PDC, as well as independently.
Sandrine Monin is a freelance dance artist and choreographer based in Leeds, whose mission is to connect and empower people through dance and storytelling.
After graduating from the CNSMD (Lyon, France) she pursued her studies in Germany as part of the European programme D.A.N.C.E led by Forsythe, McGregor, Preljocaj, and graduated from Palucca Hochschule Dresden with a Master's Degree.
As a professional dancer, she has worked for over 15 years with varied choreographers and performed for renowned companies (Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, Phoenix Dance Theatre) around the UK, Europe and internationally.
In parallel to her performing career, she has developed her own choreographic work, supported by Arts Council England and has been commissioned to create for dance companies, theatre, youth groups and screen.
Continuously sharpening her leadership skills (MA Choreography - Central School of Ballet, Business and Finance course - Open University), she shares her practice teaching in companies, vocational training, schools and communities. In 2021, she became Associate Director of Glenn Graham Dance, whose purpose is to inspire the next generation of dancers and prepare them for the professional world.
Sandrine is passionate about the exploration of emotions and raising mental health awareness through dance. Using dance as a channel for deeper connection.
Actor, Director and Choreographer, Shane Shambhu is an award-winning artist and the Creative Director of ALTERED SKIN. Shane is a Complicite Associate and an Associate Lecturer at East 15 Acting School. Shane has an extensive performance career spanning different artistic genre’s and includes work with: Short Films Letters From Afar (Omni-kizzy Productions) and Boat (Just So Films), Complicite’s award-winning A Disappearing Number (National Theatre Live and BBC Radio 3), Icon Theatre’s award-winning Release, Theatre Ad Infinitum, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, Royal Opera House, inDance (Canada), Nina Rajarani’s Quick! (Place Prize Winner 2006), New Art Club and Menagerie Theatre to name just a few.
Shane’s recent work has involved working as Movement Director for Tara Arts’ Game Of Love and Chai with Writer, Nigel Planer and Director, Jatinder Verma and Crying in The Wilderness Productions’ Conundrum opening at Young Vic, London in 2019. He is currently touring Altered Skin’s Confessions Of A Cockney Temple Dancer with dates set for 2018/2019 and 2020.
Beyond creative works Shane Shambhu is a speaker presenting at conferences nationally and internationally and also co-project lead on Ensemble Mathematics, a curriculum and professional development project, which explores the impacts of using drama in the teaching of primary mathematics, and The Natya Project, a project aimed at discovering career progression routes for young bharatanatyam professionals.
Sara Macqueen studied a foundation degree in dance and theatre at Liberatus School of Performing Arts achieving Distinction and then proceeded to the reputable Northern School of Contemporary Dance, where she gained a first-class BPA(Hons) degree in Contemporary Dance in 2014. Sara has danced professionally around the UK and Europe as a freelance artist with companies such as Earthfall (Cardiff), M Dance Company (Belgium) and, with collaborator Christopher Radford. She has choreographed and performed in Birmingham and Barcelona, and recently in Birmingham’s two largest festivals Birmingham Weekender and Birmingham International Dance Festival.
Sara has substantial experience in delivering dance in educational settings including primary, secondary and special needs schools, as well as a community outreach with vulnerable participants with Create Arts Ltd charity. She coordinates and teaches on DanceXchange’s own Centre for Advanced Training programme and has been the Lead Artist on Generate, a youth excellence training programme, since its inception in January 2018. She teaches as a freelance artist for other local Birmingham dance companies, such as ACE dance&music, and is passionate about providing excellent artistic experiences for all young people.
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