Children at a Plymouth school are receiving free dance lessons thanks to a partnership between a social enterprise and the philanthropic Rank Foundation.
About 140 youngsters from High Street Primary Academy, in Stonehouse, are now able to learn breaking and hip hop dancing with the hip hop company , thanks to its founder Toby Gorniak’s desire to “give back” to the community.
Children, in groups of up to 30 at a time, were given their first lesson at Street Factory’s Sawrey Street base during an all-day session.
And they will continue their training at the Circle Time free dance community sessions, every Saturday from 12.30pm until 2pm.
The family sessions, which are open to dancers of all ages and abilities, are funded by the Rank Foundation, the organisation which uses “financial, social and intellectual capital” to help communities and social enterprises.
It started operating in Plymouth in 2018, where it chose the city for its fifth special project – following Burnley, Blackpool, Hull and Dundee – particularly focusing on supporting leadership and enterprise.
Mr Gorniak, who runs Street Factory alongside wife Jo Gorniak, said the school was looking for positive role models and positive activities for the pupils, and Street Factory fitted the bill.
He said youngsters spent an induction day learning basic dance moves and the five principals of hip hop: love, peace, respect, unity and having fun.
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“Most of the school came down in different groups during the day,” he said. “We ran a lot of classes. And now they are invited to come every Saturday for Circle Time.
“This is something we stand by, we are in the community for the community, and investing into the next generation.”
Mr Gorniak said the young dancers had a wonderful time and were encouraged to share what they had learned with their friends.
“They were all really good and had a great attitude and got involved,” he said. “And all the staff from the school have been wonderful.”
Conor Simpson, PE co-ordinator at High Street School, said the entire school took part in the dance sessions and added: “We want to get the children active in different ways. Toby did a fantastic job and is great with the children.”
He said the school had given children a week to take part in 25 different sports with street dancing coming out among the most popular choices.
“A lot of the boys enjoyed it,” he said. “That was a big win for us.”
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He said many children now wanted to continue to learn at Street Factory and added: “A lot of children are looking into it and parents have been asking about signing up.”
Mr and Mrs Gorniak have been connecting audiences, young people, artists and practitioners for the past 14 years through hip hop.
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In 2018 the social enterprise had an exceptional year with Mr Giorniak awarded an MBE from The Queen; and Street Factory landing a clutch of awards.
The couple are also behind an ambitious scheme to create the 海角视频’s first hip hop theatre – a £2million venue earmarked for their base in a former Millbay brewery.
The Sawrey Street building will be transformed into a centre for teaching “difficult to reach” youngsters the pillars of hip-hop culture, including rapping, DJing, breakdancing, beatboxing and graffiti art, alongside other, more conventional, lessons.
It will be called Hip Hop Kingdom and will include a theatre, stage and seating, community cafe, recording studio, dance studio, and teaching space for such subjects as creative writing.
Today, Street Factory empowers community members who are unemployed or suffer with mental health problems to discover their talents and return to employment or training.
And Street Factory has had some startling successes including former student in May 2019.
The Rank Foundation launched its Rank Inclusive Growth Social Enterprise (RISE) programme in Plymouth in 2018, designed to improve the potential of the city’s people, communities and institutions by building capacity, promoting enterprise, developing leadership and encouraging a collaborative, cross-sector approach to inclusive growth.
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To contact William Telford: william.telford@reachplc.com