YOUNG dancers from Tynedale will join an internationally renowned dance company this month on stage next month.

Youth Dance Tynedale (YDT) is set to collaborate with contemporary dance company Phoenix Dance Theatre for a intensive two-day residency at Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham, where the youngsters will be put through their paces learning new dance techniques, floor work and choreography, before performing the curtain raiser for the company’s touring programme ReFined showing in Allendale.

Choreography will be a blend of Phoenix’s routines with the work created by YDT students aged 11-19, who have been encouraged to input their own creative ideas to the performance.

The project was put together by Highlights Rural Touring Scheme, a volunteer organisation which brings high quality professional events to village halls, schools and community centres in rural areas or hard to reach performance locations.

“Collaborating with professional dancers and touring companies is a fairly unique feature that we offer, but something which has proved incredibly useful for our young dancers, especially in rural areas, where these resources and opportunities are not always as readily available,” said artistic director of YDT Sarah Morgan.

Founded in 2008 by Sarah, YDT is dance training programme for young people aged three to 19.

Classes take place weekly, whilst intensive courses and workshops take place in school holidays. Students are no strangers to performing, delivering a annual show at the Queen’s Hall in the summer, and at several regional dance platforms throughout the year.

“They really thrive with fresh creativity coming in to teach them, and help them learn new techniques, further their own dance abilities, alongside giving them an insight into the career path of vocational dance.

“Many of our dancers go on to work professionally in the industry, often as performers or teachers, and so it can really inspiring for the students to see what routes area available to them, and give them a goal to work towards,” said Sarah.

Promoter at Allendale Village Hall Janet Lennard said all the trustees of the hall felt both privileged both to welcome the Phoenix and local dancers to their stage, and to have the facilities in the village hall to do so.

“Being asked to host Phoenix and the local young dancers was really exciting, as it allows a rural area to experience a rare example of top class contemporary dance.”

For 37 years, Phoenix has performed across the globe and is one of Britain’s longest standing contemporary dance companies.

It’s latest show ReFined will showcase a mixed repertoire of movements choreographed by a number of leading industry names, featuring extracts from the productions including Windrush: Movement of the People, directed by the company’s artistic director Sharon Watson, which aims to give audiences a glimpse through dance of what the first generation of Caribbean immigrants experienced when they came to England 70 years ago in 1948.

Through movement and an original score by Christella Litras, the routine tells the story of the passengers’ first glimpse of Tilbury Docks, to the painful daily exclusion and racism which the newcomers faced, but also highlights how Jamaicans laid down their roots in Britain, by creating their own opportunities and communities, alongside building lives and families for themselves.

The show also features Maybe Yes Maybe, Maybe No Maybe – a routine choreographed by Aletta Collins in which five dancers blend movement and their voices into the beats and accents of a pulsing soundtrack using a single microphone centre stage, whilst Lux is a new routine created by rising choreographer Michael Marquez.

Calyx, by first-time choreographer Sandrine Monin is a piece inspired by the volume of 19th century French poetry.

And Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire, paints love as both muse and curse and explores the themes of desire, sin and decadence. It is set to the original score by composer Roberto Rusconi.

ReFined is at Allendale Village Hall, on Friday, June 7 at 7.30pm. Visit www.highlightsnorth.co.uk for tickets.