A King’s Cross performing arts theatre wants to get people dancing this weekend as part of Angela Rippon CBE’s Let’s Dance campaign.
From today until Sunday 2nd March The Place, near King’s Cross, will be hosting free dance taster sessions with the hope of encouraging people to spark a love of dance and get moving.
Recent studies have found that both mental and physical health can be improved through partaking in dance, whether due to the exercise itself or the social aspects.
Rippon, who resparked her love of dance when competing on Strictly Come Dancing in 2023, is spearheading the Let’s Dance campaign.
She said: “Dance is the perfect exercise to improve health and wellbeing of mind and body, regardless of age or physical condition.”
The idea of inclusion regardless of age or ability is something which The Place is keen to highlight this weekend by running dance taster sessions for all ages.
Jessica Richards, programme manager of classes and courses at The Place, suggested this weekend is for people to come and try lessons without the need to make any commitment, financial or otherwise.
Richards also emphasised the inclusivity of the theatre’s classes: “You can come without any expectation and dance and enjoy yourself and feel really creative and social. There is no prerequisite or level in which you need to meet.”
Let’s Dance estimate that dance brings an annual value of £2 billion to mental well-being across the UK and has resulted in 2.7 million fewer GP visits.
The Place theatre is also hosting the Camden Youth Dance Festival 2025 tonight.
The event aims to give young people from local school and youth community clubs the chance to perform in a professional environment.
Nine performances will take place over the course of the evening, with a group selected by a panel of The Place’s Youth Focus Group going on to perform at a Celebration Event hosted by the Camden Council Sport & Physical Activity Team in July 2025.
Maria Ryan, the creative learning producer at The Place said she was passionate about the festival, and the opportunities which dance offers for young people to express themselves.
She said: “One of the things which is really important at the moment is offering a place for young people to feel better about themselves, their general health and wellbeing because there is a lot of anxiety and a lot of young people, particularly off the back of Covid, struggling with their mental health.”
Ryan added that in a time when funding for the arts is being cut, The Place is keen to encourage everyone to find the joy in dancing and hopes this weekend will be the start.
More information on The Place’s Let’s Dance free taster classes can be found here: https://theplace.org.uk/classes-courses/taster-classes
Feature Image Credit: The Place
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