Inclusive dance charity to return to Edinburgh Fringe

Dancers with an inspiring local dance company are excited to be returning to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival after a huge success in 2017.

DanceSyndrome is a small local charity based in Lancashire. The charity, founded by dancer Jen Blackwell, who happens to have Down's syndrome, provides inclusive dance workshops and leadership training for people with and without disabilities. DanceSyndrome's dancers also perform live at special events across the UK with the aim of inspiring people and demonstrating that people with disabilities can live a life of their choosing and demonstrate that their abilities are more important than their disabilities.

In 2017, the dancers followed their dreams and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the world's largest arts festival. This was a huge opportunity for the dancers to shine on an international stage and audiences at the festival were surprised and delighted at the passion, energy and ability of the dancers, who have overcome many personal barriers to achieve success.

The DanceSyndrome dancers had an amazing experience in Edinburgh, learning lots about the performance industry, including how to successfully promote their own show to get a good audience. The success of the 2017 trip gave the dancers a significant confidence boost and as a result, they now feel able to do an even bigger trip to the Fringe in August 2018.

Dance Leader Becky Rich speaks out positively about how having Down’s syndrome does not define her. About last year’s Edinburgh shows Becky said "We were very touched by the positive response that we received when handing out our flyers on the Royal Mile to promote our show. Also we had fantastic audiences on both days which made it really special for us as performers and we think we really connected with the audiences in a special way. We all had a very special and fun time in Edinburgh."

Inspired by the dancers' confidence and ambition, the DanceSyndrome team were challenged to enable them to turn their dreams into a reality. They are currently working hard to generate enough sponsorship from businesses and individuals to cover the costs of a longer stay in Edinburgh.

The dancers will also be taking fundraising into their own hands to generate the money needed to fund the cost of the rehearsal process, performance space, performance marketing, travel and accommodation for themselves and their carers/support.

DanceSyndrome Managing Director, Dawn Vickers, said "We have been overwhelmed by the success of our 2017 Fringe Festival performance and we are so proud of what our dancers have achieved! We are absolutely thrilled at the prospect of returning to Edinburgh in 2018 and we are really inspired by the ambition and determination of our dancers to raise the money to make this a reality. I really hope that local people and business will get behind their appeals and help them to follow their dreams!"

If you would like to support the 2018 trip to Edinburgh, you can donate via Just Giving www.justgiving.com/dance-syndrome

If you have any great ideas for fundraising and would like to get involved, please contact the DanceSyndrome team on 07597 942494, email info@dancesyndrome.co.uk or via the website www.dancesyndrome.co.uk