MTS Youth Dance Ambassadors Shepton
Youth Dance Ambassadors Programme
Are you passionate about dance and aged 11-18? Join our Youth Dance Ambassadors Programme and become a leader in your local dance community!
Based in Shepton Mallet and surrounding areas, this exciting initiative is designed to empower young people to explore their creativity, develop their skills, and inspire others through dance supported through Take Art and Sport England.
As a Youth Dance Ambassador, you will:
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Take part in specialist workshops led by professional artists across diverse dance styles, including international choreography and inclusive practices.
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Be given a small budget to attend and review live dance performances, learning how to critically engage with professional work and promote it to your peers
Plan and organise your own dance events, with support to pitch ideas, secure funding, and bring your vision to life.
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Collaborate with other young people and link into local and regional dance networks, gaining experience in leadership, event planning, and arts promotion.
This programme is for everyone—from experienced dancers to those new to movement—who share a love of creativity and community.
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To apply please fill in this short Google Form
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Planned sessions 3:45 - 5pm
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Thursday 30th January - Session launch and Intro with guest dancer and choreographer Mandy Redmond
Thursday 13th February - Work with guest dancer and choreographer Chad Taylor
Thursday 13th March - With guest dancer and choreographer Mandy Redmond
Thursday 13th April - Work with guest dancer and choreographer Takeshi Matsumoto
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Find our more about our artists here:
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​Chad Taylor started dancing from the age of 11. Training in the foundations of hip hop, and at 14 years of age started to widen his dance vocab and doing other styles such as ballet, Tap, and Jazz, His professional experience started at a young age of 15, where he appeared on TOTP and CD:UK.At the age of 19, He graduated from the Hammond school with a National diploma in dance on a Full Scholarship. He then went on to work in the professional world working with artist such as Cheryl Cole, Paloma Faith, Sade, Take That, Meatloaf, Joe Mceldry, Little Mix, LMFAO. He has worked with Choreographers such as Fatima Robinson. Has performed at the X-factor final at the O2 Arena, Brit Awards and the Royal Variety Show.​Chad has always had a creative side and has had a big interest in Choreography. He has choreographed for cbbc program ‘ZinZillers’ in 2012. Also as a choreographer he worked with the winner of Britain’s Got Talent ‘George Sampson’ for his live performances after Britain’s Got Talent. With his choreography, he was also asked to choreograph for Manchester Fashion week.Teaching also comes as another skill. Along with free-lancing around the country, In late 2007 he started teaching in the Shockout Academy where he trained himself as a student. In 2010, he became an in house choreographer alongside friend/teacher Jamie Luke. He then went on to take his group Shockarellas to ‘Got to dance’ where they got to the semi finals. Shockarellas also hold titles for competitions such as idance/uk hip hop international, U.D.O and world of dance UK. Chad is now Assistant Director at Shockout Arts.​
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Mandy Redmond trained at The Royal Ballet School and The Northern School of Contemporary Dance and choreographed, taught and danced extensively for fifteen years nationally before having a family and moving to the South West. Mandy taught and choreographed on the degree course at The Urdang Academy - London, and for The Royal Academy of Dance and Scottish School of Contemporary Dance, Wessex Dance Academy Mandy was also Artistic Director of The Berkshire Youth Dance Company.
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Mandy danced with many small-scale UK touring companies including Smallpetitklein - now Shaper/Caper for whom she became Rehearsal Director, performing in theatres, festivals, ships, palaces, shopping centres and more. Mandy now runs Adventures in Dance in Frome training adults and young people in contemporary dance.
Takeshi Matsumoto is a dance artist specializing in making dance performances for young audiences. He is also a qualified dance movement psychotherapist, having experience in working with children with autism and learning disabilities both in the UK and Japan.
Growing up in Japan, his practice both in life and performing art is influenced by 和-Wa, harmony, peacefulness, quiet and contentment ways of living and balancing with others and environment.
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As a dance performer Takeshi has worked with Christian Duarte, Henri Oguike, Darren Johnston, Beatrice Allegranti, Paul-Andre Fortier, SLiDE, Anthea Hamilton, 2nd Hand Dance and Hagit Yakira.
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On a local level, he has been engaged with dance projects for and with children and adults with learning disabilities (SLiDE, Icandance, RADiate) and people living with dementia (Beatrice Allegranti) in the UK. On a global level, he has led dance projects for families who survived nuclear disaster in northern Japan (2013) and stateless refugee children in Thailand collaborating with other artists(2016 onwards).
He continues to explore possibilities of dance and performance as a way of acknowledging differences and creating mutual understanding with particular emphasis on empathy, communication, empowerment and body mind integration.
