Top dancers takes steps to give hospice children and families day to remember

CHILDREN who are being cared for by a Yorkshire hospice are being given the chance to create special family memories through dance with the expert help of Northern Ballet.

Martin House Hospice, in Wetherby, which looks after children with life-limiting illness, has teamed up with Northern Ballet as part of a new initiative created by the Prince of Wales’s charity, The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts.

Northern Ballet is one of just six UK arts organisations taking part in the charity’s Start Hospices Programme.

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This programme aims to give children and their parents the chance to have fun together as a family away from the demands of their daily lives and to enjoy opportunities to experience and take part in top quality arts activity, which they may not usually have access to. Between August and December the families will take part in two dance and photography workshops from which an exhibition of the families experiences will be created.

They will also watch a performance of Northern Ballet’s Three Little Pigs at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre and Cinderella at Leeds Grand Theatre just before Christmas.

Families from Martin House Hospice have already spent the day at Northern Ballet’s studios in Leeds where they watched rehearsals of Three Little Pigs and took part in a dance workshop.

Jo Dean, project manager at Northern Ballet, said: “We believe ballet can bring people together and this project epitomises this perfectly.

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“At Martin House, the family is at the centre of everything they do, and it is a place where families can enjoy life together.

“Our project aims to reflect this and provide new and exciting ways for the families to play together.

“For many of the families this will be their first experience of ballet and we hope it will be fun and enjoyable and create special memories for all the families involved.”