Dance Offensive
Artistic Director - Paul Sadot
Formed in 2006, Dance Offensive's young performers are offered 15 hours of free training each week, focusing on a variety of dance forms, including breakdancing, street dance, ballet, contemporary and Capoeira.
Paul Sadot, the company's artistic director, started Dance Offensive with the intention of integrating at-risk youths with mainstream young performers.
Although some members are referrals from Cambridgeshire's Youth Offending Service, the group is open to everyone, and Paul and the other tutors regularly hold workshops for schools to showcase what Dance Offensive is all about.
"It shows what young people can achieve given the opportunity and facilities to take themselves seriously," he said.
A Dance Offensive troop member performing in Pressure Drop II
Taking over the main stage at the Breakin' Convention festival was testament to the talent that Paul has nurtured.
"We were one of the few youth groups performing at this event," he added. "The rest were professionals, so to get selected was a massive honour."
Gracing the stage for their performance of Pressure Drop II on 1 May were be 11 members of Dance Offensive aged between 10 and 21 years.
The performance explored the pressures facing youngsters today, through a combination of dance, music, film and poetry.
BBC Online 26 April 2010
In 2010 the company were invited to perform Pressure Drop II on the main stage of Sadlers Wells.Created over a fourteen-month period, we began by researching how a generation fed by celebrity culture respond to the bombardment of media manipulation that is thrown at them, and the consequences of failing to achieve these dreams of fame and fortune. The result was a piece on isolation, paranoia and claustrophobia and a desperate need for support and family.
Dance Offensive used the performing arts at a very high level and gained wide recognition for its performances, including a piece titled Beneath Me Lies, which explored themes of sexual assault and injustice, and performed (for the second year running) at the Breakin' Convention festival at Sadler's Wells in London in April 2011.
Beneath Me Lies was performed by the Cambridge-based troupe Dance Offensive at the Breakin' Convention festival in London in 2011. It was the first act to perform on the main stage at Sadler's Wells, opening the festival from 30 April to 2 May 2011. The original dance, set to a "beat-heavy remix" of Prokofiev's String Quartet No 1, combined break-dancing, capoeira, tango, and physical theatre to explore the serious themes of sexual assault and the consequences of remaining silent in the face of injustice. The performance was highly praised by Jonzi D, the festival director, who was "blown away" by the work.
BBC online 28 April 2011
Beneath Me Lies 2011 - Sadlers Wells Breakin’ Convention main stage
CLASSES & WORKSHOPS
During its existence Dance Offensive produced many professional workshops and performances for the youth company. The ethos was to treat the young members of the performance company professionally, as professional performers, and in-return to expect professional behaviour. The teenage company performers would teach the open classes for the younger and newer members of the group and in return they would be paid professional rates (in the form of vouchers).
Some of the members also taught in a special international collaboration with Kenyan dancers.
New Manoeuvres was the professional performance company based within the Dance Offensive framework
CARCHARODON - 2013
Director: Paul Sadot
Choreography Paul Sadot in collaboration with Benjamin Taylor Shepherd and Katie Webster