A DANCE academy has joined forces with a youth theatre to help youngsters to benefit from more aspects of the arts.

The Rhythm and Shoes Dance Academy and Richmondshire Youth Theatre are set to benefit by collaboratively working together to open up more possibilities for all children involved in the groups.

Louise Richmond from Rhythm and Shoes Dance Academy said: "Our pupils will be able to gain a huge insight into the different aspects of the performing arts, sharing their specific skills of dance and theatre with each other.

"They will also be able to learn and apply new techniques from our joint teachers, which will ultimately assist them if they wish to study dance or theatre at a higher level such as university.

"It also means our older pupils can explore other avenues to assist in gaining such awards as the Duke of Edinburgh.

"Both groups will also be given the opportunity to achieve a wealth of accredited exams meaning they will have an accredited record of their achievement. "We are extremely lucky to be able to offer this to youngsters in our area and are very much looking forward to this collaboration."

Ms Richmond said the idea came about following lockdown, as both groups had previously worked together and done so very successfully raising money for a local charity. She said: "As both groups work within the theatre it seemed an excellent idea to help each other out. Covid permitting we plan to bring both groups together to work on some exciting projects, it enables students to explore different aspects that they wouldn’t usually be able to whilst also providing students with expertise that they may not usually get the opportunity to experience. Drama students will get the opportunity to learn about aspects of dance and movement whilst dancers will be able to learn about Drama techniques. We also plan to offer exam sessions together meaning students will be able to gain more qualifications."