TR14ers
TR14ers, named by the young residents after their post-code, is a youth led Community Dance Charity based in Camborne, Cornwall. It was originally set up in 2005 when the Camborne Neighbourhood Police Team, looking for new ways to reduce youth related anti-social behaviour (ASB), undertook the first ever Connecting Communities (C2) programme, developed by frontline health practitioners at Exeter University.
During a C2 Listening Event the young people stated clearly there was nothing positive for them to do and that they’d love to learn street dance. The Police worked with them to set up workshops resulting in transformative outcomes in terms of health, increased educational attainment and reduced ASB and over ensuing years, when the Police stepped back, TR14ers evolved into a self-managing charity.
Over a decade on the young people have survived many challenges, displaying immense resilience and it’s estimated to have benefitted over 2000 young people since it began. They have also inspired other equally challenged young people in communities across the UK to start their own dance groups as part of the C2 programme. However since the economic downturn and widespread cutbacks , a severe lack of funding has meant that this extraordinary dance charity has come very close to closure.
Only the incredible will of the young people, teachers and volunteers has just about kept them afloat.
Each week free dance sessions are held on a Friday evening from 4.30pm until 6.30pm for the dance members and then 6.30pm – 8.30pm for Dance Leaders. Each session attracts up to 60 young people ranging from 5 to 21yr olds. What is unique about TR14ers is that the young people self-organise to lead the dance sessions. The young self selecting Dance Leaders are trained and taught how to deliver dance sessions and given time and space to choreograph their own routines. They then take turns to teach a huge room of young people ranging massively in dance ability.
To see this in action is incredible and a great example of what we now understand to be health creation. It’s one thing for dance sessions to be run by professional dance teachers and something else, much more powerful to watch a young person teaching, holding attention and inspiring up to 60 young people who are their peers.