The Facts:

Country: UK
Launched: 2006
Partners: Nike UK, Waterloo Arts Network; London Sport Action Zone; Laban; London SAZ; Arts & Business
Objectives: To develop a dance program for socially and economically excluded women
Program Highlights:

• Empowering young, disadvantaged women through access to dance
• More than 2500 young women given the opportunity to attend dance sessions
• Introduced National Dance Teacher Accreditation standards

Girls want to dance. That is the message that came across loud and clear from the Nike Rockstar Workout Live weekend.

Dance is a form of self expression, a way to release feelings and tell a story. It keeps girls active, motivated and inspired. Dance is their sport.

Nike believes that sport can empower and change the lives of women. And every woman has the right to play sport. Due to social and economical factors many women are excluded from this opportunity. Through the Nike Dance project for women, Nike hope to give those women, that opportunity.

Kymberlee Jay, Nike Athlete and Professional Hip Hop dancer, is a big part of the Nike project, helping to teach dance to socially excluded girls. Not your stereotypical athlete, Kymberlee, has been a leading light in the project.

The Nike dance ad campaign has Kymberlee saying, “I won’t make the cover of a sports magazine, or make play of the day. I won’t sell posters or boost ratings and my haircut will not start a craze. So go ahead - tell me I am not an athlete.” The campaign has had a huge impact on real women who realise they too can dance.

Mandy Ayres, Corporate Responsibility Manager for Nike UK and Ireland said it all started with the Nike Rockstar Workout Live; a dance weekend which attracted 2,500 women. The weekend, hosted by Kymberlee, introduced women to different types of dance and got them dancing for 3 hours. The weekend focussed purely on women’s talent and was a phenomenal success.

Given the popularity of the weekend Nike wanted to help more girls, so they began offering free community dance classes. This proved to be the catalyst for a year long project that focussed on dance and young women’s thoughts and feelings towards dance.

Mandy says, “It’s always been about the boys who are causing trouble and this was a great opportunity for Nike to say, ‘This is about the girls’ something which really helped raise the girls’ self esteem.”

Top dance academy Laban, supported by Nike held an open day, introducing the girls to lots of classes including the Nike Rockstar Workout. The Open Day had real impact and many girls have now become Laban dance students.

Sarah Cretch, Project Director of the Waterloo Arts & Events Network says, “The past year we’ve had over 250 young women dancing consistently. They have attended, are committed and now one of our problems is that they’re getting to such a high level that we don’t know where to take them next. They want to keep dancing and we need to help them do that.”

To see the video, learn more about this program, and to vote for UK – Dance LA Workout as a grant recipient, visit www.nikewomen.com.