Almost 500 Fife pupils take part in annual Active Schools dance festival

The free event, which is now in its ninth year is organised by Fife’s Active Schools team and is a fun, non-competitive dance festival. The 2024 event took place at Lochgelly Centre on Thursday evening.

Some schools and participant have become regular at the event, but for others, it was their first experience of performing on stage in front of a large audience.

The Ashleigh Montador Dance Academy was this year’s invited dance school to perform and show the pathway opportunities that are available with communtiy clubs for budding dancers.

Jennifer Noble, event organiser and Active School coordinator, said: “We are delighted with how popular the event has become and had a record number of schools taking part this year. We are always amazed by the creativity of the choreographers and the ability and enthusiasm of the performers.

"Fife Active Schools recruit and develop a network of volunteers and coaches to deliver sport, dance and physical activity. Some of the dance festival performances were developed by our dance leaders, volunteers and coaches and many by school staff that volunteer their time to run extra-curricular dance clubs in Fife’s schools.

"The whole event is also compered by pupils who are part of the Fife Active Schools Young Leadership Pathway. This ranges from pupils in P6 through to S6 who take lead on projects and promoting the role that sport and physical activity can have in their schools communities. "

Those schools who took part in the festival this year were Viewforth, Queen Anne, Glenwood, St Columba’s and Inverkeithing High Schools, Levenmouth Academy and Mountfleurie, Canongate, Benarty, Dysart, Buckhaven, Lynburn, Ladybank, Lochgelly South, East Wemyss, Fair Isle, Duloch and Carnegie, St Kenneth’s, Inverkeithing, Falkland, Ceres, Methilhill, Freuchie, Dunbog, Kennoway, Kelty and Leslie primary schools, and the Queen Anne High School cluster.