Powys Dance

Powys is huge. It accounts for 25% of Wales. It stretches all the way from the county that we used to know as Merioneddshire to erstwhile Monmouthshire. It straddles the English border to Machynlleth by the Irish sea. It stretches from the Brecon Beacons almost to Snowdonia.

Powys was created by the Local Government Act 1972, the same monstrous legislation that abolished our Saxon ridings and left us "Cleveland" and "Humberside" in its stead. Save for early medieval historians and archaeologists whose research or teaching concerned the 5th-century Celtic kingdom by that name, nobody spoke of "Powys" before that Act came into force.

But never mind, the people of that massive local government entity have created institutions with which folk from its ancient market towns and rural villages can identify. One of those institutions is Powys Dance (or Dawns Powys if you prefer).

Powys Dance is the dance authority for this municipality and claims on the About page of its website to have "been a part of the cultural fabric of the Powys arts scene for 35 years." Its mission is "to inspire more people to enjoy participating in dance" and, if the following video is anything to go by, it succeeds in that objective.

What We Do at Powys Dance from Powys Dance on Vimeo.

Classes are offered to kids, young people and adults with disabilities at very reasonable rates. These include ballet, Pilates and yoga at an impressive looking studio and auditorium at Llandrindod Wells.

Powys Dance's blog shows that the county is visited by the National Dance Company of Wales (see National Dance Company of Wales @ The Hafren: Class + Performance 24 Oct 2016) and I see from Ballet Cymru's website that that company will dance Romeo a Juliet at the same venue on 9 Dec 2016. Having seen that performance in Kendal three years ago (see They're not from Chigwell - they're from a small Welsh Town called Newport 14 May 2013) and the National Dance Company in Huddersfield (see Cambriophilia  19 March 2015) I can tell the ballet and dance fans of Newtown that they are in for a treat.