Dance Your Life Away
The story of contemporary community dance in Oxford, and the extraordinary woman who launched it. From 2016.
The story of contemporary community dance in Oxford, and the extraordinary woman who launched it in the 1980s.
Cecilia Macfarlane believes that we are all dancers from the cradle to the grave. More than that, really: she thinks that we dance from our first kick in the womb to our very last blink - and, perhaps, beyond.
At her convent school in Bath, when she declared that she was going to be a dancer, the Head Mistress told Cecilia: "Go dance your life away!".
When she came to Oxford as a young mother, she found only ballet was available for children, and started up Oxford Youth Dance for her own son and daughter. Thirty years on, Oxford - a city better known for more prestigious art-forms - has the longest-running and perhaps most vibrant community dance scene in the country.
You can be two or 92, in a wheelchair or able-bodied, a middle-aged office worker or a young man planning a professional career in dance - in Oxford, you really can "dance your life away".
Presented and produced by Beaty Rubens.
First broadcast on 成人快手 Radio 4 in March 2016.
Last on
Broadcasts
- Mon 21 Mar 2016 16:00成人快手 Radio 4
- Fri 12 Aug 2016 11:00成人快手 Radio 4 FM
- Fri 4 Aug 2023 20:00成人快手 Radio 4 Extra
Featured in...
Dance Passion
From ballet and ballroom to breakdance and art collectives chasing a new style
Come Dancing—Seriously...
Documentaries about dance, dancers and dancing.