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2021-03-31-accounts

DANCE 21

For children and young adults with Down Syndrome and their siblings

Annual Report & Accounts 2020/21

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Registered Charity
No 1188124
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Introducing our three groups

Dance 21 Seniors

Dance 21 Juniors

Dance 21 Woodford

Contents
Structure and governance 2
Mission statement 3
Our purpose, our values, our services 3
Chair’s annual review 3
Our trustees 4
Report on Dance Groups 6
What People Say….. 9
Treasurer’s report 12
Receipts & Payments account for the year ended 31 March 2021 13
Independent examiner’s report 14
Special thanks to our benefactors 15
We are back and running 16

1

Structure and governance

Dance 21 was founded in September 2000 and achieved charity status as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in February 2020 with the registered Charity Number 1188124. Our governing document is the CIO Foundation model Constitution, which was also signed and agreed in 2020. We will be reviewing it on a regular basis.

In accordance with Charity Commission regulations, we have an elected Board of Trustees, all Volunteers, who are responsible for the governance of the group. Charity trustees are elected on the basis of relevant skills and attributes they possess that enable them to perform important functions within the charity. Trustees who were elected at the Annual General Meeting on 31 August 2020 are:

Mrs. Mary Schultz Chair Mr. Peter Schultz Treasurer Mrs. Bev Weeks Secretary Mrs. Kim Kemp Minutes Secretary Mrs. Rachel Palfreman

Mrs. Christine Twomey

Dance 21 was formed to meet the need locally for children and young adults with Down Syndrome and their siblings to join a dance group where they can experience opportunities to perform locally and further afield that would not otherwise be available to them. We also go on social outings as a group.

Dance 21 has now expanded to three groups, two in Chelmsford and one in Woodford. All are very well attended.

Through Dance 21, the dancers and parents, their families and friends have also established close friendships and a much needed social network, sharing advice on health and social issues as they arise.

Belonging to Dance 21 helps to motivate our dancers and improve their quality of life by providing exciting opportunities to take part in dancing events, lots of social events and the sense of belonging to the ‘Dance 21 family’.

2

Mission statement

Dance 21 dance group is a unique dance group based in Essex and Woodford for children and young adults with Down Syndrome and their siblings, projecting a positive image of disability.

We offer a dynamic, fun, structured environment where everyone has the opportunity to improve their potential through dance and movement.

We develop a variety of skills and each child is valued as an individual and a respected team member.

Our public performances are a delightful opportunity to share our achievements.

Our purpose, our values, our services

Dance 21 is committed to providing an excellent and professional service to children and young adults with Down Syndrome and their siblings; comprising affordable, confidence building and dancing opportunities that promote good health, friendships and ultimately raise self esteem.

Chair’s annual review

Well, what a year 2020/2021 has been and one we could have never expected!

We unfortunately could not attend any events from end of March 2020 to March 2021 due to Covid restrictions and Lockdown but this did not stop us from having our weekly dance sessions on Zoom. Our Woodford group did manage to return to live classes during September, October and December 2020 amazingly and all benefited from the social interaction with their peers We are so grateful to Steven Turner, Hannah Randall and Francesca Bradford for running the zoom sessions and the feedback from the dancers and their parents has been amazing.

With the roll out of the vaccines, we are all beginning to see the benefits and I cannot wait to see our dancers, their parents and our teachers once more in person. Life will be a new normal but one still to be very much enjoyed and celebrated.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our volunteer team, without whom we wouldn’t be able to provide the best support to our dancers and of course our lovely teachers, Jean Hunter, Steven Turner, Hannah Randall, Katie Osborne, Francesca Bradford and Jessie Bussell who give so generously of their time to attend events. Our committee continues to work very hard to ensure Dance 21 operates at the highest level, promoting a positive image of different abilities in our community.

We are very grateful for donations from the Bank of Nova Scotia and all the lovely people who used Amazon Smile to ensure we get donations from them periodically.

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These donations allowed us to continue running zoom sessions for all three groups and pay those teachers.

New dancers are always welcome to attend a free taster session at one of our three classes.

In fact, during lockdown, we had three new members in our Senior group, three new members in the Juniors and two new members at Woodford.

For more information about classes, please contact Mary Schultz (contact details on back page).

I am very proud of what we have achieved with Dance 21 over the last 21 years and I am confident our charity will continue to earn recognition in the local community and further afield as a respected and well-established organisation with a strong team of dedicated and friendly trustees and volunteers.

Mary Schultz

Chair and Charity Manager.

Our trustees

Dance 21 was founded in September 2000 by Mary Schultz, with Jean Hunter as the first dance teacher, and we currently have 54 dancers. We have 8 parents on our Board of Trustees who are all volunteers.

Mary Schultz

Mary’s role as Chair of the Board of Trustees and Charity Manager includes planning and organising all dance and social events, liaison with dance teachers, volunteers and events organisers and overseeing the general running of the Charity.

She is the mother of Ellen, one of the dancers in the Senior group in Chelmsford since it started in 2000. Mary is actively involved in all events across the three groups.

Peter Schultz

Peter’s role as Treasurer involves keeping accurate accounts and liaising with our Independent Examiner. As father of Ellen, he is also actively involved in all events.

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Bev Weeks

Bev is the proud mum of Luke, one of the Senior dancers in Chelmsford who joined in 2004. She is the Secretary of Dance 21 and also a volunteer in the weekly dance classes, assisting the teachers by helping and encouraging the dancers. Bev also enjoys being part of the events team for all public performances.

Kim Kemp

Kim is mother of Sarah, who has been dancing with the Seniors since 2006. Sarah loves to dance and spend time with her friends. Kim enjoys meeting up with other parents to share knowledge and socialise. Her role in Dance 21 is as Minutes Secretary and this involves taking notes at meetings, typing them up and circulating them to the committee. She keeps a record of all the minutes for future reference.

Rachel Palfreman

Rachel is a mother of three, whose youngest daughter, Libby, is in the Junior group in Chelmsford. She also helps out weekly in the class sessions, assisting the two dance teachers.

Her daughter has been dancing for eight years and looks forward to her weekly Dance 21 sessions and the numerous events we are asked to dance at.

Christine Kite

Christine is a full time working mum with 17 year old twins, one of whom, Amber, has Down Syndrome. It was her daughter’s love of dance which navigated Christine to Dance 21.

She helps run the Woodford group with Kathy and Olivia.

Kathy Hart

Kathy is a mother of two children, the oldest is Lauryn who has Down syndrome. Lauryn loves to dance and looks forward each week so that she can be with her friends dancing at the Woodford group.

Kathy helps to run the Woodford group with Christine and Olivia.

Olivia Gordon

Olivia’s eldest son, Ethan, has Down Syndrome and he is a member of the Woodford branch of Dance 21. She helps run the group, is there for the weekly sessions and helps out at dance events.

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Report on Dance Groups

Dance 21 Seniors

It has been a very different year for Dance 21 Seniors.

The Dancers have missed seeing each other in person, but thankfully our amazing Dance teacher Steven Turner has enabled us to continue our classes each week via Zoom. Steven has taught us 5 new routines including ones that involve the group performing actions split between the dancers.

Everybody is looking forward to returning to Face-to-face dancing on the 10th June.

We have had a few new Dancers joining, so the group is going from strength to strength.

6

Dance 21 Juniors

After a crazy year with Covid, Dance 21 Juniors have had many zoom lessons which have gone down well with our dancers. Hannah, our teacher, has taught two new dances, ‘Dance with me tonight’ and ‘Timber’.

Since going back to our new Hall at the Quakers Meeting House in Chelmsford, the group have settled in really well, taking covid restrictions in their stride. We have three new dancers who have gained in confidence each week and it is so lovely to see them joining in with the warm ups and dances.

Everyone is enjoying being back together and looking forward to future events.

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Dance 21 Woodford

Dance 21 group in Woodford continues to move forwards despite the Covid pandemic. Our dance teacher, Fran, arranged a zoom dance class each Thursday. This enabled all the children to access an hours dance, it also gave them great pleasure being able to see each other when we were in the middle of lockdown.

Parents, children and teachers remain dedicated to the group and we hope dancing will continue in the hall for the foreseeable future now that we are out of lockdown

We look forward to celebrating 21 years as a group with everyone in October.

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What People Say…..

At the beginning of 2020 I had never used zoom to teach dance classes and here we are a year later and still going strong. Many thanks to everybody for bearing with me as we all learnt together! I have really enjoyed the classes and trying out new ideas and routines. Since being online the dancers have learnt 8 new dances, 4 were mainly warm up routines but could be performed if necessary and 4 that have been specifically designed for performance. Although not seeing everyone has been awful, working online has had its advantages. Everyone has been able to clearly see me doing the new choreography (including me doing both parts at times), in addition I also feel it has helped the dancers develop and learn as individuals and not rely on watching other dancers for choreography. I am looking forward to getting back to dancing together, performing and sharing our hard work with everyone.

Steven Turner, Dance Teacher Chelmsford

Dance 21 Juniors have settled back into face-to-face classes as if the past year of online classes never happened. Even with a change of venue, they have taken social dist-dancing in their stride. We have used floor markers to help with choosing their space and have adapted our usual format of practising steps from corner to corner to be in our own pattern in the middle of the hall. We have welcomed some new dancers who have settled in very quickly and seem to be enjoying learning the moves and choosing to share with the other dancers too. We still practise our old faithful dances which have been easily adapted to remain in a space and we are excited at the prospect of getting to the opportunity of performing again in July.

Hannah Lustig, Dance Teacher Chelmsford

It has been a pleasure to be a teacher to such beautiful, kind and hardworking students. Throughout the past few months the children at Dance21 Woodford have shown resilience, determination and passion whether that be in person or via zoom. They have been learning new routines via zoom and also rehearsing old ones. Our most recent activity has been the children each choosing their favourite routine to teach, this consists of them finding the music and becoming the teacher and giving cues (whilst I am on mute and join in too). This has been extremely rewarding and is ensuring the children know all the routines like the back of their hand. Although I have enjoyed teaching via zoom, I am enjoying it even more now seeing everyone face to face back in the hall.

Francesca Bradford, Dance Teacher Woodford

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From Dancers

From Parents

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As a parent of a child with Special Needs it is difficult to find a service where they can fit in and feel confident about themselves. Dance 21 certainly provided this. The teachers are very friendly and the environment is clean and safe. Dance 21 has helped my child to improve his social skills and boost his confidence. When Kamani preforms in front of a big crowd I see such a change in him, he loves the attention. He has improved so much on these skills and looks forward to the weekly sessions.

From others

11

Treasurer’s report

This year has been a year like no other (and one which we hope never to see the like of again) with Covid-19 seriously impacting on our ability to provide ‘service as normal’ to the dancers in our three groups. Having operated as an Unincorporated Association for 20 years, 2021 was our first full year as a registered charity following our successful application to The Charities Commission in 2020. It is hoped that our new charitable status will give us greater flexibility to fully support the activities of Dance 21 for the benefit of all of our dancers.

Our accounts have been inspected by an Independent Examiner, Mr Robert Andrews, in line with the requirements of The Charities Commission and his report can be found in this leaflet together with a full summary of our accounts for the year.

Dance 21 receives no external funding and relies primarily on class fees to enable us to run the regular weekly classes. Additionally we have been lucky to enjoy the support of many benefactors over the years and this year we are very grateful to The Bank of Nova Scotia for a very generous donation. In previous years we have successfully applied for a number of grants which enabled us to set up two further dance groups and to invest in things such as sound equipment, dancers costumes and events which would otherwise have been out of our reach.

The principal costs to Dance 21 are teachers’ fees and hall/dance class hire. Class fees are set at a level which covers the fixed costs and allows a small contingency for other expenses.

Dance 21 is run entirely by parent volunteers and employs no staff. Having been unable to run our usual regular in person weekly classes this year most of our classes have taken place online, as you will have seen elsewhere in this report, and a byproduct of this is that some of our fixed costs have been reduced which accounts for a large part of the £6,000 surplus shown in our accounts. The online classes have been very popular but for a variety of reasons some of the dancers have had limited access to them and a small number were unable to join in any. To this end we have offered either partial or full refunds as appropriate to all of our dancers. We calculate that total refunds could amount to maximum of £4,500 which will be reflected in next years accounts.

Additionally we have a small credit balance of £127.50 accrued through support from the Chelmsford Star Co-op Community Club. This is being wound up this year and the funds will be withdrawn and credited to our bank account.

Peter Schultz Treasurer

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Receipts & Payments account for the year ended 31 March 2021

13

Independent examiner’s report

I report on the accounts of Dance 21 charity no 1188124 for the year ended 31 March 2021 which are set out on page 13

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Act and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no material matters have come to my attention which gives me cause to believe that, in any material respect:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with

the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Robert Andrews MA, ACIB, FCIE 3 Sewards End, Wickford, SS12 9PB 1 August 2021

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Special thanks to our benefactors

Many thanks to Michelle Gibbins, Director at Nova Scotia Bank for your very kind donation which has helped see us through Lockdown

also everybody who has been purchasing goods from Amazon Smile, thereby ensuring a donation goes to Dance 21.

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We are back and running

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Dance 21

Registered address:

c/o 92 Longstomps Avenue Chelmsford Essex CM2 9LB Registered Charity Number: 1188124

www.dance21.co.uk www.facebook.com/Dance21

For more information please contact Mary Schultz, Chair and Charity Manager

Tel: 07814 959312 Email: dance21@blueyonder.co.uk