"Dance was always a part of my life, even when I was young, because my mum used to dance. So I wanted to see what Reload was like. We did some really cool stuff, we went out places and performed in front of people, and it made me more confident". "When I first started in year seven I spoke to people in year nine and ten, and they told me about Reload, and I quite liked the thought of doing dance and getting involved with different things". "I started doing gymnastics in year seven and then I found out about this and I wanted to try it to see if it was anything like gymnastics. And it's really good".
 | | Some of the moves are quite tricky! |
These are just some of the ways boys at Boroughbridge High School got involved with Reload, a boys only dance group. They sound loud and proud enough now, but when head of dance, Fliss Hill, started the group three years ago, it was somewhat more underground… "I said to them 'If I set up a group and didn’t call it a dance group would you be interested?' And they said yes. It started out quite like a secret society and they met on a Friday lunch time. And then they performed in the Christmas assembly and they got such a good reaction that loads of others thought ‘this is a good idea’ and joined in". | "It started out quite like a secret society" | | Fliss Hill |
Now, there are 31 boys in the group, and they’re a mixed bunch, with even some of the less well-behaved students involved, as Fliss explains: "There are some who are extremely well behaved and never get into any trouble at all, then there are some who quite regularly seem to have a brush with trouble. But it does encourage them to stay out of it because if they’re in detention they can’t attend the group. And there’s a full range of ages now, right up from year seven". It goes without saying that it wasn’t the prospect of being able to do a fine waltz or a tricky tango that sparked the boys’ interest. Nevertheless, the type and range of dancing they do is far from basic. What kind of dancing is it? "Street dance, with a bit of break dance in it, and a bit of contemporary thrown in throughout" says one member. And is it skillful? "It ranges, but as people get better Mrs Hill makes it more challenging". Being able to do numerous routines benefits those involved massively. Of course, it helps them to stay fit, but it also helps with other lessons and fosters a sense of team spirit in the group… "We all encourage each other to do better, and everyone's high spirited. Nobody thinks of it as being girly or anything, it's proper dance for everyone to do and become friends through. "In drama I bring the stuff we learn here into it and make it better, so the actual drama becomes dance based but it's still got a drama theme to it".
 | | A fight sequence |
It's perhaps worth mentioning being in Reload also helps with gender relations. Allow Ben, the 'ladies man' of the group, to explain... "It's made me a lot sexier to the ladies. I have plenty of girls around me, they all cheer for me when we perform. And we've got a girls dance club as well, so we go out with them sometimes and dance and... just get to know them!". The enthusiasm surrounding Reload is something dance teacher Fliss Hill is keen to maintain amongst new pupils starting at the school. Not only because of the ways dance can benefit them individually, but because of the positive impact Reload has on the rest of the school too. "When they perform in assembly it opens the minds of the other kids sitting there. it makes them think ‘you can tackle something that isn’t stereotypically what you might be expected to do'. So it might encourage a girl go off and do something that’s not expected of her gender. It’s good to get them to do things that are challenging them and outside the box". | 
