Primary Dance Festival 2026 – What a Magical Time!
17 Feb 2026
News Story
We kicked off February in our Ocean Theatre with a touch of magic at our brand new Primary Dance Festival 2026! Created in partnership with Bournemouth School Games, this year’s festival theme, 'Once Upon a Dance', brought well-known storybooks and fairytales to life through movement and imagination.
We welcomed 12 primary schools across two days, with Year 3 and 4 students creating and performing original dance pieces alongside peers from five other local schools. The theatre was filled with big smiles, wonderful choreography, colourful lights and the sound of enthusiastic, supportive applause.
Each performance day ended with a fun and energising workshop led by our brilliant freelance artists, Jazz Gritt on day one and Charlotte Fernandes on day two. The festival was designed to be non-competitive and inclusive, ensuring every group felt supported and valued, whatever their experience level. Giving many children the chance to perform for the first time in a real theatre environment.
The children grew in confidence and were very proud of performing on a professional stage. They also developed teamwork, resilience and a real sense of achievement from working towards a shared goal. There were specific children who were very positively impacted by taking part. For one child in particular, the weekly after school rehearsals gave us time to work together in a calm and positive way. This allowed them to really shine and show their strengths. Their behaviour during these sessions was consistently positive, and this had a strong impact on our working relationship and their confidence in school.
The communication and running of the day was faultless. Ran really smoothly. Due to communication being effective, it helped me explain the day to the children which put them at ease.
In the workshop I liked the freestyle. In the performance I liked the theme and the colourful lights.
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A heartfelt thank you to our all the schools, teachers and students who brought such fantastic energy to our venue. We’re also incredibly grateful to our dedicated team, especially our Young People’s Producer Amy Reynolds and our partners Dorset School Games, for making this special event possible.
And it doesn’t end here. Following this year’s success and wonderful feedback, the Primary Dance Festival will return in 2027 with a brand new theme…'Back in Time'! Participating students helped choose the theme by casting their votes in our themed buckets.
Schools interested in taking part next year are warmly invited to contact our Young People's Producer Amy Reynolds, amy.reynolds@pdsw.org.uk
Until next year! ✨