In 2012 we held an audition to create the Gravesham legacy – a group of young people that would take part in the passing of the Olympic Torch. This audition encompassed every secondary school in Gravesham – 100 people auditioned with 30 people making the group.
Once the group was put together they trained once a week for 12 weeks in various street dance styles including popping, krump, hip hop and also contemporary. The group created strong bonds with one another and made remarkable improvements over their 12 week training period.
Rehearsal sessions took place at the Cascades Leisure Centre and Cygnet Leisure Centre (Northfleet) as the group worked hard to perfect their moves and give Gravesham something to be proud of.
The team arrived in town looking the part in their assortment of Team Kaizen t-shirts, trainers and dancewear and performed pieces that were themed around the Olympics which included boxing, javelin, 100 metre sprint and swimming.
As the Olympic Torch was passing Gravesend the team performed and it was all shown live on BBC One. They performed 3 times on Gravesend High Street as crowds gathered and wanted more.
As well as the performances the troupe also created a video called Gravesham Legacy which can be found on Youtube. The video showed the group in training at Cygnet Leisure Centre including parts of the routine they performed at the Adizone in Promenade.
Medals were given out after the last performance by the mayor of Gravesham Lyn Milner. They also received images of the day from photographs taken by Sarah J Knight and Gravesham Legacy t-shirts.
The performers’ legacy continued to live on during the actual Olympic Opening Ceremony when the team of street dancers performed outside the local Civic Centre in front of a huge erected screen which aired the opening ceremony live.
This was a rewarding project to be involved in that united all eight of the secondary schools in Gravesham. The students picked up a lot of skills and matured along the way as they were put through their paces by the instructors that coached them throughout the project.
