Meet the stars of Sing, Dance, Leap
In 2025 a cast of Bradford young people took part in a brand new ballet and opera project, performing live to an audience of thousands.
Published: December 11, 2025
We spoke to some of the learners involved to find out what it meant to them.
A leap of confidence
In June 2025 a cast of 217 learners performed Sing, Dance, Leap onstage at Bradford Live to an audience of over 2000 people including participating school groups and families. The uplifting Bradford 2025 production brought to life the hopes and dreams of Bradford’s young people; the result of over six months of creative workshops led by the Royal Ballet and Opera, Opera North and Northern Ballet. The response from the audience in Bradford Live was joyous: people took to their feet, spontaneously clapping to the songs being sung by the children onstage. It was an incredible atmosphere of celebration and heartfelt pride in Bradford’s young people.
For many learners this was their first experience of ballet or opera and the idea of practicing new creative skills together was a challenge in the early days of Sing, Dance, Leap. Some of the young people were worried about getting things wrong and being embarrassed in front of their friends.
“At the first part of ballet I was kinda scared because I thought that I’d mess it up and they won’t want me anymore. I also thought that people would laugh because I’d be dancing.”
However, it wasn’t long before participants began to notice the positive effect of the dance workshops on their self-esteem and ability to speak up. “Before, I wasn’t that confident to like say my ideas, or express my feelings. But now, since doing this, I feel like I’m more confident.”
Learning to work as part of a team was vital to the success of Sing, Dance, Leap and the participants were quick to adapt to this way of working, recognising the importance of collaboration.
“… when we started to collaborate more and like, work together, I was keen – I really enjoyed it. Cos usually I just do things on my own, right, but this time we got to work as a group and it was very – it was like a good experience.”
Some of the boys taking part in the project initially felt that ballet was an activity exclusively for girls and were reluctant to get involved. Over time these opinions began to change, leading one boy to say “No offence but I thought ballet would be tutus and not for me. But when I did it, I found that it was actually more interesting and our teacher told us that some footballers do ballet.”
The participants enjoyed the creative process of choreographing new work and how it could open up new ways of thinking. Some expressed surprise in their new-found skills, “I didn’t know that these ideas could come out of my brain!” whilst another learner commented that creativity was all about “using your mind in a different way”. Recalling a dance sequence with choreographed lifts one young person reflected, “it made me think of the word ‘loyal’ because the spotters helped me down safely and carefully. It reminded me of when my dad hugs me.”
In 2026, following the success of Sing, Dance, Leap, Northern Ballet’s Spotted! talent development workshops will be offered to learners from participating Primary Schools. The Royal Ballet and Opera will continue to build creative confidence in Bradford schools and offer professional development for teachers through its schools programme, including Create & Sing, Create & Dance, and Create & Design.