Celebrating Diversity With A Different Song And Dance
5 March 2009
Dancers taking part in Diversity Fortnight outside the Multi-faith Centre on the Kedleston Road Site of the University.
There’s such a great mixture of people here at the University and we wanted to share and showcase the talent and the enthusiasm we have
”Lesley Gyford, Head of Equality, Diversity and Policy at the University.
The University of Derby is celebrating diversity with a fortnight of events featuring music, dance and other cultural activities from around the globe. The first week of activities will happen at the University’s Kedleston Road site between March 9 and March 13 for students, staff and the wider community.
Derby
Activities include:
- Indian dance
- English Rapper Sword dancing – a fast, dynamic dance with English origins where the performers dance with swords
- Yoga
- Salsacise - an exercise session based around salsa dancing steps
- BA (Hons) Complimentary Therapies students will offer Indian head massage, hand and foot massage and henna body art sessions
- Students on BA (Hons) Creative Writing courses will be persuading participants to let their imaginations run free in creative writing and poetry recitals .
Performances by:
- Locally based Congolese drummers
- Shakti Arts Indian dancers
- Steps for the Future singing group
- Bhangra dancers from the Open Centre in Peartree, Derby.
There will also be a range of academic lectures exploring the areas of race, gender, sexuality and equality.
Buxton
The second week of the festival, from March 16 to March 20, will be held at the University’s Buxton Campus, inside the magnificent Devonshire Dome.
Activities include:
- Beauty and Spa Therapy students will be demonstrating their skills by offering taster sessions in Indian head massage and other therapies
- Hair and Beauty students will be sharing inside tips on how to look good
- Tai Chi martial arts demonstrations
- performances from the Brief Candle Theatre Company
- a wide programme of awareness and advisory workshops and demos.
During the fortnight two major communal areas of each campus, the Atrium (Derby), and the Dome (Buxton), will be transformed into vibrant market places with stands and stalls selling a wide variety of produce with influences from around the world.
The Celebrating Diversity festival follows the success of the first fortnight of events which was held in March last year.
Lesley Gyford, Head of Equality, Diversity and Policy at the University said: “There’s such a great mixture of people here at the University and we wanted to share and showcase the talent and the enthusiasm we have.
“We have students and staff from all over the world and we hope the fortnight gives our staff and students and the people who live in Derby and Derbyshire the chance to enjoy a bit of our energy but also perhaps learn something new about race, disability, sexuality and equality.
“We’ve created a balanced programme of events with opportunities to dance, relax and get the creative juices flowing but we’re also putting on a high quality selection of lectures and workshops with challenging takes on equality and diversity.”
Diversity fortnight begins on March 9 (Monday) on the Derby Campus and runs until March 13. The festival continues on the Buxton Campus on March 16 and runs until Friday 20 March.
More information can be found at: www.derby.ac.uk/diversity or by phoning Lesley Gyford, Head of Equality, Diversity and Policy on 01332 591433.
A full programme of events can be viewed at: www.derby.ac.uk/diversity/events.
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For further media information please contact Annabel Harvey, 01332 593004 or email: a.harvey@derby.ac.uk.
