Around 8,000 people flocked to Yeovil Recreation Centre to see
dance stars, and musicians from across the UK perform at
Streetfest.
The two-day community event, organised by Streetfest UK and
South Somerset District Council and sponsored by Yarlington Housing
Group, saw crowds gather to watch the winner of Sky TV's Got to
Dance 2010 Akai and Britain's Got Talent group Nemesis.
Hundreds braved a heavy shower on Saturday morning to take part
in an energetic Zumba warm up, before pupils from seven local
primary schools showed off their dance skills learnt directly from
the Streetfest Crew at workshops over the last two
months.
22 Yeovil-based dancers and troupes battled for the top spot to
the crowd's delight. After two hours of high-energy routines,
self-taught duo act Georgia Green and Alice Toso were crowned
Streetfest Yeovil 2011 winners.
It was the last time the two best friends would dance together
before Alice moves back to South Africa.
Yeovil-based Limited Edition, Ollie and Lewis from Hotsteppers
dance school were runners up.
Steve Young, Director of Streetfest said, "I cannot believe the
high standard of dancers this year. There were so many fantastic
performances from local crews in both the community show and the
Yeovil competition. We would like to start workshops in South
Somerset again in September."
Of the national competitors, 15 of the top street acts from
England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales wowed the audience with
Bristol-based Hype Juniors took the crown over Unleashed from
Swansea.
The group battle was so close that they were then asked to send
one crew member to perform solo to help decide who won. The winner
was chosen by the crowd using a sound monitor and there was less
than 0.3 decibels between the crews.
20 local bands and singers performed over the weekend. Including
local musicians Riots, Steeping Out and Marcus Sangiovanni. Other
acts included China Girl, The Sugar Coated Love Monkies, Glow and
Melissa May.
The event was part of a targeted approach by South Somerset
District Council and the Local Strategic Partnership's Yeovil
Inequalities Programme, with support from Somerset Primary Care
Trust and sponsorship from Yarlington Housing Group, to improve
health and well being amongst young people in Yeovil - reducing
obesity and providing further opportunities for active
lifestyles.
Yeovil Town Council, the Area South Community Safety Panel,
South Somerset Community Safety Partnership, Yeovil Schools
Federation and Yeovil Without Parish Council also provided
funding.
Cllr Mike Best, Chairman of South Somerset District Council
stayed throughout the weekend and was impressed by the line up. He
said, "I can genuinely say it was a fantastic event with so many
children, families and teenagers enjoying the performances. It was
also good to see that hundreds of young people took part in
workshops and many were saying that they wanted to take up dance
classes.
"Provision for dance and street dance in our area is steadily
growing. It was excellent to see the community coming together and
I hope everyone enjoyed the opportunity to showcase their talent.
SSDC thanks all of the organisations who supported it."
Gary Orr, Chief Executive of Yarlington Housing Group, said,
"This was my first taste, in my new post, of how Yarlington gets
involved in the community, and I was delighted to jointly open this
hugely popular event. Supporting initiatives that give a long
lasting benefit to young people is very important to us, and to see
so many of them over the weekend with their families makes me proud
to be part of this company that truly has the community at its
heart."
More information on Streetfest UK is at their Yeovil Facebook
page by searching for 'Streetfest Yeovil,' or the www.streetfestuk.com
website.