DANCE is very much in the nation's spotlight these days with the BBC's hugely successful and dazzling Strictly Come Dancing still on a roll and the Beeb's latest creation, The Greatest Dancer, on our television screens at the moment.

Kendal's Brewery Arts Centre has for many years 'done its bit' for dance and next month marks the 15th anniversary of its Dance Platform, one of the region's biggest festivals of its kind.

Since its inception in 2004, the Dance Platform has seen thousands of young people from schools and dance groups across the region perform on stage and take part in workshops run by top professional dancers.

On Monday, March 18, the centre will mark the event’s major milestone with Brewery 15, four days of celebratory performances, including a specially commissioned piece by professional dance company Aboutime, entitled Outside the Box, which explores the history of the Dance Platform in a storage space. The dancers will open boxes containing themes and ideas that have been explored through the years such as Shakespeare, Billy Elliott, Africa, the Industrial Revolution, Flooding, the Circus and much more. The boxes transform into trees, boats, lorries as well as providing the dancers with props, wigs and costume.

As part of the event, Aboutime, and dancers from the Brewery’s own acclaimed youth dance team, also ran outreach workshops in local schools and more than 600 young people will showcase their new found skills in a variety of styles over the four days.

Brewery dance development officer Emma Thomas explained that Dance Platform had grown into one of the biggest celebrations of dance in the north west and during the last 15 years, it had seen more than 10,000 young people from schools, colleges and special needs schools take to the stage. She added: "Dance Platform gives young people the unique opportunity to perform in a professional venue and is a great way to help them develop confidence, self-awareness and social skills. It is also fantastic fun."

The Brewery’s Youth Dance programme has helped inspire many forge a career in professional dance, including burgeoning talent Josh Hawkins, founder of Hawk Dance Company, which has performed new work nationwide.

Dance Platform runs from March 18-21. For further information go online at www.breweryarts.co.uk or telephone the box office on 01539-725133.