The moment Strictly Come Dancing star Darren Bennett lets on to the group of Salford schoolchildren that they are about to learn a cha-cha-cha, two robust 10-year-olds with shaven heads grab each other and begin waltzing energetically on the spot.
The scene is The Lowry arts centre in Salford, and the launch of a new dance initiative led by Bennett and his dance partner and fellow Strictly star Lilia Kopylova. It aims to introduce ballroom and Latin American dance into schools throughout the UK via a resource pack and training for teachers.
The atmosphere is buzzing as more than 100 pupils from Salford's Albion high school and its feeder primary schools get ready to try out some fancy footwork. They have already watched Darren and Lilia strut their way through a lively jive, against a background of the rainy docks outside the Lowry, and their shining expressions make it clear they want to do the same.
The Essentially Dance programme has been put together by PE expert Sue Cooper, Rod Aldridge, chair of the Lowry and the Aldridge foundation, Dale Bennett, chief executive of Sheffield's City Limits Dancentre, and dance champion Lorraine Drolet.
The aim is to engage young people from five to 16, using dance promote fitness and health, tackle obesity and nurture contact between different age groups.
Darwen Aldridge community academy in Lancashire is also part of this pilot, with its feeder primaries. Other pilots will take place in Rotherham, Bromley and Falmer, near Brighton. Before the launch of Essentially Dance in June 2009, Roehampton University will evaluate the pilots in Darwen and Falmer to establish the impact on physical activity levels and the social skills of participants.
Bennett says: "Dancing can change lives, and we want to open it up to everyone. It can do so much in helping children learn concentration, improve co-ordination and develop communication between the sexes. Also, there are not so many activities that you can do as a family."
He and Lilia admit they are astonished by the phenomenal success of Strictly Come Dancing and delighted to capitalise on it to encourage children to get moving. They are keen to ensure that information about how to continue dancing outside school is included in the resource pack.
The challenge will be to make sure that schools embrace the project, but Cooper (who has promoted dance in 69 schools as part of the Rawmarsh school sport partnership) has built continuing training into the resource pack, alongside information about the national curriculum, a DVD with step-by-step instructions for four dances, a CD of dance music from different lands, and a biography of Bennet and Kopylova.
Cooper says: "What is so lovely is that dance does not feel like exercise because you are concentrating so hard on so many things – like learning the steps."
The enthusiasm among the teachers at the launch event is almost as great as their pupils. Claire Batty from Charlestown primary school in a deprived part of Salford has been using the resource material for a week. She says: "The children really, really love it. We thought they would struggle to hold each other, but they have not."
At nearby St George's primary school, dance has taken off to such an extent that a decision has been taken to introduce proms, like those at the local high school, where children can try out their dance skills. After-school sessions are also planned.
Dean Whalen, 11, from Marlborough Road primary school in Salford is impressed: "It is really cool to dance. We have already started learning it at school and I know how to do the cha-cha-cha."
Express Yourself, a dance exhibition including pictures and opportunities for families to try out a range of different dance types, is at The Lowry in Salford from 10 April to 27 September.
