Youth @ Pineapple

All the members of y@p joined PPAS as individual students. Through their own talent
and growing commitment, and through the support of the industry professionals who
taught them, they rose through the ranks of the school and quickly become "stars" in their
own right. From a very early stage, when they were simply members of a PPAS tutor
group, their work has had a unique stamp, combining energy, precision and wit, and their
routines regularly brought the house down at end-of-year shows.

y@p was conceived by Principal Maggie Paterson as a largely self-governing base unit
from which this talented group could continue to be nurtured and developed within the
framework of PPAS, while at the same time developing their own projects and
challenges, and branching out into selected independent performance opportunities.

y@p had their fist big achievement as finalists on their first entry into the prestigious
"Street Dance Weekend" Competition 2005 at the Apollo Theatre, Hammersmith and
went on to perform in UK V USA at Wembley Arena. Their first Headline Show "Breakin Out"
in July 2006, was an invitation to perform at The Unicorn Theatre under the auspices of the
BIG DANCE, a project funded by the Art's Council and the Mayor’s Office, after representatives
saw the group perform at the first ever Move It event at Olympia in April 2006.

What makes y@p such an achievement is the origins of the company members. The
majority of y@p performers have come through the ranks of PPAS as scholarship students,
enabling them to receive specialist professional training and mentoring that would otherwise
have been, quite simply, beyond their means. Even more impressive, many of the groups
were introduced to PPAS through a joint initiative between PPAS and the Metropolitan Police.

With their drive and passion for dance, the group have developed into a motivated,
hard-working and mutually supportive dance ensemble. "Breakin' Out" at The Unicorn Theatre
y@p conceived, devised and partly choreographed themselves. The show, loosely
dramatised around the stories of a group of prison inmates, featured hugely energetic
hip-hop dance laced with a mischievous wit that has become the y@p signature. It also
showed off the group’s strong musical capabilities with featured songs including the
Nina Simone classic "I Wish I Could Learn", and the Drifters’ "Up on the Roof".

y@p members have also been trained to teach, and have, for the past year, been visiting
schools, giving workshop demonstrations and teaching techniques of hip-hop and
body popping. In this way, they are inspiring a new generation of kids to discover their
own potential, build their self-esteem, and learn how to explore and express hip-hop street.


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