Cartwheel initially became involved with Prom Night because two of the young people, Stacey Blackburn and Waqar Ahmed, who we met through the Bigger Picture project had been asked to lead dance workshops with Smallbridge Youth Group.  As the workshops were intended to deliver a sexual health message, we felt that we could provide some support with ideas. In the event we led the project, working with visual artist Jo Gornall and Stacey and a group of young people which fluctuated in terms of numbers from week to week. In the end only 3 members of the group performed, but several of the group attended the final performance and all the members contributed to the artwork on the stage set. There was extensive discussion of the sexual health messages and behaving responsibly in relationships throughout the project.

The group were keen to perform the dance/drama piece they had created which led to ‘Snapshots’.  Snapshots was an exciting evening of ‘work in progress’ which we put together with Rochdale Youth Service and M6 Youth Theatre, brilliantly compered by Julian Daniel, showcasing a number of pieces of work being done through the Youth Service in association with some of the arts groups and individual artists in the borough, all on the theme of sexual health

‘Imagine it’s the very end of your school days.  For these young people it’s a time of anticipation and some anxiety as they prepare for the biggest night of the year, a night when all the hopes and dreams they’ve had about their ideal boy – or girl – reach a crescendo, when mistakes are made, and some people go home with more than they bargained for.  Ladies and gentlemen – it’s Prom Night.’