A thought provoking new report published by the Camelot Foundation

and Ipsos MORI discussing how young people relate to the idea of being ‘British’.

Young People and British Identity is a report produced by the Camelot Foundation and Ipsos MORI, following research among young people aged 16-21 in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.It also discusses issues surrounding the need to engage with young people and how best to achieve

this in a meaningful and productive way.

The report cites Youth at Risk's Ballet Hoo project as an example of good practice.

"In contrast to the meritocratic, winner-loser depiction of singing success of The X Factor, Ballet Hoo (Ballet Changed My Life) demonstrates a way of approaching young people which evokes
emergent cultural codes. It is the story of a project run with professional dancers from Birmingham Royal Ballet and the charity Youth at Risk to help disadvantaged young people commit to learning the skill and discipline of ballet in the hope of providing the same order in their ownchaotic lives.

At the end of the process, they dance in Romeo and Juliet alongside professional dancers. The style, framing, colour, design, narrative and editorial structure of the programme show the young people’s energy as constructive rather than as dangerous, anti-social chaos. The choice of the ballet, Romeo and Juliet, also tacitly sends the signal that the passions of youth are eternal, strong, possibly dangerous, but ultimately acceptable to society. The association with Shakespeare as
one of the great Britons is also notable.

Central to the success of the project is that the young people are presented with real aims and tangible outcomes and the language of respect is reser ved for those students who have gone through a process, rather than for the judges (in contradiction to The X Factor). The tone of voice
throughout is ‘Adult to Adult’ – one of the few places in the texts analysed where young people were constructed as Adult, with the power to make decisions and rational judgments without
appealing primarily to their Child emotions".