The Lowry CAT is a part-time, pre-vocational course that gives young people from across the North West who have a passion for dance, access to high quality dance training tuition and creative opportunities outside of their academic studies for young people aged between 11–18 years.

The scheme supports each individual student to gain an important foundation in dance and provides them with the tools needed to reach their potential towards a sustainable and successful career in the profession.

The training curriculum consists of (but is not limited to):

• Dance Technical Training – A minimum of 9 hours of training per week in contemporary technique, ballet technique and creative / improvisation tools/ exploration.
• Supplementary Training – pilates, yoga, progressing ballet technique, body conditioning, injury prevention and nutrition.
• Contextual Studies – watching professional work, reviewing/ discussion/ debate of artistic work, wider dance/ arts context, streams of consciousness writing etc
• Intensive Courses, Creative Opportunities & Performances – Opportunities to work with some of the best national and international companies that visit The Lowry every year. Previous companies have included Company Wayne McGregor, Akram Khan Company and Phoenix Dance Theatre.
• Individual Training Plans (ITP) – Each student will receive an ITP, which sets out the programme of training, study and related activities
• One-to-one mentoring in preparation for auditions for conservatoires and further education.