BBCA mother and daughter have described how they set up a dance company to empower women and provide more opportunities in the area.
Janice Davis and Romanah Buchanan founded the award-winning Eloquent Praise and Empowerment Dance Company in Aston, Birmingham in 2014.
The pair now work with more than 100 young people across the West Midlands.
They received The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service last year, recognising work within communities.
Janice Davis, managing director, told BBC WM that receiving the award was a “real blessing” and an experience they could never turn away.
The dance company provides a variety of services, including dance classes, events, empowerment workshops and mentoring, in addition to competitions and professional industry work.
Artistic Director Romanah Buchanan, who has been dancing since she was five, said the pair had discussed creating a dance school after they found a lack of opportunities for women locally.
“I just felt like there wasn’t enough opportunities for me, like I’d go to dance companies and I’d be snubbed and given less opportunities than others,” she said.
“I don’t think there was a safe space for young black girls to thrive at the time and that was becoming really apparent, particularly in my teens.”
She said they set-up Eloquent to give back to the community and had seen membership grow from 15 students attending on the first day, to more than 170 – with plans to expand further.
“We didn’t anticipate what we had created and how much the community needed it. It really blew up before our eyes,” she said.
Ms Davis added that they had spent time trying to find dance schools to cater to her daughter’s needs, before creating the company.
“I remember we used to spend time trying to find a dance school. She was already in two dance schools, but she was still saying ‘mum I’m not happy’,” she said.
The pair said the school was a “safe space” and open for everybody to join.
“We’re not just a dance school, we do empowerment, we do workshops and mentoring,” Ms Davis added.
