Grand Finale Part 1 Our Dancing Town

Yorkshire, Britain's biggest county.

A region of rugged beauty with a rich heritage

and a proud industrial past.

Over one summer, three of its towns -

Barnsley, Skipton and Huddersfield -

put on their dancing shoes and took to the streets

in a spectacular display of unity and pride.

It's going to be a great memory to look back on in many years

when I am walking around with a Zimmer frame.

It warms the cockles of this old man's heart.

The man behind it all is choreographer Steve Elias...

Zakka-da-dakka-da-ba!

..who's starred in a string of hit shows from Billy Elliot

to Guys And Dolls.

I've always believed that dance has the unique ability to

bring people together,

and what I have witnessed this summer has proved that.

The way that people have come together to create something

special and lasting.

Now, Steve wants to stage one last performance

to outshine all the others,

one that celebrates the entire county.

I've learned so much about Yorkshire and its people,

and I want to pay tribute to that in something bigger, bolder, better.

That would be an amazing achievement,

to see that many people celebrating the power of dance.

Steve's master plan is to unite the three towns he's already visited...

-So, what do you think? Are you with me?

-ALL:

-Yes!

..for a final breathtaking performance

through the streets of York.

Personally, I think he's raving bonkers.

This week, with the whole county to corral...

Go, go, go.

..the big performance is put on hold,

as Steve heads back to where it all began...

Team Barnsley, enter.

He's like a bad penny, turning up.

..and tries to draft in new recruits from York...

People of York, I need you!

..Two, two, three, five, six, seven, eight...

Who just have absolutely no rhythm whatsoever.

And a one and a two and a three and a four and a five.

I'm absolutely quaking in my size 9 ballet shoes.

So, here I am in York for my last dance performance,

and the biggest one yet, hopefully.

But with this being a celebration of Yorkshire,

as the county capital, York was the natural choice, really.

It has a very different feel,

a very different energy from the last three towns.

Yeah. I'm kind of intrigued of what I can create and who I meet.

I haven't been to York... I would say in about 15 years.

I originally came when I was touring in theatre.

I was performing at the opera house in Godspell,

which was my first UK tour,

and then The Goodbye Girl. I had a great time.

I've always had a soft spot for York.

And I forget how beautiful it is. It is just stunning.

The danger is,

you kind of get caught up in its beauty and not its practicality,

so it's just having to kind of keep blinkered

and not be seduced by the town itself.

Steve's on the lookout for a good starting point for his dance.

Whip-MaWhop-MaGate, the shortest street in York,

and meaning "what a street",

it's not going to be useful in the performance. It's too short.

You'd have about two nuns and a whippet dancing up here.

Now, if I'm right,

the Shambles is the narrowest and oldest shopping street in Europe.

As much as I'd love to, it would be an absolute nightmare.

It's so narrow, it would be a shambles within the Shambles.

Established as Eboracum by the Romans,

York was briefly the heart of their vast empire,

when Constantine made the city his base in 306 AD.

Empires came and went, but York endured, becoming Jorvik

under the Vikings, and then flourishing from the Middle Ages

onwards as a centre of politics, culture and religion.

As the industrial age dawned,

the city became a major railway hub, creating a manufacturing boom,

most famously in confectionery and chocolate-making.

Today, York is a mecca for tourists,

with almost every street reflecting some aspect of its rich heritage,

from the medieval walls that encircle the city

to the iconic minster that still dominates its skyline.

My first impressions of the place are how insignificant I feel.

It's epic in all proportions.

It's vast, beautiful.

It's all those and more.

You can feel the sense of history.

It's in every column and every stained-glass window,

every flagstone. It's incredible.

Sarah is one of the minster's tour guides.

-I'm Steve.

-Hi, Steve.

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

Welcome to our fabulous minster.

-It's breathtaking.

-It is pretty good, isn't it?

Where do we start?

York was founded by the Romans, right here on this site,

in AD 71. It was a garrison town,

and the main building was the principia,

and it was right below our feet here.

So there has been activity going on on this site for 2,000 years.

But the first evidence we have of a minster

is in 627, so, for nearly 1,400 years,

there has been worship on this site.

-If these walls could speak...

-Absolutely. Yeah.

So, if you look up, ahead of you,

it's our magnificent Great West Window, our Heart of Yorkshire.

It's not just York's building,

it's here for the whole of Yorkshire

and, in fact, the whole of the north of England as well.

What do you think of possibly... as a starting point?

I think it would be great.

Maybe outside, underneath the window, with the Heart of Yorkshire.

What better place to start a dance that's glorifying Yorkshire?

Thank you. It's given me so much food for thought.

My little grey cells are whirring at the moment.

-No problem at all.

-It's been absolutely fantastic.

So, I have to use the York Minster in the dance.

It's so strongly associated with York and Yorkshire,

it's so magnificent and imposing, so maybe a starting point

or an end point, I don't know, but it's got to be in there.

There's just under six weeks to go until Steve brings groups

from across the county together for one final celebration in York.

I'm just starting to think how I'm going to bring this all together,

and what the last dance is going to be.

I suppose, in essence,

it's going to be something similar that I've done before, but bigger,

different groups, joining one after another,

in this huge parade through the streets.

But I've got three towns that I'm juggling, and I can't stage

an event in York without asking

the people of York to take part as well.

Steve's decided that groups from the host city of York

should lead the dance.

We'll have one York group joining after another,

and then, at certain points, we'll have different groups,

say from Huddersfield, joining in, then Skipton, then Barnsley, until,

at the end, we've got everyone from across the county dancing

together in this huge finale.

It's going to be the biggest thing that I've staged so far.

If I can do this, it's going to be fantastic.

But I have to admit, it's terrifying.

People of York, listen up. I need you!

I am looking for a cast of hundreds to join me

in a one-off theatrical event.

Steve wants to get as many locals as he can to a meeting

he's holding in two days' time.

I'm looking for dancers. I'm looking for non-dancers.

I'm looking for people who think they've got two left feet.

Join me, let your inner dance demon out!

In each of the towns so far, I've had 300, 300-plus...

If you fancy the challenge of your life, come and join me.

..so that's the benchmark I need to break through.

400, 500 people is what I need to achieve the sense of scale

for this final performance.

Steve is on his boldest recruitment drive yet...

I've got my trusty flyers.

Can I give you one of these?

..hitting the city's streets...

I don't know if you've ever danced before, thought of dancing,

terrified of dancing ...

-Do you dance?

-Um...badly.

-Good.

-Dad dancing.

-Great.

..and invading York's offices.

I'm looking for a cast of hundreds

to dance through the streets of York.

I can see someone smiling over there.

-I used to do ballroom dancing when I was younger.

-Oh, great.

And I've done line dancing.

-So, are you in?

-Yeah, I'm in.

-Brilliant. Lovely.

Thank you. Anyone else here?

I'll choreograph something for you.

-OK.

-Yes, just a celebration.

-All right?

-Thank you.

-I leave you to it.

Thanks very much.

I need a cast of hundreds.

-I'll see what I can do. I'll pass the word around.

-Brilliant.

It can be any style of dance.

Say, if you had a hidden passion for being York's answer to Beyonce?

What type of dance do you do?

This last month, I've been involved with the rumba.

Come on, show us some dance moves.

Two, three, four, five, six. Excellent.

Uh...no.

Come one, come all.

Jazz shoes not essential.

The next stop on Steve's push to draft in new volunteers takes him

to the home of some of Britain's best-loved brands.

We are off to the Nestle factory, originally Rowntree's.

I know it's famous for its chocolate,

but it's also one of the biggest employers within York,

so I'm hoping there will be plenty of people there to sign up.

You know, I got images in my head of Willy Wonka chocolate factory,

even that scene, Toot Sweets, from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

I'm not sure it's quite like that.

It's probably more scientific, but in my creative mind, it would

be great to think that and see if I could incorporate that.

It is a bit Willy Wonka-ish,

with the chocolate being pumped through pipes.

It's incredible.

Especially that it never ceases.

-It's 365 days?

-Absolutely.

365 days, so, as you can see, the bars coming off now,

we're making over 300 bars every single minute,

and that's just on one wrapping machine.

On a good day, we make in excess of 4 million bars in a 24-hour period.

The smell is incredible.

All your senses are kind of on high alert, you know?

I'm looking, I'm smelling, I'm listening.

You know? Just trying to get some inspiration, really.

Get the creative juices flowing.

It's amazing. I tell you, the smell is fantastic.

It's really nice when we're on different flavours as well,

when we're on orange and mint.

-Really strong.

-Do you have a favourite?

-I do. Orange is my favourite.

-Orange would be my favourite, too.

The factory has a long history,

producing some of Britain's favourite treats.

Built in 1890, it started life as the Rowntree factory,

named after the booming confectionery business set up

by brothers Henry and Joseph.

Keen philanthropists,

they made it their mission to improve living standards

for their workforce, providing them with sports facilities, a theatre

just over the road from the factory, and even their own village,

New Earswick.

The company still employs 2,000 people,

and 150 of them are waiting for Steve in the nearby theatre.

They've called the company together for

me to go and address them, to galvanise the troops.

That's incredible. Really happy and excited.

I'm on a mission,

and it's about bringing you all together in a one-off,

unique performance. I'm a choreographer.

I know I look like a prop forward, but,

believe me, these hips don't lie, as Shakira said.

I tell you what. Do you want to stand up for a minute?

Let's stand up.

OK. All I want you to do is right, left, right, left. That's easy.

Here we go.

A five, six, seven, eight, and right, left, right, left.

We've then got to go step, click, step, click.

Don't speed up. What I don't want to see is this.

LAUGHTER

Right? Relax.

That's all you're doing, is stepping and clicking, people.

So, you've just got to put a little swagger on, a little flavour,

and you're like, "Hey, I'm too cool for school."

Walking down the deli counter, yeah?

That's what I want.

You walk every day, so it's no different.

LAUGHTER

Here we go. Here we go. Five, six, a five, six,

seven, eight. That's better. And breathe.

We're going to up the ante now.

Double pirouette... No!

Dakka-da, dakka-da, dakka-da! Five, six, seven, eight.

One, two.

Two.

Three.

And four.

There we are.

That's excellent. Yes!

I had no idea what was going on and then, all of a sudden,

we seem to have signed up to some performance in the centre of York.

I wasn't too keen when he first mentioned it,

but when he got us all up...

-And got us to do the steps, it was really good.

-Excited.

That was great, and it looks like I've drafted in

a load of people, maybe 60 or 70 people, which is amazing.

I was really...heartened by that response.

I hope I showed them that they can all do it,

no matter what ability they are,

so everyone should go away and go, "Do you know what?

"I think I'll be able to do this."

I'm hosting a drop-in day today.

All the flyering and recruiting that I've done over the last few days

have been building to this.

As York's bigger than the other towns he's visited, Steve's hoping

more people will turn up, so he's set up a daylong open casting.

I think I'm looking for inspiration, to be honest,

as in, let's see who comes through that door,

then I can have more of a crystal-clear idea

where to venture next.

So, let's see who turns up.

Hello. Is anyone out there?

I take it you're a cycling group?

-Are you local to York?

-Yes.

-Brilliant.

Shall we start with names?

-I'm Lucius.

-Titus Flavius Germanus.

-Marcus Minucius Audens.

-Martin.

I would love to see you on your bikes in a cycle past.

Are we strictly on bikes, then?

No. If you fancy getting off your bikes

and choreographing, I'll choreograph you.

THEY SHOUT

Great. Yeah. I'll definitely use all that.

We go one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Two, two, three, five, six, seven, eight.

Three, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Have you got anything you can show me?

That's mesmerising.

This is exactly what I'm looking for. And who have I got here?

You've got Dance Factory.

It's mainly street dance.

We do bits of breaking,

so Kyle's a bit of a breaker.

Tom's a bit of a locker, so he likes doing his popping moves.

Rachel's a bit of pulse, so a bit more funky,

and Emma's just an all-round funky person, aren't you?

I'm a little old, and my street dancing has kind of wavered,

so you're going to teach me some.

Come and teach the old-timer how to funk.

Was that OK?

STEVE LAUGHS

That's the cuteness factor taken care of.

Do you want to be ballet dancers when you grow up?

All the stuff that you've shown me,

we'll put a special routine together. How does that sound?

-Yes.

-Yes? Great, great, great.

On the whole, at the moment, it's great.

Great turnout.

Chilli Bon Bon.

Hiya.

-I am Tristram, and Chilli Bon Bon makes me feel great.

-Great.

And makes me feel good inside me, and let it out for people.

Tristram and Lee could actually do a little dance for you.

I'd love that.

Brilliant.

So, yeah, we can choose what type of choreography, what type of dance.

-I like the hips going.

-Yeah, you like the hips?

-Yeah.

Doing that, and everybody joins in.

-Yeah, a little twist.

-Something like that.

-We could do a little twist.

-Yeah, something like that.

Brilliant. See you soon. Ta-ra. Take care. Bye.

-Hi, boys.

-Hello.

-Hiya. All right?

My old man's a bricklayer and my brothers are plasterers,

and in a very nice way, I say I am the black sheep of the family,

as in, I am the performer. Does anyone have a hidden dance skill?

Have you ever danced before?

Do you want to dance, or do you want to take the first cab out of here?

Look, already, colour has gone. Head's shaking.

No, no, no. Just hear me out.

As soon as I mentioned dance, the colour just drained.

-Rugby League or Rugby Union?

-League.

-You sound Welsh, like Rugby Union?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Sorry about that.

-No, it's all right, mate.

Well, I did play rugby. What position do you think I played?

-Prop?

-You've got it, prop. I wasn't a wing.

First of all, does anyone have a secret talent as dancer?

No cha-cha-chas? Street dance? Tap? Ballet?

I knew what it was about, but this lot didn't, to be fair.

OK, if you want to do it, say now, if not, I have no problem with that.

-I understand.

-In.

-In? Brilliant, I like your style.

Typical rugby players. What's great about them, they shook on it.

It only takes one of them to set the lead

and, because they're a team, in for a penny, in for a pound.

That is what I love about team sports, and especially rugby.

It's been an invaluable day. Brilliant.

I've met so many different characters,

some who've never danced before, some who do dance.

I've got goose bumps, and I haven't felt that...for a long time.

Yeah, that's a great start. Come on, York.

I was really pleased at the turnout at the drop-in day.

It was great to see all the local dance groups come out in force,

and the non-dancers too.

The builders in particular have stuck in my mind.

My dad is a retired builder, so there's a personal connection.

They're not the sort of people you'd expect to walk through the door,

so I've arranged to meet them today,

and I've created a little routine to see how they pick up steps.

Something simple, because they're non-dancers.

The building firm, set up five years ago,

is a family business for Danny and his dad Paul.

-Paul.

-Hello, mate.

-Steve.

-Pleased to meet you.

What I've got in mind for yourself and the boys is,

it's basically a kind of a mix of Reservoir Dogs

meets what you do every time...

-It's more staging than fancy footwork, you know?

-Yeah.

And it's to celebrate, really, what you do as a trade.

Little bit nervous, but willing to give it a go.

Give anything a go once.

Doesn't faze me one bit. I don't mind a laugh, having a dance about!

I made their piece, their section within the performance,

deliberately about what we call musical theatre staging,

so it tells a story, and we can see what types of trade they do.

So, we've got wheelbarrows and ladders and trowels,

anything which represents what they do within the trade,

and I've built that into the choreography.

Then they walk forward, very kind of cool, Reservoir Dogs,

walking down the streets of York going, "This is who we are,"

and then they take up a pose, as if to go, "Yeah."

Who wants a wheelbarrow?

-I'll have one.

-Brilliant. Cheers, mate.

-Fantastic. Ladders?

-You can be a ladder.

-Yeah.

So, one here.

We've got the wheelbarrows and that's all we do, is walk.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...

That's it, you've lost Will now!

He can only do five!

So, you go right, left, right-left...

I heard a huge sigh there!

THEY LAUGH

So... No worries, mate.

It's right, left, right-left, right. That's it.

Just think, like, percussive. Like stomp.

So it goes stamp, stamp, stamp-stamp, stamp

to stamp, stamp, stamp-stamp, stamp.

Brilliant.

Now, this is like Reservoir Dogs, and it will go position,

position, position, position.

Yeah? You can either think catwalk model or whatever. Here we go.

Five, six, seven, eight.

And a one and a two and a three and...

Brilliant. That's it.

That's not bad. Let's do that once more.

-Do we have the music?

-Yeah.

We'll play you the music, guys.

Each group Steve works with will have a routine set to

a track that reflects their story.

We'll just play you the music, guys.

MUSIC STARTS

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Two, two, three, four... We'll keep on walking through this.

Stamp, stamp, stamp-stamp, stamp.

And we walk... Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Two, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Position, position, position. Brilliant.

That's it. That's it, mate.

That's your section done. All right?

I thought I was just going to be stood holding something,

not doing a full dance routine.

My daughters had entered us, not me, so...

They're proper dancers. I have no rhythm whatsoever.

They'll get it.

You know, they enjoyed the challenge and they laughed together

and failed together, taking the mickey out of each other,

and that's what it is.

You could tell that Paul had said,

"Look, in for a penny, in for a pound. Let's do it.

"Let's celebrate York." So I think that's great.

Paul's firm is one of the many local businesses who volunteered to help

when floods devastated York on Boxing Day 2015.

Both the city's rivers burst their banks,

causing the worst flooding in over a decade.

The Fosse hit record highs,

putting 3,500 homes in danger

and forcing hundreds to be evacuated.

It's only from the sky that you can appreciate

the expanse of ground covered by these floods.

You can see how deep and widespread the filthy water was.

With more heavy rain forecast, for residents here,

it may not be over yet.

Military and emergency response teams were sent in

to rescue those stranded,

as the deluge destroyed homes and businesses across the city,

and entire neighbourhoods disappeared underwater.

Why did you volunteer, Paul?

There's lots of other builders around.

Just... You just sort of wanted to help, and when you got involved,

you couldn't then say no, because if I've helped one person,

and t'next neighbour says, "Oh, can you mind...?"

And then we started doing all the sort of...

There was just too many coming in, I couldn't do it.

So I rang t'lads up, and they all came out as well.

And then just did what we could.

It's... I suppose it's just how we are, I don't know.

I don't think anybody realised how bad it really hit York.

There's hundreds and hundreds of houses, and it came so fast,

it weren't like...

It just literally came through people's doors,

they had no time to put furniture away, there was no warning.

And it was Boxing Day, just after Christmas.

All t'Christmas trees were up,

and Christmas decorations were floating round and...

They just lost everything.

Everything they bought for Christmas would be downstairs on Boxing Day,

and before you realised it, it was gone.

We weren't prepared for that, not in a million years.

I'm so impressed with Paul, you know.

You can tell he's got a big heart.

And talking to him has reminded me of the huge impact the floods

must have had on York, and still are having.

It's made me think that this is something

I really need to incorporate into the dance.

I've been told about Fossy's Flossys, which is...

It looks like a burger van, a food van.

Steve's meeting another volunteer

who gave up their time to help those affected by the floods.

-Hiya.

-Hello. You all right?

-Are you Michaela?

-I am, yes.

-I'm Steve.

-Hi, Steve.

-Nice to meet you.

-And you, as well. First of all, do you want a drink?

-I'd love a coffee.

-Would you like a coffee?

-Yeah.

What was your story?

Myself and my daughter were taking tea, coffee and home-made hot soup,

and we were going round the water's edge giving to the flood victims,

the emergency services,

with a little tiny GO Outdoors gas stove,

and a little whistle kettle.

Then, that evening, a lady messaged me and said,

"I've got a van, it's yours for however long."

I was like, "Fab, yeah, brill."

So New Year's Day morning, this was towed here.

And we've been here ever since.

You know, July, and we're still here.

There's no prices,

we're not selling, we're not trading.

Flood victims get everything free.

Why do you do it?

Seeing all that devastation, seeing what people went through,

you feel helpless, and you want to do something.

It's like, "Well, what can I do?"

There's nothing I can actually do to help, other than, I was like,

"Well, I've got time."

So that's what it was.

I gave my time, and still giving my time, you know.

Trying to do my mum proud, as well.

When we first started this, my mum and dad used to come down every day.

But my mum passed away while we were doing this,

as well, in January, suddenly.

So, to me, it's like...

My mum was, you know, she was proud of what I was doing then,

so even like, this...

If she knew I was still here, this far on, she would be...

would be proud.

Michaela has had to juggle her volunteer work

with her job as a carer,

and her role as a mum to five-year-old Kaden.

On the balancing beam! Oh!

I'm just really proud of her. She's done a lot.

It's just part of her personality, and who she is.

She's a very giving person,

and a very benevolent person. Always willing to

put somebody else first.

So I'll just support here, and, yeah, really proud of her.

Get up, silly sausage!

Seven months on,

with flood victims now able to return to their homes,

Michaela's calling time on Fossy's Flossys.

It has been tough, some weeks.

You know, it's been really hard work.

You know, I've not seen a lot of the family,

not seen a lot of Kaden, really...

Jump! Ready?

'It's been tough, not spending the time with him.'

And the wobbly bridge!

I give my time, cos that's all I got.

And that's what I did.

So do you know what I do?

No. No, go on, tell me.

-I'm a choreographer.

-Oh, right?

I've got this mad idea to get York dancing.

-What kind of dancing?

-Anything you want.

I can do a Madonna tribute, you can be Beyonce,

you can be anything you want.

It's to celebrate the work that yourself and other people have done,

and also celebrate the...

I suppose the tenacity of the people who were affected,

that they haven't given up.

So, are you in?

-Yes. I'm in.

-Brilliant! Excellent.

Welcome aboard.

Thank you. Exciting. Nervous.

Here's a woman who felt she needed to help

when the Boxing Day floods happened.

She's exactly what this performance is about.

It's about people like that,

and it's their stories that need to be celebrated somehow.

And in dance, why not?

Let's give her centre stage.

Two weeks in and, across York,

Steve's busy rehearsing the groups who've signed up.

From the chocolate factory workers...

Five, six, seven, eight.

One, two, three, hey!

..to salsa dancers.

When the music joins, you go like that,

and you come in. Ready.

That's it, keep on crossing.

First couple in.

Basic step.

One, two, three, four, five, six, here we go!

Freestyle!

That's it, keep on moving. Brilliant, brilliant.

As the word's spread, his band of volunteers is growing...

..and now includes the local rowing club...

Five, six, seven, eight,

and move, and move, and move, and move,

and go. Go. Go. Go.

It'd be nice if I could get one boat crossing

somewhere in the performance.

Through the gaps, through the gaps, through the gaps, through the gaps...

..and a band of hulahoopers.

I'm so pleased to see that York is getting behind my idea with gusto.

They're all hyped up and ready to dance.

It's a good start to York.

I hope it continues.

Four weeks to go until his final dance spectacle,

and Steve's returning to the place where his Yorkshire odyssey began.

Barnsley.

I'm nervous, but it's a good nervous.

Yeah, it's a very different experience this time, you know.

I consider them friends.

We all went on a massive journey together,

and we came through the other side pretty unscathed.

Um... Yeah, so it'll be nice to see some familiar faces.

And also to see what they think about this next challenge

that I've got in mind for them.

Two months ago,

initial reactions to Steve's idea were less than enthusiastic.

I just need to know, are you in or out?

Personally, I think he's raving bonkers.

-You know...

-HE LAUGHS

But despite early reluctance...

I'll try climbing Everest before I get miners to dance.

MUSIC: Rebel Rebel by David Bowie

In the end, 250 people took to the streets

in an extraordinary display of pride

that united everyone from ex-miners...

..to the local police...

..Northern Soul fans...

# Baby, you've been gone too long... #

..to brass bands.

BRASS MUSIC

It's going to be a tall order to corral almost 250 people

from Barnsley over to York,

so I've homed in on groups that I feel best represent Barnsley.

Steve set up a meeting with some of the groups

who took part in the Barnsley dance.

He hopes their enthusiasm will give some extra sparkle

to the York performance.

I hope that the people who I've invited

will jump on board my next mission.

It's bigger. It's much bigger.

I hope they will say yes,

because, for me, York's performance wouldn't be the same without them.

Who have I got here?

-Miners... Hey!

-Hey!

-Northern Soul... Hey!

-Hey!

Police force. Boo!

LAUGHTER

And Danny over there. All right, mate?

Are you dancing? Still dancing?

Yeah, I'm always still dancing, yeah, I'm good. Good, good, good.

So, ladies and gentlemen,

I've got a little announcement to make.

I'm putting on one final performance and, this time,

it's not to celebrate a single town, but the whole county.

And it's in York.

And I want you all to be in it.

ALL: Ooh!

So what do you think?

Are you with me?

ALL: Yes!

Well, we have full confidence in him now, don't we?

We were in doubt about him pulling the Barnsley one off,

and I think, if he pulled it off in Barnsley,

he can pull it off anywhere, yeah?

Looking forward to it.

He's like a bad penny turning up!

I am so proud to be part of all of this.

We've come together, and we're just one big family.

Oh, it... It's just awesome. It's brilliant.

Am I going to be relying on Mr...?

Well, I've not let you down yet. I've done everything else.

-No, I think we'll do it, Steve.

-Yeah.

If we get 10, 15 of t'lads for you, you know,

then we can always go for a pint after.

That will sell it, you know.

Hello!

Team Barnsley, enter!

We're ready to go.

Steve's taking advantage of having all the Barnsley groups in one place.

The York performance will culminate in everyone from across the county

dancing in unison to Benny Goodman's Sing Sing Sing.

Everyone has to attempt to at least get some of this under their belt.

One, two, three.

Six, seven, eight.

Two, two, three four, five, six, seven, eight.

Three, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

Swap! Swap! Swap!

And flick, down, up, down.

Excellent!

LAUGHTER

Scissors!

Kick, scissors, kick, flick,

brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

Cross.

Da, da, da.

You'll get it. You'll get it.

Shocking.

Well, when we get his left and his rights and his front and backs

all right, we might be all right.

We've already done all this! This is a right test!

At the moment, it could be four steps forward and five or six back,

but where we are, it's OK.

I can't wait to do it for definite,

and I can't wait to get to York and do it in front of everybody.

I'm a little nervous, but I can't wait to get to York.

-Yeah, we'll do it.

-We'll pull it off. We'll do it.

Even if we have to practise at home.

We'll give Yorkshire some pride.

The next day, Steve drops in on one of the stars

of the Barnsley performance, who couldn't make the reunion.

How are you, Joan?

-Good to see you.

-Oh, good to see you.

When she first met Steve,

Joan revealed she'd always harboured ambitions of being a dancer.

Family life became her priority and, today, she's a full-time carer

for husband Ken, who suffers from vascular dementia.

# I'll stand by you... #

In the Barnsley performance,

Steve came up with a routine for Joan

that paid tribute to her love of dance

and her commitment to Ken.

# I'll stand by you. #

I can't explain, Steve, how much I really, really enjoyed that day.

I loved that moment where you...

kissed his hand.

It looked beautiful.

-And you see, Ken wouldn't have been able to do that now.

-No?

-No, I don't think he would.

-So...

He's gone down so, so much, Steve.

So doing what all of you lot has done for us,

it's something that we'll always treasure.

Always treasure.

If we could get you down, of course, I'd love you there.

If you turn round to me and say, "I've arranged...

"for someone to look after Ken."

Then join us in York...

Think I'm going to have to say no. Yeah.

As much as I'd love to be there with you all...

SHE SNIFFS

Cos you know I'd have you there in a heartbeat.

I know you would.

And I'd love to be there.

-But Ken comes first.

-No, yeah, absolutely.

Give us a hug.

Thank you.

I was here to choreograph and celebrate the people,

but I didn't expect to make such good friends. And...

..I'm pleased that she said I came into her life

two months ago and...

She... Ken was well enough to perform, and so...

Well, she... If we'd...

If we had left it any later, there's no way.

So at least... I feel good for that.

But like I say, it's bittersweet. It's not...

Yeah.

Back in York, Michaela has rounded up some willing volunteers.

-This is Steve.

-ALL: Hi, Steve.

-Hello, all right?

-And there's the Flossy team.

Hello. Nice to see you.

We've got Alison,

who's a flood...

-Floodee.

-Floodee.

-Not a victim, but a floodee.

I know, that's why I was trying to think of a word.

Next, we have Nicky, she's helped out

with those affected with the floods.

Delivered care packages, brought buns...

SHE LAUGHS

..and cakes.

And yeah, just went out in floods and helped those who needed it.

Incredible that Fossy's Flossys became the hub

and kind of a meeting point.

It's tragic that the floods made it difficult and that, but it took

that for everybody to come together and make friends and everything.

Now I've got a big family myself, now.

These guys, especially Michaela and her daughter Jade.

I'd be lost without them two. They have been really good to me.

-So you've got your own, now, family community, yeah?

-I'm happy.

Couldn't be happier.

Steve has devised a routine for the group to reflect

their collective experience of the York floods.

We're going to create a wall of umbrellas

to signify the wall of water.

A couple of people run at it, rebound, turn and then we all reveal

and it's just kind of, we made it through.

That's the feeling.

-Happy with that?

-Yeah.

You want to think the pressure of wading through that water,

which is...

Yeah, yeah, step, ball-change.

You want to then kick this water coming forward -

kick, kick.

That's it.

As if you are in a puddle.

Shall we do that again from the top?

Brush, brush, step, ball-change.

Brush, brush, step, ball-change.

Scuff and down, scuff and down.

Someone runs, you leap off and there and yeah, ba...

That's fine.

We'll get there.

Brilliant. That's it.

These people didn't know each other before Boxing Day of last year

and now, they are dancing as a group and celebrating

their family and their bond.

They don't call themselves victims, they are called "floodies".

But they want to move on from that.

That was an episode. Yes, it was devastating, but they are now

rebuilding, coming out much stronger people and a stronger community.

LAUGHTER

I think it's kind of like...

York fighting back, in a way.

And it's nice, it's good. I'm loving it.

It's nice when everybody has come back together,

but in a positive way this time.

With Fossy's closing a week ago, it's...

This week has been like, we've nothing to do.

Whereas now, we've got this to keep us going for a few more weeks.

We'll all be dancing and that's it now, for weeks.

We'll all be doing the moves.

I can't believe you didn't realise you were doing it yourself.

You were like, oh, my God, I've got it!

LAUGHTER

Here we go.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...

Across York, all the groups are working hard to master their moves.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, stop!

Brilliant. Let's see if you can travel a little bit more.

I know it's going to be unusual.

It's nice to be back in York.

Things are shaping up here.

But there is still a lot to do.

Here we go, energy! And...

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...

This is a huge undertaking,

probably the biggest performance of my career.

Barnsley is onside, which is great.

But I need to get the numbers up here in York

to make this the event that I want it to be.

On his drive to draft in more dancers,

Steve is meeting the rugby team who came to the drop-in day.

I'm really pleased to get a rugby team on board.

It's as if my life has come full circle!

My dad was a chairman of the rugby club,

I've been brought up on rugby, it's a bit like a religion in my house.

I used to play and now they're performing.

So possibly, today, it's as if everything has come together.

-Tommy?

-Steve?

-All right, mate?

-How are you?

-I'm all right.

So, tell me more about this area that we are in.

It is kind of an area sometimes where there's a little bit of...

maybe some trouble, as such, and what they learn here is discipline.

Coming into a club like this, as well as learning the sport,

you learn respect for others, respect for your coaches, respect for your peers.

It's what it's all about, really.

A lot of the kids have really, really learned respect.

I come from same type of area back in South Wales

which is very working class.

And there's... I like to call them some lovable rogues...

Yeah! Absolutely, yeah.

..who, if they hadn't found rugby,

-might have possibly been behind bars.

-Exactly that.

So, how long have you been playing rugby for this club?

I started when I was six, I think the club got built in '91...

All my life, really, I've been here.

So it has been a big part of my life.

Tommy has been captain of York Acorn for six years.

But his connection to the club goes back much further.

-You want me to...? You tackle me?

-Yeah.

Go on, then.

Oh!

I've played for the club for 23 years.

It's kind of part of my family history,

as my grandad co-founded the club.

My mum and dad together went to the council and applied for the planning

permission and all the players built the club, including my dad.

And I was actually in the foundations helping lay the bricks

when I was only about three or four years old.

Go on, then.

'I've been asked, I have had offers to play for other clubs before.'

Got you!

But I think my heart lies at the Acorn at the end of the day.

It's always Acorn for me.

Bunch of lads like this can respond in two ways.

They'll either just look at me and go, "You're mad and I'm not

having any of that!" or they'll jump on board after a couple of pints.

I've seen what rugby guys can dance like,

so dancing shouldn't faze them.

-Boys!

-HE WHISTLES

Evening, boys!

Your section is,

I've literally built it on your rugby formations.

Simple as.

If you can form four lines of eight, tallest at the back, coming down.

THEY SHOUT

Here we go. So this is the box step.

We literally go, one, two, three, four,

-five, six, seven, eight.

-MAN: Get up there, Robbie!

That's it.

Guys who are my track, you're going to go right-left,

right-left,

left-right, left-right.

CHEERING

Get smaller, get tighter as a group, guys.

One, two, three, kick.

One, two, three, kick.

One, two, three, kick.

One... And front...

Come on.

One, two, three, kick.

One...three, kick. Kick, kick, kick, up-down...

One, two, three, kick.

Kick, kick, kick, kick, up-down!

One, two, three, kick.

One, two, three, kick.

Kick, kick, kick, up-down!

CHEERING

HE CHUCKLES

Well, there was always two ways it could go and it's gone the best way.

They like a challenge.

The rugby boys are always up for something, so, great. Excellent.

Here we go.

Five, six, seven, eight!

One, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

I've only seen some of them dance with ten pints down them

and, to be honest, they're not that good then, so...

..three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Side.

Some of them are a little bit nervous but, you know,

they're just going to give it everything and I'm sure they've done

worse things in their lives, so yes, it is going to be a good laugh.

Brilliant, excellent. Well done.

CHEERING

Steve has hit on an idea to combine the ballet class

with one of the other groups.

My idea is quite mad.

And I would like to create some kind of fusion

with the fantastic ballet technique

with the local rugby team.

-Wow!

-We'll see the rugby players running up, right?

We're going to have a battle - who's strongest, who is the best,

rugby or the ballet.

We do some lovely positions...

-Shall we just try a few ideas?

-Of course, yeah.

If you're a prima ballerina, you are a prized athlete.

And the same with rugby.

Yes, it's brutal, but there is an elegance and...

and, um, and a strength.

So I thought I wanted to explore those two ideas together.

So I'm thinking, we see the rugby guys.

They put the ball down and they kick the ball and it goes

over the camera.

So then you run and...

That's it, yeah, run with me.

And then it's going to be...

If you stay there, it's going to be a kind of a stand-off.

-Grr!

-KIDS LAUGH

-PIANO MUSIC

-One, two, three, four...

They kick...

Seven, eight...

One, two, three and four,

five, six, seven, eight.

One, two, three, four, five, six...

We do the haka...

Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, grr!

I think the rugby players will find it a lot harder...

-Yeah!

-..than we do.

I think...dancing with a rugby team

will be quite great.

It takes a strength of character,

being the only boy who comes to a ballet class full of girls.

You know, you have to be quite a strong character even at that age.

I think rugby was my way of being able to still perform and

still not get picked on or bullied.

It was my saving grace, possibly.

Thank you so much.

Brilliant.

-See you soon.

-Thank you.

-Excellent.

-Thank you very much.

With only Barnsley on board, and York still a work in progress,

Steve is a long way off staging his finale event.

But to stand a chance of getting the roads closed on performance day,

he must start planning his route.

I'm pretty sure where we are standing is the start of the route.

The main reason is York Minster.

We begin with a solo Roman and he begins to slowly walk and,

as he does, he collects other Romans, so they become a battalion.

From this point now, they are running,

they've drawn their swords and it's as if they are going into battle.

Suddenly, they surge and cross, leaving a solo Roman.

The music changes and then we go into this salsa section.

Street dancers, hulahoopers and roller skaters will drive the parade

down into St Helen's Square, which will be filled

by the large group of chocolate factory workers.

They drive us into Lendal.

Positioned are our 30 rugby players.

One of them chips the rugby ball.

In come our on-pointe ballet girls

and we go into this rugby and ballet fusion.

We then go to the builders' section.

In a cannon, they hit position, position, position, position.

They hit a position like so, which they like,

because they're a bunch of posers.

And then, half and half, we have Fossy's Flossys running in.

The dance continues to the end of Lendal, hitting Museum Street,

one of York's busiest roads.

Like other parts of the route,

it can only be closed for just a few hours, from 6am on performance day.

So, as we hit this junction, it seems to have a natural break.

And from here, possibly the York performance stops,

then the other towns come in.

It could be either Barnsley, Huddersfield or Skipton,

I'm not quite sure.

As the other towns join the procession,

it will move across the road and snake through the Museum Gardens,

home to the ruins of St Mary's Abbey.

This space is a natural performance area.

Especially with that amazing backdrop.

This is definitely the end point.

And what a fantastic place to end.

Huddersfield, Skipton, York and Barnsley, all mapped out here,

all in unison, all together, all celebrating Yorkshire pride.

You know, I never imagined that I could,

or would, get 500 people dancing in unison to my choreography.

And to be honest, I still don't!

I'm still trying to get to that magic number.

Can I achieve it? Can I do it? Will people turn up?

Or am I just going to be left with egg on my face?

Six, seven, eight...

One...

Just three weeks until groups across Yorkshire descend

on their county capital for one last dance.

-We go left, pal.

-Yeah.

You guys go right.

Nightmare. Nothing.

We just have absolutely no rhythm whatsoever.

One, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

Brilliant. Now we're in position.

One and two, three and four,

five and six, seven and eight and ha!

Tonight, Steve has called a meeting of the chocolate factory workers

who signed up in force two weeks ago.

CHATTER

It's upsetting.

Nowhere near as many as I thought.

I am disappointed that, from the meeting we had,

69 who signed on the dotted line saying they'd love to be involved,

and then how many people have I got?

15?

But the 15 who turned up, bravo.

So, ladies, your leg comes out, one, two, three, four.

So, one, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

One, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

One, and two, and three, and four, and five, and six, and seven, eight.

Step, ball-change and step, ball-change

and mince, mince, mince, mince.

-Hip, hip, dig, five, six...

-CHILD WAILS

It's not that bad, my choreography, honest!

THEY LAUGH

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Two, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

And one, and two, and three, and four,

and five, six, seven, eight.

Step, ball-change, step, ball-change, and mince,

mince, mince, stop.

That's it, yeah. Brilliant. We'll get it.

Excellent.

And, ladies, really work those legs.

And I need to see more face.

Cheers! Thank you very much.

Thank you.

OK, well, the rehearsal went well, but the turnout wasn't good enough.

I'm not in a position to have 15 turn up one rehearsal and

then there is 10 the next, but they will all come on the day.

I can't do that, not with the sheer scale of it.

I need buy-ins straightaway.

Yeah, unfortunately, there was not as many of us as expected.

I was trying to get a lot more people, but on the day,

they just seemed to disappear.

So they weren't there, in the end.

The team are really excited.

Bit disappointed that not more of them could come,

but it is peak holiday time, so a lot of them aren't available.

It... It will be all right on the day, I'm sure.

But at the moment, it's nerve-racking, I have to say.

I know I set myself a mission, it's a very tall order,

I was hoping to get at least 500 involved from York.

At the moment, the numbers aren't looking good, so...

I hope I don't end up eating humble pie.

Yeah, it's a concern.

Steve is back at York Acorn rugby club.

And it looks like I'm short of rugby players.

On performance day, the roads can only be closed for the morning,

so every group must be in place at 6am...

-Come and speak to me, Tommy. How are you?

-Good to see you.

..a fact that hasn't gone down well with the rugby players.

I told them the time and they all just point-blank refused.

Nah, not having it.

There's a baby shower, one lad's leaving do at the races,

He's like, "No chance!" It's just the wrong time.

It's the week off in August when half have gone away.

Again, there's all sorts of problems, honestly.

-But anyway, we don't know who yet, but we're going to get them in.

-OK.

What number do we need?

If we got 10 or 12, we'll make it work.

-Right, we'll get 12, no matter what.

-We'll make it work.

-We'll make summat work, no matter what happens.

-OK.

That's a disappointment, because they were looking really good.

Um...

They were really enthusiastic and passionate about getting it right.

I thought I had another 30 people I could depend on here,

but it seems not.

You know...

Er... These things are sent to try us.

This was supposed to be my biggest spectacle yet.

Which is why I wanted to spend time in York

to pull in the people to boost my numbers.

But at the moment, they're dropping like flies.

First, the chocolate factory workers, and now the rugby players.

This was supposed to be the biggest performance yet and, at the moment,

it's turning out to be the smallest.

How many people have I got in York? I don't know, 70, 80?

I've got a few groups from Barnsley.

So I'm hoping, when I return to Huddersfield and Skipton,

that they turn out in force and join onboard, because, if not,

I don't know what I'm going to do.

-Next time...

-One, two, three, four...

There's one last push to rally the people of Yorkshire.

One and two, three and four...

Steve revisits the towns in which he has already triumphed

to pull in the numbers.

-Are you with me?

-CHEERING

But will it be enough to fill the streets for a York spectacular?

It was carnage. There is no other way to say, it was carnage.

Biggest county in England.

Bring it on.