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In this section, I argue that young people had often been friends for many years and had participated in many hours of dance classes, rehearsals, performances and exams together. Thus, young people got to know each other well, contributing to the close formation of friendships. Furthermore, young people had shared many experiences of dancing and shared many memories of dancing together. I suggest that this also contributed to the development of close friendships between young people by creating a sense of shared journey and history.

At all three fieldsites, many young people had been friends with other students in their dance classes for several years. At the dance school, many young people had been friends since they first started dance lessons, and had participated in many dance classes, rehearsals, shows and exams together. For example, Lucy (12) explained:

I’ve known about six of us from when I first started because we all did Ballet together. But then there’s been a few new people [who have joined] and [I’ve made] friends with them. But I’ve known loads of people for about 8 years, and I think I’ve known my longest friends for about 10 years now.

55 _{UK Centres for Advanced Training are government-funded and offer part-time dance training to talented} young people aged 10-18.

Becky (17) similarly commented:

I think [Jessica and Rosie are] the oldest friends I’ve had at dancing, cos I’ve known them ever since I came here [when I was 5 years old]. And then the other girls I either met like later on, or they came to dancing [when they were older].

Some young people at the secondary school had been friends through dance for up to 7 years (from Year 7 to 13) and had participated in lower-school, GCSE and A-level Dance lessons, extracurricular lunchtime and after-school dance clubs, and school dance shows together. Similarly, many young people at the dance group had also often been friends with other dancers in their class for several years (some for nearly 15 years since the dance group first formed) and had danced together during lessons, exams and performances, and taken part in many social events (e.g., theatre trips, Christmas parties) with each other.

Several participants at the dance school said the length of time that they had known their friends at dancing meant that they had got to know them well and that they felt particularly comfortable, relaxed and confident around them. For instance:

I know everyone at dancing really well. And I feel comfortable around everyone because I’ve known them from a young age [Emma: Yeah] so I think that definitely helps kind of enjoying it [dancing] more. (Megan, 15)

With some people I guess I can come across a bit shy, but then when it comes to dancing, cos I’ve danced with like the people in my class for so many years [...], I dunno, I become quite confident. (Jasmine, 15)

Megan and Jasmine had spent lots of time with their friends over many years so had got to know them well. This process of getting to know each other involved Megan and Jasmine talking to the other young people in their dance classes and finding out about their personalities, backgrounds, likes and dislikes, interests and hobbies (see also Section 5.1.3 below). I argue that this process also involved Megan and Jasmine developing a knowledge and understanding of how the other young people in their dance classes were likely to act and behave, and so they felt more comfortable and confident taking social risks in front of them (e.g., putting their hand up to answer a question asked by the teacher, or dancing a solo) that involved putting themselves in a position of vulnerability (e.g., answering the question wrong, or forgetting the dance routine) because they knew that they could trust their friends not to laugh or make fun of them if the risk did not pay off. I argue that the development of trust over a period of years contributed to the formation of deep friendships.

Furthermore, I argue that knowing each other for a long time meant that young people felt they had had ‘grown up together’ and so had a sense of shared journey and history, which contributed to the development of close friendships. For example, at the dance school, Emily (16) said:

I think [I’m close to my dancing friends because] obviously we’ve known each other for a long time, so we’ve grown up together.

The process of ‘grow[ing] up together’ involved young people sharing experiences of participating in dance classes, preparing for and taking dance exams, and rehearsing for and performing in dance shows, which I argue were important in the formation of close friendships. This included everyday experiences in weekly dance classes. For example, at the dance school, Charlotte (16) explained:

Oh yeah [Charlotte: Laughs], especially in [...] Ballet on a [Monday] night when it’s like an hour and three quarters, from [6] till [half 8] or whatever it is on a [Monday], and we’re all like exhausted by the end of it [Both: Laugh]. Like, “Help me!” [Both: Laugh], “Stop!”. When we’re doing Pointe and like, “I’m in so much pain!”. But yeah definitely the experiences throughout the class [bring us closer together] or like if it’s difficult, we’ll all be like, “It’s fine, we’re going through the same thing together, we can make it”. [Emma: Yeah]. Yeah. A sense of camaraderie really.

Charlotte felt that the shared experience of bodily exhaustion and pain from Pointe work established a sense of ‘camaraderie’ between the young people in her Ballet class (see also discussion below in Section 5.1.4 regarding the role of the body in the formation of friendships). Charlotte’s comment, ‘we’re going through the same thing together, we can make it’, also indicates a sense of shared journey which I argue helped to build a strong relationship between her and her friends. In addition to everyday experiences such as this, exceptional experiences could also create a sense of shared journey bringing friendships closer together. For example, at the secondary school, Joe (17) explained:

Well four friends of mine became a lot closer through doing a piece together. [...] Cos we got given an opportunity to do it at like a, er [a local theatre] [Emma: Oh right, yeah]. Er for like [a community showcase]. So we thought, “Oh we might as well just give that a go”. And then erm it happened to be that kind of pushed us even further. And then ended up, someone spotted us and thought, “Oh right, can you be in our show?”, then we kind of thought, hang on we’ve got something going here [Emma: Oh right]. So then we kind of got excited about it and it just kind of became like a big thing. And then before you knew it we were.. got to, got the opportunity to perform at [a large and highly-regarded theatre] in London [Emma: Oh

wow]. That was amazing like, to see how far we could go [Emma: Yeah] and [...] the people who were in that, we became really close from that.

For Joe, the shared experience of rehearsing and performing a dance on stage at a local theatre, and then being invited to perform the dance at a prestigious theatre in London, had led him to develop a much closer relationship with the four students he danced with. The excitement Joe experienced whilst on this shared journey (actual and metaphorical) with his friends is particularly evident here and served to further deepen and solidify their friendships.

Several participants commented that the experiences that they had of taking part in dance lessons, exams and shows with friends meant that they also had many shared memories. For example, Becky (17) explained:

And like knowing them [my dancing friends] for a long time, it has been nice, because you have sort of memories like [...], “Oh remember when you did that, like when you were really young?”. And things like that. Or you’re in the shows together and you see pictures of each other when you were younger [Emma: Yeah]. And it’s like nice to see each other when you were younger and laugh a lot so.

I argue that the photographs of Becky and her friends at dancing when they were younger acted as a material reminder of the past (see G. Rose, 2003) and of their shared histories. The process of reflecting on memories with each other further strengthened friendships through reminding young people of their shared experiences. It was clear that the memories young people had of spending time with their friends at dancing were often cherished. For example, at the dance school, Chloe (15) said:

I think that [my favourite dance memory] might have to be [...] not last year, the year before in the dance show [Emma: Umhum]. And I just remember sitting, cos we were [in] the [...] smallest [dressing] room. And there was like 50 of us in there. And there were no windows or anything. And I just remember everyone in the middle of the show when no one was dancing, everyone just lying down and being absolutely boiling [Emma: Laughs]. And obviously at the time it was horrible! But looking back on it, like everyone was in the same position and obviously we were all like hyped up on adrenaline [Emma: Yeah] and sugar and everything [Emma: Laughs]. But I just remember it as being really happy, I felt really like comfortable, contented cos I was with the people I love doing what I love most [Emma: Yeah]. In a boiling hot room with no air! [Both: Laugh]. Yeah. [Emma: But it doesn’t matter?]. No, because you’re happy and you’re with the people you like.

For Chloe, the experience of being backstage in the dressing room with her friends in the dance show was firmly placed in her memory as a time when she felt ‘really happy’ to be ‘with the people I love doing what I love most’. The sense of shared experience is highlighted in particular by Chloe’s comment ‘everyone was in the same position’, which I argue was important in the development of close friendships. These comments from Chloe also draw attention to the variety of ‘permanent’ (e.g., the dance studio, the changing rooms) and ‘temporary’ (e.g., the dressing room backstage) spaces where friendships developed.