WOMEN from a Chester-based dance company have described the power of performing on stage at Storyhouse for the very first time.

The seven dancers from Fallen Angels Dance Theatre’s Chester community recovery group performed their specially created piece, Rituals, on the main stage during the Great Get Together, on June 20.

The performance was dedicated to Danielle E Jones (Dani), who died in May after taking her own life.

Dani’s family, from Overpool, Ellesmere Port, are keen to continue her legacy by making people aware that ‘it’s OK not to be OK’ and her sister-in-law Colette was one of the dancers.

Colette described during a question and answer session with the audience how working with Fallen Angels had helped her through her grief.

She said: “If I have had a bad week, a session with Fallen Angels means I can offload, take a weight off my shoulders.

“It is like therapy – it is really good when I am struggling.”

Rituals was performed to Tom Walker’s Leave the Light On which was written about a friend struggling with addiction to let his family and friends know that it is OK to talk about it.

All seven dancers paid tribute to artistic director Paul Bayes-Kitcher, a former Birmingham Royal Ballet dancer and recovering addict, who established Fallen Angels to help people in recovery from addiction.

He said: “I am so proud of the dancers from the Chester group – it takes guts to go out there and perform and they did a fantastic job. People in the audience spoke of how powerful it was and how moved they were by the performance.

“I rarely choose songs with lyrics for Fallen Angels performances but Leave the Light On resonated so much with the group and conveyed exactly the message they want to give to others.

The performance of Rituals was supported by the National Lottery's Awards for All.