In October 2011 ACE Youth hosted the return leg of an exchange with the French youth ensemble Les Orteils de Sable, the youth company of the professional ensemble Les Ballets Contemporains de Saint Etienne.

Bringing together 29 young people to exchange ideas and share experiences of youth dance they explored their differences, found common ground and celebrated new friendships.

These young people have the same passion: dance.

ACE Youth, the youth arm of ACE dance and music specialise in contemporary African dance, whilst Les Orteils de Sable, the youth arm of Les Ballet Contemporains is a contemporary youth dance company.

They have different learning techniques, different movement energies, are from different social backgrounds, have different origins, do not speak the same language, but dance is for them the link, an immensely rich language. The young people will work together for seven days, developing a new piece of dance called 'Aftermath'.

They will also take part in international master classes and performance opportunities with other invited youth dance companies from the West Midlands region, all the time using dance as a way to exchange culture, heritage and to communicate with and understand each other.