Twenty-five years ago some wise heads in Scottish Ballet, along with various forward-looking education authorities, came up with a plan to encourage young, talented movers not to hot-foot it down south to train professionally: their vision was called the Dance School of Scotland.

Next week, that 1983 initiative celebrates a silver jubilee of sustained achievement with 25 Alive at Glasgow's Theatre Royal. Scotland's past, present and future have served as inspiration for a programme of short dance pieces that showcase the different styles now taught at the Dance School - and nowadays that range includes jazz, modern and tap, creative movement as well as contemporary dance and classical ballet technique. Nowadays tuition extends from first- to sixth-year pupils, making the Dance School an ideal "feeder" for Scottish Ballet, the national company that was instrumental in its foundation.

Kara McLaughlin, on-stage recently in the company's production of Romeo and Juliet, is a fine example of home-grown/home-trained talent. In 1983 it was - and probably still is - unique in being an integrated part of an established comprehensive school, Knightswood Secondary in Glasgow. Dance School students mix with their peers and take classes in subjects from the regular curriculum. This canny set-up, which took account of those niggling parental fears that dance was what you did as a hobby, not as a serious career. This was, remember, well before the film Billy Elliot had made ballet cool for boys. For dozens of young Scots, the Dance School offered rigorous vocational training on their very doorstep.

A quarter of a century later, and this fully-funded national centre of excellence has grown in size and status - a quick glance at this year's roster of graduating students reveals many of them are choosing to continue their training at degree level or, like Jon Savage, taking up a place at the Royal Ballet School. No wonder Ian Muchan, Knightswood's headteacher, and Elaine Holland, artistic director of the Dance School, are both on record expressing pride and satisfaction at how this "school within a school" has evolved and grown stronger.

On the other side of the city, Junction25 - it takes its name from a motorway turn-off en route to Tramway - is preparing to lift the lid on parent-child relationships. The young members of this performance group would like it known that the idea for From Where I am Standing had been tabled and decided on long before Victoria (Belgium) brought their show about children and adults - titled That Night Follows Day - to Tramway in early May. There are very noticeable differences: the Junction25-ers have, by undisclosed means, inveigled parents on-stage. And not as props, either.

Nora Ramage, mother of 13-year-old Scott, had imagined sitting on the sidelines "maybe in a chair, knitting. You don't really notice just how involved you are, because the process is so gradual, so organic. At first, you've got a line. Then another line. And now I'm singing a song in it." Scott says her singing is quite good but "because it's my mum, I'm embarrassed. She could be the best singer in the world and I'd still be embarrassed". A relative newcomer to Junction25, he clearly appreciates the amount of individual input asked for by Jess Thorpe and Tashi Gore, who guide the group's work. "You're not being given something to say," he explains. "You produce it yourself. The script is what you'd say because you're not playing a character, you're being yourself - and I find that brilliant. You really do get into it more."

Laura Murray, 17, who has been with Junction25 since it started three years ago, describes the devising performance as "designing your own space. You're exploring new directions and dealing with issues that are relevant to you. It is very odd, though, having my mum in this show. It's good that she sees how we develop these shows, but it's also not so good because now she knows this part of my world and she's going to have her own opinions on it. And I'm not sure how I feel about that".
Junction25, and their relatives, perform From Where I am Standing at Tramway tomorrow and Saturday, 8pm.