It’s been a challenging year but as an organisiation, Dance Woking have remained resilient, relevant and diverse throughout. We’ve continued to inpsire learning, communities, performances and talent growth in the most unsteady of times. We are thrilled to present to you our highlights video, showing some of the amazing projects we have produced throughout 2021.
We can’t wait to explore and build on future projects in 2022.
Dance Woking provides high quality opportunities to watch, perform and take part in dance providing new experiences that we hope inspire artists, audiences, participants and communities. This year has seen us adapt how we put these performances on, with safety of our audiences and performers being the top priority we established some dynamic ways of bringing inspired performances to the local community.
August saw us collaborate with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and tour 18 venues across Woking with their new work of Doorstep Duets. Care homes, Assisted living, children’s homes, HAF4 Free School Meal Children venues were included in the tour, reaching 372 residents who had been isolated during the pandemic.
As well as outdoor performances of James Wilton’s I Robot at Kingsmoor Park, a pop up performance from Amina Khayyam Dance Company in Woking Shopping Centre and visits from Applause rural Touring and Justice in Motion we also FINALLY got back into the theatre with out performance platform week at Rhoda McGaw Theatre in November.
Our sold out Young Dancemaker performances and Innovate saw us collaborate with 11 schools and higher education institutions and 14 community dance groups. It saw 399 dancers come together and established many lines of community and peer to peer support. We were thrilled to get back into the theatre!
Dance Woking would like to thank our Dance Partners for 2021:
Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, James Wilton Dance, Tavaziva Dance, Amina Khayyam Dance Company, Justice in Motion and Applause Rural Touring.
Dance Woking would like to thank our Community Dance Companies and Dance School Partners in 2021:
Cremona School of Dance, Zambesi Dance Company, First Dance Studios, Ryde Academy, Shift Youth Company, Illume Performance Company, Flipside Dance School, Vital Signz Dance School. Scatter Dance Company, Shuffle Dance Company and Betty Bloom Dance
The support of artists and aspiring professional dancers is a vital part of dance development locally, regionally and nationally. We recognise the importance of fostering talent and the important part that artists can play as role models.
Supporting the next generation of dance creatives through a variety of pathways including two membership schemes that are designed to provide professional development opportunities to support, sustain and inspire dancers, artists, teachers and makers has been an amazing highlight for 2021 talent growth.
2021 saw us launch our Dance Surrey Directory and Dance Surrey PRO programme, the Supported and Associate Artist programme and continue to offer Creative Industry Insights and CPD workshops whilst creating clear career pathways for our members.
The choreographer’s vision was so inspiring
Participation comment
36 artists have engaged on our new programme dedicating 295 hours to skills development and learning. This has been a blended delivery with online and in person provision.
We would like to thank our industry professionals who have helped facilitate some of our CPD sessions – Zoie Golding – Zoielogic Dance Theatre, Rob Macpherson, Bawren Tavaziva – Tavaziva Dance, Fern Potter, Tom Beetham, Kate Finegan, Lucy McCrudden -Dance Mama,
Dance Woking seeks to engage with the diverse and unique communities that make up Woking in innovative and creative ways.
We do this by working with Community leaders to create a series of engagement activities such as Imagine Kantha a Visual Art and Dance Project in partnership with Liaise Women’s Centre, Woking and Amina Khayyam Dance with funding support from Big Lottery – Awards For All, Arts Council England and Woking Borough Council.
Imagine Kantha saw 9 groups and 125 participants have a hybrid of online and face to face sessions to produce d movement and art project. Experienced choreographer and dancer, Amina Khayyam lead the movement element of this project where the stories created through the visual art were brought to life using hand gestures and Kathak, one of the main traditional Indian forms of classical dance-drama. This culminated in a pop up performance gallery in Woking’s Peacock Centre.
Just like the Southbank – love it!
Audience Comment
Summer 2021 also saw our Kingsmoor Park Residency which saw us facilitate street/urban dance sessions, Parkour and live performances for over 50 participants over 3 weeks.
Dance Woking would like to thank our partners for collaborating with us this year: Women’s Liaise Centre, Woking Women’s Centre, Woking Borough Council Youth Team, Maybury Primary School., St Cuthbert Mayne Catholic School, Woking Borough Council, Peacocks Shopping Centre, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing
Dance Woking’s Inspired Learning Programme is dynamic and responsive to the changing environment, it is delivered in a flexible way to provide opportunities for participants to take part, perform and watch. The different elements of the Inspire programme are linked to enable bring young people and adults get access to outstanding professional dancers and dance companies. We offer both curriculum, extra-curriculum and non-curriculum-based activity.
2021 has seen Dance Woking increase it’s provision within schools with us working and facilitating at 11 primary schools, 4 secondary schools and 2 colleges throughout 2021.
Our programmes this year saw us tackle health and wellbeing in our Hunky Dory Dancer clubs for Primary School level and mental health in our Mind and Movement course for Secondary and Higher Education level and environmental challenges in our Young Dancemaker programme. We also facilitated the HAF2021 holiday clubs throughout the Summer and Christmas holidays ensuring those who receive free school meals throughout term time had both hot lunches and access to a dance and arts and crafts holiday provision.
“Thought provoking – started a great conversation with the kids. Emily’s confidence has soared”
Parents’ Comment
Take a look at some of our highlights below
This week saw us host another holiday club in collaboration with Club 4 at Surrey Arts Studio in Woking. Participants were treated to dance activities, making cards, making gingerbread dough, Christmas ornaments, a reindeer run and a very special performance of Beastly Belle by Norwich Puppet Theatre. Each person attending was entitled to a free lunch each day and despite the extra restrictions and increase in COVID rates the attendees had a brilliant time with some experiencing dance for the first time.
Thank you to all our participants for coming – we’ll share a highlights video soon!
We have been busy planning and confirming our much anticipated Spring Programme of Creative Industry Insights and CPD Workshops that will further our Inspired Talent Growth ambition for our local dance community professionals.
We are delighted to launch our Spring 2022 Programme of CPD and Creative Industry Insights events.
January will see us host an in person CPD workshop that is open to all with Amina Khayyam. Amina Khayyam will lead a Kathak technique class as well as explore the process of story telling using mime and hand gestures. The workshop will focus on how story is created using kathak technique vocabularies. You can book your place below:
Dance Surrey PRO and Dance Surrey Directory members have exclusive access to the creative industry insights and discounted access to CPD session . Members will be emailed your EXCLUSIVE access codes.
With insights from industry professionals and workshops to benefit your practice, there is something planned for everyone! We are planning even more events for 2022 so do keep an eye out for more information.
To find out more about becoming a member of Dance Surrey or to book our CPD events click on the button below.
The participants of our Hunky Dory Christmas Holiday club were treated to a wonderful performance of Beastly Belle from Norwich Puppet Theatre on Monday.
Featuring a skillful mix of puppetry, film projections and an original musical score, Beastly Belle brings the classic Beauty and the Beast tale to puppet form with a contemporary twist! The young heroine Belle is plucked from a life of poverty by Merill, a greedy film producer who sweeps her off her feet and into fame and fortune in the movies. Caught up in the glitz and glamour, Belle forgets her roots and is ensnared by a world obsessed with good looks – but looks aren’t everything, right? A journey of discovery which explores perceptions of physical beauty and how two strangers can overcome their differences. Will Beauty come to understand and accept the Beast?
They were captivated by the classic story that was reimagined in puppet form from start to finish.
Thank you so much to Norwich Puppet Theatre for visiting us!
Dance Woking are seeking a choreographer to deliver their Half Term Evolve Youth Dance Intensive this February 2022, using a contemporary and urban dance genre.
We are looking for prospective applicants to apply with a C.V. and covering letter detailing creative ideas and concept for the final piece. Dance Woking is continuing to focus on climate change and the environment along with mental health and well-being; we are keen that these issues are included in the concept and there is room for the young people attending to add in their own ideas too.
Applicants should have experience working with young people aged 12-17 years and be available to work 5 hours per day (breaks included times TBC) on 14th – 16th February 2022. They will be required to produce a piece that is 3-5 minutes long to be performed at a performance platform.
Artist fee, inclusive of planning, expenses, delivery, and evaluation: £600
Deadline to apply – Friday 14th January 2022
To apply, or for any more information, please email Ellie Dowling, Engagements Manager: ellie@dancewokingltd.onmicrosoft.com
As part of our ambition to create a thriving local dance community we wanted to showcase some of our excellent schools that are on our Dance Surrey Directory. Today we are thrilled to introduce you to First Dance Studios as part of our Take Part Tuesday Campaign.
First Dance Studios opened in 2005 with one aim – to provide fun dance classes for adults. No syllabus work, no exams, no stress and no previous training necessary. Based at their studio on Heather Farm, they have an extensive timetable including ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, musical theatre, yoga and pilates to name but a few! First Dance classes offer a fun and friendly environment to anyone that loves dancing or would love to learn to dance.
You can find out more about First Dance Studios by visiting our Dance Surrey Directory. Here you will be able to find out more about what they offer and contact them directly.
Dance Surrey Directory is a NEW refreshed platform-listing site designed to help the dance community increase their reach and for those seeking dance classes to find out what’s on offer in Surrey. With new search options this is a comprehensive tool which we hope will help promote dance classes and encourage new sign-up.
Are you a local dance school and would like to benefit from being showcased on our platform? You can find out more about the listing service and member benefits here
