Tickets for Dance Woking’s Young Dancemakers platform are now live!
Local schools and colleges have been using 2022’s theme of ‘Rhythm Storm’ as their stimulus to create imaginative and dynamic dance pieces with the outreach team for 8 weeks to create their work.
Performance Groups Include:
Westfield Primary School, Horsell Village Infant School, Horsell Junior School, New Monument Academy, Broadmere Academy, Kings Academy Binfield, Guildford College and Woking College. As well as guest performances from FuzzyLogic.
The platform will be held at Jubilee High Theatre in Addlestone and gives students the opportunity to perform in a professional theatre. As well as being encouraged to develop and input into the making of the piece, the students will experience the excitement of being backstage, with pre-show nerves, waiting to perform, the joy of the performance and the preparations in advance such as the dress and technical rehearsals. The choreography, costume and lighting design has all been the responsibility of the young dancers with some help from the Dance Woking team.
To find out more about Young Dancemakers, visit our events page
News
Hunky Dory Holiday Club Bookings now open
Dance Woking is thrilled to be able to offer a Christmas Holiday club in collaboration with Club4. We will be facilitating clubs in 2 venues in Woking over the Christmas holiday period, bookings are now OPEN!
Come and enjoy us for a festive led holiday club with arts & crafts, baking and dancing for children in primary school years 4 to year 6, along with a hot lunch & snacks.
The Hunky Dory Christmas Club will run from Monday 19 December – Thursday 22 December and on Wednesday 28 & Thursday 29 December in 2 venues:
Monday 19, Tuesday 20 & Thursday 29 December- The Maybury Centre, Woking
Wednesday 21, Thursday 22 & Wednesday 28 December – Lakeview Community Centre, Horsell
The Christmas Club is suitable for children in Primary School Year 4 to Year 6 (8 to 11 year olds).
There will be creative dance activity, art & craft themed on the festive season, plus a food demonstration, at each venue. The focus is on you having fun, active and creative sessions, where we hope you will make new friendships. No dance experience required! Our aim is to inspire every child to try new activities and to learn new skills in a safe, fun and disciplined environment.
A two course hot lunch will be provided, and parents will be able to choose from a selected menu with numerous options, including vegetarian.
Bookings can be made for 2 days at each venue for the first week and for single days in the second week. If you require single days for week 1 please contact us
At Dance Woking we believe in creating active and engaging opportunities to inspire the younger generation. Our Hunky Dory Christmas Club aims to promote health and well being whilst also allowing children to find new ways of expressing themselves. Our highly qualified and experienced team will lead a range of creative activities including daily dance sessions and arts and crafts activities.
If you currently receive Free School Meals or are on Pupil Premium please contact us and we can offer you further support. Contact us for more information.
This programme is possible as a result of funding from Surrey County Council. Club4 is Surrey County Council’s (SCC’s) response to the government’s Holiday Activities and Food initiative, designed to provide healthy meals, physical activity and enrichment opportunities to children and young people in receipt of free school meals during longer holidays. Coordinated by Active Surrey for SCC, free places will be provided during the Easter, summer and Christmas 2022 holidays.
News
Dancers Triumph at Innovate Platform
Saturday saw us host our annual contemporary dance style community dance platform, Innovate, at Jubilee High School Theatre, Addlestone.
144 dancers, hailing from eleven different dance schools, from across Woking and Surrey, came together to showcase their best work to a full house of supporters. Alongside the Surrey based dance schools were guest groups from Berkshire, Hampshire and London. The platform was themed on the stimulus ‘new beginnings’ and the groups brought so much talent to the stage!
Innovate is a fabulous opportunity for the children to perform on stage in a friendly and warm environment. The parents love coming to see the students performing. Getting an insight into other dance companies’ work and seeing how an organisation like Dance Woking facilitates them all at these incredible events is both inspiring and reassuring for the local dance community.
Louise Bell of Cremona School of Dance
Take a look at some of our highlights of the amazing performances below!
That performance was so inspiring – it was so reassuring to see more mature dancers on stage, obviously doing something they love. I am definitely going to look into getting back into dancing again’
Audience member feedback
To create a more rounded immersive experience to the platform, alongside the technical rehearsal slots we also provided taster workshops in Kathak and Bollywood Dance. The workshops allowed the dancers to try a new dance style whilst also diversify their experience. Professional artist Jalpa Vala led the dance workshops from Amina Khayyam Dance Company.
It was brilliant to learn about where the styles came from and the meaning behind each move. The teacher was so encouraging and made us feel really comfortable.
Integr8 student feedback on the Kathak and Bollywood workshops
Alongside the workshops, we also hosted a pop up shop using sample stock donated to us from Bloch Dancewear. The donations raised will enable us to raise funds for our outreach projects in 2023.
A massive thank you to Cremona Dance, First Dance Studios, Dancayers, Alexandra Dance Company, Illume, Zambesi Dance Company, Vital Signz Dance, Richmond Upon Thames College Dancers, Leanne Edwards School of Theatre Arts, KJ Theatre Arts and Integr8 Dance for bringing such enthusiasm, energy and talent to the day – it was wonderful to see you all on stage!
News
Dance Woking Collaborates with Stanwell’s Fit & Fed Scheme
The October half term saw the Dance Woking Outreach Team join forces with Stanwell once again to facilitate their ‘Fit & Fed’ holiday club provision.
Following our successful weekly dance facilitation over the Summer holidays, Dance Woking were invited to facilitate both dance and arts & crafts activities 4 days of the half term break for Stanwell Event’s Fit & Fed programme. Our outreach team delivered a mixture of Halloween dances, spooky arts and crafts, games as well as mindfulness activities for the children within Stanwell.
With the activities fully booked each day, the incredibly busy team managed to really instil a love for all things creative with one parent commenting on “how lovely it was to see the young people appreciating and moving to the music”
Dance Woking loved continuing to develop our relationship with Stanwell Events team and can’t wait to facilitate more activities over the Christmas break with their Club4 holiday provision!
Well done to all involved!
News
Christmas Travelling Tea Dance
The Travelling Tea Dance team were certainly getting into the festive spirit when they met to create the Christmas Travelling Tea Dance programme last week!
We will once again be back on the road touring local care homes and community centres this December with our Christmas themed travelling tea dance. The event will feature a mix of dance performances and participation opportunities, inspired by the festive season, including nods to The Nutcracker, The 12 days of Christmas and Winter warmers.
The team have created a wonderfully festive programme and we can’t wait to start the tour in December.
The Travelling Tea Dance forms part of our work focusing on the older members of our community, to support their well-being through connectivity and supports five ways to wellbeing through the following:
• By connecting with others
• Being active
• Take notice through the themes and dance styles
• Learning through new dance steps and styles
• Give – through shared memories support
If you would like us to visit your venue or community centre, please contact us for more information.
This project is supported by The Shanly Foundation, Woking Borough Council and Arts Council England.
News
Recruiting Holiday Club Assistants
Dance Woking is running a Christmas Hunky Dory Holiday Club in Woking & Stanwell over the Christmas holiday period in partnership with Active Surrey’s Club4 Scheme.
To deliver our programme of activity, we are recruiting 2 Holiday Club Assistants to join our team on a fixed term basis.
Dance Woking’s Hunky Dory Christmas Club is suitable for children in Primary School Years 4 to 6.
The club provides a fun and safe environment for all abilities, there will be a dance element each day, hot food, arts & crafts; with the focus on a fun, active and creative club for all participants!
Dates: Monday 19th to Thursday 22nd December and Tuesday 27th to Friday 30th December. Locations: Woking (19, 20, 21, 22 and 28 & 29 December) and Stanwell (27, 28, 29, 30 December).
Applicants must be available for an in-person training day on Tuesday 22nd November in Woking. Training will include at least one accredited online course on safeguarding (and depending on location food safety), in person training & planning to ensure the smooth delivery of the program.
Please note the assistant role does not require dance experience but an interest in working with children is essential, and dance desirable. This post requires you to have an enhanced DBS certificate.
For more information on the role, locations and a job description please email Ellie Dowling
To apply, please email your CV along with a covering letter detailing your experience and suitability for this role to office@dancewoking.com.