News

Encounters this Saturday Woking Town Centre

Dance Woking is looking forward to producing Encounters this Saturday 1 July in Jubilee Square, Woking. This is a free family event taking place in Woking Town Centre. It has been designed as a celebration of dance giving opportunities to perform, watch and take part. We would encourage you to come and join us.

We have a jam packed programme with two community platforms, a Maypole workshop and a performance by professional dance Company MCDC

Programme Schedule:

Community Dance Platforms at 11am & 1pm

First Dance Platform:

Alexandra Dance Company, Westfield Primary School Dance Club, The Park School Dance Club, Surrey Youth Games Dance Club group (represented Woking Borough on 17 June 2023)

Surrey Youth Games Dance group will be performing in the first community dance platform at 11am

Second Dance Platform at 1pm

First Dance Studios, Alexandra Dance Company, Cremona School of Dance, Beeja Dance

Dance Woking Maypole workshops at 11.30am & 1.30pm

Come and join Dance Woking as we introduce you to Maypole Dancing. No experience required.

Dance Woking leading a Maypole workshop in Stanwell for Stanwell Events Multicultural Day earlier this summer

Michaela Cisarikove Dance Company (MCDC) perform Fish Out of Water at 12pm & 2pm

MCDC Fish Out of Water

Fish Out of Water is a fresh, family-friendly outdoor dance performance using hip hop, interactive sculptures & responsive music to explore themes of belonging, otherness, displacement & migrancy. 

Follow the dancers as they find themselves in a strange new place and help them overcome bizarre, colourful obstacles. By the end of the show, you can help them build a home somewhere new and show them that whatever challenges we face, we are stronger together.

Co-commissioned by Applause and The Marlowe, with support of SELEP Ltd as a part of Catalyst For Culture and supported by Arts Council England.

Fish Out of Water Trailer

News

Holiday Club Bookings open

Dance Woking is delighted to be a chosen partner to Club4 to deliver Dance led activity this summer.

We will be delivering high quality dance led holiday clubs at three different locations this summer:

Mon 24, Tue 25 & Wed 26 July – Lakeview Community Centre, GU21 3AG

Tues 1, Wed 2, Thus 3 August – The Maybury Centre, GU21 5HD

Wed 9, Thus 10, Fri 11 August – Horsell Village Hall, GU21 4SS

Wed 16*, Thus 17*, Fri 18** August – *Lakeview Community Centre, GU21 3AG, **Horsell Village Hall, GU21 4SS

9.30am – 2.30pm

Suitable for ages: 8 to 11 Years (Primary School Years 4 to 6)

Book now

The Hunky-Dory Summer Club provides a great way for children to have fun, make new friends, eat well and get creative. Our experienced and friendly team will lead a range of activities including creative dance, arts and crafts. There will be a creative food session during the three days, wellbeing activities and lots of fun games. The club encourages children to find new ways of expressing themselves.

Lunch will be provided, you will be able to choose from a selected menu, special dietary requirements can be catered for.

For those on free school meals or pupil premium please visit the Active Surrey website: https://www.activesurrey.com/community/club4/parents

The club is open to all levels and abilities. Where applicable children will be split by age. If you have any questions on this holiday club and the activities, we will be providing please contact office@dancewoking.com

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. Co-ordinated by Active Surrey for SCC, free places will be provided during the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays.  

News

We are recruiting!

Dance Woking is currently recruiting Summer Holiday Assistants

Dance Woking is looking for holiday club dance assistants to join us on a part-time basis for 3 days per week over the summer holidays for our summer 2023 programme of activities. The focus for this work will be to join our experienced delivery team, working in the local community where you will be responsible for assisting in all elements of the programme.

If you are passionate about the arts and entertainment and/or are currently studying in contemporary creative/dance we would love to hear from you. You will need to be over 16 years old. To apply please can you send us a short summary of your background and experience and why you would be a great addition to our team.

We are happy to receive applications in various formats including for example a short video.

Dance Woking delivers a variety of different projects across Woking & Surrey that includes a variety of dance styles, and participants with a range of ages and abilities from 5 – 17 years.

Applications should be sent to office@dancewoking.com by Friday 30 June 2023.

News

Dance Woking’s Woking SLAM is back!

Dance Woking ended a great week of dance with the highly popular and sold out platform ‘Woking SLAM’ at Rhoda McGaw Theatre on Saturday 27 May. An urban style dance platform for Dance Schools based in Woking & Surrey who use an Urban/Street style dance form. The dance schools took advantage of this highly valued platform, with three of the dance schools bringing their age based performance groups to perform. The dancers performing were highly experienced with some of the groups representing Great Britain in international competition.

Thirteen groups from seven different dance schools, with over 210 dancers took part; Dance Schools featured were Vital Signz Dance, Holly’s School of Dance & Hip Hop, Alexandra School of Dance, BKD Performers, Tuffney Performing Arts Academy, Street Vibes Dance School and First Dance Studios.

Dance Woking’s CEO and Artistic Director Sam McCaffrey said, ‘This was an amazing end to a great week of dance. On Tuesday we partnered with London Studio Centre to bring Images Ballet Company to Rhoda, enabling local communities to see great dance.  A schools platform followed with students performing that were new to the theatre. Thursday saw us celebrate and encourage boys in dance, whilst today we celebrated dancers performing at very high levels, some at an international level. With over 400 dancers taking to the stage this week, I am truly heartened by the breadth and depth of dance we have locally and more widely in Surrey and the South East. Woking is a hub for dance and we as an organisation want to celebrate and share the joy of dance. Tonight we saw Carla Crowley, Street Vibes Dance School, move to a new chapter in her dance delivery. We look forward to continuing to showcase her amazing dancers’.

Alan Sutherland, Chair of Dance Woking, compering the platform said,  ’I am truly blown away by the standard and focus of the dancers and the way they work together to ensure that they make the most of the space on stage, but are also aware of their teammates positions to allow difficult jumps, tricks and moves. They make it look easy and effortless. A joy to compere and watch. It was inspirational and motivational, dance has so many benefits in all its forms, I look forward to continuing to get more people dancing.’

First Dance Studios

BKD Performers

Alexandra Dance Company

Tuffney Performing Arts Academy

Holly School of Dance and Hop Hop

Holly School of Dance and Hop Hop

Vital Signz Dance

Street Vibes Dance School

Street Vibes Dance School

Street Vibes Dance School

News

Boys take to the stage

Thursday 25 May saw Dance Woking produce its first platform ‘Moving Beats’ focusing on Boys Dance since the Covid19 pandemic in 2020. Groups had travelled across the South East to perform. Nine different groups featuring 68 dancers took part. FuzzyLogic Dance, from Southampton attended with choreographer Zoie Golding, MBE. Smikle Dance Studio and Boys Company travelled from Brighton. Leading vocational College based in Bracknell, Artemis College, brought over 26 dancers led by Woking based choreographer, Carla Crowley (Streetvibes Dance). The college brought two very different pieces, the first ‘Artemis Legion’ used Hip-Hop dance style, the second a musical dance piece, ‘Backstage Romance’ from Moulin Rouge featured a mixed group. Both celebrated boys in dance with lively energetic performances. Soloist, Adi Detemo, an Ethiopian refugee, showcased his skills using a traditional Ethiopian dance style incorporating it with Hip-Hop. Jakob Ujczak, from Kingston University, on a work placement with Dance Woking, created a very moving duet called ‘The Choice’ with a fellow dance student. Vital Signz Dance also hailing from Kingston-Upon-Thames took part with two male duets, ‘Everybody Dance’ & ‘Stronger than ever’. Also performing was Tom Brown, a student from The Brit School, who joined Dance Woking on a school placement. Tom showed his multiple talents by sharing compering the night with Jakob, whilst also reading a very moving piece he wrote about the stigma he experienced as a male dancer to singing a powerful version of ‘Proud of Your Boy’.

Dance Woking Trustee Lisa Samos said ‘Moving Beats was an incredibly enjoyable and enlightening evening of dance, presenting sophisticated choreography with inspiring content and young male performers’ dedication to their craft. Each voice on the stage was bursting with enthusiasm that connected with the audience. Exhibiting movement from a brave and personal speech about the stigma of boys’ dancing, to a solo Abyssinian hip hop piece, and a wonderfully creative moving forest; Sam (CEO/Artistic Director) brought together an excellent diverse talent pool. In my opinion Moving Beats deserves to grow as an important annual event to highlight the thought-provoking progress and celebration of boys in dance’

Dance Woking’s CEO and Artistic Director Sam McCaffrey said, ‘It’s great to be back at Rhoda McGaw Theatre hosting a sold-out show. The dance schools performing had worked hard on their pieces which were creative and imaginative; themes ranged from celebrating the freedom felt after lockdown, celebrating greats such as Janet Jackson, Missy Elliot & Chris Brown, to routines that were due be performed last year and just waiting for an opportunity like this. The audience was appreciative, loud and encouraging. The groups all joined each other on stage to close the show to Run D.M.C & Jason Nevins ‘It’s Like That’. A great way to end the evening, more please!.’

Smikle Dance Studio and Boys Company, Brighton – Forest

Artemis College – Artemis Legion

Artemis College – Moulin Rouge

Kingston University – The Choice

Black Abyssinia – Raya

Tom Brown – Proud of Your Boy

Vital Signz Dance – Everybody dance

Vital Signz Dance – Stronger than ever

FuzzyLogic Youth Dance – ATTENTION!

Finale led by Jakob Ujczak

News

Over 400 dancers take to the Rhoda stage

The first Platform: Surrey Schools SLAM

Dance Woking was back at Rhoda McGaw Theatre to host three amazing Dance Platforms. The first, on Wednesday 24 May, Surrey School’s SLAM, was an urban street style dance platform. Groups from 10 different schools across Woking and Surrey featuring 118 dancers performed to the theme ‘Royal Remix’. The dancers ranged in age from Primary, Secondary to Sixth Form College. The platform showcased an eclectic mix of dance experiences and standards from Monarch Studios Great British Squad, who opened the platform, to students from New Monument and Broadmere Academy taking the stage for the first time.

Other schools taking part were Beaufort Primary School, Woking High School; Horsell CofE Junior School, Claygate Primary School, Esher High School, Priorsfield School and Woking College. 

Dance Woking’s CEO and Artistic Director Sam McCaffrey said, ‘I was knocked out by Monarch Studios dance group who opened the platform with their piece ‘Warriors’. With jaw dropping stunts, and a highly choreographed routine, seeing a dance squad performing at international level was truly inspiring. The audience was made up of family and friends and dancers taking part in the second half of the platform and I was initially concerned that students performing for the first time might be put off by such a slick routine. I didn’t need to worry. This set the standard for the platform and the rest of the dance groups raised their game.  I was so impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of the dancers. Performing in front of an audience can be extremely daunting and whilst there were a few pre-show nerves, all of the dancers really excelled on stage. The platform was a great opportunity for students to build confidence and self-esteem as well as develop great teamwork skills. With a very tight turnaround on the day to get the show ready, literally dress/technical run/perform, it was such a privilege to see groups take over the stage.’

Woking College

New Monument Primary Academy

Broadmere Primary Academy

Beaufort Primary School

Horsell CofE Junior School

Claygate Dance Club

Monarch Dance School

Esher High School

Woking High School

Priorsfield School

Finale

News

Amazing Day at Stanwell

Dance Woking partnered with Stanwell Events to support their fun filled multicultural family day on Sunday 4 June on Long Lane Recreation Ground. The event saw local residents enjoy the live entertainment and array of stalls, arts & crafts, soft play, face painting and refreshments. The ice-cream van proved a big hit on this hot sunny afternoon. Dance Woking led two Maypole workshops which were well received, and a popular activity for the whole family, participants joined in with energetic and enthusiastic dancing.

Maypole Dancing with Dance Woking

Sonia Sabri’s The Peacock & The Princess

Ceilidl led by Folk Dance Remix

News

Stanwell Multicultural day hosted by Stanwell Events Community Project

Sunday 4 June from 11am to 3pm

A fun filled day for all the family! Performance and workshop with Dance Woking and Stanwell Youth Club, a fun ceilidh led by Folk Dance Remixed plus Sonia Sabri Company in the Princess and the Peacock walkabout. There is also free arts & crafts, a soft play area and Big performance tent

Venue: Long Lane Recreation Ground, Stanwell TW19 7ER