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)

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.

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

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.

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.

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.’

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.’