#DanceConnect
May – August 2020
In May 2020 we embarked on an audacious collaborative project devised in response to the ideas and priorities developed through the DDLG forum, and an action research project conducted by the group in 2019. It included input from the wider DDLG group and a dedicated project steering group, which includes 3 young people from Motionhouse Youth Board.
#DanceConnect, an online collaborative creative enquiry project, brought together dance professionals, young people and digital artists from across the West Midlands during Covid 19 Lockdown. Funded by Arts Connect and produced by DanceXchange on behalf of the wider regional network of dance participation leaders. The creative process was supported by Artistic Facilitator Orit Azaz, a specialist in creating large scale, outdoor, collaborative performance.
#DanceConnect explored how collaboration between different dance forms and digital approaches can create fresh, exciting work. We brought together digital artists, dance professionals and young people, from across the West Midlands, in a dynamic creative collision uniquely responding to the the quarantine context.
Eleven dance leaders from across the region were selected to take part, working together in duos or trios to exchange practice and artistic inspiration from their homes. Alongside young people from their existing groups and four young dance leaders, they explored the questions:
- What kind of dance collaboration can only be created when we can’t dance together in person? What new forms and meanings are possible?
- What does high quality look like in this way of working?
- What themes do we want to explore through dance over the next year?
The dance leaders were from across the West Midlands, including Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Kidderminster, with specialisms in Contemporary, Street, Martial Arts, Parkour, African and Caribbean Dance, Afrofusion and Musical Theatre and all leaders committed to accessible and inclusive practice.
The dance leaders worked in the following groupings:
- Oliver Russell and Christopher Radford (Independent Artists)
- Anna Lines (Translucent Dance Company) and Jamie-Lee Johnson (Jamie- Lee Dance Company)
- Iona Waite (ACE Dance and Music), Faye Adams (LOCO Academy), Jade Barton (Flexus Dance Collective)
- Johnny Autin (Man Made Youth Company) and Catherine Clissett (Brewhouse Arts Centre)
- Rachel Liggitt (Shropshire Inclusive Dance) and Ashley Jordan (Ascension Dance)
Throughout the 5 week process, each group worked closely alongside digital artist, Wayne Sables, supporting digital artist Anthony Shintai, one of the four Young Dance Leaders shadowing the process, and specifically invited young people. Their work in progress will be included in a #DanceConnect Social Media Takeover and their reflections and learning will be shared with the wider dance community in September.
Two creative challenge projects, #SelfTrio and #OneWithNature, were developed by young people for young people as part of the #Dance Connect process. These invited participation from young people across the region and continued the creative enquiry: how can we develop the language and choreographic practice of dance whilst we can’t be together, simply using our bodies, our phone cameras and our creativity.
