Surrey Dance 21

Surrey Dance 21

Project year: 2021 to present

Project partners: Surrey Arts and Arts Council England

The legacy lives on from the original year-long programme showcasing dance in Surrey and promoting dance as a vibrant, expressive and creative art form that inspires, brings people together, aids learning, strengthens communities, increases physical activity and improves fitness, alertness and mental wellbeing.

The programme received funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England and included the following programme strands:

Orchard portraits

Choreographer Rosemary Lee brought her unique sensibilities to both landscape and people to create a new video-work made collaboratively with filmmaker Roswitha Chesher – inspired by and shot in the historic wild orchard at West Horsley Place.  

Filmed over a year through the four seasons, Orchard Portraits features five senior performers, each in a meditative and elegant duet with their chosen ageing tree.  As human and tree become entwined almost as one, there is a sense of deep unity seeming to pay tribute to humanity’s ancient and ongoing intimate relationship with trees. In contrast we are reminded of natures’ cycles of regeneration as 60 school children burst through the orchard in moments of joy and discovery.

Surrey Dance Seed Fund

Arts Partnership Surrey launched the ‘Surrey Dance Seed Fund’ in June 2022 as a legacy initiative to build on the success of the Dance 21 professional development programme for Surrey’s dance artists. The Surrey Dance Seed Fund offered eight awards of up to £1000 each, enabling dance practitioners to develop and deliver dance and movement focused projects in Surrey responding to the priorities of place shaping, wellbeing, young people, collaboration and sector support. The applications were assessed by a panel and the following projects received an award:

Sue Hudson – Fit4Tap fit4tap.com/

Nicky Norton https://www.stopgapdance.com/biographies/nicky-norton/

Lucy McCrudden and Laura Harvey (Dance Mama) https://www.dancemama.org/

Cherie Brennan – Thrive Youth Dance Company https://www.thriveyouthdancecompany.co.uk/academy-team

Hannah Delaney and Sam Ivin

Kate Finnegan – A Beautiful Day

Rosie Heafford – Second Hand Dance https://www.secondhanddance.co.uk/

Surrey Dance Network https://www.facebook.com/groups/surreydancenetwork

The programme concluded in October 2023 with a short presentation by each of the artists to the Surrey Dance Network at their Autumn event in West Horsley Place.  

Wiggle and Scribble

Youth Dance Recovery

Eight to twelve week dance programmes led by professional dance artists in schools and youth settings.

Mannequin

Pop up Dance performances in empty shopping units and shop fronts across Surrey Heath, Guildford, Elmbridge and Waverley.

Moving Kinship

Working with families affected by young onset dementia, LGBTQ+ communities, creating bespoke live and digital performances, lead by the Beatrice Allegranti Company.

Artist Professional Development

APS led an extensive series of online zoom events to bring together the Surrey dance community that were centred around the Dance and Digital, including Evaluation Methodologies with Delights’ Kathryn Mills, Digital and Participation with Tom Hobden (UNIT), Dance and Digital Panel with Rosie Heafford (Secondhand Dance), Laura Jones (Stopgap Dance) and Carrie Washington (BEE Creative).