Merry Christmas one and all and thank you for a fabulous 2017!
What another fantastic year we have had, we want to say a heartfelt thank you to all those that have supported us, danced with us and watched us in action this year. We very much look forward to working with each and everyone of you in 2018!
A quick look back on 2017 and dancing into 2018....
KEEPING DANCE ALIVE – Bard to Bollywood.
What a brilliant year for the programme. Our Shakespearean-Bollywood infused programme was a massive hit with over 1500 dancers taking part. It was the first year we worked in partnership with Essex Music Education Hub and University Centre Colchester to create a unique soundtrack for our programme and what a fabulous time our dancers had. If you have yet to see the documentation from this years project please click on the links below:
2018 THE GREAT WAR CENTENARY, Some of you have already signed up for Keeping Dance Alive this year and as always it is going to be the biggest year yet and we are really lucky to have not one but two amazing choreographers this year Leon Hazlewood and Bobbie Gargrave as well as continuing to work with Essex Music Education Hub and University Centre Colchester to create our soundtrack. If you are umming and arring, come and join in the fun! It’s only £250.00 if you sign up before the Xmas break which you can then use back in your own environment and create your own WW1 celebrations OR you can bring your dancers to the performances at the Colchester Football Ground, Essex Cricket Ground, the Sounds of Essex Festival and for B&D schools only the Jim Peters Stadium.
AFTER SCHOOL PROVISION
The Dance Network Association and Royal Academy of Dance's Step into Dance team joined forces in late 2016 to engage with new secondary schools and colleges across Essex and Barking and Dagenham to deliver high quality after school dance provision at a highly subsidised rate. This year we worked with 17 school groups across the county who not only took part in after school provision, some of our schools were invited to perform at Step LIVE at the South Bank Centre and one of our school groups won an award for the best choreography - WELL DONE.
If you are a secondary school and want to be a part of the Step into Dance Programme for 2018 contact us we only have space for 7 more schools to join the programme, fees start from as little as £260.00 for 20 hours of delivery - Dont miss out this opportunity for your schools. Schools have the opportunity to perform at SpringBlast in Chelmsford in March 2018.
WE KEPT ON RE:GENERATING! Dance and movement classes for the over 60's continued on Thursdays at Coates Lodge, our fabulous dancers this year performed in Keeping Dance Alive at the Cricket Ground look out for them on the pitch.
This year our beautiful Frances Maynard is featured on The Great Centenary soundtrack so listen out for her. Weekly classes continue in January 11.00 - 12.30 at Coates Lodge CM2 6SL which includes an hour of dancing and 30 minutes for a cuppa tea and a natter. EXCITING NEWS! NEW classes begin in Tillingham and Bradwell in the Maldon district as we join up with MOAT Housing Association. Watch on the website for further dates and details.
DANCING WITH PARKINSON'S started in 2017 as a trial partnership with Colchester Castle our sessions draw upon local history as the stimulus for creative dance. The classes have grown enormously over the year and we were lucky enough to be given a spot on the BBC news if you havent seen what we get up to or for more information and dates click here.
OUR AWARD WINNING FAMILY DANCE PROGRAMMES - we are proud to share that we won an award for our dance programmes this year through the Family Prize Challenge. The award has enabled us to roll out our projects across Chelmsford, Barking and Colchester. We have a great team working on our projects researching and exploring creative dance with families. If you would like to view any of our research so far written by the lovely Elsa Urmston or are a family wishing to attend classes take a look at the website in January for up to date information on various times and locations.
SPRINGBLAST 2017 our second showcase at The Civic Theatre in Chelmsford went down a hit, we welcomed lots of new faces to our evening this year, so we hope to see you all again in 2018. In 2017 we were so overwhelmed by the amounts of applications we couldn't fit all the groups into the evening. SO this year we are running two evenings Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 March 7.30pm. Civic Theatre, Fairfield Road, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1JG Box Office: 01245 606505 all tickets £9.00
The evening promises to be an eclectic mix of dance performance from young people and adult community groups. We look forward to welcoming you to a celebration of creative dance!
If you would like to perform with us take a look at the website for the application pack.
DANCE TEACHERS NETWORK this year saw the introduction of the North Essex Dance Network alongside our already successful Mid Essex programme. We continue both of these networks in 2018 and we have some fantastic guest artists for you! Our next dates we dance with James Cousins and Matthew Bourne companies: Click here for more information and to book your places!
For our full programme brochure for 2018 please click here
All that is left to say from us is have a fantastic Christmas and I look forward to seeing you in the new year!
Kindest regards
Gemma Wright and Emma Meek
THE DANCE NETWORK ASSOCIATION CIC the dance development organisation for Essex and its neighbouring counties 'CREATING DANCE FOR ALL'
