Following an Open Call in July, 5 local professional dance artists and companies have received funding from the Northumberland Dance Development Fund.
The Dance Development Fund micro grants of between £2,500 and £5,000 have been awarded to the dance companies and individual dance artists to stimulate and develop dance projects and community focused dance activities between September and December 2024.
Northumberland County Council’s Dance Development Fund is managed by the Maltings (Berwick) Trust in partnership with Queen’s Hall, Hexham and Alnwick Playhouse, with the aim of supporting dance development across the county.
The companies and dance artists who will receive the funding are:
Beth Veitch – The Lighthouse
Led by dance artist Beth Veitch, The Lighthouse will be an original short film featuring community co-created dance with two intergenerational groups of people from Hexham and Berwick. The film will combine new composition from an emerging local folk musician, a duet between two local professional dancers, and material developed by the participating cast via 4 half-day workshop rehearsal sessions.
Anthony LoGuidice – Ghosts of England (working title)
This project is focused-on investigation and re-imagining of Northumbrian Folk Dances, and will include working with Hexham Morris, and a residency at Queen’s Hall in Hexham.
Eliot Smith Dance – PITMAN
PITMAN is performed by five professional dancers and will be rehearsed at Woodhorn Museum between November – December 2024 and performed at the Alnwick Playhouse on 06 December 2024. Future planning includes a North East tour of PITMAN in spring 2025.
Emma Hardman – Moving at Edges
With this project, dance artist Emma Hardman aims to further the cause of inclusivity in dance, working with a group of young people and with women from the Mind and Sole Hub in a series of inclusive movement workshops between September and December 2024 at Alnwick Playhouse, Mind and Sole Hub, and the beach at Howdimont Sands. These sessions will be highly creative and led by the participants’ ideas, fostering a sense of ownership and empowerment and will lead to a short film of the process.
Rendez-vous Dance Company – I just like to put flowers in your room
“I’d just like to put flowers in your room” is a new duet work choreographed by Mathieu Geffré for two professional dancers to be developed in a residency at Queen’s Hall, Hexham.
Carrying on their tradition to engage and present LGBTQIA+ narratives and voices on stage, “I’d just like to put flowers in your room” intertwines the art of literature with contemporary dance.
This new production will draw inspiration from the intimate letters between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, as well as Woolf’s novel “Orlando: A Biography,” where Sackville-West is immortalized as the titular character.
Lucy Vaughan, Head of Creative Engagement for Maltings (Berwick) Trust said ‘We received many high-quality applications from locally based professional dance artists and dance companies, and it was a challenge for the panel to make the final selection of the 5 projects for this funding round. We would like to thank everyone who applied for the funding and to acknowledge the ambition of the wide range of proposals received.
The funded proposals will create work either with participants or develop new dance productions tour to venues in Northumberland and further afield, contributing to a thriving dance sector in the county.’
There will be a further opportunity for dance companies in Northumberland to apply for funds from the Dance Development Fund Open Call (2), in the autumn.