Northern School of Contemporary Dance has announces Sharon Watson as its new Chief Executive and Principal. Watson, who is the longest standing Artistic Director of Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Theatre, will begin her tenure as CEO and Principal of NSCD in May 2020. Watson becomes NSCD’s fourth Principal in the institution’s 35-year history, following in the footsteps of Janet Smith MBE, Gurmit Hukam and founding Principal Nadine Senior MBE. She grew up in Leeds and was one of Nadine Senior’s pupils at Harehills Middle School before going on to study at London Contemporary Dance School in 1983. O ..read more

DanceXchange, Birmingham Hippodrome and Birmingham Royal Ballet are joining forces to put Birmingham on the dance map this summer with an exhilarating month of dance festivals throughout June 2020. B-SIDE, BIDF and Curated by Carlos run from 29 May – 27 June featuring a range of dance styles from hip-hop to contemporary to classical ballet. B-SIDE Hip-Hop Festival now in its fifth year, has grown to become the UK’s biggest free hip-hop festival, and one of the largest in Europe. This year’s event between 29 May – 7 June features dance battles, live music, graffiti, theatre and spoken word, str ..read more

This year marks the Centenary of Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, with celebrations taking place throughout the year that provide opportunities for the School to honour its rich history and look forward to the future. Founded by dance pioneer Marie Rambert in 1920, it is the UK’s oldest vocational dance school and still stands by its founding principles of innovation, creativity and individuality that is reflected in the School’s holistic approach to nurturing talent and developing the dance artists of tomorrow. For a century Rambert School graduates have occupied places acros ..read more

The UK’s original graduate dance company – Transitions Dance Company – presents an eclectic programme of new work from internationally acclaimed choreographers H2DANCE, Cameron McMillan and Elisa Pagani. The UK tour commenced at Dundee’s The Space in February before taking on Cardiff’s Dance House, Trafford’s Waterside arts venue, Ilfracombe’s Landmark Theatre, Buxton Opera House, Perth Theatre, Chichester University, Worcester’s Swan Theatre and London’s Laban Theatre in June. Award-winning Scandinavian choreographers H2DANCE explore themes of group behaviour, conformity, power balance and ma ..read more

The Cohan Collective, an open residency programme for choreographers and composers, is calling for applications for 2020. Four choreographers, four composers, four musicians and twelve dancers, with the ability to work in a diverse range of music and dance styles, will be selected to take part in a two-week residency in Birmingham, hosted by Birmingham Royal Ballet and DanceXchange, beginning on 6 July. The deadline for applications is 30 March, and interviews and auditions will take place in April. The Cohan Collective was founded in 2015 by choreographers Sir Robert Cohan and Yolande Yorke-E ..read more

BalletBoyz, the multi award-winning dance troupe, will soon present Deluxe, its all-new dance show in celebration of the company’s 20th anniversary year. The double-bill with a special video introduction brings together collaborations from some of the world’s most inventive and thought-provoking artists, including an all-female team of choreographers. Deluxe embarks on a nationwide UK tour from 1 March through to May, including three shows at London’s Sadler’s Wells from 25 to 27 March. Fusing dance with original music in the company’s unique and unmistakable style, Deluxe will see Shanghai-ba ..read more

We Move, a consortium of nine leading hip hop dance companies and organisations, has announced that applications are open for a unique nine month leadership training programme for members of the hip hop dance community, funded for the next two years by an Arts Council England Transforming Leadership Grant. At a time of change in hip hop dance – with three hip hop dance companies joining the Arts Council’s National Portfolio in 2019 – Artists4Artists, Avant Garde Dance, Boy Blue, Breakin’ Convention, East London Dance, Impact Dance, Uchenna Dance, University of East London and ZooNation: The Ka ..read more

After celebrating its tenth anniversary on the Ipswich waterfront last year, DanceEast begins the new decade with a highly anticipated Spring season, featuring two premieres.  The season commences with Enowate. Making his Ipswich debut, Dickson Mbi presents Enowate, which translates as ‘truth stands’, inspired by a personal trip Dickson took to his family ancestral village in Cameroon. Enowate uses popping and contemporary dance to express Dickson’s inner dialogue – as if he is a man speaking to his shadow. The performance will tell a story that is both intimate and one that everyone can rel ..read more

When choreographer Joseph Toonga co-founded Just Us Dance Theatre with Ricardo Da Silva and Rudeen February in 2007, a major part of the company’s ethos was to inspire, support and nurture others. In 2013, the company set up the first of two mentoring programmes, Let’s Shine, to empower young hip hop performers and provide them with tools and opportunities to develop themselves as artists and individuals. 10 young men aged from 16 to 23, from a range of backgrounds, have been working with Toonga and De Silva to create a response to Toonga’s 2019 work Born To Manifest, inspired by the first per ..read more

An immersive theatre production is to be staged at the home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge this spring, marking the first time that actors have put on a public performance at the royal residence. Actors will tread the boards at the home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for a play about Queen Caroline and Lady Henrietta Howard. United Queendom will profile two of the palace’s former residents, Queen Caroline, the wife of King George II, and his mistress, Lady Henrietta Howard. Largely forgotten by history, this play restores them to life, imagining what their lives must have been like ..read more