Dance Connect: residents announced

Uchenna Dance deliver a dance workshop at Trinity in 2018. Photo @Khali Ackford

Trinity is pleased to announce that, as part of the Bristol Dance Futures ‘Dance Connect’ programme, five Bristol-based dance practitioners will be funded to undertake year-long residencies in organisations across the city.

The residencies are an opportunity for practitioners, organisations and communities to collaboratively develop a programme of dance activity. Artists will explore and develop ways that dance can be enjoyed and experienced by new and existing audiences and participants across the city.

'It was great to see such high-quality applications and be part of the selection process with a different perspective from the health sector'

Karen Lloyd, Active Ageing Bristol

To ensure a wide range of voices and perspectives helped select the Dance Connect Residencies, the project's Producer Deborah Baddoo invited Karen Lloyd from Active Ageing Bristol and Zannah Chisolm, Artistic Director and CEO Pavilion Dance South West to sit on the selection panels, alongside members of the Dance Futures steering group including independent artist Deepraj Singh.

With the COVID-19 pandemic likely to exacerbate impacts of pre-existing health conditions, two projects will look at the importance of using dance to improve and support good emotional wellbeing and health:

Lerato Dunn will work will work with Southmead Development Trust and Sirona Care to explore how dance can contribute to the physical and emotional health, with the aim to develop a ‘Dance on Prescription’ model that can support vulnerable people.

Rachel James, who leads Dance For Parkinson's at Trinity, will be working with Fresh Arts to create a high-quality dance programme supporting the recovery of elderly and frail patients, designed to help them to get home quicker.

Trinity will be working with both Lerato and Rachel to programme activity in our role as the Arts & Health Dance Hub for the project.

The following collaborations will see artists connecting with new communities strengthening dance participation beyond the city centre:

Penny Caffrey and Helen Wilson will be collaborating with Filwood Community Centre to create a number of different ‘dance happenings’ to promote a positive sense of place within communities.

Katy Noakes will be working with Knowle West Media Centre explore ways to bridge the gap between street and contemporary dance in Bristol.

Dance Connect is an initiative by Bristol Dance Futures - a consortia of Bristol arts organisations and independent artists, that aims to create a vibrant dance ecology across the city, so people of all ages can engage with high-quality dance.

Dance Connect is supported by funding from Arts Council England