East London Dance
Their mission is simple – to “bring dance to people and people to dance”. This is done through projects that encourage people of all ages to move, run alongside ambitious performances that engage diverse audiences.
Founded in 1987, East London Dance has provided children’s dance classes in East London for more than three decades. They’ve run a range of adult dance classes in London and collaborated with various arts organisations. Here are just a few of their current projects:
East London Dance provides opportunities for people over the age of 65 to engage with choreography and performance. The Leap of Faith classes are open to people of all abilities and give them space and time to be creative. A variety of styles are taught by leading choreographers. The group meet every week at Stratford Circus and have performed for audiences at places like City Hall and Trafalgar Square.
Want to join in? Classes take place on Fridays, from 11am – 1pm. The cost is £25 per term. For all the details visit the East London Dance website.
The Senior Swans ballet class for over 50s is taught by professional ballerina Shardae-Rose Angel. A class for all abilities, a main focus is posture and flexibility – two elements which improve health, wellbeing, confidence and core strength.
These classes run in terms. For details on the upcoming term, visit the class pages on the East London Dance website.
Future Innovators: East London Dance is a programme that runs annually. The idea? To develop the skills of future innovators so they can bring their ideas to life. It’s for anyone aged 16 – 25 who wants to work in dance.
Industry professionals come together to give rising stars guidance and mentoring. Across the course, they will have the opportunity to deliver their own projects with investment from East London Dance. The course includes:
- A residential weekend for participants to bond
- Monthly knowledge sessions on drier topics like fundraising and management
- Weekly dance sessions
- Intensive sessions in technical production, teaching and marketing
- Networking events
- Work experience opportunities
- Pitch practice sessions
- The Fi.ELD festival (where participants use what they’ve learned to produce something awesome)
The project has been so successful, it’s now being rolled out nationally. For more info visit the Fi.ELD page here.
The Ideas Fund gives creatives in the dance industry the opportunity to pitch for up to £5,000 for their project.
Creatives are expected to pitch, explaining their idea or project and how they would use the funds, if won. This year’s winners were selected in April and bursaries totalling £15,000 were granted. Winning ideas included the 10th anniversary of Myself UK Dance – an all female Hip Hop company, Truefitt Collective creative workshops promoting healthy minds and bodies and Magical Minds performance and dance workshops that focus on mental health and wellbeing for primary school children.
For a full breakdown of the winners, visit the East London Dance website.