Black Country Dance Hub

Calling all disabled dance artists ‼️

We’ve partnered with FABRIC to offer a Midlands-based disabled dance artist/emerging choreographer the opportunity to work alongside our Artistic Director, Kevin Finnan, and Assistant Director, Daniel Massarella, on a unique paid professional development placement as we create our new touring production Hidden.

Deadline for applications is Thursday 12 September 2024 5pm

Find out more/apply: https://bit.ly/3SXpzDo

This paid placement is part of Keep Moving, which is produced by FABRIC and supported by United by 2022, as part of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund through West Midlands Combined Authority.

Art lovers, makers, and fun-seekers unite! 🎉 is taking over the town this September! 🎨🎶

From St Matthew’s to the Saddlers Shopping Centre, Walsall will be TRANSFORMED into a festival of creativity. Enjoy live music, dance, storytelling, workshops, pop-ups, fashion shows, street food, makers' market & more celebrating the creative community within Walsall & the Black Country. 🤩

Save the date & spread the word!
📅 Saturday 7 September 2024
⏰ 11am-5pm
📍 Walsall town centre
🎟️ Free

The New Art Gallery Walsall Urban Hax Walsall Cultural Compact

📣CASTING Call Out 📣

Our friends at Can't Sit Still are looking to recruit 2 dancer/actors for The Snowy Day, which we they are co-producing with Polka Theatre this winter. ❄

They’re looking for 2 male presenting dancers/actors from the Global Majority to join them for the Jack Ezra Keats’ show, which will also tour Feb – Mar 2025.

The Snowy Day is an award winning book by American author Ezra Jack Keats which tells the gentle story of Peter, who wakes up one morning to find his New York neighbourhood covered in snow. It will be brought to life as a one person dance show for 1-4 year olds and their grown-ups and will play a 2-month run at Polka Theatre from Dec-Jan, before touring to libraries and small scale studio theatres.

📅
* R&D: 25-27 Nov
* Rehearsals: 1-4, 13-15 & 25-27 Nov
* Tech rehearsals: 2, 4-5 Dec
* Polka run: 6 Dec -2 Feb (Mon & Tue off)
* Tour: 3 Feb - 2 Mar
Applicants must be available for ALL of the dates & you should be:

* A fabulous dancers with brilliant acting skills, or actors who have strong movement/dance background
* You should be playful, energetic & visually able to portray the character of Peter, a young African American boy
* We’re interested in any & all dance & movement languages
* You must have excellent devising & improv skills & an interest in making & performing work for very young audiences.
* & be team players who are hard-working, friendly and positive people.

💷
£616 per week, plus holiday pay. The ‘Away From Home’ allowance is £375 per week when working outside of London

⏰
Apply by: 9am Mon 26 Aug
Online interviews: Wed 28 Aug–Wed 04 Sep
4 applicants will be selected to join us for a 3 day R&D (location TBC) & then 2 performers will be cast.

To apply, email [email protected] with:
* A CV, or link to an online CV.
* A dance/movement showreel
* A short video, audio file (no more than 3 mins) or written statement (no more than 500 words) explaining why you would like to work on the project and with the company.

For more information click here: https://bit.ly/CSSOpps

Good luck!! 🍀

Don't miss our friend Motionhouse's fantastic FREE performances at Tamworth Castle this Saturday 20 Jul this Saturday 20 July at 11am & 2pm .

This open-air dance circus show is perfect for the whole family and will kick off celebrations 🏰

Motionhouse's professional dancers will be joined by a cast of young people from the community to tell the story of (future king) Æthelstan’s arrival in Tamworth and how his upbringing by Mercian warrior Queen Æthelflæd helped shape him into a great King.

Find out more: https://www.tamworthcastle.co.uk/athelstan1100

It's BACK! The Autumn Dance Festival💃18th November at 7pm. Open for applications from Schools, FE, HE, Private, Community and Adult Dance Groups. Come join us at Walsall Arena & Arts Centre and celebrate the talents of the Black Country and beyond 🤩

For an application form please email [email protected]

Deadline for applications: October 7th 2024

Our friends The Paper Birds are looking for 3 Performer/Facilitators, who are excellent movers, to reprise the 3 roles in their current touring show Feel Me across autumn 2024 & spring 2025, as well as join their pool of freelancers to deliver their ongoing participation programme of workshops in schools across the country.

• You should have a genuine passion for developing creativity through theatre with young people.
• You should be exceptional communicators,
• experienced facilitators
• have great energy &
• be as engaging to watch on stage, as when they are leading a room full of teenagers.
• Your artistic practice should be underpinned by a knowledge of contemporary theatre & be excited to travel nationally & internationally leading workshops & performing.

They are looking for applicants of any gender aged 30 & under due to roles in Feel Me.

⏰ Deadline for the Performer/Facilitators applications is Fri 28 Jun

For more info about the roles, fees and how to apply you can downloading the Recruitment Pack by click here: https://bit.ly/PBSWorkWithUs

Good luck!! 🍀

WALSALL MAKERFEST
Do you organise a Community Dance Group or Company ?
Do you want to be part of a Dance performance outside the New Art Gallery Walsall on the 7th September 1.00-5.00pm?
Interested?
Contact: [email protected]
Mobile: 07719613487

Makerfest is part of Walsall Council's week-end of Arts activity in and around Walsall, and we would love for you to get involved

DANCE ARTIST OPPORTUNITY
BCDH is looking for a Dance Artist to deliver
2 sessions in a Dudley Primary school
Monday 10th & 17th June 3.00-4.00pm

CONTACT : [email protected]
for more information

This amazing opportunity is with thanks to funding by United by 2022

We’re excited for next week’s D-Clusivity R&D!!! 🤩🎉 In collaboration with the brilliant Mark Smith from Deaf Men Dancing & DMD+ we’re finally taking to the rehearsal room Walsall Arena & Arts Centre to work on our new piece that depicts the journey of a deaf dancer navigating life growing up in the UK.

Our four confirmed deaf artists: Clare Adam, Logan Collins, Lydia Turner and Jude Vero will work with Mark to choreograph a dance to original music composed for D-Clusivity, by Alex Beetschen. The R&D will run all next week between Monday 13 and Saturday 18 May. Culminating on the final day with the dancers performing a short 15 minute piece for the "Funky Teens" youngsters that we worked with at the end of last month.

We’ll be sure to share some piccies and videos too! In the meantime here's a few from our workshop with Funky Teens a few weeks' back...
📸

Great opportunity

Our friends at Spectra have a Play Day coming up - join them for lots of enthusiastically inclusive fun creative tasks!

📆 Friday 24th May
🕓 10.30am - 12.30pm & 1.30pm - 3.30pm
📍 FABRIC within Birmingham Hippodrome

If you are a learning disabled or neurodivergent performer, director, designer, artist, facilitator, collaborator or creative, they would love for you to come along!

Sign up via this Google form: https://tinyurl.com/25jnap9e
Email [email protected] if the form is inaccessible for you.
Venue access information: https://tinyurl.com/4sh7rexc

A fabulous morning with Funky Teens

Fabulous opportunity

Funky Teens workshop Part 2 led by Logan
A fabulous Saturday workshop as part of the
D-Clusivity Project
“Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England “

D-Clusivity
What a fantastic workshop today with Funky Teens in Walsall Led by dancers Jude and Logan

We’re excited for this weekend’s D-Clusivity Workshop with Funky Teens! Who’s joining us?

The workshop is part of the R&D for a new dance piece that we’re creating with Deaf Men Dancing & DMD+’s Director Mark Smith is creating with our 4 D-Clusivity dancers: Clare Adam, Logan Collins, Lydia Turner and Jude Vero.

The piece will depict the journey and life experience of a young deaf person navigating life growing up in the UK. The workshop will see the Funky Teens group explore the piece’s story using street/urban/break dance styles with Mark, Jude and Logan.

We can’t wait to see how they get on and find out how their explorations inform the final piece!

Ahead of next week’s Funky Teens Dance workshop we thought it’d be a great opportunity for us to meet Logan and Jude who’ll be running the session for D/deaf youngsters from Walsall and the Black Country.

Logan Collins is currently training at BIRD COLLEGE CONSERVATOIRE FOR DANCE, MUSIC & THEATRE PERFORMANCE and is a highly skilled dancer, specialising in Ballet, Commercial Dance, Contemporary Dance. He’ll be heading up the workshop along with another of our D-Clusivity Dancers, Jude Vero. Jude has also recently attended London Contemporary Dance school where’s he being studying for a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Dance. He’s also trained at AG2: Avant Garde and ZooNation Academy of Dance and was a teaching assistant at Graeae Theatre.

So, our lucky youngsters will be in good hands at next Saturday’s session at Funky Kids, when they’ll explore what it means to be deaf and HOH using street/urban/break dance styles. Can’t wait to see what they create together!

BCDH is feeling excited!
D-Clusivity workshop with Funky Teens on Saturday 20th April, will be led by Professional Deaf / Hard of Hearing Artists Jude Vero & Logan Collins

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England’,

BCDH is really excited to be working with Mark Smith - Deaf Men Dancing & DMD+ on a NEW PROJECT D-Clusivity