Little Big Dance brought dance artists together with 0-5 year old children, early years specialists and dramaturgs to develop new skills, create new work and change the face of dance performances offered for younger audiences.
Over two cycles between 2019 and 2023, Little Big Dance supported dance artists to receive robust specialist training and development in creating work for young audiences; and commissioning three new pieces of dance work, created by and with 0-5 year olds, for national tour.
Little Big Dance was given a more than £430,000 investment from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Arts Council England; and by Leeds Dance Partnership, Dance Umbrella, Birmingham Hippodrome and Strike a Light Festival.
Cycle One (2019-2022)
During a sharing day in Feb 2020, two artists were selected by the commissioning circle, made up of the Artistic Directors of Dance Umbrella, Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, The Birmingham Hippodrome, the co-Artistic Director of Strike a Light Festival, Starcatchers, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and artists who specialise in making performances for children, to create new dance works with children in Yorkshire, Suffolk and Norfolk and for a national tour.
Navigating lockdowns and new ways of working artists George Fellows, Co-Artistic Director of Four Hands, and artist and performer Takeshi Matsumoto persevered to create two stunning new works. Setting out to validate the wide range of emotions that a child can experience, George Fellows created it’s ok with children across Yorkshire and focused on themes of mental health, care and attachment amongst young children and their carers.
Drawing on his experience growing up in Japan, artist and performer Takeshi Matsumo worked with children in Suffolk and Norfolk to explore origami and the concept of ‘animism’ – the belief that objects, places and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. The result was Club Origami, a critically acclaimed piece of dance which has gone on to tour internationally. Read a conversation between Takeshi and Professor Angela Pickard. Watch the trailer for Club Origami here.
Between July 2021-May 2022 both shows toured to nurseries and early years settings, and national and regional venues and festivals, reaching audiences of more than 3000 people, and receiving glowing reviews from parents and critics.
Cycle Two (2022-2023)
Little Big Dance Cycle Two was the second round of our pioneering programme, delivered in partnership with DanceEast, South East Dance and Yorkshire Dance.
It built on the learnings and successes of cycle one, which reached more than 3000 people via national and international tours. This time around, we shifted the structure of the programme to offer two key opportunities. Firstly, thirteen artists took part in a week-long residency-style Artist Lab at The Dance Space during January 2023. Participants learned directly from experienced dramaturgs, choreographers and early years practitioners.
The second opportunity was a £30,000 Artist Commission, supporting an experienced UK-based dance artist to create a new piece of work for very young children, and tour it to Little Big Dance partner venues and Early Years settings nationally. Greek Dance Artist, Director and Dramaturg Xenia Aidonopoulou was selected to create her new work Skydiver, with mentoring support from early years dance workers, practitioners & specialists; and in collaboration with pre-school children in early years settings around the country.
The resulting piece was a highly visual theatrical experience for families that evoked a magical dream-like world in the skies, brought to life by a stellar cast of creatives.
Music for Skydiver’s dreamy soundscape was composed by Lana Del Ray’s former Musical Director, Jonny Pilcher, who has scored Oscar and BAFTA-winning documentaries and feature films; as well as award-winning plays and contemporary dance pieces.