Introducing Our New Environmental Dance Project: Emerge
We invite you to connect with us via our new project, EMERGE, which focuses on the specific threats Somerset faces as a result of climate change. It asks an interesting question: can those with a passion for Somerset, the environment and the arts work together to make a difference?
We're inviting you to share your thoughts and experiences of climate change in your area of Somerset. Join us in our Emerge Facebook Group, your voice matters!
Spring Forward
Spring Forward turned 20 this year and to celebrate we invited groups who have been performing with us over the years to come and perform in our gala performance. We had 100 dancers from 10 different groups performing at the McMillan Theatre in Bridgwater. One of the groups has been performing at Spring Forward since the very beginning!
We asked each of the group leaders to come on stage to introduce their groups and tell us about their Spring Forward journey. It was great to hear their stories, we had some group leaders who had performed in groups when they were younger and have started bringing their own groups to Spring Forward.
Others spoke of the great opportunity it is for their dancers to perform in a non-competitive performance and be able to watch other groups perform as they don’t often get a chance to do that.
This was a superb way to end this year’s Spring Forward run, where we saw 485 dancers from 34 different groups perform to sold out audiences at The Tacchi Morris Arts Centre in Taunton and The McMillan Theatre in Bridgewater.
We have already got some dates in the diary for the performances in 2026.
Rural Touring Dance Initiative: Never Too Old
While we celebrated the journeys of many young dancers at the Spring Forward Gala, two of the professional contemporary dance companies touring with RTDI this year have been sharing their skills with dance groups for over 55’s in Dorset and over 60’s in Wiltshire.
Solène Weinachter’s After All is a joyous and poignant exploration of death, grief and loss through dance and storytelling. Unsurprisingly, the themes made some of our promoters all over the UK feel a bit nervous about selling the show to their village audiences. How would they make this sound like a fun night out?!
Solène is a well-known and very engaging dancer, who has lots of experience of rural touring (more about that in our upcoming brochure) and she was very keen to connect with audiences in advance of her performances.
By offering workshops with our dancers to local communities and dance groups, RTDI hopes to maximise the benefits of having a touring artist spend a bit longer getting to know rural venues, sharing their skills and really experiencing how we all connect with our local halls, schools, and other places where people come together.
Salisbury-based over 60’s dance company Dance Six-0, who you may remember from previous Spring Forward appearances, were supported by the RTDI Go and See Fund to attend Solène’s show in Dorset on a wild and wintery night in December 2024. They had the opportunity to get to know Solène after the show through an in-depth post-show Q&A and followed this up with a subsidised workshop for twelve dancers when Solène returned for the 2nd leg of her South-West RTDI tour in March 2025.
These opportunities had a huge personal impact, and their amazing feedback helped us to promote the shows in Cornwall and Croscombe, Somerset which played to great audiences.
“Solène has the ability to incorporate in what appears to be a light-hearted evening, moments of profound pain, and yet this does not seem out of place. On a wild (weather) evening, her empathy felt like an answer to the storms outside and an expression of humanity that left us feeling better about the world.”
Dance Six-0 member
“Visiting a remote Dorset village in a frightening rainstorm turned out to be a real treat… I had just been to a funeral, and it was especially meaningful. She made us laugh and cry… It was a brilliant thought-provoking evening. Thanks.”
Dance Six-0 member
Dorset-based over 55s dance groups Grace and Growl and Movers and Shakers also attended a workshop with Solène in Autumn 2024.
When we had the opportunity to connect them with another visiting company, Pagrav Dance, group leader Lyn Paine and Pagrav dancer Astha were able to jointly plan an introduction to Kathak dance workshop that was both challenging and enjoyable, at an appropriate level for ten experienced older dancers. The workshop took place in Broadmayne Village Hall the day before Pagrav performed their touring show Aunusthan (meaning ‘joy’) in the same space to a packed audience.
“The dancers all enjoyed the workshop and those that saw the show said it helped them appreciate the style. They loved the show too… The warm-up could have been a bit more thorough e.g. to mobilise the poor old knees, but the pace and content were good, and it gave us a flavour of Kathak as well as a good level of challenge. Thank you so much for the opportunities you provide.”
Lyn Paine
Whether you’re a young and supple 20 like Spring Forward, or a mover and shaker at 60+, it’s never too late to start dancing.
If you would like to know more about the RTDI Go and See Fund, the upcoming programme, and any workshop opportunities, please contact beccy@takeart.org.
