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STEERING GROUP ACTIVITY
The steering group continue to hold virtual meetings every 2-3 weeks at the moment as we try to stay up to date with any changes and news on dancing safely.
It remains difficult to make plans as you will all be aware so we encourage you to join us for our virtual Check in and Chat soon or get in touch by email to let us know how you are doing.
Virtual Check in and Chat Thursday 15 Oct 3pm-4pm
This informal networking opportunity will continue to be a space for you to share news and ask questions of the steering group and each other. The meeting link will be emailed to all ODF members in advance we will be on zoom for this one.
If you are not a member and want to join please email oxford.dance.forum@gmail.com to receive the link.
MEMBER OPPORTUNITIES
The steering group has taken the difficult decision to cancel/postpone the Autumn Creative Labs as with the constantly changing covid picture we feel it's not safe to encourage real world group activity indoors.
Good news - thanks to the Oxford Playhouse 5 ODF members were able access free space at the Burton Taylor Studio for R&D over the course of one week in September. This was organised at quite short notice and we know more people would have liked to take up the offer. The steering group will continue to pursue opportunities for artists to access free/subsidised space at local venues and will be emailing members directly about these as they arise.
MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
Reminder: Due to the unusual course of the year the ODF steering group have decided to not ask members to renew their memberships in September as in previous years. We plan to introduce a new membership offer starting in Jan 2021.
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ONLINE TREATS / EVENTS / CPD OPPORTUNITIES
Dance & Tech Forum online 8th-29th October 2020 - virtual event hosted by Pavilion Dance South West
This is a fantastic opportunity to virtually explore the use of ‘digital and technology’ within the dance sector and for attendees to dive into creative possibilities for artists and technology companies.
PDSW presents a selection of UK artists working within some of the most exciting fields of dance and technology today. Artists including KwesiJohnson New Movement Collective,Neon Dance, Makeamplify, join with their industry and creative collaborators to explore their practice and present work being made for 2021 and beyond.
See the full programme of activities, which include webinars, presentations, demonstration and panel discussions.
The Embodiment Conference - FREE online event
The https://theembodimentconference.org/ runs online from October 14th to 25th, hosting a wealth of incredible speakers and presenters! Embodiment is about making friends with your body, and feeling at home in your skin. The conference will give you free access to the top teachers in the field, offer a community of support, and be a huge global party to be remembered.
Speak - Listen - Reset - Heal: An anti-racism conference for the UK’s theatre and dance sectors. A fully accessible online series, taking place on 3rd, 10th and 24th November.
An anti-racism conference for the UK’s theatre and dance sectors is taking place in November 2020, presented by Inc Arts UK in partnership with Society of London Theatre (SOLT) & UK Theatre. For full details go to ‘Speak - Listen - Reset - Heal’
Acknowledging systemic and structural racism in the performing arts, the conference aims to effect real changes through authentic, constructive and direct dialogue between senior leaders and the diverse workforce, artists and organisations that interact with them. The organisers want the theatre and dance sectors to reach their fullest potential by enabling honesty and courage - rebuilding now for an equal, inclusive and achievable future.
One Dance UK - Returning to Dance webinars
All the Return to Dance Q&A webinars, co-hosted by the Dance Medicine and Science Expert Panel, are available to re-watch on our website here: https://www.onedanceuk.org/return-to-dance/
Topics covered so far include social distancing in dance, considerations for children and young people, mental health and injury management, alternatives to face to face, vulnerability, equality and diversity and much more.
Check out their facebook page and website for other CPD opportunities coming up this autumn for teachers and dancers
Ruth Pethybridge - Dance Futures
A new podcast that discusses dance as a way of life. Created and hosted by our friend Dr Ruth Pethybridge Dance Futures
Space Clarence Mews - mentoring opportunities
VIRTUAL 10 Week Creative Space Artists working in and across all performance practices Choreographers, composers, directors, writers, maker-performers - LAST CHANCE TO JOIN THIS AUTUMN
Delve, draft, test, question, discard, run with or keep for later. This 10 Week programme encourages rawness, risk and reflection, and ensures that everyone’s work will be respected and supported equally.
During the regular meetings, facilitated by experienced Maker, Mentor and ‘Relational Dynamics 1st’ Coach Caroline Salem, the small group of artists will support each other’s process through listening, witnessing, communicating their experience and asking questions.
OCTOBER 12th – DECEMBER 20th APPLY NOW FOR THIS 2nd GROUP use form below or give me a call 07871190500 / 40cmews@gmail.com Each group – 4-6 artists / companies
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TRAINING AND WORKSHOPS (Virtual/real world)
Macarena Ortuzar - 'Dreaming LandScapes' weekly movement sessions in Oxford
Macarena is offering a new series of Dance Movement, embodied Practice and Movement Explorations every Thursday at Jericho Community Centre 12-30-1.30 Cost: £10. Max of 4 participants per session/ booking required. Open to All. Contact Macarena to book and find out more.
Ballet classes in Oxford - Both online and in studio classes now on offer in Oxford suitable for beginners through to professionals. See the Ballet in Small Spaces blog for more information.
Justice in Motion continue to offer weekly online contemporary classes
MOVING TOGETHER is a creative collaboration and research project between Justice in Motion and Dr Bronwyn Tarr that explores Loneliness. Watch video gifts from the project on you tube here. You can also take part in virtual workshops with JiM as part of the IF festival starting Mon 5 Oct. Read more here
Confluence Collective Cafe/Marhaba and Meeting Points
These Oxford based mixed arts groups continue to meet and share virtually. Share a song, dance or poem or else just sit and listen and watch. You will have to be bring your own food and drink. See their facebook pages for more information CONFLUENCE CAFE/MARHABA and MEETING POINTS
Cafe Reason Butoh Theatre - Return to indoor classes
With certain conditions to ensure Covid-security – Cafe Reason will be resuming their regular Saturday morning classes at Mortimer Hall, Old Marston.
Please would you email them if you are interested in attending as places are limited. The next session will be with Lizzy Spight on Sat 10 Oct at 10am-1pm and they will continue on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays until 12 December (7 sessions in all).
It will be necessary to book each class by email and pay in advance by bank transfer. Payment can be for an individual session or (more conveniently) for a block of three or more; these can be taken any time during the season. Please note that we need to increase the regular class fee to £20 for each 3-hour session, but we will continue to accept £15 if you are on a low income.
Cafe Reason and TORCH Oxford project - Breaking Free took place over the summer of 2020. The aim of the project was to explore different factors that limit the dancing body. We started with gender, impediment, and aesthetic concerns; later we added the theme of isolation to reflect current events.
Read more about the Breaking Free project here.
Dance in the Park - Physically distanced dance
Thursdays in October from 5.15pm-8.30pm
COST: Free!
BOOKING: Email contact@contactdance.org by 8pm on Wednesday evening before, requesting a place.
MEET AT: Keble Gate, University Parks, Parks Road, Oxford. OX1 3PU
Public · Hosted by Andrew Dance and Oxford Contact Dance
Join us to safely dance with other people in a physically distanced way - outside - in the park. It's free but you must book - see below at end.
Let's dance together in University Parks, Oxford. Dance in the Park is a facilitated session where we'll use games, exercises and improvised dance to enjoy moving together.
Suitable for everyone - including beginners and experienced dancers. We'll research and investigate dance without touch - including using sticks and other items to connect and contact-through. see: https://andrewdance.org/contact-improvisation/dancing-contact-improvisation-with-contact-through/
Bring a water bottle and wear loose clothing in which you can move freely. Note: no amplified music is allowed in the park but acoustic instruments welcome.
Independent Dance (London) returns to offering indoor classes with some content also accessible online. See ID Programme
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COMMISSIONS
The Place - OPEN CALL
The Place, London’s creative powerhouse for dance development, has been leading the way in dance training, creation and performance for 50 years. In a changing landscape, our vision for the future remains steadfast: we are powering imagination through dance, championing new ideas, embracing risks and creating optimal conditions for dance artists and enthusiasts to realise their full potential.
During the COVID-19 pandemic we are asking ourselves “how can dance help us respond to the big questions facing society?”. Recognising that as a theatre we do not exist without artists and that many dance makers may be preoccupied with the same questions as us, we invite artists to propose work for our spring 2021 programme via this open call. We particularly welcome proposals from artists who haven’t been part of our theatre programme previously and we look forward to how new voices & perspectives can enrich our programme.
What we are looking for/Eligibility criteria
Our 2021 Spring programme will be three curated weekend festivals which will take place live & online. Each one will focus on a question:
- “How can we care for each other?” 28 - 31 January
- “How do we tune in to sensation*?” 18 - 21 February (in partnership with Chisenhale Dance)
- “What does the future look like?” 11 - 14 March
Read the full brief here Deadline for applications is 12pm Fri 9 Oct
Barbican Open Lab: Theatre and Dance
This year, Open Lab will support the development of six innovative and experimental new works created to be experienced by audiences in a socially distanced manner, whether that’s a live performance or online. Rehearsal space at the Barbican Centre will be available to successful applicants subject to COVID-19 government safety guidance of the time.
We’re looking to support early to mid-career artists. We’re committed to nurturing and developing creative talents and voices from a multiplicity of backgrounds, practices and contexts and are particularly interested in hearing from people from ethnic minorities, including Black artists/Black-led theatre companies, LGBTQ+ artists/companies, and d/Deaf and disabled artists/companies.
Read the full brief here. Deadline: Monday 12 October, 5pm
Oxford's Global Dance Film project - be part of Oxford Christmas Light Festival
Together with the CLF team and OCC’s Twinning officer, Dancin’ Oxford will be commissioning a global montage dance film that features and captures the energy, dynamism and spirit of the dance community here in Oxford and in our twin cities. It will be a true celebration of all that we would have normally seen on the Dance Stages and a wonderful way to unite everyone together…on screen.
The film will be released at a specific time within the Christmas Light Festival weekend programme – 20 - 22 November 2020 and will then be available online. We'd love for all of you to be part of this.
The music track we will be using for the film (the track length is 3.44 mins and will be used in its’ entirety for the film) will be sent to you. We would love you to use this track for your choreography (you can choreograph to a section of it / or the whole track depending on your preference – if you choreograph to a section please can you state what timings of the track you have choreographed to so that we can let the film editor know). Please note: If you make work using the whole track, it will not be shown in its entirety (you can indicate your favourite section and we will try and accommodate) If you prefer not to use the track, as you would rather use your own chosen music or you are submitting choreography already made, this is okay but your footage will be edited using the attached track.
How to take part:- register your interest that your group(s) would like to join the project (to give us an indication of the numbers of groups the film will feature).
We will then need you to send us your video footage (with the relevant permissions in place for the footage to be shared on line) along with the name of the group (as you would like stated in the credits). We will make sure that all dance groups that take part are mentioned in the credits.
If you save your video to a virtual saving space then you would need to send in the link to it, or alternatively send it via WeTransfer (let us know if you need any help with how to do this). If you are using a mobile phone to record, please can you ensure you film in landscape not portrait (horizontal not vertically)
We would need the footage sending to us by Monday 2nd November 2020. If the link to your footage (and credits) can be sent directly to me. I will pass them onto our film editor.
Email Claire Thompson asap if you have any questions and would like to take part. She will send you the link to the music file to use.
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FUNDING & ARTIST SUPPORT
Arts Council England
National Lottery Project Grants - The fund is open to all individual artists, community and cultural organisations to support arts, museums and libraries projects. This fund is now open. They are keen to support first time applicants.
Who can apply: Individual artists and practitioners, community and cultural organisations, museums and libraries.
What you can apply for: Arts, museums and libraries projects that engage people in England with creativity and culture. Key dates: National Lottery Project Grants is open all the time, there are no deadlines.
Funds due to open later in the autumn:
Developing Your Creative Practice
Developing Your Creative Practice is aimed at helping artists and creatives take their work to the next level. We’ve increased the budget from £3.6 million to around £18 million. We want to help as many people as we can with this fund. Find out more about the fund before it closed in March >
Sign up here for monthly newsletter with the latest from the Arts Council and the arts and culture sector.
Sign up here for the Arts Council weekly Arts Jobs and News e-newsletter
Freelance Task Force Dance working group -
FTF Dance formed an extremely proactive and creative sub-group within the wider Freelance Task Force.
The group consists of individuals who self-elected to join together to champion and highlight issues in dance and movement art forms. The group grew over the 13 weeks of sponsored FTF time and existed by feeding into the wider FTF conversations, communicating with various other sub-groups, and coming together to specifically target issues faced by the dance and movement work in theatre sectors.
FTF Dance Group is comprised of producers, choreographers, dance artists, movement directors, movement practitioners/teachers and artistic directors whose work is predominantly movement and dance based activity that spans across the UK and beyond. They represent a range of backgrounds, regions, experiences, and have come together through one common link – being freelancers.
Read more and follow the FTF Dance working group here.
South East Dance - Artist Support
SED have launched a new website and autumn season of screen dance and continue to raise money for artists through the Jamie Watton Fund.
SED are running a monthly virtual Artists Café aimed at practitioners. The next one is on Fri 9 Oct and will be led by Brighton hip-hop dance artists Munya Muchati and Bobby Brown who'll be discussing the evolution of hip-hop and where it's heading. Sign up here: Artists Cafe
They an also offer 1-2-1 support and can read your ACE application before you submit. Email Pip Sayers to book a slot.
Oxford City Council - Culture Fund
The Culture Fund awards grants of £500-1000. It is designed to enable cultural organisations and individual practitioners to enhance Oxford's cultural offer and leverage in additional funding from other sources. Apply Culture Fund
Round 3 (projects taking place between 1 December 2020 and 31 March 2021)
Wednesday 9 September 2020: Culture Fund opens for applications.
Wednesday 14 October 2020: Deadline for applications.
Applicants will be informed of decisions by Monday 2 November 2020
Also as part of her role with the City Council Claire Thompson is regularly updating a list of funding sources (not just the arts) which can be found here: Funding sources
Claire is also able to support local artists with advice on applications to OCC funds as well as ACE bids if needed. Email Claire: cthompson@oxford.gov.uk
Theatre Community Fund
The Theatre Community Fund has been established to support the theatrical artists and professionals whose livelihoods and creative futures have been threatened in the wake of Covid-19. The Theatre Community Fund has currently raised over £500,000 for creatives and artists in need.
This fund will be separated into two priority strands giving grants of up to £3000:
1. HARDSHIP grants in partnership with the Fleabag Support Fund
2. CREATIVE AND INNOVATION grants
Grants will be distributed in partnership with the Royal Theatrical Fund. Creative and innovation grants will open in late 2020 or early 2021, with the exact date to be agreed. Find out more and apply here: theatrecommunityfund.com
The Fleabag Support Fund will open on the 1st of the month for 5 days for the foreseeable future.
Dancers' Career Development
Dancers’ Career Development (DCD) offers a holistic and comprehensive range of specialist and confidential career support and retraining services to professional dancers in the United Kingdom.
We have prioritised the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff and DCD supported dancers, making the rapid change to remote working and digital delivery of programmes at the outbreak of the crisis.
Helping dancers through professional and personal changes is the lifeblood of our charity, removing barriers to career progression, enabling career sustainability and creating life-long learning opportunities. This work has never been more essential to the UK dance sector than at this uncertain time.
WHAT DCD CAN DO FOR YOU - Zoom event Wed 7 October 2020 7PM-7.30PM
We are excited to be able to connect with more dancers, especially at a time when you may need some support. Come and join us for a chat about what DCD can do to support your career development and transition.
Dance Professionals Fund - The Dancers’ Hardship Fund
Who can apply: Professional dancers. Support given to freelance dancers across genres including ballet, contemporary, Black and Asian dance and hip hop including those with portfolio careers, e.g. choreography, who whose work would normally include employment in the subsidised dance sector. This Fund is supported by Arts Council of England. Applications to this fund are accepted from Monday 29th June. Read more here: https://www.dancefund.org.uk/grants/crisis/
Further advice, support and resources are regularly updated on these websites:
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PERFORMANCES LIVE / DIGITAL / STREAMING
Dancing Oxford Autumn Festival is now taking place online. The 10 day festival starts Sat 10 Oct. See the full programme here
The Place Online presents the award-winning
Lost Dog's brand new short film, In a Nutshell. Available until 22nd Oct and
Splayed Festival 2020 - An Eruption of Disruptive Queer Performances & Digital Arts Wed 14 - Sun 18 Oct mix of online/live/digital events
Vincent Dance Theatre 'Theatre’s In Loco Parentis' will be streamed FREE ONLINE from Weds 7 Oct until Sun 11 Oct. In collaboration with five UK theatre venues: @artsdepot @FalmouthUni @MÓTUS @southeastdance @stamfordarts Post Show with AD Charlotte Vincent on Fri 9 Oct 3pm
The Royal Opera House is starting to stream live performances from 9 October
Justice in Motion's BOUND streaming online from 18th October -
World Anti Slavery Day.
Sadlers Wells Digital Stage: Sadler’s Wells presents a programme of full-length dance performances, films and workshops online. They are also beginning live performances with socially distanced audiences.
World Ballet Day https://worldballetday.com/ 29 October
Dance Umbrella online danceumbrella.co.uk Mon 23 – Fri 27 November
Spread the word about your online classes!
One Dance UK hosts an events calendar for info on classes You can submit your own classes for free here
Don't forget the Dancin Oxford website has lots of information about current online classes, dance videos and events for all levels and ages. To get your class/event on the site email cthompson@oxford.gov.uk
Don't forget you can reach the steering group via this email with any questions/news to share: oxford.dance.forum@gmail.com
Stay safe and we hope to see you dancing in the real world soon.
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