Little Big Dance Cycle Two: 2022-2023

Little Big Dance supports dance artists to develop the specialist skills and experience needed to make captivating and diverse dance work for and with under five-year-olds and their families. 

Cycle Two sees us building on the learnings and successes of cycle one, which supported four artists to progress their careers, commissioned two new works by artists George Fellows and Takeshi Matsumoto - who struggled through a global pandemic to bring their work to tour - and reach more than 3000 people via national and international tours. 

This time round, we are shifting the structure of the programme to offer two key opportunities. Firstly, thirteen artists will take part in a week-long residency-style Artist Lab at The Dance Space during January 2023. Participants will learn directly from experienced dramaturgs, choreographers and early years practitioners. 

The second opportunity is 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. 

Little Big Dance Cycle Two is delivered in partnership with dance organisations Dance East (Ipswich) and Yorkshire Dance (Leeds), as well as Take Art (Somerset) - an arts organisation with an early years specialism. Each partner will deliver a programme of activity in their region supported by South East Dance. 

Little Big Dance is funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Arts Council England and is supported by Dance Umbrella, Strike a Light Festival and Imaginate/Edinburgh International