Announcing our Flourish 2024 awardees

Thanks to support from The Arts Society and generous contributions to The Jamie Watton Flourish Fund, we’re awarding 10 South East based dance artists a total of £2500, towards professional development opportunities from mentoring to tap dance training.

Image from It's a Gender Affair Choreographer Jane Castree Dancers Hal Smith and Jane Castree Photographer Kevin Clifford.

Flourish has been developed in recognition that it’s more challenging than ever for artists to find the resources they need to support their creative development. Our Flourish awards are small bursaries designed to pay for anything that will support an artist’s ongoing practice.

We are supporting:

Catherine Sleeman to enhance their professional training by attending partnering workshops with American choreographer, Bill Wade
Tom Roden to sharpen his comedy skills by joining a week-long, stand-up comedy masterclass
Effie McGuire-Ward to research different models for professional dance class and working with steering groups to establish an offer for dance artists in Milton Keynes
Zasha White to explore new dance styles to incorporate into their drag productions and develop their practice
Anna Des Clayes to access mentoring support to help her explore how best to develop work within the refugee and migrant community
Jane Castree to collaborate with a graffiti artist in Oxford
Aneta Zwierzynska to create a short film about her work and pedagogical methods
Janine Fletcher and Lee Payne to experiment with tap dancing and contemporary dance practice
Danielle Jones to access mentoring to help clarify her practice and approach

Danielle Jones says: “The last five years have brought massive changes in my world and, like many mothers will attest to at this stage in the dance world, my career feels as though it’s taken on a somewhat intangible quality at a crucial mid-career point. This bursary will help support me to seek mentoring and align my new life and changes in my vision with the reality of where the sector is now and what I can contribute to it. I’m really grateful to South East Dance for recognising and supporting mid-career artists who need just as much of a boost at this point in their careers as early career artists, for very different reasons!”

If you would like to help us support artists to develop their practice and to keep experimenting and creating, you can donate to our programmes at any time here.