New Autumn 2020 Season, New Look

Like arts organisations around the world, over the last few months we’ve been rethinking how to present our programme in COVID times, and trying out new ways of continuing to create opportunities for people to experience and take part in dance. 

We’ve kept in touch with the people we work with – particularly those most vulnerable to isolation. And we’ve worked hard to support dance artists whose lives and practice have been shaken by the impact of the pandemic, through bespoke advice sessions and by relaunching The Jamie Watton Fund 2020 to raise vital funds to help them make ends meet.

As social distancing continues and we all try to adapt to a new normal, this Autumn we’re returning to our roots as an organisation to present an exciting and diverse season of digital dance on a screen near you.

South East Dance began life as a Screen Dance Agency back in the 1990s, creating original short films with the likes of Channel 4 and the British Council. Since then we’ve retained our fascination with what happens when choreography and technology meets so as we get ever closer to a new era in The Dance Space, it feels fitting that our Autumn programme reflects that history and passion. 

Highlights include:

• 2020 Vision [Sept-Dec 2020]: A season of more than 20 international screen dance shorts, or short dance films, selected by our Welcome Project Steering Group, South East Dance staff and the 20 artists who will kick off South East Dance’s first programme in The Dance Space when it opens in 2021. Find out more here 

• Glitch/Giselle [dates + discussion event on 22 Oct]: Choreography, technology, history and philosophy collide with our latest South East Dance commission Glitch/Giselle, which invites audiences to explore the almost 180-year-old history of the ballet Giselle. Find out more here.

• Vincent Dance Theatre’s In Loco Parentis on film [6pm 7 October – Midnight 11 October 2020]: In Loco Parentis sheds light on the extraordinary resilience of care-experienced young people, demanding that their stories be seen and heard. Three adult and two extraordinary young performers combine movement, strong visual imagery and spoken word to explore the cycles of rupture and repair that drive children into care. Find out more here.

Alongside our Screen Dance season, we are presenting a programme of Boys Movement classes to help boys aged 7-11 develop confidence and self-expression. Find out more about opportunities to take part here.

We hope you delve in and find something that challenges and inspires you to think differently about dance, and that you like our new look designed by Baxter & Bailey and our new website created by Grandad Digital to better reflect our desire to welcome every body to dance.

With warm wishes 

Cath, Rachel and the South East Dance team.