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Dance coming to local Village Halls

Setting their sights on village halls and other small rural venues across the UK often unreached by touring theatre and especially dance, this Autumn [xx dance company} iscoming to [xx area ], promoted in partnership with (name of scheme). It’s all supported by the National Rural Touring Forum’s (NRTF) three-year dance focused scheme, which served up its first ‘menu’ of work to regional touring schemes in 2016.

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Point of Echoes by bgroup is the first new work commissioned by the Rural Touring Dance Initiative, especially for the rural touring circuit. Set on an unnamed lighthouse, at an unknown time, somewhere on the coast of England, Point of Echoesis created by renowned UK choreographer Ben Wright and musician and writer Stuart Warwick.

Brighton-based dance theatre duo The Hiccup Project bring its multi-award winningMay-We-Go-Round to Cornwall, an honest, funny and provocative ride on the merry-go-round of romance, taking audiences along for the bittersweet ride.

Just Us Dance Theatre’s It’s Between Us is a mixed bill of dance and music from award-winning dance maker Joseph Toonga and British R&B singer-lyricist Orin Norbert, which sees dancers share experiences of friendship, love and belonging accompanied by live singing.

Uchenna’sThe Head Wrap Diaries is an immersive-interactive dance theatre productionthat uses comedy to explore, women, beauty, hair and culture. Using choreographer Vicki Igbokwe’s signatory blend of club styles House,Waacking and Vogue fused with African and Contemporary dance, The Head Wrap Diarieswill criss-cross the country from Cumbria to the South East.

Drawing on Terry Pratchett’s novel “The Last Hero”, James Wilton Dance’s Last Man Standing is a dance work driven by energy and athleticism, deriving its choreography from martial arts, break dancing and capoeira. With a soundtrack of heavy rock, ambient music and textured soundscapes, Last Man Standing is poised to leave Dorset and Wiltshire audiences breathless.

Choreographed by Keira Martin and directed byCharlotte Vincent,Here Comes Trouble draws on social and cultural influences from Yorkshire, Ireland and Jamaica, rhythmically weaving together traditional music, authentic song and moving, gutsy Irish and Contemporary dance. Heading to the East Ridings of Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cornwall, Martin will share hard hitting and heart-warming chapters of her life,revealing her heritage, her strength and her vulnerability.

And touring once more following previous successful rural tours is Lost Dog’s Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me) which won the Most Innovative/Inspirational Show at the inaugural Ticketsource National Rural Touring Forum Awards in June.

Speaking about the tours, Claire Smith, Project Manager of the Rural Touring Dance Initiative said “We are delighted with the response to performances that have happened with the First Menu companies – companies and audiences seemed thrilled at the unique opportunity this project is offering.”

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The Rural Touring Dance Initiative is a three-year scheme for making and touring dance performances to and for rural areas. Made possible by a grant from Arts Council England’s Lottery-funded Strategic Touring Programme, the initiative is led by National Rural Touring Forum (NRTF), which joined with dance institution The Place, arts charity Take Art and independent producing studio China Plate to deliver the scheme. These shows are the first to tour as part of the initiative, with companies chosen from hundreds of applications in response to a call out issued at last year’s launch.

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Notes to editors
The NRTF has identified a paucity of dance on the rural touring circuit and the development of a dance project is evident in its business plan. As a result of a fruitful relationship that has developed with The Place and a successful dance showcase at the New Directions Conference 2014, curated in partnership with China Plate, there is momentum to develop dance and rural touring - 89% of conference attenders scored the dance showcase highly or very highly. Through its members the NRTF can access a huge rural touring circuit with over 2,000 promoters. Individual rural touring schemes will play an integral role in the successful roll out of the project.

The Placehas been a driving force for contemporary dance in the UK for 45 years. The Place is unique and is comprised of; a training organisation, a producing and receiving theatre, a home for a national touring company and a hub for hundreds of independent artists. Our artist development department provides professional development, training, residencies, commissioning and producing support for dance artists at each stage of their career. Having developed a relationship with the NRTF and after attending the New Directions Conference there is an understanding, excitement and new commitment to supporting dance artists and the dance sector to engage with and take advantage of rural touring opportunities.

China Plate’s portfolio of activity encompasses developing, making and programming new work. They have worked closely with the NRTF for a number of years and curated the New Directions Showcase Festivals in 2012, 2014 & 2016 and programmed the Edinburgh Village Halls Project 2011 – 2013. They are interested in the interrogation of ideas and form and believe that rural communities should have direct access to the highest quality contemporary work. The cross over between dance and theatre is of particular interest and over the last few years China Plate has developed close links with Dance East, programming dance with them into the Pulse theatre festival and worked with Warwick Arts Centre to programme, commission and develop work with a number of choreographers including Charlotte Vincent, Tom Dale and Aakash Odedra.

Over the last decade Take Arthas hosted the Somerset county dance agency, supporting the infrastructure for the development and promotion of professional dance in Somerset. It has also run a rural touring scheme since 1987 and the services have worked and gained experience together. Take Art was the lead county dance agency in Up Close, the first south west rural touring dance project in partnership with Dance South West in 2007. The current Dance Director toured rural schemes extensively as a dancer with Pretty Good Girl Dance Theatre in 2009 and 2010. Its hands on experience of and commitment to dance and rural touring at a local level provides the partnership with a grounded perspective.

The Rural Touring Dance Initiative is a partnership projectled by The National Rural Touring Forum with The Place, China Plate and Take Art.The project is funded by Arts Council England through its Strategic Touring Fund.

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