Eight dance projects creating experiences for communities across Northumberland
Dance is thriving across Northumberland, and eight exciting new projects are set to help it grow even further.
Through the Northumberland County Council Dance Development Fund, eight dance artists and companies from across the county have been awarded bursaries to develop new work, support their creative practice and create opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to experience and take part in dance. The fund is administered and managed in partnership by The Maltings (Berwick) Trust, Alnwick Playhouse and Queen’s Hall Hexham.
From youth dance and inclusive community activity to new performances, touring and artist development, the successful projects demonstrate just how broad and ambitious the dance landscape is across Northumberland.
New work, new audiences
Among the successful recipients is contemporary dance artist Anthony Lo-Giudice, who will use his bursary to take The Guest on tour to venues across Northumberland.
Combining dance, live music and storytelling, the work explores identity, heritage and family, asking questions about where we come from, who we are and where we are going.
Closer to home, Berwick-upon-Tweed-based interdisciplinary artist Chloë Sayers will introduce audiences and artists in North Northumberland to screen dance — a hybrid artform bringing together choreography and moving image.
Her project will include workshops, an evening of screen dance at The Maltings Cinema and an exhibition of her new work Cow Coxon Windmill Brass, created with fellow artist Lucy Cash, at the newly renovated Gymnasium Gallery at Berwick Barracks in 2027.
Creating opportunities for young people
The fund is also helping to create new opportunities for young people to discover and develop their passion for dance.
Newcastle-based Eliot Smith Dance will establish the Northumberland Youth Dance Group, a new initiative for 8–17-year-olds working with schools in and around Amble. The ambition is to develop the group into a sustainable youth dance platform for Northumberland’s rural coastal communities.
It’s an example of how investment in dance can do more than support individual artists — it can help build lasting creative opportunities for the next generation.
Dance, wellbeing and community
Several of the bursaries will explore the role dance can play in bringing communities together and supporting wellbeing.
Gebremedhin Dance will develop an artistic residency connected to Seeking, a project exploring eco-feminism, environmental change and gender inequality through dance, live music and community engagement. The residency will combine studio-based research with accessible workshops and movement classes in Northumberland.
For Hit the Ground Running Dance Theatre Company, mental health is at the heart of their project. Their bursary will help bring Suitcases to rural communities through live dance theatre, workshops and community engagement. Inspired by belongings discovered in the attic of Willard State Hospital in New York, the work uses personal stories and objects to explore and humanise the experiences of people who have been forgotten.
Meanwhile, community dance practitioner Molly Grey will establish weekly inclusive dance sessions for adults with learning disabilities in Hexham. The sessions will focus on consistency, routine, wellbeing, confidence and social connection, while helping to create sustainable opportunities for accessible dance within the community.
Supporting artists to experiment and develop
The bursaries are also giving artists the time and space to develop new ideas.
Blyth-based Pelican Theatre will support dance artists Pagan Hunt and Ellie Bates with a one-week residency to develop their work-in-progress A Bitter Pill. Exploring the complex and contradictory feelings surrounding hormonal contraception, the project will also pilot interdisciplinary dance-writing workshops designed to reach diverse communities and build creative confidence.
And at Queen’s Hall Hexham, Rendez-Vous Dance will develop HEAT, a new project by Artistic Director Mathieu Geffré exploring masculinity through global rituals and traditions of collective care.
Inspired in part by Geffré’s experiences of Tunisian hammams, the project will also connect these themes with Northumberland’s Roman history and heritage. A week-long residency will be accompanied by inclusive movement workshops exploring wellbeing, intimacy, care and human connection.
A bright future for dance in Northumberland
Together, these eight projects show the breadth of dance activity already happening across the county — and the potential for even more.
The Dance Development Fund is supporting artists to develop ambitious new work while creating opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to experience, participate in and connect through dance.
For The Maltings, working in partnership to support this activity is part of a wider commitment to championing artists, developing new creative opportunities and ensuring that high-quality cultural experiences are accessible to communities across Northumberland and beyond.
The eight successful bursary recipients are:
- Anthony Lo-Giudice
- Chloë Sayers
- Eliot Smith Dance
- Gebremedhin Dance
- Hit the Ground Running Dance Theatre Company
- Molly Grey
- Pelican Theatre
- Rendez-Vous Dance
With new work taking shape, new opportunities opening up and artists working with communities right across the county, there’s plenty to look forward to as dance continues to grow in Northumberland.