OUR VISION

NDN (National Dance Network)

NDN is a meeting point of organisations whose primary role is the development of dance in the context of presenting, programming and commissioning.

Vision

To work together to achieve a thriving, risk taking and confident dance sector in Britain, where UK based choreographers have the opportunity to research, create and present world-class work that is promoted nationally and internationally.

Mission

NDN will champion the creation and presentation of dance as a contemporary art form within a UK and international context.

Objectives

• Initiating and managing key projects of national and international significance in relation to mission
• Artistic direction and financial development of British Dance Edition
• Developing projects in relation to improving coordinated touring of dance at different scales
• Initiating ambitious joint projects to commission and produce new dance works

Criteria for membership

Application is open to all who meet the criteria. Potential members apply via a written application process demonstrating how they contribute to the vision, mission and deliverable objectives of NDN (in no more than 500 words).

The applying organisation will nominate the Director or senior post holder (who should be a dance specialist) and will attend meetings regularly (2 per year). Delegation and additional staff attending is not an option in order to ensure continuity of practice and inform the decision making process.

Assessment

The Executive will assess each application against the criteria outlined below and confirm membership application as appropriate. The annual cycle will be:

• Review membership and initiate a call to apply
• January: Decision made
• April: Member joins

Assessment will be informed by:

• Establishing that the potential member is leading an organisation that has a proven track record in meeting the criteria
• Confirmation that the member can pay the membership fee
• Contributing to a geographical spread

All of the above criteria should be fulfilled. Membership criteria will be reviewed every 2 years.

Membership Subscription:

The membership fee covers the period April – March. The subscription is £1000 +VAT

Member’s values and protocols

Being aware that NDN is a ‘Network’ and not a forum for airing grievance in public. All members will agree to:

• Operate at the highest level of professionalism and integrity at all times
• Respect all members and their contributions
• Create an environment that is concerned with honest, openness and trust
• Accept and respect difference

Protocols

The NDN will ensure best practice and smooth running of the network through the following protocols:

• Making notes at each meeting and sub working group meeting and distribute to all members
• The Chair ensures actions are dealt with after each NDN meet
• If a Grievance cannot be resolved personally then it must go to Chair
• To encourage openness and the sharing of information, Chatham House Rules apply*
• The Chair reserve the right to moderate discussion

* "When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed" (www.chathamhouse.org.uk)

NDN Status / Finance

• NDN is subscription based. Additional funding will be sought
• When additional funding is required for projects, the network will research at sub-group level, and agree any recommendations at a full NDN meeting. Applications for funding will be submitted and managed by the lead organisation allocated to said project
• The legal and administrative status of NDN will be reviewed each year
• NDN will be supported by a co-ordinator (primarily in terms of the coordination of meetings), this co-ordinator will be adopted, for line-management purposes, by one of the Executive Committee

How to pay your membership subscription:

NDN requires at least 20 members to ensure good representation of the sector, geographical spread, and financial viability.

Dance 4 will collect the membership subscriptions. Payment is by cheque, made payable to Dance 4 on receipt of an invoice +VAT.

NDN Subscription includes:

1) Coordination costs
These costs include:

• Cost of coordinating meetings with membership by two’s company
• Future hosts of meetings will provide free meeting area but contribution to refreshments will be available

2) Contribution to BDE
3) Seeding development of other projects as appropriate in agreement with the membership.

General

Decision Making and Meetings

• Final decisions will be made by the NDN membership, based on a simple majority – a quorum of two thirds of the membership must be present at any decision-making meeting (no postal votes)
• Meetings will be set in advance (4 per year of full membership and Pre Executive meetings, plus sub-group meetings as required)
• Beginning of April, End of June, Middle of September (Away Day), Beginning of December

NDN executive (current):

NDN is a membership organisation, supported by an elected Executive Committee. Executive Committee posts will run for 2 years to a maximum of 4 years if re-elected. If an executive member serves for 4 years, once resigned the executive member may be re-elected following a 2-year gap.

The Executive members rotate when resign/re-elected in order to ensure continuity and that people do not all leave at the same time. This is reviewed once per year

The Executive is elected through self-nomination or nomination by the membership. Voted on with a membership majority vote. Postal votes or any other electronic forms of voting (i.e. email, Skype) are not accepted unless the whole membership vote electronically. It was agreed by the Executive Committee than in order to vote the member needs to be present in the room.

The Chair should be elected for a minimum of 2 years

The Executive will meet 4 times per year with two of those meetings prior to full NDN membership meet. There should be a minimum of 3 members present for an executive committee meeting to take place.

The current Executive is:

• Karen Gallagher (Chair)
• Morag Deyes
• Kiki Gale
• Anthony Baker
• Marie McCluskey

AKADEMI
london

A cutting-edge organisation working to enhance the practice, understanding and appreciation of South Asian dance in the UK. Akademi works to enhance excellence in the practice, understanding and appreciation of South Asian dance within a contemporary artistic, social and educational context.

Since 1979, Akademi has been taking South Asian dance into unconventional spaces in the UK, re-defining the parameters of the artform itself. Having celebrated our thirtieth anniversary, our passion for encouraging excellence in the practice of South Asian dance in Britain burns as bright as ever.

As a dynamic, future-facing organisation, our priorities for action change in response to developments in dance and in the society in which we live. We are a local organisation with a global perspective and worldwide connections. Our pioneering work contributes significantly to Britain's international reputation for innovation in South Asian dance.

We actively push the boundaries of where dance can appear by producing performances for unusual places. Our productions embrace and are inspired by extraordinary architecture and public spaces.

With a particular focus on participating in the London Olympics in 2012 and beyond, we want as many people as possible to be excited and intrigued by dance that is rooted in classical tradition, yet is at the cutting edge of contemporary British culture.

We work with young people in schools and communities of all ages and abilities across London, inspiring their creativity, encouraging their academic achievement and widening their aspirations. We support young artists to realise their potential and develop as professional performers and cultural leaders through debate, experiment, training and work experience. We treasure the heritage of South Asian dance, the wisdom of experienced artists and provide a powerhouse of knowledge and expertise that we are keen to share widely.

DANCE4
NOTTINGHAM

Dance4 strives to play a significant role in the development of the art form of contemporary dance and is at all times committed to a programme of work that acknowledges the varying needs of artists, practitioners and audiences. Dance4 places the ‘questioning of practice’ at the heart of all its programmes and supports the championing of research and learning. Dance4 seeks to develop a culture of advocacy, debate and dissemination across all aspects of its programme and is committed to both local/regional partnership working and to the delivering of and engaging in work of national and international significance.

Dance4 is one of nine agencies supported by Arts Council England to lead on the development of Dance. Based in Nottingham and we do this by working closely with our partners across the East Midlands. Over the years, we have developed an enviable reputation for working with some of the most extraordinary artists from around the world, artists who experiment with choreography and performance to produce work that can inspires both audiences and fellow artists.

We are proud to have been the first to programme many international artists who have gone on to establish strong relationships with UK programmers and producers these include Jerome Bel and Willi Dorner. Other artists with whom we have had longstanding relationships include established artists like Jonathan Burrows, Bock & Vincenzi, Wendy Houstoun, Miguel Pereira and emerging artists including Gabriele Reuter, Hetain Patel and Efrosini Protopapa.

As well as our work with artists and makers, we are also proud of our programme of work that supports dance for young people. Through our role as regional hosts of Youth Dance England, and our role as co-ordinators of the region’s Centre for Advanced Training (CAT), we are able to support young people’s engagement in dance whether they are keen amateur or a budding choreographer with exceptional talent.

Dance4 is based in Nottingham in a converted Lace factory in a city centre area called Hockley. Our building is currently home to us, an international theatre company, an independent producer, a filmmaker and other temporary guests who use our studio – a safe place within which artists and makers come to play, experiment, collaborate and create work that is shown around the world.

DANCE CITY
Newcastle

Dance City’s mission is to lead and support a thriving dance ecology in the North East of England, which embraces professional practice, education and participatory work.

Since being opened in 1991, Dance City has been the lead dance organisation in the North East of England. We create opportunities to engage with dance in many ways: as audience, as informal participant, as aspiring dancer and as professional dance artists. We achieve this through our performance, classes and workshops programme, our CAT(Centre for Advanced Training) and links to courses at Northumbria University and Gateshead College, and through our professional activities.

Dance City provides excellent facilities, excellent performances, excellent artist support, excellent teachers and excellent opportunities for all to be involved in dance. We enable everyone we work with to constantly improve and to achieve the highest standards they can. This desire has been possible partly through our move into a new £7.6m purpose-built dancehouse in 2005.

We believe in dance reaching as many people as possible, and as many people as possible reaching dance. We want dance to be an inclusive activity and design our programmes to reach the maximum range of people and communities. Through this we hope to encourage a diversity of dance practice, by people of all backgrounds and abilities, and promote our work accordingly.

Dance City aims to:

• Support professional dance artists to reach their full potential
• Promote the artform of dance
• Enable the people of North East England to engage with dance practice of the highest quality
• Foster excellence in dance education and practice

DANCE COMPANY
Wales

National Dance Company Wales creates inspiring and entertaining choreography, danced all over Wales, the UK and internationally by charismatic and virtuosic dancers.

We believe dance is the art form of the moment. No other form has the potential to reach so many people, crossing cultural boundaries and appealing to diverse audiences. From contemporary dance to tango, hip hop to flamenco, tap to kathak, choreographers are reinventing dance and undertaking bold collaborations with visual artists and musicians. Sadler's Wells is playing a leading role in making this happen through the commissioning of new work. Since 2005, we have commissioned or produced 39 new dance works by leading artists.

The Company was created as Diversions by Roy Campbell-Moore and Ann Sholem in 1983, with support from the Arts Council of Wales, to create and perform innovative choreography and nurture the art-form. Diversions changed its name to National Dance Company Wales in 2009.

The exhilarating performances are complemented by a wide-ranging programme of engaging participation and education work throughout the community and the development of dance at our home, Dance House at Wales Millennium Centre.

The Company is led by Artistic Director Ann Sholem.

'National Dance Company Wales is a company whose time has come' The Observer

The Company was named as one of The Daily Telegraph’s top ten dance triumphs in 2008.

DANCE DIGITAL
CHELMSFORD

In recent years, DanceDigital has transformed itself into the only national dance agency specialising in Dance and Technology. Our Artistic programme has supported over 150 choreographers through a range of commissions, residencies, bursaries, professional training and an Associate Artist scheme.

Our Artistic and Learning programmes are closely aligned, introducing professional choreographers and independent dance artists to the public through an annual series of installations, workshops, performances and events to enrich and inspire the young dancers of tomorrow.

Our Learning programme ensures that we run an active education programme for young people, including 2 senior youth dance companies (Focus and InPulse) and 3 junior dance companies (Shift: North, Shift: East and Shift: West). Our commitment to dance in education remains a strong core value for the organisation and we support the work of schools in Essex and Hertfordshire through our Dance Development Workers.

Today, DanceDigital offers residencies and Associate Artist schemes for choreographers and technologists working in a wide range of media. DanceDigital's Create Dance Studio is open every day with choreographers working onsite to develop new projects and creating work.

DanceDigital works closely with a number of key stakeholders to deliver its Artistic and Learning programmes. These are Arts Council England East, Essex County Council, Chelmsford Borough Council, Hertfordshire County Council and M&G Investments. DanceDigital thanks these organisations for their ongoing support and looks forward to developing its programme in partnership with them in the future.

DANCE EAST
IPSWICH

About DanceEast

Based in the East of England, DanceEast is one of the nation's leading dance organisations. From classes for people with physical and learning disabilities through to youth groups, DanceEast brings opportunities to dance to everyone across East Anglia. Working with partners across the country, DanceEast also brings world-class dance to the East of England. Associate Artists include Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, Heather Eddington and Darren Ellis Dance.

The Jerwood DanceHouse is one of a growing number of centres for dance globally that have been created to reach out to communities and act as magnets for national and international dance artists. This £8.9 million development on the Ipswich waterfront is the cultural hub of the regenerated dockside and a hothouse for the development and presentation of new and emerging dance talent. It houses three dance studios, a 200-seat studio theatre, fitness and Pilates suites, the danceeats! café and the Cake and Catwalk boutique.

The DanceEast Academy is one of nine National Dance CATs (Centres for Advanced Training) aimed at young people aged 10 - 18 with exceptional potential in dance, funded by the Department for Education. As it is the most intensive and committed of DanceEast’s youth activities, training is suited to those who have aspirations to pursue a career as a professional dancer. The scheme is devised to prepare young dancers for full-time professional dance training and includes tuition in technique, creative and choreography, health education and performance skills, along with theatre trips and workshops. Classes take place at the Jerwood DanceHouse on Sundays with mid-week classes in Ipswich, Norwich or Cambridge. New applications are accepted from young people aged 10 - 15 from the East of England. Grant-funding is available to cover training, transport and dancewear costs.

DANCEXCHANGE
BIRMINGHAM

A partner organisation with Birmingham Hippodrome and Birmingham Royal Ballet, DanceXchange (dx) is housed in the theatre complex and creates exciting opportunities for people of all walks of life to engage in dance, either as a participant, performer or audience member.

dx has both a national and a regional remit and provides artistic support, education, performances and participation opportunities, and advocates for dance at all levels.

With its unique facilities, high professional standards and experienced team, dx is well respected within its field and has an excellent record of developing constructive links with a wide range of partner organisations.

The DanceXchange team acts as an interface between artists, educators and the public ensuring the successful delivery of a wide range of dance-based activities.

DANCE HOUSE
GLASGOW

Dance House, one of the National Dance Agencies for Scotland based in Glasgow, offers an exciting and diverse range of quality dance classes for all abilities led by respected and experienced teachers, complemented by a challenging education and outreach programme.

It also provides a particular focus for the development and support of the professional dance sector, through master classes, performance opportunities, mentoring, Creative Labs and Choreographic Development Residencies.

Dance House vision is to inspire and celebrate the potential for dance in everyone as a creative, educational, social and recreational art form and to realise a building dedicated for dance in Glasgow.

Company Limited by Guarantee No. 168918        Charity No. SC05343

DANCE
UMBRELLA
london

Dance Umbrella brings brave new dance to London. We thrive on the dynamism and openness of the city and bring together artists and events which surprise and thrill audiences of all kinds. We commission, produce and present dance events and each year stage one of the world’s leading international dance festivals.

Dance Umbrella opens out the dance experience by presenting a range of affordable and free-to-view events in unusual spaces. We also identify, nurture, support and showcase the most exciting talent in new dance, offering artists the benefits of long-term relationships and identifying the most appropriate platform for their work.

DANCE BASE
EDINBURGH

Dance Base, National Centre for Dance, Edinburgh is on a mission to get more people dancing. Dance Base operates a stunning £6.4m, award-winning, four studio centre in the city and a beautiful 1920’s listed heritage building in Leith.

Professional dancers are supported with a daily classes, workshops, funded residency space, on-site treatment room and the Catalyst dance management service; all funded by Creative Scotland.

Dance Base operates the largest programme of participatory dance in the UK with 130+ classes each week in 45+ different styles for everyone aged 1 to 100.

The Outreach programme works with everyone from all walks of life both in the community and in Dance Base’s studios with specially tailored programmes including the opportunity to perform.

During the August Edinburgh Festival Fringe the Grassmarket studios are transformed theatre spaces with around 10 shows a day of the best Scottish and international contemporary dance.

Déda
Derby

Déda is the only dedicated dance house in the East Midlands region, acting as a local, regional and national resource for dance artists and wider arts community.

Déda houses a 134 studio theatre, 2 dance studios, meeting room facilities and the CUBE café bar. It offers a weekly class programme and a year-round professional performance programme for children, young people and adults, and an extensive community development programme. By providing a ladder of creative opportunities for artists, audiences and participants, Déda aims to foster an understanding of and respect for dance and related art forms.

EAST LONDON
DANCE

East London Dance works to develop a dynamic and inclusive dance culture for communities and artists across, and beyond, East London. We have been a pioneer of dance development throughout the East London boroughs for the past 24 years, and from our base at Stratford Circus arts centre in the London Borough of Newham, we produce a range of dance experiences for everyone in the culturally rich communities of east London.

ELD promote creative and personal development through dance for people of all ages, and offer progression routes, training and professional development for young dancers, artists and dance leaders.

East London Dance is the lead hub for Big Dance across east London.

MERSEYSIDE
DANCE INITIATIVE

MDI is a strategic dance development agency committed to strengthening the dance sector in order to advance the production and presentation of dance work that has artistic integrity, that is innovative and diverse, and that engages people creatively. Working in partnership with artists, promoters and other organisations it provides access for all people to participate in, create and see dance. At its' heart is the nurturing, support and development of dance artists enhanced through the effective partnerships it is building both nationally and internationally.

MDI exists in order to provide the opportunity for a large proportion of the Merseyside region to experience the many benefits that dance has to offer within a viable structure. The overall aims of MDI are to provide access and support to all those who engage in dance activity (artists, participants and audiences), raise the profile of the artform, promote the benefits of dance and find new ways of reaching those who are not engaged through its ethos of inclusivity.

PAVILLION DANCE
/ DANCE SOUTH
WEST

Dance South West is the regional dance development agency, funded by Arts Council England.

Pavilion Dance is a key development for Dance South West, a centre of excellence for dance locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

Pavilion Dance has benefitted from £3.29 million capital investment by Bournemouth Borough Council in the renovation of a previously disused part of the much-loved Pavilion Theatre. This is the first project to be delivered as part of the Town Centre Master Vision - an imaginative plan to reinvigorate the town centre to the benefit of residents, visitors and the local economy.

The concept, Pavilion Dance, refers to both the building and the programme. The new dance centre has two dance studios, a theatre seating 200, backstage and front-of-house facilities. Pavilion Dance is unique amongst dance centres in that it includes access to the largest ballroom on the south coast, outdoor terraces and the main Pavilion Theatre auditorium which seats 1,400, so offering the chance to show world-class dance in many different styles and formats.

This ground-breaking project will offer great dance for all, work with a range of partners in creating new projects, provide first-rate facilities for artists to perform and create new work, and be influential in the region and beyond.

Pavilion Dance is the portal through which Dance South West connects with venues, artists and audiences throughout the region and strives put Bournemouth and the South West on the map as a beacon for inspirational dance.

ROYAL OPERA
HOUSE
LONDON

Integral to the work of the Royal Opera House is its contemporary programming. ROH2 adds diversity to the Royal Opera House programme and gives opportunities for performers and audiences to experiment and collaborate in vibrant, creative ways. ROH2 commissions and produces opera and dance for the Linbury Studio Theatre, Clore Studio Upstairs and the Paul Hamlyn Hall, as well as a programme of festivals and artist development initiatives.

SADLER’S WELLS
LONDON

Sadler's Wells is the UK's leading dance house, uniquely dedicated to bringing the very best international and UK dance to London audiences. We are committed to producing, commissioning and presenting works of the highest standards, crossing the boundaries between different art forms.

We believe dance is the art form of the moment. No other form has the potential to reach so many people, crossing cultural boundaries and appealing to diverse audiences. From contemporary dance to tango, hip hop to flamenco, tap to kathak, choreographers are reinventing dance and undertaking bold collaborations with visual artists and musicians. Sadler's Wells is playing a leading role in making this happen through the commissioning of new work. Since 2005, we have commissioned or produced 39 new dance works by leading artists.

Our associates

Our group of associate artists and companies are critical to our work. They represent the most exciting dance talents working in the UK today and include the Balletboyz, Matthew Bourne, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Jonzi D, Sylvie Guillem, Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant, Wayne McGregor, Hofesh Shechter, Jasmin Vardimon and Christopher Wheeldon.

Our buildings

Sadler's Wells has a history of over 300 years - six previous theatre buildings have all carried the name Sadler's Wells and occupied the site since 1683. The present building on Rosebery Avenue in Islington opened in 1998, after a major fundraising programme, supported by Lottery funding.

The Lilian Baylis Studio, part of the Sadler's Wells building, presents a wide ranging programme of emerging and established artists.

The Peacock Theatre, off Kingsway, has been part of the Sadler's Wells group since the company moved there during the building works in the 1990s. It forms an important part of our year long dance programme.

SOUTH EAST
DANCE
BRIGHTON

Generating exceptional experiences in dance

We are the national development agency for dance in South East England. Our mission is to ensure a thriving ecology for dance in the South East, enhancing conditions for more, bolder and better dance. We aim to raise the profile of dance and will work with partners within and beyond the region to achieve this. Artists and communities are at the heart of all we do. We listen to, challenge and champion their needs and aspirations.

South East Dance is supported by Arts Council England, Kent County Council and Brighton & Hove City Council.

STATE OF
EMERGENCY

State of Emergency Productions is an Arts Production and Management Company committed to the support, development and profiling of Black choreographic work for those artists working in a fusion of styles.

Vision

State of Emergency, as 'The Independent Voice of Black Dance' is at the forefront pushing boundaries in the development and profile of black dance in the UK by making positive changes in our national dance ecology and gaining both national and international recognition that works towards creating a strong place for black dance in the national culture.

Mission

SoE is pursuing this vision through the driving force of The Mission programme, a unique umbrella of performances, showcases, tours, festivals, artists' training and professional development - designed to support black dance artists to create and perform new work, develop opportunities for showcasing black dance performances, influence the programming agenda of UK venues, develop audiences for black dance, produce professional development opportunities for black choreographers and increase the profile of black dance in the UK and of UK black dance internationally.

Its brief encompasses producing events including tours, conferences, festivals and training workshops, commissioning artists, advocacy and consultancy regarding the development of culturally diverse dance, both nationally and internationally.

SWINDON
DANCE

Swindon Dance is a National Dance Agency which has been at the forefront of dance development over three decades. Our building provides a home in which dance, dancers and dance audiences have been nurtured through a creative programme of activity which provide access to dance excellence. Our mission as ‘an inspirational dance house dedicated to nurturing the dance ecology and audiences of the future’ is achieved by

• Providing pathways of progression to young people
• Access to community users to participate in dance
• Professional development and employment for dance professionals
• Nurturing of dance artists/ choreographers and companies
• Presentation of world class dance relevant to audiences today
• Working with a range of partners local, regional, national

Through this creative interaction Swindon Dance acts as a powerhouse where dance can change opinions and fulfil ambitions.

WOKING DANCE
FESTIVAL

Woking Dance Festival is an outstanding contributor to the arts and culture in Woking, and the South East of England, with a national and international reputation for the quality of its work. We present festivals of international dance, commission and premiere new work and provide local people with opportunities to engage in our creative learning and participation projects.

Established in 1995, the dance festival is the largest in the South East region (outside of London).

YORKSHIRE DANCE
LEEDS

Yorkshire Dance champions the development of dance in Yorkshire. We do so by raising standards, increasing knowledge and understanding and fostering creativity and innovation. Yorkshire Dance is an advocate for dance, a centre of expertise, a catalyst and innovator.

As both a dance development agency and choreographic workspace, we develop our role in the national eco-system for dance with particular expertise in innovative community practice and small scale work. With a thriving creative workspace, where artistic talent is nurtured and developed, we ensure that choreographic talent and artistic leadership flourish, supporting the next dance leaders at the early stages of their career. Working with partners in health, sport and local authorities we create new opportunities for people to experience dance, in disadvantaged communities in Leeds and in areas of little provision in the region.