2024 see Dance Woking celebrate 30 years of dance in Woking

Woking dancers excelled, as they took to the stage in Dance Woking’s first series of 2024 dance platforms. Despite ongoing uncertainty for the organisations future Dance Woking was delighted to bring Yolanda Newsome from Boy Blue (UK’s most celebrated Hip Hop Dance theatre Company), to inspire dancers with a workshop and a guest appearance.

2024 marks a key miles stone for Dance Woking as the charity celebrate 30 years of producing dance centred creative experiences. Commencing the 2024 celebrations, Dance Woking hosted a series of street and urban dance inspired community platforms prior to the Easter bank holiday weekend at Rhoda McGaw Theatre.  198 dancers, from 19 community and school groups took to the stage. The platform series included Woking SLAM, and Surrey Schools SLAM for schools & colleges.

Supporting Dance Woking is Shanly Foundation, Community Foundation for Surrey, Arts Council England; and Active Surrey to enable local dancers platform opportunities to showcase their work.  

Five school groups were joined by three community dance groups, creating an eclectic and dynamic showcase of dance to the delight of a sold out, Surrey Schools SLAM. School groups, created their work in after school clubs working with a Dance Woking artist over a period of 8 weeks. 93 students took part from Westfield Primary School, Beaufort Primary School, The Park School and Trumps Green Infants School alongside guest groups Vital Signz, Dance Woking’s Eastwood Dance Club, and Woking Stage Coach.

Yolanda Newsome opened the show demonstrating typical Boy Blue signature dance moves. This solo was quickly followed by a fun and upbeat dance piece from Trumps Green Infant School taking to the stage for the first time. Stage Coach Woking took the audience on a delightful musical journey with a mix of classic tunes from the 70’s through to the naughty’s. An interesting piece called Connections exploring the way we connect to each other, our bodies, the world, performed by The Park School followed. Dance Woking’s Eastwood Club performed a mash-up made up of short solo’s and movement made-up by the four talented dancers. Beaufort Primary School KS1 and KS2 breakfast club groups also took to the stage with lively dance movement to a pop mix titled “I Just Got Paid’ and ‘Roar’ inspired by The Lion King Musical. Both pieces were designed to allow the creative input of the dancers. Westfield Primary School used boxing movements as their stimulus with each movement symbolising strength and determination. Closing the platform was Vital Signz’s New Wave group, their youngest team, performing at Rhoda McGaw Theatre for the first time with a lively fun piece called Let’s Dance that had the audience clapping to the beat.

A teacher from The Park School said of the experience ‘Absolutely amazing! All the projects with Dance Woking have always been great’.

Beaufort Primary School KS1

Beaufort Primary School KS2

Dance Woking Eastwood Dance

Stage Coach Woking

The Park School

Trumps Green Infant School

Westfield Primary School

Vital Signz Dance

Yolanda Newsome from Boy Blue to read more about this follow the link HERE

Dance Woking invites Dance Schools to join us at one of the following events where we will be producing a series of dance performance opportunities:

Sunday 2 June – Stanwell Events Multicultural Day, 11am – 6pm

Long Lane Recreational Ground, Stanwell

For More information follow the link HERE

Highlights Stanwell Multicultural Day 2023

Saturday 22 June, Encounters, Jubilee Square, Woking Town Centre

Dance Woking celebrates 30 years of dance inspired activities in Woking

For more information follow the link HERE

Encounter highlights from 2023

Saturday 13 July, Lakeview Fun Day, Hartshill Walk, Woking

For more information follow the link HERE

Lakeview Fun day highlights 2023

Yolanda Newsome from Boy Blue led an inspiring workshop at Dance Woking’s SLAM on 25 March

The workshop was fully booked with dancers from three of the dance schools taking part in the dance platform, Alexandra Dance Company, Dance Phaze and LDA.

Taking place on the Rhoda McGaw Theatre stage Yolanda led the dancers through a typical Boy Blue workshop with some signature movement as well as teaching Boy Blue repertoire. The workshop was very well received with the dancers enjoying the opportunity to learn new skills as well as experience an enjoyable workshop with such an inspiring Dance Artist.

Some workshop highlights with Yolanda

Dance Woking’s Easter Club provides a great way for children to have fun, make new friends, eat well and get creative. Suitable for children in Primary years 4 to 6; aged 8 to 11 years.

Mon 8, Tues 9 April &
Wed 10 & Thus 11 April
9.30am – 2.30pm

The Maybury Centre, Board School Road, Woking, GU21 5HD

Monday 8 & Tuesday 9 April – this two-day club will use The Greatest Showman as our theme.

Wednesday 10 & Thursday 11 April – this two-day club will use a West End Musical as our theme

Our experienced and friendly team will lead a range of activities including creative dance, arts and crafts. There will be a creative food session during the two days, wellbeing activities and lots of fun games. The club encourages children to find new ways of expressing themselves. Lunch will be provided, special dietary requirements can be catered for.

The club is open to all dance levels and abilities. Where applicable, children will be split by age.

We have a safe and secure site suitable for children with additional needs and disabilities. Please provide as much detail as possible on your booking form so we can do our best to support your child at camp. e.g. hearing impairment, autism, mental health needs. If your child has a higher staff ratio support at school, please let us know so we can ensure we have the correct staffing ratios at camp. Unfortunately we are unable to provide 1 to 1 support or specialist support. We are not a specialist SEN provider.

To book click HERE

Dance Woking is pleased to announce that Yolanda Newsome from BoyBlue will be making an appearance at both Woking SLAM & Surrey Schools SLAM. On Sunday 24 March, Yolanda will be leading a special BoyBlue workshop for dancers taking part in the platform. This is a great opportunity for the dancers to work with a highly regarded and talented dancer and teacher.

On Tuesday 26 March, Yolanda is back to perform a demo on stage at Surrey Schools SLAM, helping to inspire a new generation of dancers. We can’t wait to welcome Yolanda to Woking.

To find out more and purchase tickets: CLICK HERE

About Yolanda Newsome: began her dance career at IRIE! dance theatre, Britain’s leading dance theatre company working in the field of African & Caribbean dance fusion. Yolanda studied Contemporary, Ballet, African and Caribbean Dance. Specialising in Hip Hop Foundation and Waackin

Following 13 years’ experience training under BoyBlue Ent she was promoted to their Teaching Faculty developing roles as Rehearsals Director, Teaching Assistant and Assistant Choreographer. Transitioning her skills to lecturing at Trinity Laban on the Centre for Advanced Training Programme

Performance credit; GOT TO DANCE Semi Finalist 2010; STREET DANCE MOVIE 3D; THANKS TIM (2012 London Olympics); SAN FRANCISCO HIP HOP FESTIVAL; LEGACY: THE RETURN, BREAKIN CONVENTION Apollo Theatre New York), Nike, An Night With BoyBlue, Boadicea Bahrain, EuroVision Opening Liverpool, MOBO Awards, Latitude & Wilderness Festival , BBC TV Series- MOOD, Nostos Festival (Athens) and most recent Manchester “Free Your Mind” Matrix at the Factory International

Creative credits; PROJECT REBEL Edinburgh International Festival, Guys and Dolls (Talawa Theatre Company), An Night with BoyBlue (Barbican Theatre), Walk with Amaal, Queens Platinum Jubilee.

Artist Credits; Sugababes, Dizzee Rascal, Giggs, Emeli Sande, Roxanne, Jesy Nelson, Black Sherif, Alexandra Burke.  

Photo Credit. GaryShane.photography

Tickets are on sale now!

Sunday 24 March, 7.30pm, Woking SLAM

For more information click HERE

Dance Woking is delighted to announce Dance Schools taking part include:

BKD Performers Junior & Senior Crews, LDA Dance XL & XLNC, Betty Bloom Dance, Urban Dance School, Holly School of Dance, Movement Momentum from Dance Phaze, DancAYers Company, Alexandra Dance Company

Tuesday 26 March, Surrey Schools SLAM

For more information click HERE

Schools & guest groups taking part include:

The Park School, Beaufort Primary School, Westfield Primary School, Artemis College, Vital Signz, Stage Coach Woking, Trumps Green Infants School

Dance Woking is delighted to be able to include DAZZLE DAY enrichment activity to our cross-curricular outreach provision this summer in local schools. Now taking bookings for the period April to June 2024.

Dazzle Days are an ideal enrichment day activity, end of year celebration or a creative approach to curriculum learning. 

The workshop days can involve multiple groups or classes, all participating in short workshops based on a dance style of the school’s choice.

Dance Woking workshops aim to provide the following for your students:

• Teach them new skills and ways of moving, using choreography and teamwork
• Allow them to discover, share and gain insight into physical learning and creative approaches to topics and themes
• Engage young people into the creative arts through dance
• Widen access to all dance genres

For more details visit Dazzle Days

Innovate Dance Platform brought together Dance Schools from across the county together to showcase their best work. The dance schools share a mix of works including more festive pieces as we headed towards Christmas. 122 dancers took to the stage from twelve groups including First Dance Studios, Zambesi Dance Company, Cremona School of Dance, Alexandra Dance Company, Dance Shack and Betty Bloom Dance Company.

First Dance Studios – Broken

Choreographer: Diana-Louise Towe Music: Isak Danielson

Alexandra Dance Company Juniors – Carol of the Bells

Choreographer: Caroline Morales Music: Lindsey Stirling

Alexandra Dance Company Seniors – Falling Snow. Choreographer: Helena Thompson & Caroline Morales Music: Winter Light’ by Ola Gjeilo & Roberto SorrenAno

Dance Shack – West Byfleet Quartet – Fire on Fire Choreographers: Amelie Cutler, Sophie Cutler, MaAlda Hodges & Layla Pages. Music: Sam Smith

Dance Shack – Leatherhead – Blood & Stone. Choreographers: Lisa Evan-Hughes and Laura Gregory-Dade Music: Audiomachine

Dance Shack – West Byfleet – What Now Choreographer: Lisa Evan-Hughes Music: Rihanna

Betty Bloom Dance Company – Charleston Butterfly. Choreographers: Kally Peigne & Myf Laugharne Music: Parov Stela

Zambesi Dance Company Apex
The Real Mary Poppins? Choreographers: Hannah Batley and the dancers. Music: Edited track, extracts from two pieces of music:Jollification by Thomas Newman & Regarding The Incredible Viper by Thomas Newman

Cremona School of Dance Seniors Invisible Battles. Choreographer: Phoebe Gray + Georgia Willoughby. Music: Carolina Rial

Zambesi Dance Company Innovate
Flamingo Choreographer: Hannah Batley
Music: Magalenha by Sergio Mendes

Cremona School of Dance Juniors – Train Wreck Choreographer: Phoebe Gray
Music: James Arthur

Woking dancers took to the stage as Dance Woking ended 2023 on a high note despite a 100% cut of their regular funding by Woking Borough Council in September.

November 2023 saw Dance Woking host its annual series of platforms, where 294 dancers took to Rhoda McGaw Theatre stage from 32 different dance and school groups. The platform series included Young Dance Makers for schools & colleges; Step UP a new platform presenting a highly eclectic mix of dance styles and Innovate, a contemporary led dance platform.

This series was hosted by Dance Woking, supported by Arts Council England; to enable local dancers platform opportunities to showcase their work.  

Ten local schools from across Woking and Surrey took part in Young Dance Makers Platform, the stimulus Recycle, Renew & Reuse which focused on the environment and sustainability to create imaginative and dynamic dance pieces that linked with issues affecting the world around us. School groups, created their work in after school clubs working with a Dance Woking artist over a period of 8 weeks. With over 111 students taking part from nine schools: Horsell Village School, New Monument Primary Academy, Westfield Primary School, Beaufort Primary School, Frogmore College alongside guest groups from Woking College, Guildford College, Kings International College and Ibstock Place School.

Highlights included Horsell Village School with ‘My Heart was a Tree’, the group used Michael Morpurgo’s Poem Driftwood as their stimulus looking at the life cycle and uses of a tree. New Monument Primary Academy performed a piece ‘Where do the toys go’ as they explored the unloved, broken and old toys. Beaufort Primary School’s piece Weather Storm explored extreme weather caused by climate change. Guildford College explored the theme of recycling passing hand-me- downs between siblings. Westfield Primary School explored recycling, this time taking steps from the 1950’s and 1920’s called ‘Recycling the ages’, supported by Woking College’s Dance Leaders throughout the process. Woking College closed the show with their piece ‘Reflecting thinking’, Year 13 dancers used work with Rhythmic Collision to create ‘Man in the Mirror’ which included signing within the piece.

Step UP dance platform brought different dance genres together. The performance pieces were both joyous and diverse with some great tunes from well-known musicals, to classical, pop to original live music. We were delighted to be able to showcase a new piece by Jane Chan who has been developing her own creative practice supported by Amina Khayyam Dance, accompanied by live music from International tabla player Debasish Mukherjee and in complete contrast, Diana Towe, a local dancer who hailed from Dance Woking’s Youth group Evolve and recently gaining the 2023 World Tap Solo Championship title. 61 dancers took to the stage from 10 different dance groups including Leanne Edwards School of dance (LESTA), Cremona School of Dance, Kidz Got Talent and Chinese Association of Woking who performed A Drop of Heaven.

Innovate Dance Platform brought together Dance Schools from across the county together to showcase their best work. The dance schools share a mix of works including more festive pieces as we headed towards Christmas. 122 dancers took to the stage from twelve groups including First dance studios, Zambesi dance company, Cremona School of dance, Alexandra Dance Company, Dance Shack and Betty Bloom Dance Company.

Dance Woking’s Artistic Director, Sam McCaffrey said, ‘as I reflect on the final months of 2023 I am very proud of how Dance Woking has used dance to change lives and navigate through a difficult year. From presenting platform opportunities, a tour to over 65’s, to a holiday club for children aged 7 to 11 years. I was really inspired by the work presented at the three different dance platforms we produced in November by the dance groups. Dance is so diverse and enables truly imaginative, creative, expression, which we encourage as part of our teaching process. The opportunity to produce these platforms has been an honour and one that I hope we will be able to continue, despite a very challenging environment for us as an organisation. It amazes me how the dancers are able to come together and perform their best in front of family and friends, hold their nerves in check and use this energy to positive advantage in their performance and shine. The Young dancemakers platform introduced children to the stage for the first time, helping to build their self-esteem, confidence, encouraged by peer to peer support. The Step Up platform presented an opportunity for Jane Chan, a dancer with Amina Khayyam’s Dance Company, to present her own work to a new audience.  It was also an opportunity to celebrate Diana Towe’s world tap success. Innovate Dance Platform, started twelve years ago, providing opportunities for aspiring dancers to showcase their work, and continues to grow from strength to strength, it once again didn’t fail to delight and surprise a packed theatre. Following the platforms Dance Woking went on tour to eight-care homes reaching 140 people with a Christmas Social tea dance tour supported by Surrey Community Foundation. The week before Christmas we ran a holiday club for children aged 7 to 11 years supported by Active Surrey. I’m not sure what 2024 will hold as we celebrate 30 years of dance Woking. We are open to and seeking new partnerships as we pursue new opportunities for the year ahead, if you’d like to get in touch please contact us through our website www.dancewoking.com’ 

Dance Woking is a charity, based in Woking that uses dance in all its forms to bring communities together through extensive education and outreach delivery through their Inspire programme. As the organisation heads into a 30-year legacy of dance centered creative experiences, the organisation faces its greatest challenge to date. The withdrawal of grant funding from Woking Borough Council has left the organisation in a perilous financial situation and facing an uncertain future. We are looking for new partners.

Dance Woking is a charity, changing lives through dance

Since 1994 Dance Woking has been proud of the impact it has had on Woking residents and more widely key partners in Surrey. In the past 12 months 3796 individuals took part in a Dance Woking workshop, leading to 7055 unique engagements. A total of 66 groups including after school clubs and community based dance groups took part in one of our platforms.

Dance Woking employed 148 Freelance Creatives/pro dancers to help deliver our programme of activities; creating 494 employment days for dance artists, dance companies, technicians employed to deliver our activities/events. 


Supporting place-making, the local economy and health & wellbeing.

If you know of anyone who may be interested in helping us please get in touch: CONTACT US

Diana Towe, competed in this years World Tap Championship for Great Britain in September 2023, which took place in Riesa, Germany. On winning the solo World Championship title this September Diana shared her experience with us:

‘I successfully continued through the Quarter & Semi finals & managed to reach the final 6 competitors and to top it all off struck GOLD quite literally and gained my title as Adult Solo Female World Champion 2023! It was an overwhelming feeling & I’m extremely proud that I could compete for my country and be SO successful! I hope everyone enjoys my performance‘. 

Diana will be performing her world championship piece on Thursday 30 November at Dance Woking’s NEW platform StepUP at Rhoda McGaw Theatre. For more details and tickets click HERE

Sam McCaffrey CEO/Artistic Director, Dance Woking, ‘What a privilege it has been for me to see Diana, who we first met as a talented and promising young dancer during one of our Evolve Youth camps, quite some years ago now, become a World Tap Champion. I can’t wait to see her perform on 30 November. It’s quite special for us to have a dancer like Diana support this new platform and inspire the next generation of dancers.’

Diana’s contemporary work is being presented at Dance woking’s Innovate Platform on Saturday 2 December, where she has been leading a contemporary dance group at First Dance Studios in Woking. For more information and tickets click HERE

About Diana:

Diana is a passionate and versatile dancer and teacher who has a wealth of experience in various dance styles including Tap, Modern, Ballet and Musical Theatre. Since graduating from PPA in Guildford in 2017, she has been a 7 times world champion with the Tap Attack Company and is now part of the faculty. She graduated from Italia Conti Dance School and continues to work on her dance career as an exceptionally talented dancer.

Diana takes pride in achieving and maintaining consistently high standards in all that she does and as well being a pro dancer she is also part of the Dance Woking’s Outreach Team sharing her knowledge and inspiring the next generation of dancers.

Diana has been involved in Dance Woking’s as a young dancer being part of Dance Woking’s highly acclaimed Evolve Youth Dance Company working with professional companies including ZoieLogic Dance Theatre, Tavaziva Dance, Jasmin Vardimon Dance