Thursday 24th March saw Dance Woking’s partner schools take to Jubilee High School stage to take part in the 1st Surrey Schools SLAM!

A schools dance platform, school groups from Woking were able to share work completed this term in front of family and friends in the hip hop/street style of dance performing for the first time at Jubilee High’s purpose built auditorium.

Dance Woking’s outreach team had been working with partner schools to create pieces using the stimulus of the urban environment as their inspiration. The process encouraged participants to input their ideas into the piece created and develop some of their own moves based on skills taught and their own experience.

A sold out auditorium saw groups from Woking High, Jubilee High, Horsell Juniors, Broadmere, New Monument, Sythwood Primary, Claygate Dance Club, Westfield Primary and Kingfield Primary showcase their skills and inspire the audience with their enthusiasm and passion for their environment and street/urban dance style

It was wonderful to see the students back on stage and we want to extend our thanks to the team, parents and schools for being so supportive in the new venue!

This activity forms part of Dance Woking’s Inspiring Learning Programme and is an important area of our work. The dance clubs have been set-up to:

• Improve the participants self-esteem and give them a new focus
• Help improve the participants fitness, health & wellbeing
• Learn new movement skills
• Improve the participants understanding of teamwork
• Through shared experience build a community feel within group
• Encourage mutual support and respect
• Provide an activity for the participants to do within their spare time
• Raise aspirations for young people

If you would like more information on our inspire programme, please contact Ellie Dowling, Engagement Manager.

Dance Woking are delighted to add DAZZLE DAYS to our expanding outreach provision in local schools. Dazzle days are ideal for an end of term or year enrichment day. They can involve multiple groups or classes all participating in short workshops based on a dance style of the school’s choice.

Current dazzle days on offer for Summer Term 2022 are: ‘Carnival!’ and ‘Queen’s Platinum Jubilee!’

Carnival: Learn all about the vibrant celebrations of Carnival Dance through dance, music and movement. Lively, fun and accessible workshops for all ages, including colourful props and shakers. The day culminates with the opportunity to try a carnival procession.

Queen’s Jubilee: Celebrate this wonderful cultural event with a series of dances put together that encompass the Queen’s life and reign, the Commonwealth and British Cultures. Props include flags and hula hoops.

Dazzle Days take place between 9am – 3pm, timetables are bespoke and are led by a fully qualified Dance Woking Outreach Team member.

If you would like more information about our Dazzle days or to find out costs and a breakdown of a typical day please contact Ellie, Engagements Manager.

Bookings have now opened for our very popular Hunky Dory Easter Holiday Club!

Held at The Maybury Centre in Woking, the 4 day holiday club will be facilitated by our highly experienced team and provide participants with a full day of dance, arts & crafts, fun and a hot meal every day too!

The Easter Club is suitable for children in Primary School Year 4 to Year 6. The club will provide a fun and safe environment for all abilities and whilst there will be dance each day, the focus is on us providing a fun, active and creative week for all participants!

At Dance Woking we believe in creating active and engaging opportunities to inspire the younger generation. Our Hunky Dory Easter Club aims to promote health and well being whilst also allowing children to find new ways of expressing themselves. Our highly qualified and experienced team will lead a range of creative activities including daily dance sessions and arts and crafts activities.

The Easter Holiday club programme is shaping up to be full of amazing activities and bookings are now open! If you would like more information on the holiday club please click the button below or contact us

Club4 is Surrey County Council’s (SCC’s) response to the government’s Holiday Activities and Food initiative, designed to provide healthy meals, physical activity and enrichment opportunities to children and young people in receipt of free school meals during longer holidays. Coordinated by Active Surrey for SCC, free places will be provided during the Easter, summer and Christmas 2022 holidays.  

Dance Woking are thrilled to announce we have been successful in our bid to provide holiday provision during Easter for young residents of Woking.

The funding, provided by Club4, will enable us to host our popular Hunky Dory Holiday Club this Easter. Held at The Maybury Centre in Woking, the 4 day provision will be facilitated by our highly experienced team and provide participants with a full day of dance, arts & crafts, fun and a hot meal every day too!

The Easter Club is suitable for children in Primary School Year 4 to Year 6. The club will provide a fun and safe environment for all abilities and whilst there will be dance each day, the focus is on us providing a fun, active and creative week for all participants!

At Dance Woking we believe in creating active and engaging opportunities to inspire the younger generation. Our Hunky Dory Easter Club aims to promote health and well being whilst also allowing children to find new ways of expressing themselves. Our highly qualified and experienced team will lead a range of creative activities including daily dance sessions and arts and crafts activities.

The Easter Holiday club programme is shaping up to be full of amazing activities and bookings will open on Friday 25th February! If you would like more information on the holiday club please click the button below

Club4 is Surrey County Council’s (SCC’s) response to the government’s Holiday Activities and Food initiative, designed to provide healthy meals, physical activity and enrichment opportunities to children and young people in receipt of free school meals during longer holidays. Coordinated by Active Surrey for SCC, free places will be provided during the Easter, summer and Christmas 2022 holidays.  

With some fantastic events lined up in the coming months, we are looking to recruit some dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to join our team.

There are lots of varied reasons why individuals choose to volunteer. For many it not only provides them with an opportunity to give back to the community but allows them to develop new skills and knowledge in an area that interests them. Volunteering with Dance Woking will not only provide individuals with a challenge but the experience will be extremely rewarding.

So if you are looking to feel valued and part of a team, develop confidence and self esteem, gain and enhance skills, knowledge and experience, meet new people and develop friendships then get in touch with us today!

More information can be found on our opportunities page. To apply email Ellie Dowling, Engagements Manager or via our contact us page

We can’t wait to welcome you to the team!

We are thrilled to welcome new directory members LDA & Dance Shack to our Dance Surrey Directory.

Both Dance Shack and LDA have a wealth of experience and knowledge in their dance field and are thrilled to be included on the Dance Woking Dance Surrey Directory.

LDA and Dance Shack will be performing at future platforms and we can’t wait to see what they have planned! Check out their profiles below to see what they have to offer!

Dance Surrey Directory is a refreshed platform-listing site designed to help the dance community increase their reach and for those seeking dance classes to find out what’s on offer in Surrey. With new search options, this is a comprehensive tool which we hope will help promote dance classes and encourage new sign-ups.

What is great about the directory is that users can be assured in the knowledge that the dance schools and companies listed meet the Dance Woking stamp of approval. Schools are DBS checked, fully insured and qualified and hold a level of safeguarding in line with Dance Woking’s ethos.

Are you a local dance school and would like to benefit from being showcased on our platform? You can find out more about the listing service and member benefits here

This week, we’re supporting Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week – raising awareness of the importance of children and young people’s mental health.

We are incredibly proud of the work we do supporting young people’s mental health. From our extremely popular designated health and well being Hunky Dory Dancer Programme all the way to our Mind and Movement programmes that are run within school settings, the classes allow the participants to gain tips and tricks to help focus their health and well being through movement, communication, listening skills & emotional awareness all whilst having fun!

The worry balloon release task (lead here by Tom and Katie) is a popular activity – the image of the balloon deflating really helps to see those worries as manageable issues.

As part of our Inspired Learning programme, our outreach team have been delivering classes in our partner schools this week that have focused on the participants “growing together”. With the balloon release activity, well being wheels & even a fantastic activity called “Reach for the Stars” being actioned within class. This is all part of our ambition to create a fun and enjoyable dance environment that also strives to relieve stress and anxiety for the participants.

We are proud to be supporting Place2be’s Children’s Mental Health Week to help to shine a light on the importance of children and young people’s mental health. Now more than ever, no child or young person should have to face mental health problems on their own and we will continue to take steps to make this positive change.

Children’s Mental Health Week is run by children’s mental health charity Place2Be to focus on the importance of looking after our emotional wellbeing from an early age. This year’s theme is “GROWING TOGETHER”
Human beings change and grow – we do it all the time and in many different ways. Physical growth is easy to see as we grow from babies to children, teenagers to adults. We grow intellectually as we gain new knowledge, skills, and understanding at school, and beyond.
For Children’s Mental Health Week 2022, Place2Be is encouraging children (and adults) to consider how they have grown, what they need to help them grow, and how they can help others to grow too.

We spent Tuesday morning in the Surrey Arts studio with 2 of our freelance dance artist planning and rehearsing for the travelling tea dance to return this spring.

Expanding on our very successful Christmas Travelling Tea dance, Katie & Michaela will be leading interactive dance sessions in 6 assisted living settings around Woking providing a chance for residents to watch, interact and move.

Our travelling tea dance aims to support the 5 ways to wellbeing by:

• By connecting with others
• Being active
• Take notice through the themes and dance styles
• Learning through new dance steps and styles
• Give – through shared memories support

We have a wonderful spring programme planned and we can’t wait to share it with the residents of the locations we will be visiting – more information will be revealed soon!

This project has funded in collaboration with Community Foundation for Surrey as part of our ambition to improve dance provision for the over 65’s.

Are you aged 12+ and looking to try out a new dance style or build on your current skills?

Dance Woking is hosting a 3-day programme of dance this February half term led by highly acclaimed urban/street dance artist, Alisha Thompson. During the 3-days Alisha will teach dancers street/hip hop dance skills to enable them to create a performance piece using these dance styles.

This programme is suitable for dancers who would like to try a new dance style or improve on their current techniques. It would also suit dancers who would like to enhance their dance training by experiencing working with a different choreographer.

This is a great way to have fun, increase energy & wellbeing, get creative, meet new people, learn & develop your techniques, improve self-esteem and confidence, team work and use the skills learnt to create a performance piece.

We will be hosting the dance sessions at Esher Church of England High School’s purpose-built dance studio. 

Venue: Esher Church of England High School, More Lane, Esher, Surrey, KT10 8AP

Dates: Monday 14 to Wednesday 16 February 2022

10am – 3pm

Suitable for students aged 12years + with some dance experience, not necessarily hip-hop/street

The performance piece will focus on two themes: climate change and wellbeing. There will be an opportunity for you to input into the piece created and how you can use dance to express emotion and themes.

There will be at least two opportunities to perform the piece created:

Dance Woking’s Schools SLAM (Thursday 24 March) and Woking SLAM (Saturday 2 April).

Bookings are now open! Head to our events page to book your place!

If you are unsure if this programme is right for you please contact Ellie Dowling, Engagement Manager.

Dance Surrey Youth call-out for dancers

Are you aged 12plus and looking to try out a new dance style or build on your current skills?

Dance Woking is hosting a 3-day programme of dance this February half term. During the 3-days you will be taught street/hip hop dance skills to enable you to create a performance piece using these dance styles.

This programme is suitable for dancers who would like to try a new dance style or improve on their current techniques. It would also suit dancers who would like to enhance their dance training by experiencing working with a different choreographer.

This is a great way to have fun, increase energy & wellbeing, get creative, meet new people, learn & develop your techniques, improve self-esteem and confidence, team work and use the skills learnt to create a performance piece.

Venue: To be advised

Dates: Monday 14 to Wednesday 16 February 2022

10am – 3pm

Suitable for students aged 12years + with some dance experience, not necessarily hip-hop/street

The performance piece will focus on two themes: climate change and wellbeing. There will be an opportunity for you to input into the piece created and how you can use dance to express emotion and themes.

There will be at least two opportunities to perform the piece created:

Dance Woking’s Schools SLAM (Thursday 24 March) and Woking SLAM (Saturday 2 April).

If you are unsure if this programme is right for you please contact Ellie Dowling, Engagements Manager on ellie@dancewokingltd.onmicrosoft.com

Bookings for Evolve! Dance Surrey Youth will open soon.