Following a very successful series of Tea Dances online, Dance Woking is working in partnership with Woking Borough Council to roll out a further series online.

The next one is our Spring Tea Dance on Thursday 4 March 2021, 3pm – 4pm

As we move into Spring we want to create a festive, fun atmosphere.

For More information and to purchase tickets follow the LINK

The Spring Tea Dance will feature a seated & standing version of the dance movement. Leading the standing element will be guest teacher Grace Black, with Tea Dance regular Kate Finegan leading the seated version. Grace will introduce the dance style, using catchy salsa rhythms, You don’t need a partner to take part. This will be a lively fun hour of dance & connection featuring a warm-up and cool down.

Dance Woking’s is pleased to announce we have received funding from Arts Council England’s Project Grant Scheme to support our Future Steps Programme. This includes the launch of a NEW professional listings platform called Dance Surrey PRO aimed at freelance artists to help connections through networking and employment opportunities that will also provide professional development opportunities to support, sustain and inspire dancers, artists, teachers and makers alike.

Alongside this platform we are also refreshing and our Dance Dance relaunching & renaming it Dance Surrey Directory.

Members of Surrey Dance PRO & Dance Surrey Directory will be able to take advantage of a new programme of events to support the dance community in Woking & Surrey.

To apply please follow the LINK

For more details: Dance Surrey Directory 

We will be sharing sign-up details later this week.

Dance Woking is supported by:

Dance Woking combine Art & Dance – Imagine Kantha Project. Each Wednesday 3.30pm – 4.30pm – 5 weeks – starting 3rd March – 31st March.

We bring Art and Dance together in this 5 week youth project aimed at ages 12 plus who enjoy getting creative; we use art and movement to enable you to tell your own story. The project runs for 5 weeks in March ( 5 hours online ). Visual artist, Bhajan Hunjan, who will be leading the creative art and needle workshops aspect and experienced choreographer and dancer, Amina Khayyam will be leading the movement element of this project where the stories created through the visual art will be brought to life using hand gestures as used in Kathak dance movement, one of the main traditional Indian forms of classical dance-drama. Each participant will be given an art pack which includes all the materials you will need including fabric pieces, fabric crayons, cartridge paper & pencil, thread & needles.

For further details about the project Youth Art & Dance Project – Imagine Kantha

Coronavirus: Guidance for Better Mental Health

By Boris M | 01 June, 2020 Published in Coronavirus

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be a lot of information about the virus and its effects on mental health.

That’s because corona virus and the social, financial and psychological implications it carries can seriously impact one’s mental well-being.

Government legislation, mass media coverage, and the increasing global death toll will cause a lot of stress, especially for the older population, children, and people with a history of mental health problems.

It’s of the utmost importance that we try to remain as composed as we can during this time.

The fear and anxiety that is gripping the nation are as contagious, if not more so than the illness itself.

While we are in no way diminishing the severity of the physical and epidemiological worry surrounding corona virus, it is crucial that everyone has access to mental health resources, and is clued up on how they can look after themselves and their own mental health.

People with pre-existing mental problems should continue to manage and track their mental health. Self-care is vital, and it’s also important to try and reduce the stress for ourselves and others around us.

Please click HERE to read the full article and toolkit

Imagine Kantha was developed to bring together different communities to share the joy of getting creative using art and movement as well as supporting the emotional health and well-being of participants. The first session was held on Tuesday 13 October at Old Woking Community Centre where Dance Woking’s Associate Dance Teachers and some of the members of the community groups taking part in the project came together to test ideas and ways we can deliver the project in a Covid safe environment. The aim is to host a number of workshops before the end of 2020 and continue into Spring 2021.

If you would like to take part in this project please contact Dance Woking’s Education and Outreach Coordinator Ellie by email: ellie@dancewokingltd.onmicrosoft.com 

Imagine Kantha is being led by Dance Woking in partnership with Woking Borough Council, Women’s Liaise Centre, Woking and Amina Khayyam Dance Company and supported by funding from The Big Lottery Awards for All.

Imagine Kantha brings highly experienced artists to work with different community groups in Woking. Visual artist, Bhajan Hunjan, leads the creative workshops, she uses a variety of techniques from drawing, painting and printmaking, to help participants create and develop ideas from their stories and experiences, from these beginnings ideas come to create the designs. This project uses – print & Kantha stitch, (a traditional form of embroidery), to create visually exciting pieces of art. Keeping up with the tradition of Kantha we love the idea of re-cycling where we can re-use old materials to create something new.  

Amina Khayyam, Artistic Director of Amina Khayyam Dance Company, an experienced choreographer and dancer,  leads the movement element of this project where the stories created through visual art will be brought to life using Kathak, one of the main traditional Indian forms of classical dance-drama.  

Following a very successful pilot of an Online Tea Dance series this Summer, Dance Woking is working with in partnership with Woking Borough Council to roll out a further series of online Tea Dances

Our next Tea Dance will be a virtual Christmas Special

We will be joined by special guests Surrey Jive! Made up of dancers Nicola & Paul who will be sure to create a fantastic atmosphere. You will be taught some basic steps that you can then use to dance along to some specially chosen uplifting festive music. There will also be an opportunity to watch the professionals demonstrate their moves!

In addition there will be both seated & standing dance led by Kate Finegan. Kate is already a regular member of Dance Woking’s Tea Dance team and is delighted be returning to offer seated dance as part of this event. The emphasis within this session is to have fun and feel connected by enjoying dancing in the virtual company of others.

We hope you will join us for seasonal music, demos & fun festive dances and one or two other little surprises thrown in.

Tickets: £5.00 each

Lets Get Creative!

Mind+Movement

Skill-up & develop ways to support your physical and mental wellbeing with Dance Woking. This is a short series of linked sessions delivered over 2 hours of live interaction and 1 hours of an additional pre-recorded challenge. Delivered over 2-weeks: a live hour & a pre-recorded re-cap featuring an additional challenge

The sessions will:

• Help you build your physical health
• Develop resilience to help you with mental wellbeing
• Provide a creative & fun learning environment
• Build peer to peer support
• Be conducted in a safe environment
• Have an agreed Code of Conduct for participants & teachers
• Be led by an experienced Dance Artist and Youth Worker

Suitable for those 12 to 14 years old, Key Stage 3;. Join us for an hour of structured guidance to help you manage your health & wellbeing. Places are limited & subject to availability, small group size. To take part complete the registration form when you will be sent further details.

For more information and to sign up click: HERE

New for the summer, Online Tea Dance 

30 July | 6 August |13 August | 20 August 

Dance Woking in partnership with Woking Borough Council is delighted to be trialling a New Online Tea Dance Summer Season

A chance to enjoy what you love doing best: dancing to great music and in great company.

Take Notice | Be Active | Connect

The Programme: 

• 4 weekly dance sessions;
• Starting on Thursday 30th of July;
• 3pm – 4pm;
• Led by Dance Woking’s experienced dance team;
• Delivered on the Zoom Platform;
• Including a Seated Dance version;
• Each week we will focus on a different dance style;
• Including Salsa, Swing/Charleston, Disco, and Flamenco;
• Weekly session to include: welcome, warm-up, featured dance style & cool down.
• Optional chat to connect and catch-up after the dance session.

“Music Memory”
In-between the featured dance style we are introducing a new feature called “Music Memory”
We would like to hear about a song that holds a happy memory to share with the group; the song & your story will be played during the tea dance. To share your music memory you will need to email Tilly: office@dancewoking.com and provide the title of the song and the group who sang it with your story (in about 50 words).

To take part you will need:

• A computer/phone/tablet;
• Internet connection to access Zoom;
• A clear space for learning and practicing the dance steps;
• If seated, a chair that enables you to be able to freely move your arms and feet without knocking over objects;
• To register for each session to receive a link to access the event, only those registered will be able to take part.

By participating you confirm that you are in good physical health, if you are uncertain we strongly advise that you check with your Doctor.

For more details about our 1st Tea Dance on 30th of July 2020 click HERE

If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact us at office@dancewoking.com

Dance Woking is delighted to announce that it has received funding from Arts Council England to support us through this unprecedented and difficult time.

Dance Woking champions dance and is keen to continue to make a significant contribution to Woking’s future rich cultural offer. With the COVID-19 crisis impacting on everyday movement, challenging our physical and mental wellbeing we see that dance will be even more important in the future, to help rebuild the health and wellbeing of our communities. By receiving the continued confidence and support of Arts Council England (ACE) and Woking Borough Council (WBC), Dance Woking will be able to continue to be a relevant force in Woking, Surrey and the South East.

This grant. along with support from WBC, has given us the opportunity to be able to start planning and preparing for a new way of working, we will continue to work collaboratively with our partner organisations and gain insight into what might work for them now and in the future, we will continue to seek opportunities as they arise; we are excited to be thinking about what the cultural offer might look like in Woking Town Centre as the town continues to expand to residents in the next few years.

Dance Woking has an engaged board with new Trustees and a new chair joining the organisation in September 2019, this is therefore an ideal time for us to create a new flexible business plan that is fit for our time. We we will be actively engaging with our partners, funders and supporters as they will be key to our change process and plans.

For those who would like to know more and get involved we will be sharing details of how you can do this in the next few weeks.

Funding from Arts Council England was only made possible thanks to the #NationalLottery and its players, we would therefore like to thank the players for supporting the National Lottery

Dance Woking would also like to thank its funders and supporters