Did you know that Dance Woking are community partners of National Citizen Service (NCS)?

NCS is a government-backed scheme, which aims to bring together young people aged 15-17 for a common purpose. Providing skills and tools for work life and the transition into work, groups from NCS work together and with local organisations to make a difference in their community.

As a community partner we have worked with many groups of young people over the years, giving them an insight into our charity and the work we do. In return, the groups we have worked with have been fantastic at fundraising for Dance Woking and supporting the work that we do.

In August we will welcome two groups of young people from NCS to meet and work with us for three days, in which they will plan, devise and implement a project to fundraise for Dance Woking with our support. We look forward to keeping you updated on our work with NCS groups and what we are able to achieve together this Summer!

Dance Woking is proud to be a community partner of NCS and look forward to working with the two groups in August!

Dance Woking have been delivering a weekly after school dance club to pupils at Maybury Primary School, where they are creating a piece to perform on the 19th June at our event ‘Different Pasts, Shared Future’. We found out how they are getting on so far..!

The group have been exploring the theme of home – creating movements and shapes to build homes, discussing their favourite activities to do at home, what we enjoy the most about going home, who we live with and the themes of comfort and welcoming people. So far the group has worked in small groups, and as a whole group to explore these ideas and in the coming weeks they will create duets. As well as creating the piece for the event, the group have been enjoying having the dance club every week at their school with Dance Woking Artist, Emily Neighbour.

‘We spend most of the session creating the piece, but we also have fun with warm up games, name games and free dancing at the end of the class! The group are really enjoying the sessions, especially as they have a performance to work towards!’ Emily Neighbour

Maybury Primary School will present their choreography at ‘Different Pasts, Shared Future’, a free cultural celebration event for Refugee Week, Tuesday 19th June at H.G. Wells Events and Conference Centre. Event details available here!

The event is in partnership with Woking Borough council and supported by funding from The Big Lottery Fund, Awards for All Scheme.

We are already getting excited for our Strictly Tea Dance, which returns with a Summer Special on Wednesday 6th June in partnership with Woking Borough Council!

The event will feature fun classes and workshops by professional duo ‘The Swingsters’ who will lead all the favourites from the Waltz to the Charleston. You do not need a partner to take part, whether you come alone or come with your friends, our professional dancers will take the lead and show you the steps! Also programmed into the day is seated dance led by Dance Woking Artist, Kate Finegan, enabling everyone to get dancing!

Strictly Tea Dance is a great social event to meet others from the local area, have fun and get moving! Suitable for all ages and abilities, all you need to take part is a passion for dance!

H.G. Wells Conference & Events Centre, Woking, GU21 6HJ
Wednesday 6th June 2018
1pm – 4pm
Registration from 12:30pm
Tickets: £3 (Includes tea and cake!)

Advance booking required:
Contact Georgie O’Hare at office@dancewoking.com or call 01483 495460

More Information Here!

Dance Woking are excited to announce ‘Different Pasts, Shared Future’, a cultural celebration event as part of National Refugee Week in partnership with Woking Borough Council.

The event will take place on Tuesday 19th June at the HG Wells Conference & Events Centre, at 6pm featuring dance performances, poetry, guest speakers, a visual art display, a film and food created by local community groups and schools.

Exploring the common theme of where is home and the places that we call home, Dance Woking are engaging and encouraging community groups, especially groups they have not worked with before, to exchange and share stories in a positive social environment. Starting this week, groups will be exploring ideas and creating art, movement and discussion based on the theme of where is home. Led by Dance Woking artists, the groups will use the sessions to work towards a performance or presentation of their work for the event.

Some of the groups that Dance Woking are working with include Maybury Primary School, DeVyne Dancers, Liaise Women’s Group and Brockhill Seated Dance Club! We will be releasing more information on each group and their creative processes weekly. Also working with us throughout the project and performing at the event is Amina Khayyam, professional dance artist. Dance Woking has received funding support from The Big Lottery, Awards For All scheme which has enabled us to deliver this project.

In celebrating the diverse communities in Woking through this project, Dance Woking hopes to build a stronger sense of community and to inspire active participation in the arts!

The event on Tuesday 19th June is open to everyone and free to attend.

Check out the event here!

Dance Woking is delighted to announce that we were selected as one of 25 arts and cultural organisations throughout England to take part in The Building Resilience: Fundraising and Revenue Programme funded by Arts Council England.

The learning and consultation programme is designed to assist with long-term planning and development, with a focus on financial resilience and fundraising. As part of this 18-month programme Sam McCaffrey, Executive Director, Dance Woking and the Board chaired by Louisa Bartlett-Pestell, will be mentored by Michael Kaiser, Chairman of Arts Management International and previously CEO of Royal Opera House.

We are thrilled to have been selected to go on this programme, which features intensive weekend face-to-face sessions as well as long distance learning; as a small organisation this is ideal as it enables us to participate fully; the regularity of the sessions gets us to focus on our strategy and Board development and keeps us focussed on progress and action. Having Michael Kaiser, as our mentor is a great privilege, he is very open to sharing his experiences and how they can translate in scale to Dance Woking. We are using some of the skills and tools already and hope that there will be some good impact on the way we deliver our work. Sam McCaffrey – Director Dance Woking

The programme aims to provide learning, insight, expertise, skills development and resources that can be shared and used more widely to increase resilience across the sector. Dance Woking will receive one-on-one consultations from Michael Kaiser, attend group seminars, complete strategy planning prompts, and participate in a series of online master classes between seminars. Dance Woking is really excited to be a part of this programme working with Michael Kaiser.

About Michael Kaiser: Michael Kaiser oversees Arts Manager International’s training and consulting programmes, both in the United States and around the world. Mr. Kaiser was President of the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., from January 2001 through August 2014. During his tenure, he expanded the educational and artistic programming for the United States’ centre for the performing arts, oversaw a major renovation effort of most of the Centre’s theatres, and led the nation in arts management training.

Mr. Kaiser previously served as the Executive Director of the Royal Opera House, the largest performing arts organisation in the United Kingdom. During his tenure with the Royal Opera House, it erased its historic accumulated deficit, completed a £214 million redevelopment of the facility, created an endowment fund, and greatly increased its level of support from the private and public sectors.

The programme is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

To find out more about Dance Woking visit www.dancewoking.com

We are looking for additional Board Members that have skills within fundraising, marketing or higher education, please email Sam McCaffrey at sam@dancewoking.com for more information.

We are looking for more people to join our Board!

We are particularly looking for people with skills in one of the following areas:

• Fundraising
• Marketing
• Higher Education

Dance Woking is a company limited by guarantee and with registered charitable status. It has six Trustees. All directors of the board are the members of the company and act as the trustees to the charity. The board members provide leadership, strategy and direction to the festival and embrace its vision, values and culture. Find out more about Dance Woking’s current Board here!

If you or someone you know may be interested then we would love to hear from you.

Please get in contact with Sam McCaffrey at sam@dancewoking.com.

Did you know we offer weekly dance classes for two youth centres in Woking?

Dance Woking have been working with Sheerwater Youth Centre and Lakers Youth Centre in partnership with Surrey County Council since September 2017 to facilitate creative and exciting weekly dance classes. The classes develop technique, develop improvisation skills as well as bring out the creative artist within, all whilst maintaining a fun and supportive atmosphere!

At Lakers Youth Centre we are supporting young people including young carers who meet every Monday evening. Laurie-Ann Jeffery, Dance Woking Artist, has been teaching them since September and is looking forward to developing their skills this term.

‘This term we are encouraging the young people to lead a section of a class. We are also looking at the purpose of their dance classes; for fun, to build fitness and to focus their mind on something creative!’ Laurie-Ann Jeffery

At Sheerwater Youth Centre the classes are for an all-girls group, for young women aged 11-19. They meet every Tuesday evening and this term both youth groups will be working towards their Sports/Dance Leadership Awards Level 1! We are excited to see how they all get on!

To join our youth groups please email Georgie at office@dancewoking.com. More Information on these classes here. 

We are on the hunt for a new teacher for our Sheerwater classes – please see here for how to apply!

Dance Woking relies on its dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to support us throughout the year. We are so lucky to have so many fantastic volunteers, but we need some more help!

This summer we are aiming for the dance programme for Encounters and Party in the Park to be even bigger and better and we would love your support to make this happen! Check out footage of last years festivals here to see what you could be a part of!

There are many roles both in the office and at the events available including:

– Steward
– Dance Assistant
– Marketing Assistant
– Team Leader

I have had a lot of fun volunteering with Dance Woking. I have met lots of lovely people and have been with them through moving offices a few times. If you like music and watching performers perform, and you love the theatre – like I do – then this is the job for you. It’s great to get involved with all the different events they put on and you feel like you are part of their team. Dawn, Current Volunteer

If you are looking for experience working at events and have an interest in the arts and dance, this could be for you! Further details on these roles and volunteering can be found here!

If you are interested please email Georgie O’Hare, Volunteer Coordinator at office@dancewoking.com to discuss how you can volunteer with Dance Woking this Summer!

The fantastic Strictly Tea Dance is back on Wednesday 28th March in partnership with Woking Borough Council! Join us for an Easter themed afternoon of tea, cake and of course, dancing!

With professional dance practitioners leading all the favourites from the Waltz to the Charleston, we will lead you around the dance floor! We have a full afternoon of dance demonstrations and workshops planned and if you prefer to have a sit down, we have two sessions of Seated Dance.

Strictly Tea Dance is a great social event to meet others from the local area, have fun and get moving! Suitable for all ages and abilities, all you need to take part is a passion for dance!

HG Wells Centre, Woking, GU21 6HJ
Wednesday 28th March 2018
1pm – 4pm
Registration from 12:30pm
Tickets: £3

No partner required – whether you come alone or come with your friends, our professional dancers will take the lead and show you the steps!

You can pay your entry fee on the door or you can contact Georgie O’Hare in advance to book by calling 01483 495460.

More details here

Wow! Woking SLAM, our platform for urban dance styles, went off with a bang on Saturday 24th March at Rhoda McGaw Theatre!

With superb performances from Vital Signz Dance, Urban Dance School, Jenny Reeds School of Dance, Tuffney Performing Arts Academy, #Fresh and Lil#Fresh (Crews from Holly’s School of Dance) and Westfield Primary School.

Not only did we have fantastic performances, we had a sell-out audience who supported our groups and really got involved!

We were incredibly lucky to have the talented BDblaq Dance perform SENSE for the second time this week as our guest group! Another amazing performance from them, and incredibly inspiring for all the young dancers that were watching.

We finished the night with a grand finale into a dance circle, inviting any of the dancers to freestyle and show off their best dance moves! It was great to end the show with all the dancers on stage to celebrate and showcase their talent!

Thank you to all the groups, teachers and volunteers involved that made Woking SLAM and our Spring Shorts programme such a success!