In snowy January NCCD ran an advanced retreat course in Wales with Gill Clarke, independent dance artist, as facilitator. Open only to those dance practitioners with over ten years experience, it catered for the dance artist looking for new directions in their work. During the course participants dug beneath issues that were pertinent to their situations, and used the course to air their concerns and blocks about new initiatives and collaborations.

What follows isn't a hard-edged review of that part of the course, but rather offers a window into the essence of the participants' collective experience. It is, writes Gill, 'a "manifesto"- not in the sense of a carefully worded outline of future plans, but instead a container that might conserve something of the spontaneity and passion of individual reflections that emerged during our time together, balancing the serious attention that was given to better understanding our own practices with a lightness that came through the opportunity to share with peers.'