Animated Edition - Spring/Summer 2026
Focus on: Organisations, performance companies and participation
Chris Stenton, our Chief Executive sets the scene
for People Dancing’s 40th Anniversary
It is a pleasure and honour to introduce this edition of Animated, in our 40th Anniversary year. We are thrilled to bring you an incredible line up of writers, spanning all kinds of contexts and practices. Some offer a historical perspective that traces back to the beginning of community dance as we know it, others are future-focused. All are about driving change.
People Dancing and its former incarnations (which for the history geeks in the room are: Foundation for Community Dance 1995-2014; Community Dance and Mime Foundation 1989-1995; National Association of Dance and Mime Animateurs 1986-1989) is but a youngster against the true elders. Some of the early organisations celebrate their 50th Anniversary this year or last, including Cheshire Dance, Rubicon, Swindon Dance and Ludus Dance. We are greatly indebted to them, and to the too-numerous-to-name individuals for their vision for a different way of being in and through dance. Read further here...
Cover photo: Vinegar & Brown Paper 1993. Photo: Alan Crumlish.
Cover quotation: Paul Russ. See page 6.
Curated and edited by: Louise Katerega, Head of Profressional Development.
In this issue
Read and download the complete Spring / Summer 2026 digital edition of Animated magazine online in a flipbook.
Chris Stenton, our Chief Executive sets the scene
for People Dancing’s 40th Anniversary.
Paul Russ, Artistic Director of FABRIC, the
Midlands strategic dance organisation, outlines
a new ten-year strategy positioning participatory
dance as key to innovation and social connection.
Nicola Curry, Artistic Director of Maiden
Voyage Dance, takes us through the company’s
25 years expanding access to contemporary
dance in Northern Ireland by placing participation
at its core.
Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Theatre, Marcus Jarrell Willis and CEO, Jennifer
Coleman-Peers of
Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Theatre discuss the
personal, professional and strategic impact of
a refreshed approach to the company’s long-
standing commitment to community engagement.
Tracey Brown, Diane Hebb and Simon Morris
of Wales’ Rubicon Dance celebrate half a century
of innovation and support for dancers local to
international.
Viv Slayford, Artistic Director of Swindon Dance
in Wiltshire, reflects on over forty years of people-
first initiatives and creative risk-taking benefiting
generations of dancers.
Emily Jackson, Director of Leicester-based
Moving Together, shares how this award-winning
community dance organisation grew from a
university experience through to their latest
impactful eco-focussed education project.
Adam Holloway, Director and Jane McLean,
Creative Director of Cheshire Dance, mark
the organisation’s 50th birthday with a call for
renewed investment in artists and long
term sector support.
Jo Meredith, Creative Director of National Youth
Ballet, demonstrates its commitment to a more
equitable future in the artform with a programme
expanding access and developing leadership
for young disabled dancers.
Annie Pui Ling Lok and Kat Bridge, Co-directors
of Siobhan Davies Studios, frame 2026, the
organisation’s 20th Anniversary, as a year
of transition and renewal.
Artistic director Liv Lorent MBE and four
participants give their perspectives on the
contribution and legacy of the community casts
so key to the Newcastle-based company’s
aesthetic and ethos.
Brendan Keaney OBE traces the evolution of
UK community dance acknowledging key
figures, noting current challenges and ultimately
calling us to optimism about dance’s lasting
transformative power.
Andy Henry, Lecturer in Performing Arts at Queen
Margaret University, Edinburgh, opens up his
project documenting 40 years of Scottish Dance
Theatre, revealing the company’s longstanding
commitment to community engagement alongside
artistic achievement
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