People Dancing - Foundation for Community Dance

Developing Practice

Welcome to the area of our website that gives you the resources you need for your professional practice and continued professional development (CPD) in community dance. There's lots of information and plenty of features for you to explore here - take a look around.

People Dancing's Summer School
People Dancing's International Conferences
Fact sheets and legal compliance information
Animated magazine
ArtWorks Alliance
National Occupational Standards
Online learning
Dance for Parkinson's Partnership (DfPP)
Professional standards
Knowledge Bank
Funding support
Events and activities archive
Careers Information
FAQs

Doing things differently

Pepperland and beyond

Dance artist and writer Kate Swindlehurst reflects upon her experience of the opening night of Mark Morris Dance Group’s UK Pepperland tour and the next day Dance for people living with Parkinson's - Looking ahead: a one-day interactive symposium at Sadler’s Wells, London in March 2019

Read Kate's blog

Friends and a tool belt

Empower, connect and develop

People Dancing's Summer School 2019 is just around the corner and so we spoke to Community Dance Practitioner and Creative Director of Bodyrox Dance Company, Leah Waterfield about the impact of getting a bursary and taking part last year

Read Leah's blog

Summer School 2019

People Dancing's International Conference 2017, Glasgow. Photo: Rachel Cherry

Apply now!

Come and be part of the 11th People Dancing Summer School at De Montfort University in Leicester from Monday 22 to Friday 26 July 2019.

Find out more

"Sounds like a mouthful. . ."

"Sounds like a bit of a mouthful. . ."

Co-author and Director of Development, Ruth Bates talks about how our new online learning programme demystifies the fundraising process

Ruth's vlog

Animated magazine

Animated Autumn-Winter 2018/19 cover: Dylan Quinn, TOST. Photo: Luca Truffarelli

Latest edition out now!

This Autumn-Winter 2018/19 edition of Animated provides a platform for the diverse voices of dance artists and leaders sharing what drives them forward.

Discover more

Dance for Parkinson's

Dancing for positive shared experience

Community dance artist Rachael James loves the feeling of freedom that dancing brings and the belief that with the right environment, permission and influences, we can all dance. This is what led her to complete her dance for Parkinson’s training…

Read Rachael's blog

Doing access digitally

Louise Wildish - Producer, People Dancing

Access as the starting point for creativity

Thanks to funding from digital commissioning body The Space, the 11 Million Reasons to Dance photography exhibition has hit a much bigger online audience. Yet, as producer Louise Wildish explains, it had to be made accessible…

Read Louise's blog

Translating touch

Kath Kimber-McTiffen, Wriggle Dance Theatre

Dance meets science to explore touch

On meeting a prominent neuroscientist, Kath Kimber-McTiffen, of Wriggle Dance Theatre, could see that the theme of ‘touch’ not only links the arts and science… it might also create a beautiful, interactive dance piece

Read Kath's blog

Dancing for equality

Anne-Marie Smalldon, Combination Dance Company

Heroic tale in women's history made real through dance

Anne-Marie Smalldon, Artistic Director of Combination Dance Company, blogs on 100nehundred, a dance/history collaboration with The National Archives inspired by this year’s centenary of British women’s suffrage and modern gender equality issues

Read Anne-Marie's blog

Financing the dream

People Dancing Director of Development Ruth Bates with her son, Jamie

Your child got into dance school! Now, how to pay for it?

It’s from this time of year People Dancing gets phone calls and emails from anxious parents wanting to support their children through dance training. Here our Director of Development Ruth Bates blogs on how these dreams, though expensive, can be made real.

Read Ruth's blog

People Dancing Music

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No barriers

Photo shows Natasha Britton, Magpie Dance

Seeing every 'body' dance - for enjoyment, for art, for a career

Inspired by artistic director Avril Hitman and all the Magpie Dance team, Natasha Britton explains her passion to achieve "a world where a learning disability is no barrier to personal and artistic success in dance"

Read Natasha's blog