People Dancing

Tuesday 26 July, afternoon and repeats Wednesday 27 July, afternoon

Tutors: Claire Pring, Independent dance artist and educator and George Fellows, choreographer and Early Years dance specialist

In a warm, largely discursive session with lively learning exercises, Claire and George share their practices and explore the part reflection and evaluation play in growing, sustaining and transforming them as artists; making them attractive as partners and impactful as leaders. 

Claire and George will inspire you to reflect on your own journey and how this has shaped your practice and consider where you can go from here - leaving you better able to self-support your creative growth, articulate the benefits within your work and find others who complement and support you.  

Aimed at practitioners looking to power up, shore up, expand or shift their practice in this space to share and listen to the voices of other experienced artists and imagine future opportunities.  

Participants are welcome to make a day of it by booking onto a 90-minute peer sharing and advice session in the morning with Louise Katerega, Associate Producer for Change and Chris Stenton, Executive Director, People Dancing about strategy for change-making and realising ambitions. There is no extra charge and you can book via your application form.

Above image credit: George Fellows teaching. Photo: Zoe Manders.

About Claire Pring B.Ed (Hons), M.A., A.S.T.  

Claire graduated from Middlesex University in 1990 with a B. Ed (Hons) in Dance, taught in London until 1994 then headed north to join Cheshire Dance as Dance Animateur for Macclesfield. She was with Cheshire Dance for eight happy years, where she began to deliver INSET under the guidance of Veronica Lewis and Julia Williams.  

Since 2002 she has worked as a freelancer along with part time teaching at Buxton Community School, Derbyshire, Poynton High School, Cheshire and Biddulph High School, Staffordshire where she gained AST status. In 2005 she completed an MA in Dance Studies. She is currently the lead practitioner for Dance for Derbyshire and part of the Create & Dance team at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden where she devised and presented the dance content for BBC Teach Step by Step as well as devising some of their podcasts for Let's Move, Time to Move and Ten Pieces. She has produced resources for Oak National Academy, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Cheshire County Council & Derbyshire County Council and co-authored a book in lockdown, Making A Move. Claire is an ArtsMark Associate & Partner and a Quality Assessor for the Arts Council of England.  

Image: Claire Pring.

About George Fellows

George is Co-Artistic Director, Four Hands Dance Company. In 2013, with no formal experience, George began training in contemporary dance. After performing as a community participant in Tilted Production's BELONGING(s) in the Brighton Festival 2016, George was invited to join Maresa von Stockert’s company as a performer & danced for the company in their 2017/18 touring seasons. He then went on to play Tony/Ronnie in a dance theatre production of the play ‘Beautiful Thing’ by Jonathan Harvey, co-directed by Bradley Hemmings & Robby Graham, which was the finale show of GDIF 2018. George has 15 years experience working with young children and their families and uses this experience to inform his practice working with families and creating work with Four Hands. He lives in West Yorkshire.

Four Hands, a dance company that primarily works with families with young children. was formed in 2018 with co-artistic director Nick Lawson. The company aims to provide performances and participatory opportunities that challenge the boundaries between performer/audience and pushes the idea that dance is truly for everyone. Latest production WILD led the company into deep reflection on equity diversity and inclusion with the consequent positive action of employing mentor Titilola Dawudu to help them navigate this aspect of their work.  

Image credits: Above - George Fellows. Photo: Peter Miles.