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As Artistic Director at FRONTLINEdance, it is important that we continue to ensure that our work meets audiences equally. That includes taking work to safe, comfortable spaces where audiences can be their true, authentic selves, and that our work is performed differently / bespoke to its audience. The latter means that we’ve been in the studio re-creating three distinct versions of Holding On for visually impaired audiences, Deaf audiences and Learning-Disabled Audiences. This unique work is being developed and tested in December and March and will be ready to tour from Spring 2027.

As our work crosses over theatres, hospitals, community groups, SEND provision, public spaces and intimate spaces, our aim when touring our work is to support venues and organisations to develop new local partnerships, connections and develop new audiences. We also want to help you problem-solve access barriers. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss these ideas further with me: rachael@frontlinedance.co.uk

Thanks, Rachael (she/her) | Artistic Director / CEO

FRONTLINEdance’s 2026 – 2028 Touring Programme brings together four distinctive strands of work: Holding On, Here, with you, What? Me, Worry? And The Explorers in Training! 

Combined Tour Pack 

These strands offer a flexible suite of performances and engagement opportunities that sit comfortably across festivals, hospitals, hospices, theatres, conferences, libraries, museums, schools, universities, conservatoires, churches, chapels, cathedrals and a wide range of community settings.

The programme includes live and filmed performances, short films, workshops, talks, discussions and participatory experiences for people of all ages and interests – creating unique opportunities for audiences and participants to connect through shared creative experiences.

Each strand brings its own artistic world, tone and approach to engagement – while rooted in FRONTLINEdance’s lived and professional experience of accessible, inclusive and high‑quality contemporary dance. Strands can be booked individually, or combined to create bespoke programmes, residencies and community‑focused activity shaped around the needs of your audiences, spaces and priorities.

Holding On is a live and digital performance programme co-created with, and performed by, those who have lived experience of cancer, grief, loss and bereavement. With music by composer and multi-instrumentalist Greg Hall, and featuring an intergenerational, inclusive cast. Holding On powerfully weaves together connection, emotive dance and sound harmoniously.

Audience Feedback: Beautiful / Breathtaking / Skilful / Emotional / Profound

Holding On 1 Screen Dance Trailer  | Holding On 2 Screen Dance Trailer

‘Here, with you’  is  a dance performance for clinical and care settings - shaped by patient consultation responding to the question: 

“How would you like to feel when watching a performance in hospital?” 

This intimate, 20‑minute duet blends contemporary dance, structured improvisation, beautiful music and gentle performer‑patient interaction. It offers moments of calm, beauty and connection - inviting audiences to watch, imagine, move or simply be present. 

Inspired by a poem exploring belonging, the dancers create movement that often transports audiences elsewhere. Patients frequently describe imagining butterflies, meadows, nature and places of peace, comfort and freedom. They’ve told us the work is: 

‘Beautiful, calming, and performed by wonderful, talented dancers!’

In a hospital environment, moments of creativity can offer something different. This work transforms a clinical space, changing the medical environment into a place that allows patients, visitors and staff to pause, breathe and share a new experience together.  

It is a reminder that, even within healthcare settings, there is room for joy, calm, contentment, fulfilment, imagination, movement and connection.  

We can also facilitate one-to-one/group activities for staff, visitors and patients. 

What? Me, Worry? Can be a standalone film screening or a half/full day engagement led by a neurodivergent dance artist. What? Me, Worry? is created and performed by Kayleigh Price, and this offering draws on her lived experience of anxiety and neurodivergence. The work creates a compelling narrative using three art forms – film, dance and music – to take you on a journey through the lens of living with generalised anxiety disorder.

Collaborating with filmmaker Jay Gearing and composer Luke Marley, who are both neurodivergent, it explores feeling alone and paralysed by thoughts but also wanting to make others happy, bringing the audience into Kayleigh’s experience. She hopes the work will help start important conversations about mental health and her reality of living with anxiety.

The film screening or engagement day can be tailored to your setting and may include a combination of: ‘What? Me, Worry?’ screendance film screening, artist talk and Q&A, contemporary dance class, choreography workshop, dance for camera workshop or facilitated discussion.

The film is available with Audio Description and BSL interpretation. What? Me, Worry Trailer 

The Explorers in Training! is a multi-sensory, wondrous adventure where the audience gets to help bring to life two stories, with dance, colour, sound and teamwork. The show is a fully inclusive interactive performance and is relaxed, engaging, accessible and fun.

The Explorers! performance was initially co-created with disabled children and hospital patients, and the current show is re-created with our emerging dancers on our bespoke Advance Training Programme.

The show is accessible for all to enjoy and suitable for children aged 3+, though babies have enjoyed it too! It is well suited to libraries, galleries, museums, outdoor spaces, community spaces, pre-schools, SEND schools & settings, mainstream primary schools (up to Year 2), hospitals and hospices.

We adapt and change! With adequate notice, the performance can also be adapted to complement a theme, festival, book suggestions of your choice, and we can make it more age-appropriate for an older group, for example.

Explorers in Training Easy Read Visual Story
Explorers in Training Trailer

If you would like to discuss programming or check availability, please contact: touring@frontlinedance.co.uk for more information.

You’re invited to come and join us! A chance to reflect and celebrate the work we did from April 2025 to March 2026.

Book your FREE tickets here: https://shorturl.at/fKFZc
Donations welcome!
 
Date: Saturday 26th September 2026
Time: 11:30am – 1:30pm
Location: Newfriars College. Castle Grove, off Newhouse Rd, Bucknall, Stoke-on-Trent. ST2 8BH
Parking: Free on-site

Who can attend: Everyone is welcome! General public, family, friends and supporters! 
 
What to expect – 
11:30am: Arrive
11:45am: Welcome from the Chair, followed by a presentation of our annual report delivered by our Artistic Director, Rachael Lines, that will include performances (live and on screen)
12:45pm: Lunch and a chance to meet the FRONTLINEdance Board, Staff, Participants and Parents
1:30pm: End
 
A light lunch & refreshments will be offered. To help us plan, reduce waste and accommodate any dietary requirements, please let us know if you require lunch when booking your ticket, along with any dietary requirements. Thank you!

We look forward to seeing you on the 26th September 🙂
Need more information? Please contact: hello@frontlinedance.co.uk 

FRONTLINEdance is seeking two Board Directors and one Board Member to join our Board. As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen and evolve our governing team, FRONTLINEdance will be welcoming new Board Directors/Members to join it at the AGM on Saturday 26th September 2026.  

Now is a great time to join!  

Our overarching ambition is to strengthen our foundations, expand our impact, and ensure d/Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent people (dDDN) and those with long‑term health conditions (LTHC) can access, enjoy, and thrive within arts and culture across Stoke‑on‑Trent, North Staffordshire, and beyond. We want our Board to reflect the people and communities of FRONTLINEdance and to expand the diversity of voices represented within it.   

Deadline for applications: 12pm, Monday 7^th September 2026 

Interviews are likely to be held via Teams on: 5:30pm, Monday 14^th September 2026 

We are recruiting Board Directors/Members with lived and/or professional experience in one or more of the following areas: 

• Practising contemporary dance artist who works across performance, health or community settings 

• Contemporary dance producer / project manager / artistic director or involved in creative health 

• Disability arts creative / producer / director 

• Legal expertise – understanding of charity law, employment law, company law, compliance and governance frameworks 

• Business development and income generation 

• Understanding of the principles we invest in that are guided by Arts Council England: Ambition & Quality, Dynamism, Environmental Responsibility and Inclusivity & Relevance 

• Leadership experience in FRONTLINEdance’s areas of work: clinical, education and community settings; arts / dance sector; within not-for-profit organisations and/or charities 

• Experience of either touring, disability arts, screen dance, performance and faciliation in clinical, education and community settings, dance and dDDN advocacy, creative health, commissioning and supporting disabled artists 

• Leading teams and steering companies strategically  

• Overseeing or managing business accounts, company finances and budgets 

For more information, please select from the formats below (if you would like this in another format? Please get in touch):

• PDF – Applicant Pack

• PLAIN TEXT – Applicant Pack 

To apply: 

1. Please complete this online form: https://forms.office.com/e/cmh1eF1aNn  

2. Email an up-to-date CV (max 2 pages) to jasmine@frontlinedance.co.uk with the subject: Board Director/ Member Application. 

Applicants will receive a confirmation email (within 2 weeks of submission) to acknowledge FRONTLINEdance has received your application (online form and CV).  

Applications can be made by text, audio and video, including BSL video.  

Please email audio and video applications to jasmine@frontlinedance.co.uk as links rather than attached files, along with your CV. Please use whichever method you prefer to tell us why you would be great at this position and why you want to do it, ensuring you answer every question. You’ll be asked for any access requirements when offered an interview. 

Thank you for your interest in joining us! Get in touch if you have any questions. 

This Summer, FRONTLINEdance will be performing at the Big Feast Festival 2026, and we would love for you to join us!

Throughout August, we will be running four creative and rehearsal sessions to develop and prepare a new intergenerational performance!

To help everyone build relationships, feel comfortable, and enjoy a consistent experience, we ask that all participants attend all rehearsals and the performance day. This will give everyone time to get to know one another and help us keep changes to a minimum throughout the process.

We look forward to creating something special together!

Rehearsal/Creating Days: Thursday evenings in August (6pm – 8pm) at St John’s Centre, Trent Vale. 

Performance Day: Saturday 29th August 2026 (10:30am – 1pm) at Hanley City Centre (Top of Piccadilly Street) 

Family and friends are also welcome to join our Summer programme!
If you are new to FRONTLINEdance and would like to take part in creating, rehearsing and then performing at the Big Feast on Saturday 29th August, please fill in this form, and we’ll be in touch.

 Big Feast Performance Project 2026 – Registration Form   – Fill in form
Alternatively please contact: hello@frontllinedance.co.uk | 07356 072991

Appetite’s Big Feast is a two-day event on 28th & 29th August 2026. There are lots of other performances and activities to experience.

It’s the City Centre’s highlight of the year!

New members are welcome to join our summer programme or join us in September when our term-time provision starts back. Please click on the links below to register:

Big Feast Performance Project 2026 – Registration Form   – Fill in form
Breakthrou’dance – Registration Form  – Fill in form
Moving Together – Registration Form  – Fill in form

FRONTLINEdance are really looking forward to starting this new project for parent-carers. Please see details below and please share! Donations Welcome!

FREE session | FREE parking | FREE LUNCH and REFRESHMENTS 

STARTS Thursday 16^th July, 9:30am to 2:30pm at Meir Park Community Hall, Lysander Rd, Stoke-on-Trent ST3 7TW (Venue will change each month).
Location Link: https://share.google/tM2hGvT5lml9TVGT7

To register and for future dates, please follow this link: 
Parent/Carer Project: Registration Form – Fill in form

Limited places available. We will operate on a first come first served basis and create a waiting list. Therefore, please only register on the dates you can attend. We ask all to be mindful that no shows take the place of someone else who could attend and the cost of lunch and refreshments. Last minute cancellations due to illness and caring responsibilities are understood.

What to expect on the first two taster days? 
9:30am-10am: You will be welcomed with refreshments, friendly faces, listening ears, conversations, and quiet activities so you can arrive as you need to; mix and chat or have some alone time. 

10am: Introduction to the project, whose facilitating it and each other.
10:15am: Arts Taster Session 1
11am: Break
11:15am: Arts Taster Session 2
12 midday: Lunch
12:30pm: Arts Taster Session 3
1:15pm: Arts Taster Session 4
2pm: Reflection and transition activity 

Each week / session is designed to give us the opportunity to experience either or all of the following art forms:
Creative Writing | Movement | Dance | Theatre | Visual Art

Facilitated by artists who are also parent-carers of disabled children and adults, we invite you to come as you are, to be open-minded, understanding and supportive of yourself and each other. We’ll be joined by Dana, our evaluator. Once the group has been established, we will co-design it together and look at what we can co-create together.

No previous arts experience is necessary. 
Questions? Then please call or email Rachael on: 07484 874335
rachael@frontlinedance.co.uk

Any feedback on the invite, form or project is welcomed. Please email Rachael.

This project is managed and made possible by FRONTLINEdance who receive funding from Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation (2023-2028). 

Welcoming Jasmine, Colin, Melanie, Kirsten, Sophie & Dana to our Team, alongside Stan, our newest Board Member!

Jasmine Man 文茉莉 (she/her) People & Operations Manager

Jasmine is FRONTLINEdance’s People and Operations Manager, leading on all aspects of HR and ensuring the organisation runs smoothly. Alongside her role at FRONTLINEdance, she works as a freelance producer and project manager with experience across events, festivals, participation programmes and digital projects. A graduate of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Jasmine also serves as trustee for the charity Akademi and is currently working towards PRINCE2 Practitioner certification. To contact Jasmine in her role at FRONTLINEdance, please email: Jasmine@frontlinedance.co.uk

Colin Williamson – Project Manager

Colin is a graduate in Economics, having studied at Staffordshire University. Since 2001, he has worked within the not-for-profit sector, following a range of earlier roles, including teaching Business Studies in Botswana. He has worked as a Development Officer, supporting a wide variety of not-for-profit organisations such as sports clubs, residents’ associations, disability groups, arts organisations, and performing arts groups. 

His expertise includes business planning, project development, funding applications, funding strategy, organisational start-up, legal structures, and social enterprise. Through his work, Colin has become a strong advocate for the not-for-profit sector, having witnessed first-hand the significant and positive impact it can have on people’s lives.

Colin’s role as Project Manager within FRONTLINEdance will involve the planning, delivery, and reporting of projects. He will be responsible for recruiting participants, volunteers, stakeholders, and audiences, ensuring strong engagement across all activities. Working in consultation with others, Colin will develop project plans and contribute to their strategic development. He will also collaborate with colleagues and partners to secure funding and support the successful delivery of projects. 
You can contact Colin directly via: projects@frontlinedance.co.uk

Melanie Whitehead Smith – Touring Project Manager

Melanie is committed to reaching audiences beyond traditional theatre contexts – inviting audiences to engage with art in ways that feel immediate and accessible. Rooted in participatory dance, her practice navigates community-centred work, rural contexts and developing new frameworks to access art.

Melanie is currently completing her MA Dance Research for Professional Practitioners at Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance and holds a First Class BA (hons) Dance and Choreography degree from Falmouth University. Melanie later trained on Studio Wayne McGregor’s PEER programme and was a Sadler’s Wells 24/25 mentee.

Melanie is joining FRONTLINEdance as a Touring Project Manager, where she will oversee tour & event bookings, film sharings and online events. She looks forward to working with the team to continue sharing their innovative work.
To contact Melanie directly, please email:  touring@frontlinedance.co.uk

Kirsten Tranter – Advanced Training Programme Research & Project Manager

Kirsten is a Creative Producer based in the Midlands. With over 20 years of experience in the arts sector, Kirsten creates meaningful connections between artists, communities and audiences. Her journey has been shaped by a deep commitment to dance, movement and community arts practice, whilst embracing diverse cross-disciplinary collaborations.

Kirsten believes that creative expression should be accessible to everyone-whether you’re taking your first dance step, experiencing art from an audience perspective, or pursuing your professional practice. As a practising Health Coach as well as a Creative Producer, Kirsten takes a person-centred approach to her work, nurturing people through care-led and creative practices.

Kirsten has been tasked with researching and managing a potential new Advanced Training Programme for FRONTLINEdance. She’s currently enjoying getting stuck in internet rabbit holes and speaking to other organisations in the sector and beyond. If you would like to know more about this programme or add to our research then please get in touch directly with Kirsten – kirstentranter@outlook.com

Sophie Rushton – Office & Project Assistant

Sophie started dancing when she was 10 years old, at Coloured Movement School of Dance, which then changed to Rockin’ Loft Dance School. She trained in Contemporary, Hip Hop and Musical Theatre there and went on to study Musical Theatre at The City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College. Here Sophie found a love of acting and is currently studying ‘Acting for Stage and Screen’ at the University of Staffordshire.

In March 2026 Sophie performed in a production of ‘The Life’ and ‘Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby’ at the university and is looking forward to future productions.

Sophie started as a volunteer with FRONTLINEdance in 2024 with the Advance Training Programme before being offered a job in January 2026. As Office and Project Assistant, Sophie supports a wide range of activities, including practical and access support with the Breakthrou’dance Programme, administrative tasks, research, audits, creating resources, templates, and evaluations. Sophie loves being a part of the team and is excited to see where the journey takes her whilst working with wonderful, inspiring people. You can contact Sophie via: office@frontlinedance.co.uk
 
During her free time, Sophie enjoys singing and listening to music – specifically Ska and Rock n Roll – and to wind down, she loves to read and spend time in nature by going for walks with family. 

Dana Jundi – Evaluator

Dana is an experienced consultant specialising in participatory evaluation and inclusive community engagement and has supported grassroots and infrastructure organisations led by and for marginalised communities. Her work centres on supporting organisations through co-designed, accessible and low-resource evaluation approaches.

Dana brings particular expertise in developing creative tools that help communities articulate needs and assess impact, especially in contexts where language, confidence and systemic barriers often prevent participation. She has worked across diverse contexts, from digital inclusion in Stoke-on-Trent to arts-based engagement with displaced young people, and contributes to local strategy work around community cohesion, including anti-racism campaigns. She works with FRONTLINEdance as an independent evaluator, bringing together her love for the arts and for centring underrepresented voices. 

Stanislav Flesherov – Board Member – Environmental Responsibility

Stanislav’s involvement with arts and culture started at age 5, when a music teacher discovered his talent for singing in his country of birth Bulgaria. He started learning 
solfège and playing classical piano alongside that. Stanislav attended a music primary school from age 7 to 11, where folklore choreography was also added to his curriculum. He attended public performances as a singer in a choir as well as a pianist for a few years before he had to relocate due to life circumstances. 

Life’s taken Stanislav in different directions over the years. He’s now an entrepreneur and an investor. His interests include various forms of artistic expression, self-improvement, esports, night riding, as well as being part of and helping the neurodivergent community.
Stanislav is looking forward to helping FRONTLINEdance and serving on the Board, whilst enjoying his lifelong passion for music and artistic expression, alongside continuing on his business journey in life.

Read about all FRONTLINEdance’s Artistic Team, Staff and Board Members via our ‘About Us’