Category: News

Read/Listen to the article written by Caroline Butterwick following a conversation she had with our Artistic Director, Rachael Lines and dancers Matt Byatt and David Jowett.

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‘Disabled children need to know it is an option’: co-creating the future of dance’

FRONTLINEdance works in communities to remove barriers for disabled people and those with long-term health conditions – and there’s no distinction between teacher and learner

Several adults form a circle in a community hall, swerving their bodies and linking arms. One spirals around a chair, using it as part of their movement. This is Breakthrou’dance, a group in Stoke-on-Trent for disabled participants. They come together each week to do what Frontlinedance founder Rachael Lines calls “dancing with”, rather than the traditional model of following an instructor.

Co-creation – making work with people, rather than telling them what to do – is a concept many arts organisations aim for. Lines talks through a recent project that involved working with members of local disability groups. “We had conversations about different themes, challenges, things they would like to share, or to tell people about. We looked at the social model of disability, and how we could use that.”

The group explored movement together that emerged from the discussion, with Lines asking how the body might feel with different emotions. “They would generate the movement, and then I would develop that, keeping all the key themes and finding commonalities, what visually looked exciting,” says Lines, who co-founded Frontlinedance in 2001.

In developing one performance, visually impaired dancers shared how they get pushed in crowds, inspiring the choreography. “We created those barriers, the hustle and bustle, moving together with dropping, falling and catching, and knocking,” Lines explains. The raw experience of what it’s like to navigate public space as a blind person is reflected in those movements in a way that is visually interesting while highlighting something many don’t realise.

Co-creating brings together different viewpoints – “there’s a richness in everybody’s life,” says Lines. “Historically, disabled people have had less of a voice, and fewer opportunities to be makers, dancers and choreographers or even audience members.”

Lines trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds. In the mid-90s, during her studies, she watched the integrated dance company Candoco perform: “It was so fresh, nobody else was doing it.” Lines had a back injury, and she experiences hemiplegic migraines triggered by light, which led her to decide against making a career performing on stage and helped her see the challenges disabled dancers face.

She resolved to form an artist-led contemporary dance company that placed disabled people and those with long-term health conditions at the centre. She now runs projects everywhere from neurology wards to Stoke’s Potteries Museum, and in ongoing groups such as Breakthrou’dance, involving those who traditionally feel out of place in dance.

Frontline also works with local arts organisations, with disabled people advising on everything from audio description to physical accessibility. It’s helped create a community, with people coming together to attend shows and arts events they once felt excluded from.

Dancers from Frontline recently took part in The Pig Walk, a parade in the Stoke town of Longton. Dancers David and Matt tell me how being part of a shared experience – the walk attracted thousands of people – was empowering. “Proud,” David says, communicating through speech and Makaton.

Matt has been involved with Frontline for 21 years, starting as a dancer, receiving training which led to him supporting classes as a workshop assistant and creative enabler. “I’ve come a long way,” he says. “I love the work I do. I was proud when I got to paid status, that was a big achievement.”

Many dance training schemes require a level of academic attainment that excludes a lot of people, and Frontline is starting a new training programme that it hopes to launch next year, to address this. “We’re seeing Paralympians on Strictly, which is good,” says Lines. “But there’s still the barrier of it being seen as a possibility. We need more disabled children and young adults to see and know it can be an option for them.”

There are barriers to disabled people taking part in dance, from inaccessible rehearsal and performance spaces to attitudes about what disabled dancers are capable of. There are also challenges in meaningful co-creation: some dancers need concrete instructions, while others prefer the freedom to move how they want. Lines says tailoring to individuals and not making assumptions helps.

“The work we’re doing is breaking down negative preconceptions people have. And I think that’s a positive thing, even though it’s a frustrating thing, because, well, why don’t you think someone with a disability can achieve or be brilliant?” says Lines. It’s an ongoing question for disabled artists: how to highlight disabled voices and challenge negative ideas, without falling into tropes of “overcoming”.

Lines has seen the company’s impact on both dancers and audiences. When they perform in hospitals to people stuck in bed, “they say we made them feel like they were alive and part of the world, which is brilliant – I really can’t ask for more.”

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Join the FRONLINEdance Explorers Team on their multi-sensory, wondrous adventure!

Flyer below with all the information you’ll need:

Image description:

To the right, in a dark orange circle, three dancers wearing yellow and green costumes are dancing in a library, with a small blonde girl wearing a flowery dress watching them. Far left, one dancer is crouched while he points and grins, in the middle another dancer is lying on her back gasping, and the final dancer is standing over her looking at the girl and signing “D” in Makaton.

Text to the left of the image on an orange background: Join the FRONTLINEdance Explorers Team on their multi-sensory, wondrous adventure, where you get to help bring to life two stories, with dance, colour, sound and teamwork! This fully inclusive performance and participatory show is relaxed, accessible and fun!

Performances

Tuesday 21st February: 11am – Tunstall Library / 2pm – Bentilee Library

Thursday 23rd February: 11am – Stoke Library / 2pm – City Central Library

Friday 24th February: 11am – Longton Library / 2pm – Meir Library

Wednesday 1st March: 1:30pm – Just You at Just Families, CIC Bridge Centre, Birches Head

Saturday 25th March: 11am – Staffs Down Syndrome Group (Members Only), Trentham Scout Hut / 2pm – Potteries Museum & Art Gallery

Sunday 26th March: Time TBC – Urban Wilderness ‘PIG Walk’ Festival, Longton Exchange Shopping Centre

Access Icons Featured in the flyer:

* All venues are fully wheelchair accessible.

* We sign Makaton* Relaxed performance

* Touch Tour

* Easy Read Visual Story

* BSL interpreter

* Audio Description

Text on a blue background with a QR code linking to FRONTLINEdance website (www.frontlinedance.co.uk)

Cost: FREE (We welcome a donation) Placed limited.

We recommend that you book in advance: https://www.eventbrite.com/…/the-explorers-public…

Show lasts approximately 40 minutes.

Funded by Stoke-On-Trent City Council’s Cultural Grants Programme.

For further information: hello@frontlinedance.co.uk | 07484 874335Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @frontlinedance1 Logos: FRONTLINEdance, Strong Together and City of Stoke-On-Trent.

JOIN US – Welcoming New Members!

View our weekly Moving Together sessions below:

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NEW! Breakthrou’dance Juniors (7-13year olds) Taster Sessions

A successful application to Sports England via Together Active’s ‘Together Fund‘ means that we can start a new Breakthrou’dance group for 7-13 year olds. 

We are offering FREE taster sessions so that you can come and try it for yourself, before the weekly group starts in January 2023.  

Taster Sessions:

Monday’s: 14th, 21st, 28th November & 5th, 12th December at Swan Bank Centre, Burslem

Thursday’s: 17th, 24th November & 1st, 8th, 15th December at St John’s Centre, Trent Vale

The grant also means that we can offer taster sessions within our community, for all our programmes, by visiting already established groups that exist for; d/DEAF disabled and neurodivergent people and those with long term health conditions.

Please email Rachael to book a session: rachael@frontlinedance.co.uk
We have a few remaining places.

We’ve been given a conditional offer to be one of Arts Council Englands’ National Portfolio Organisations for 2023 to 2026.

Responses from our Chair Yael Owen-Mckenna and Artistic Director Rachael Lines;

‘During the past 21 years FRONTLINEdance has been working tirelessly with our community of dancers, supporters, advocates, volunteers and champions. Through this work we have been able to offer inclusive opportunities for people to dance, to be creative and to engage with performances as both audiences and participants.

We have also supported other organisations to ensure their work is inclusive and accessible for everyone to enjoy.The vision of the company continues to be realised through the leadership and dedication of our Artistic Director, Rachael Lines and her team of artists and staff. In addition the board past and present, has been key in supporting and driving forward the company’s ambitions. I would like to thank the Board for their support and contributions during this intense application period. There have been triumphs celebrated and challenges faced, always with courage and integrity and always aligned to the vision of FRONTLINEdance.

As Chair of the board I’m beyond proud to learn FRONTLINEdance has been successful in our bid to join the Arts Council Investment Portfolio in 2023-26. The work that has contributed to our successful application has been immense and we are incredibly excited to begin our journey of planning for the future. We will continue to seek new and exciting opportunities, partnerships and people so that our work can thrive, develop and grow across the next 21 years with everyone in our community and beyond.

Congratulations FRONTLINEdance!’

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‘This year we, along with 1,700 arts organisations in England, applied for Arts Council England’s 2023-26 Investment Programme. We applied as we believe the work that we do everyday fits with the aims of Arts Council’s ‘Let’s Create’ strategy. FRONTLINEdance also need the investment, continuity, security, and increased capacity to sustain our current and future offer. We have ambitions to fulfil the dreams that we’ve had for the last 21 years which have not yet been realised. We want to continue to offer exciting and needed creative and artistic activity in our community, and support others in making their organisations accessible and inclusive to all.

On the 4th November 2022, we received the wonderful news that Arts Council England offered FRONTLINEdance (along with 990 others nationally) investment from the ‘2023-26 Investment Programmes for National Portfolio Organisations (NPO)’.

This is the best 21st Birthday present!

Thank you so much to those who have played a part in the FRONTLINEdance story so far. You’ve kept the company going for twenty-one years on a shoestring! I feel incredibly lucky to be Artistic Director of FRONTLINEdance. I feel really proud of what we have achieved over the years and excited about our future. I am truly grateful for all the people I get to meet and work with every day, and being surrounded by great board members, peers, allies, advocates, ambassadors, facilitators, performers, participants, and audiences.‘

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The funding will start in April 2023 meaning FRONTLINEdance will be able to extend and develop what we already do, offer new opportunities and grow as an organisation. More information will be shared nearer the time. For now we have some amazing projects, workshops, performances and training to deliver!

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