Dance Department
'We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we dancers create the dreams.'
'Dance is your pulse, your heart beat, your breathing, it is the rhythm of your life, its expression in time and movement in happiness, joy, sadness and envy.'
(Jaques D’ambroise)
'Dance is the human activity most likely to promote joy. Audiences for dance are growing faster than for any other art form... 15 million people engage with professional dance artists each year - and there are 1.5 million people dancing for fun every Saturday night.'
(Dance UK/ Foundation for Community Dance and the Observer)
Dance and dance-theatre has always been an important element of our work at Valley and Vale, as an art form which 'helps encourage self-expression, communication, teamwork, creativity, imagination and an overall zest for life' ('Our Schools' Magazine, Dorset).
We've got lots of people dancing all over the Bridgend area - Valley and Vale dance workshops have always been really popular - for children, women's groups, boys' dance, youth dancers, and disabled, integrated and able-bodied groups. We also have large audiences which enjoy regular Community Dance events locally "a visit to a dance performance should be a magical, entertaining and life-enhancing occasion" (Diversions).
We encourage creative expression through movement and our special form of Dance Theatre was developed by Lizzie Davies Macmillan, and is now co-ordinated by our skilled Dance Development Workers Elaine Bennett and Saydi Williams. Read on to find out more about the growing world of Community Dance at Valley and Vale Community Arts.
"The creativity is crucial. We are not simply exercising or learning steps (though we do that), we are also researching ways of expressing how we feel about ourselves and the world and then refining our movements with care and attention".
Jeremy Spafford, DugOut (adult community dance group)
Community dance is a way in which people of all walks of life
can express themselves through creative movement. Dance
has always been a form of expression but often can be restricted
by technique and set routines and steps.
The workshops and classes that Valley and Vale provide encompass the natural ability we all possess to move and dance in our own way, but also teaches the importance of timing, choreography, fun and modern dance trends.
dance projects
Find
out more about all our dance projects in our dance
projects section.
Alternatively, visit our dance projects archive section which gives details of projects from 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2003.
