at Bristol Harbour Festival
Photos by Mark Simmons. L – R: Protein Dance, Candoco, Funkamental, Sonia Sabri Co, Ballet Black, Trash Dollys
Between 2011 – 2016, Katy co-produced and then produced Dance Village at Bristol Harbour Festival. Showcasing the diversity of dance today, the festival programme of performance and participation regularly drew weekend audiences of 120,000.
Many of these audience members were new to dance, finding the programme serendipitously and staying to watch and take part for an average of four hours per day.
We programmed world class, audience facing performance on and off stage from local, regional and national artists, including Candoco, Stopgap, Protein Dance, Far From the Norm, Ballet Black and Boy Blue. Our annual co-commissioning programme supported new work by Rise YDC & Helen Parlor, Misfits Theatre and The Original Spinners and new touring work by Second Hand Dance, Trash Dollys and Zoie Logic Co, while our Young Producer’s programme commissioned the perennially popular battle programme of breakdance, popping and hip hop styles.
Responding to the regional dance development agenda, Dance Village created strategic projects that saw Stopgap Dance work with us as Associate Artists over a number of years; bursaries and choreographic mentoring for emerging artists, a series of 60 second spotlight films created to support artists’ own marketing, a New Waves strand for young work and year round networking and touring co-commissions.
Dance Village at Bristol Harbour Festival was funded by Arts Council England Lottery Funding and Bristol City Council, with annual support from Swindon Dance, Pavilion Dance South West, Theatre Bristol and R.E.M.
Watch the 2016 video recap below:
Photos by Mark Simmons. L-R: Stopgap, Hype Dance Co, 2Faced Dance Co, Folk Dance Re-Mixed, Rise YDC
Audience Feedback
“I took my two children along for an hour and we ended up staying the whole day!”
“Loved seeing such a range of work by such a range of artists.”
“The finale by Protein was phenomenal.”
Artist Feedback
“Brilliant audiences that seem well educated about dance. I would tell other artists, that it is a great opportunity to see other work, so don’t just disappear of between shows, stay and watch.“
“There is great vibe coming off from everyone involved: the audience, staff, participants and artists. We feel as part of a big celebration and this is what outdoor arts is all about!“
“We always have our best audiences at Dance Village, it’s so great for us to. be able to reach so many people, and fantastic that audiences always seem so engaged.”
Film: Trash Dollys ‘Cape Alley’. Commissioned by Dance Village with PDSW & Swindon Dance.
Photos by Mark Simmons. L-R, Impermanence Dance, Plague, Uchenna Dance, 2nd Hand Dance
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