Making Connections is a monthly free drop in event for Swindon and Southwest creatives that offers a held space for arts professionals and community artists to be together. Each session will have a practical component (2-hour workshop led by a guest artist), which will be followed by a networking/informal meet facilitated by the Making Connections team. The Making Connections team are Adrienne Hart (Artistic Director, Neon Dance) and Sarah Ferris (Swindon based dance artist and teacher).
“Adrienne and I spoke about a desire for a space to improvise, be creative with others, to bring regional based creatives together for personal and professional development, to feel embedded within a community and to be inspired.”
Where: Swindon Dance
When: Fourth Friday of the month 1.30pm - 4.30pm from January to March 2025. See our Neon Dance Events page for more details.
Confirmed guest facilitators include: Theo Clinkard, Seke Chimutengwende and Marie-Louise Flexen.
In this session, Theo Clinkard will lead a 2-hour improvisation workshop focused on movement and text and this will be followed by a networking/informal meet facilitated by the Making Connections team.
With this session, I’ll invite dancers to join me in building a space that is inclusive and kind. By focusing on touch and care, I intend to bring the focus from 'what we do' to 'how we do it'. I plan to share my ongoing work that centres our attention, our senses and our imaginations as a way to generate and articulate a landscape of feelings as we move together.
About Theo: Theo Clinkard is based in Devon and works internationally as a choreographer, designer, performer, mentor and teacher. Following 20 years working as a dancer, he launched his own company in 2012. Alongside three full-length evenings for work for his company, Theo’s international commissions include works creations for Tanztheatre Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Danza Contemporanea de Cuba & Candoco. Theo is currently planning ‘Village’, a new large-scale installation event for Sadler’s Wells East that draws upon the works of Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Recent work also includes ‘AIDA' at København Opera House, movement direction work with both Emma Thompson and Olivia Colman and acting as a mentor for BBC Young Dancer. Theo is an Associate Artist at Brighton Dome & Festival and an Honorary Fellow at Plymouth University. theoclinkard.com
NB: we appreciate that it can be challenging to find a spare three hours each month and would therefore welcome anyone who can commit to the workshop but not the networking (or vice versa). It is our intention to work with and curate an offer for local creatives and we hope to grow and adapt this initiative with those who take part.
Please complete the form to register.
Be sure to let us know which Making Connections session/s you wish to attend.