Focus on Community Dance – Developing dance

Angela Conlan looks at how the county of Wiltshire seized the opportunity to draw together a range of community activity and implement a strategic dance development plan.

Following boundary changes in 2003, Wiltshire became the only county without a strategic dance development plan. Although the area had the potential to benefit from the development of a relationship with the two National Dance Agencies based in the south west  Swindon Dance which over many years, delivered a range of dance development in Wiltshire, and Dance South West based in Bournemouth, but with a south west regional remit  a consultation exercise to identify Wiltshires own priorities for dance was commissioned by a group of organisations and individuals interested in dance development. The resulting report provided the impetus for a plan to strengthen and develop the infrastructure for dance in the county; develop access to and improve the impact of high quality dance for audiences and participants; and support artists living and working in the community.

A pilot research and development period is now underway, to enable Wiltshire to embark on the identified strategic dance development priorities and become networked into the regional dance development framework. This work is timely, giving Wiltshire the opportunity to feed into a number of exciting regional and national developments including Best of the West, a major event to platform the outstanding work of regional artists. Projects such as Roots n Motion, a county-wide youth dance project run by Wiltshire County Council Youth Development Service, and the work of Dance Aware are both emerging and gaining support, and it is important now that these and other initiatives become part of a broader strategic vision. Also there are a number of other developments and changes in Wiltshire at the present time around the arts in general, and dance needs to be represented at the table as these changes gather momentum.

Having spent the past five years setting up and co-ordinating Wiltshire Youth Arts Partnership, and having previously worked as a dance artist in Oxfordshire, I have recently been appointed to co-ordinate the project, and during the next year Wiltshire Dancing will embark on a series of initiatives and provide a key focal point and a clear voice for dance advocacy, information, advice and support. Work will include mapping current provision to identify gaps in infrastructure and analyse priorities, and exploring successful audience development models through an action research project. Two further exemplar dance action research projects will take place in consultation with partners including local authorities to encourage inclusion and promote access for an agreed target group within the community. Active engagement with Dance South West and Swindon Dance will ensure dance artists and practitioners in Wiltshire are kept networked and informed. An artists nucleus will be established with surgeries, regular meetings, professional development opportunities and financial help to facilitate access. The rural and spread out nature of Wiltshire means that focus and unity is essential to ensure development happens in a co-ordinated, planned and strategic way and that initiatives do not just fizzle for a moment and then expire.

Angela Conlan is Co-ordinator of Wiltshire Dancing.
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