Dance United

This project focuses on cross-cultural and
cross-generational work.

Historically, dance has always been a social gatherer. However, currently there are few situations that bring strangers and different generations or cultures together. DU Dance seeks to address the breakdown in contact between communities and individuals by celebrating the power of dance as a vehicle for personal and social growth.

Performance projects
have and will include:

Alternative Energies 2012 – ongoing

This is a intergenerational dance project targeting women and girls across a wide age range.  The programme encourages the sharing and exchange of ideas, skills and knowledge and links and makes connections between women of different generations and from different communities.

In Spring 2012, the first part of the project was delivered with the output of two short intergenerational films. On November 1st to 3rd, 2012, the next component of the project, a full length inter-generational dance piece, will be performed at St. Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast as part of the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen’s. The production will be woven together by a commissioned score composed by violinist, Ruby Colley and performed live by a string quartet and choir, against the backdrop of the films.

Earth and Tides

(March 2012)
Two short intergenerational films, created with participants from Belfast, Ballymena and Ahoghill. The films were facilitated by Triple Vision and including the composition of original  music by composer Ruby Colley.

Over the Halfpenny Bridge
(St. Georges Market, Belfast, April 2009)

An evening of celebration, encompassing a wide range of art forms and ethnic cultures and involving children and elderly people in cross-community, cross-generational activities. At the core of the programme was creative dance and story telling.

Performers: 65 Primary 7 children from Elmgrove Primary School in east Belfast and 20 participants from the neighbouring Elmgrove Manor and Greenville Court Sheltered Housing.

Dance Halls
(Ballroom, Culloden Hotel, Holywood, March 2008)

This cross-generational project ran over a period of five months and involved children, teenagers and elderly participants in a programme based on the dance halls of the 1940s and 1950s. The climax was a community celebration and performance, with music played by the James Huish Big Band.