Dance United

Opening
The Spectrum

Opening the Spectrum includes a variety of projects with social and/or development aims. It is the company’s fourth programme of work and may include anything from one-off workshops, summer schemes, performances, festivals, or longer projects of an ongoing basis. The programme may also include work outside of Northern Ireland, which will be undertaken only if there is a social or developmental aim that fits into the framework of the company’s mission statement.

Programmes of work delivered internationally have resulted in the development of partnerships with local development organisations Tanz die Toleranz, Austria, ResiDance, Germany and YANTE, Palestine. Ongoing long-term programmes are currently being developed with these partners.

Performances projects have included and will include:

U.Dance Festival
(Southbank Centre, London July 2012)

Twenty-nine young local dancers from Northern Ireland took part in the U.Dance festival in London in mid-July in the year’s biggest youth dance festival, U.Dance 2012 as part of the pre-olympic celebrations. U.Dance 2012 was a national initiative spearheaded by Youth Dance England with project partners, YDance (Scotland) , National Youth Dance Wales (Wales) and DU Dance (Northern Ireland).

Exile
(Palestine, August 2011)

This performance project, directed by Royston Maldoom and assisted by Mags Byrne, involved 119 young Christian and Muslim teenagers from four towns working together over a five week period. The resulting performance toured to Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Zebabdeh.

Celebration (Belfast, December 2009)

To open this inter Education & Library Board celebration performance DU Dance devised and choreographed a piece involving 30 dancers and 20 drummers from across the North, East and West of Northern Ireland

Overture 2012 (London, November 2008)

For Dance Umbrella, London, Royston Maldoom assisted by Mags Byrne and Steve Mason, delivered Overture 2012. 120 young people danced to Shostakovich’s Symphony No 10 at the Royal Albert Hall, London, accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra.

The Quest (Switzerland, June 2008)

250 young people aged between 5 and 14 years from Schule Bannfeld and Olten worked for four weeks with the company. Concluding performances were in the Olten Stadttheater.

Magma (Waterfront Hall, Belfast, May 2007)

Performed as part of the Shankill Schools Project, The Fire Within.
Performers: pupils from Belfast Boys Model School and Blackmountain Primary School.

Can Do Can Dance (The Deutsche Schauspielhaus, Hamburg, September 2006)

A community dance festival programme involving performances, lectures, seminars and master classes. The programme involved five choreographers working with specific community groups and mentoring German choreographers who were assisting on the programme.
Du Dance worked with 92 children from a primary school in Hamburg’s red-light district and five local choreographers who were mentored through this programme.

Cool Moves (Armagh, April 2005)

A dance-for-film project with a substantial in-service training programme for teachers and youth leaders.
Performers: 250 teenagers and 10 teachers/leaders from schools and youth clubs in the Southern Education and Library Board area of Northern Ireland.