The touring programme will start off in the Black Country in January 2021 with the first tour date at Walsall Arena & Arts Centre on Thursday 4th February in partnership with Black Country Dance Hub. The Company will also visit the Edge Hill University Arts Centre in Ormskirk, Birmingham Hippodrome, Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester and finally Dicot over the Summer.

Autin Dance Theatre has made several special creative modifications to the show in line with social distancing measures and the latest guidelines including a live feed of the action onto large screens and adaptations of the format of the piece with the audience seated in-the-round.

The play runs for 75 minutes and is aimed at young people (12+) in the local secondary schools and colleges of each venue with an uplifting and engaging message on self-love, sexual health topics and sex ed’ stories.

The performances are part of a comprehensive creative package, delivered by the company, alongside sex and relationships educator Gillian Leno, which also includes a programme of audience development: community outreach, masterclasses and post-show discussions available both live and digitally.

Johnny Autin, Autin Dance Theatre Creative Director and choreographer said: “Following months of isolation, our project will provide a safe physical and virtual space for young people to re-learn and reconnect emotionally and socially with themselves and the world around them. The show is COVID-19 secure and follows most the up-to-date guidance to ensure the live performances are as safe as possible.

“We have created and developed this production since 2015. I am thrilled that we are able to share the great news that our programme is going ahead in 2021. Like most dance companies in the country, we had to cancel and postpone our Autumn tour this year. I am really happy that we can work with our creative team of freelance collaborators again and engage with audiences and participants in a meaningful way.”

“This immersive piece both transported and drew the audience into a vulnerable world of first relationships and sexual understanding. The work combined innovative dance which at times traded places with physical theatre enabling a bridge into performance multidisciplinarity where text and dance could sit at ease alongside each other. It is no easy task to take the theme of sex education and transport it with such high production values that the work stands up in any context, this was achieved with grace and dignity by Autin Dance Theatre,” commented Claudette Bryanston, Executive and Artistic Director at The Albany, Coventry.

“Black Country Dance Hub is excited to promote Autin Dance Theatre’s A Posi+ive Life at Walsall Arena & Arts Centre on the 4th February 2021. It will be the first socially distanced live performance of the year and after the 2020 national lockdowns. The programme of work also includes brilliant wrap-around education work in the community,” added Maggie Lewis, Director of The Black Country Dance Hub