Four dance artists were successful through the Developing Practice Bursaries which are aimed at individual artists and dance practitioners developing their career in the region. The successful applicants are:

• Rebecca Randall will undertake further Playback Theatre training to enhance her practice with her company; Here We Are Dance.
• Helen Mason – will travel to California, USA to take part in AXIS Dance Company’s disability and inclusive dance teacher training programme.
• Jai Patel – is travelling to India to attend Serendipity Festival and conduct further classical Indian dance research.
• AJ & Ben Morley of Ascension dance – will visit London to take part in Breakin’ Convention, festival of hip hop dance theatre.

Dance Hub Birmingham invested in two companies through the Open Call Artistic Commissions which will see new work created in Birmingham and the West Midlands. The successful companies are:

• Spiltmilk Dance – Now That’s What I Call Dancing

This project aims to capture a snapshot of the West Midlands (and Britain) in 2019. Spiltmilk Dance (cover pic) will work with 10 members of the public from across Birmingham, each in a different decade of life. Each of these 10 individuals will be guided through a series of creative tasks to create a short piece of choreography, Spiltmilk will craft the ten together to make a full show. These works may include movement, text and music and will be crafted in Spiltmilk’s signature friendly, charming and accessible style.

• Sonia Sabri – I and I

Sonia Sabri (Independent Artist – pictured)) will make a brand new Indian, Irish and Contemporary dance production in collaboration with Keira Martin, accompanied with live music and produced by Spin Arts. It will be a full-length narrative production that sees other worldly women visit planet earth.

Monique Deletant, Director of Dance Hub Birmingham said: “I am delighted that we are able to make this investment into dance in the region, and to support the development of artists and the sector in Birmingham and the West Midlands. The quality of applications we received for both the Developing Practice Grants and Artistic Commissions was very high and I look forward to seeing the outcomes benefitting the wider region.”

In addition, through the last round of commissions, Dance Hub Birmingham specifically allocated funds for specific dance genres including Streetdance and Hip-Hop Theatre. Break Mission were successful through this round and will produce part two of their Dance of Death Hip-Hop theatre production as part of B-SIDE Hip-Hop Festival at Birmingham Hippodrome in May 2019.

A further eight individual Hip Hop dance artists were commissioned to create a new work to be performed at Birmingham Hippodrome’s B-SIDE Hop-Hop Festival. These artists include:

• Aaron ‘Shin’ Duncan/Key Infinity
• Crisis/ Key Infinity
• Tia ‘Tigress Eye’ Christopher
• Shauna Latty
• Edy ‘Muuya’ Samuels
• Omar ‘Kidd Ronin’ Spence/Reckless
• Nathan Marsh/Marshon Dance
• Jamaal O’Driscoll

These artists will be further supported through the Artists 4 Artists programme, Birmingham Artists 4 Growth, supported by Dance Hub Birmingham, which aims to upskill and develop artistic skills, refine their artistic voice and vision, give a broad overview of their production skills as well as understanding the wider dance and arts industry.

Monique Deletant added, “Both myself and the steering group were incredibly excited by the range of applications we received from Streetdance and Hip-Hop artists. It is fantastic that we were able to ensure the funding we have could be allocated to support individuals in developing their practice and to support them in creating new work to be show right here in Birmingham. I look forward to seeing this new work at this year’s B-SIDE Hip-Hop Festival.”

These dance practitioners, artists and companies join the companies and individuals Dance Hub Birmingham are already supporting including seven companies through the Artistic Commissions and nine individuals through the Developing Practice Bursaries. The commissions for South Asian dance and Disability Dance will be announced shortly.