Open Practice is a space for morning moving where everyone is welcome. It is a concept initiated and developed by Wainsgate Dances. It’s an hour for doing your own thing in the company of others with an eclectic playlist changed daily, put together by artists at Wainsgate Dances. Read about the Online version that ran for 6 months during lockdown HERE  

Since it began, Open Practice has travelled as an idea and is happening across the UK and Europe including Berlin, Findhorn, Margate, Limerick. We’re delighted to host some sessions here in South London to continue this international web of moving together. 

Schedule:

Every Tuesday + Wednesday  18 Aug – 16 Sep from 9-10am, in the Roof Studio:

• Tuesday 18 August
• Wednesday 19 August
• Tuesday 25 August
• Wednesday 26 August
• Tuesday 1 September
• Wednesday 2 September
• Tuesday 8 September (Research Studio)
• Wednesday 9 September
• Tuesday 15 September
• Wednesday 16 September

What To Expect

• The Studio opens at 8:50am. The playlist starts at 9am and runs for 60 minutes. 

• There will be an SDS team member in the studio to offer any support. There are also yoga mats, cushions, benches and chairs with backs if you need.  

• All Welcome! You don’t need to have a dance practice or be a dance practitioner to come. It’s an hour to move as you much or as little as you need and want alongside others. 

Open Practice Thoughts & Guidelines

To support the experience, here are some thoughts and guidelines shared by Wainsgate Dance that have come out of the 5 years that this has been happening and being developed by many moving bodies.

• Find a space in the room and stick to that space. It’s your own little island in a room full of islands, or your own swimming lane in a pool full of swimmers. (You may need to renegotiate your space as more people fill the room) 

• Open Practice is a space for exploring, bringing attention to, developing, and sustaining your own way of moving whilst others are doing the same – in their own way. 

• So doing something for yourself, and taking care of your own practice; being completely engaged in your own moving is a way to support and be supported by the whole space. 

• Open Practice is a space for moving alongside rather than with or to the others or in contact with them, so again, please keep to your space. 

• One thing that supports practice is curiosity. 

• Including all of the different ways that movement arrives and is experienced; feeling your way into moving, taking time and resting are all part of what you could be curious about and play with. 

• Open Practice started as a means of supporting professional dance artists to develop and sustain their practice. 

• It is open to all no matter what your movement experience and it continues to be a space for exploration in which many approaches to moving can happen alongside each other. 

• Come as often or as little as you like. 

• It’s ok to arrive late, or to leave early. Please do so with consideration for the other people in the space. 

• Open Practice is a shoe free, chat free and phone free space. 

• *Indoor footwear is fine if you need to wear it. Outdoor footwear to be left at the door please. 

In the Roof Studio (aside from 8 Sept in the Research Studio)

9-10am

No need to book – just come along.

Pay What You Can

£4 is our suggested minimum donation.

We will be donating 40% of ticket income to Wainsgate Dances to further support artists and communities local to them in Hebden Bridge.

Please note we are only able to accept card payments.

If you’d like to know more about Open Practice, you can contact us via email at contact@siobhandavies.com.

Siobhan Davies Studios is mostly accessible, with lifts to all floors. There are two accessible parking spaces available on site which can be booked in advance. Blue Badge parking is also available nearby on West Square and Garden Row (for a full map visit the Southwark Council website). Our main door is power assisted.

Amenities include: 

• Changing facilities* 
• Communal showers* 
• Toilets / wheelchair accessible toilets 
• Kitchen: tea and coffee making, fridge, and microwave
• Snack Bar: We have a small selection of bars, drinks and food available to buy from the front desk.
• Shops: The closest shop is Superway Supermarket on Garden Row (4 min walk), the closest supermarket is Sainsbury’s on New Kent Road (7 min walk). We also recommend the Art Cafe which serves sandwiches, jacket potatoes and meals (3 min walk).

* Our changing facilities and showers are not fully accessible. Our closest publicly available and fully accessible changing facility is at The Castle Centre, a leisure centre 0.3 miles away from the studios. You can find full details of their features here.