Thank you to everyone who joined us in Spring. It was so heartening to see the building bustling!
To open the Spring season in February we hosted Kavina Pound’s Live Archive: Waiting relating and coordinating. We were delighted to be joined by NAC members Stella Rousham and Lucy Bennett who wrote and drew their reflections. Lucy beautifully described the archive as a “highlighting the beauty in extraordinary non-linear journeys of transformation”. Have a read here and here. In a spectacular finale to the season, the NEXT Choreography cohort presented their own journey of transformation in an epic building wide festival. Described as ‘rare’ ‘insane’ ‘joyful’ and ‘unifying’ by audiences and reviewed by Francesca Matthys in Dance Art Journal.
Angel Zinovieff and Adesola Akinleye also launched Material and Digital archives, explore them now in the building and online. We also want to extend a massive thank you to Shanelle ‘Tali’ Fergus, whose Material Archive closed in March. If you missed the launch, Tali’s conversation with Nabil Al-Kani can now be watched online; an incredible and nuanced conversation on code-switching, gentrification, story-telling, organising and activism.
Looking to the summer months: Workshop with Annie returns for a special one-off Sunday, and we greatly anticipate hosting lindy-hop legend Angela Andrew’s Live Archive: mearchivingme in an immersive evening of storytelling and dance. Plus, sign-ups are open for FEAR – the third in a series of community performance projects.
With fear in mind, it remains a horrific and violent time for thousands. Communities and families are being torn apart, fearful for their and others survival, targeted by hate, anger and inequity on a local to global scale. We continue to believe in the power of dance for artistic and social change and are committed to running a building and dance activities that welcome people to be together in ways that prioritise collaboration and welcoming difference. Thank you to everyone who has been energising, sharing and making use of our building in this way – please continue to do so.
Finally, we’re pleased to launch Space for Action, a new offer of a free space for small-scale fundraising and community-building events. Local people and groups with a connection to Southwark and Lambeth are our priority, as well as events that align with our vision and values to centre marginalised communities and practices. We look forward to hearing about what you want to make happen in the building.