PRODANCE
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“PDL is unquestionably the backbone of the local dance community. Its reputation within the wider dance field is excellent and consequently it makes Leeds a destination for recent dance graduates from all over the UK whilst providing both platform and provision for the ‘workforce’ that are based here”
– PDL Teacher
ProDanceLeeds was an artist-led programme of professional dance classes in Leeds initiated and run by Kate Cox, Sarah Maria Cook, Sofia Edstrand, Rachel Fullegar and Rebecca Holmberg from 2015-2020. In 2021 Leeds-based independent artists Charlotte Arnold, Anna Cabré-Verdiell Bosch and João Maio joined founding members Kate Cox and Rachel Fullegar to continue running the project. We ran classes, workshops and mentoring schemes between 2015 - 2023.
As freelance dance artists based in Leeds, we saw the vital need to establish regular professional training to support artists entering and sustaining a career in the dance sector. In 2015 ProDanceLeeds received funding through Arts Council England to run a six month pilot, which provided morning class three days a week. This supported dancers with crucial body maintenance between and during jobs, new artistic inputs through a variety of international dance teachers and a means of connection to the others working around them in the north.
The pilot was a huge success, reaching over 130 dancers in and around the region. In 2017 we received another round of funding to develop the project for another year. The second phase saw the programme extended to five classes a week, with the addition of business mentoring from Space2 and a graduate artist scheme to support and train emerging artists to develop their teaching practice. A third ACE funded phase embedded this learning and continued to support and grow the independent dance community in Leeds.
Across all iterations of the project PDL provided employment for 138 local national and international teachers. The project was described by participants and teachers alike as essential; ‘without it, dancers get lost in the infrastructure and dominant characters at play on Leeds Dance Scene’ (PDL partner). The contribution of PDL to the ecology of the Leeds dance scene was one which challenged the larger organisations, supporting the Leeds dance scene to grow artists, audiences and the art form.
The project attracted globally renowned national and international teachers / artists to Leeds from renowned companies such as Rosas, Jasmin Vardimon, Akram Khan, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Tilted Productions, Balletboyz, Henri Oguike, DV8 Physical Theatre and Rambert Dance Company,Scottish Dance Theatre, Rosas (BE), Punchdrunk, Richard Alston Dance Company, Norrdans (SE), Ultima Vez among others.
In the last phase alone - The programme reached a total of 1,543 people. These participants had an onward audience reach of 22,369 per week or just over 1 million people annually in the many, many areas of the sector they work in.
‘I feel PDL’s initiative is crucial in order to bring the professional dance community in Leeds together. It gives them a place to meet, it gives them continuous training to keep developing skills at all times together, it gives them something stable and on-going to relate to, it gives them a place for interaction and exchange’
– PDL Teacher
EVALUATION
Across all iterations of the project we conducted extensive research, evaluation and data collection on the independent dance scene in Leeds and PDL’s place in this. In 2019 we commissioned an independent evaluator to conduct research into the need for and impact of PDL on the independent dance scene and wider dance sector in Leeds, alongside evaluating the project’s achievements and aims. For anyone that wants to take a deep dive into a 50 page evaluation document you can do that on the link below.
WHERE IS PRODANCE NOW?
In 2023 we made the tough decision to retire ProDanceLeeds and wrap up the project for good, knowing that it was not a project that could survive without funding, and that this would require us to constantly reinvent the project in order to apply for ACE project grants year after year. This is not a decision we took lightly, but in the last few years of the project it felt that the odds were stacked against us. In all honesty, we ran out of steam and energy to keep arguing for what we see as an obvious case for regular class provision. This is something we hoped at some point might be taken on by a bigger organisation with more infrastructure to support it. But as a small freelance team, all of whom were working on other projects, we felt we did not have the capacity to commit to it long term.
Leeds changed massively in the 8 years that we ran ProDance. It is now a place that dancers not only choose to stay living in, but move to from other cities across the country and even internationally - we know this from the extensive evaluation and data collection processes we have undertaken over the years! More and more independent projects are springing up, and many of those are choosing to open out professional classes to the wider community. In that sense, we feel that PDL delivered on what we intended it to achieve. We helped to build a burgeoning independent dance community in Leeds, making it a viable place for dancers to live, train and work through the community and training offered via our classes. There are more opportunities for further training and development in this city now than there was when we started PDL, more work opportunities, and classes are happening more regularly without us.
We are extremely proud of everything we achieved with PDL. We are also humbled and moved by the amount of support we have had over the years. We’d like to thank all of you who came to the classes, taught the classes, shouted about the classes, encouraged others to come along with you. We’d also like to thank all those organisations and individuals over the years who supported us financially and with huge amounts of in kind support; free studio space, marketing, advocacy, advice, mentoring, teacher recommendations etc. We have learnt a huge amount from this project over the years, and those of us involved in getting this project off the ground and keeping it going are stronger and more resilient artists for having been part of it. And, we believe, Leeds is a stronger and more resilient city because of this project. We hope this will continue for many years to come!
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