If you were out and about in Bournemouth, Christchurch or Poole this half term you may have been entertained by one of the fantastic performances and workshops brought to you by Pavilion Dance South West, as we celebrated the summer safely with our free BounceBack Outdoor Dance Festival!
Funded by the Cultural Recovery Fund and put together in just 6 weeks, BounceBack Dance Festival was PDSW’s first live event since the pandemic forced us into lockdown last Spring, and it evolved with support and covid consultation from Rees Leisure, BCP Council and Showtec. Our mission is to transform communities through dance and we do this through creating accessible dance experiences for everyone – from the terraces outside our building, to Bournemouth Triangle, Poole Museum and Quay, Horseshoe Common, Henry Brown Youth Centre in West Howe, Boscombe High Street, Highcliffe Castle and Branksome Dean Chine, over 6000 people engaged in dance over the week which is just fantastic! 21 shows with over 20 performers spanned the week, and audiences were treated to a chocolate box pick of HipHop, circus, urban dance, contemporary dance, documentary dance and puppetry. You may have seen Eko the Sea Giant puppet delighting his followers through Lower Gardens, and down to the sea at Highcliffe Castle! Bournemouth-based Cuco Creative designed an interactive map to ensure audiences could find out what was happening where and when, and used GoogleMaps integration to give personalised direction to each performance.
Dance is a universal language that anyone can understand, and as well as being a really fun thing to do, it can have huge positive benefits to our mental and physical wellbeing. Throughout lockdown we supported our communities by continuing many online classes and workshops, including Parkinson’s Dance which provided a vital connection for the participants, many of whom were shielding. PDSW helped to get many members online to stay connected to their Parkinson’s Dance family on a regular basis. We are thrilled to have live lessons in our building again, and we’ll continue to run some online classes alongside the programme for anyone who prefers to join in from home. PDSW has invested in a new Digital programme of online dance, that people can watch and participate in, at home, all streamed through their website.
New and accessible ways of taking part in dance are always being created at PDSW, such as the Team Away Days for our corporate community which will be available from August. And of course just round the corner is our fabulous annual fundraiser Business Come Dancing in November, giving individuals their very own Strictly experience! You don’t need to have any dance experience to dance with us, everyone is welcome at PDSW!
As an arts charity we rely on donations and our audiences were extremely generous this week, so thank you to anyone who donated.
Find out more about how Pavilion Dance South West transforms communities through dance, and how to spread the joy of dancing by visiting our website www.pdsw.org.uk or calling 01202 203630