Workshop with Candoco Dance Company in Warsaw (Poland)

Date: March 28, 2022 - March 28, 2022
Location: Poland

Europe Beyond Access partner British Council Poland is collaborating with Teatr21 to run this two-part workshop delivered by performers from Candoco, one of the world’s best known inclusive dance companies and an icon of contemporary British dance theatre.

The workshop, which is taking place at the Theatre Institute venues in Warsaw, will offer disabled and non-disabled participants from a diverse range of lived and professional experience the opportunity to engage practically and creatively with the company’s inclusive approach to movement and dance.

The first part of the workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to connect with themselves, their bodies and each other, and establish an accessible and bespoke way of working together. Disabled dancers Joel Brown and Anna Seymour will lead participants through creative explorations and support the embodiment and ownership of some set material – both approaches are used in Candoco’s current repertoire of work and draw on its established inclusive practice.

4 dancers are on an all-black stage. They wear loose-fitting sheer grey clothes. The 2 female dancers in front are side-on and crouched down, bending at the knee and upper bodies tilted forward. The front-most dancer holds 2 crutches behind her and rests her cheek on the dancer directly behind her, who holds her front arm at a right angle, as if ready to run. Behind them is another female dancer who is facing away so her back is visible. She holds her right arm straight out to her side, whilst her left arm is held out to the side and bent at the elbow. She is looking at her elbow. A male dancer faces her, and is about to hold onto her right wrist. He is looking at her face.
Candoco Dance Company. Photography by Camilla Greenwell, 2021

The second part of the workshop will delve a little deeper into movement practices and explore how these might support and enrich participants’ personal movement and professional practice. There will also be an opportunity to hear from the dancers about their direct experience and strategies for working.

If you’d like to find out more about Candoco’s origins and work philosophy, we invite you to watch the interview below with Kate Marsh, a UK disabled dance artist with over 20 years of experience in performing, teaching and making who started her professional career with Candoco, with which she still collaborates.