A three-week programme that offers support and development to freelance professional dancers and recent graduates has been devised by Tracing Movement, led by choreographer Stuart Winter.

From 19 October, Tracing Movement ReBoot will offer two free daily classes for up to 90 professional dancers to enable them to rebuild and maintain their skills during the current climate.

There will also be one class per day for 2020 dance graduates, whose final year of training has been disrupted due to the pandemic.

The classes will be held at the Jerwood Space, taught by Winter and his associate Natasha Volley, with a live musician.

At the end of the programme, a short dance film will be created with six professional dancers, who will be employed to perform on the Theatre Royal Stratford East stage to an empty auditorium. This will be produced with regular collaborators, DOP Ben Thomas and Editor Greg Bernstein.

Also, documentary-maker James Harris will record some of the classes to capture and highlight the issues facing the industry at present. This documentary will be released at the end of November, at the same time as the aforementioned short film.

Winter said: “I will always fight for dancers in the industry, I want to make sure they are visible, respected and valued in a way that reflects their talent and training. We as an industry have all been working so hard to stay alive and creative during the pandemic and the funding received for this project offers the chance to invest in dancers’ skills, health and future, providing space and time to rebuild and propel them back into our industry.

“Creating a dance film also gives us the chance to bring some life and purpose back to the stage, the majority of which are currently empty; and provide an opportunity for these six dancers to reconnect with their physical voices. We are hoping this will be only the first of many Tracing Movement ReBoot programmes supporting our industry’s dancers.”

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