Dancefest began life in 1990 as a festival to celebrate and raise the profile of dance. It has now grown into the main community dance development organisation for Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
Dancefest uses the power and joy of dancing to enhance people's lives, enabling everyone to take part in, be inspired by, and express themselves through dance.
Dancefest provides a range of opportunities to enable people to take part in dance, including running more than 35 classes a week based in a wide variety of venues across both counties, five community performance companies for all ages - including an inclusive company - and a range of projects in schools, colleges, universities, community settings and outdoor sites.
Last year the programme attracted around 7,237 people as participants and 6,407 as audiences, a total of 24,673 attendances.
Dancefest encourages curiosity - about contemporary dance, who dances, where dance happens - and many of our performances take place in unusual spaces and places.
We pride ourselves on delivering work of high quality that makes a genuine difference to people’s lives, all led by an experienced professional team.
Rose Beeston - Director
Michele Holder - Access and Inclusion
Elizabeth Crosswell - Adults
Janene Wyatt - Children (on maternity leave from Jan 2018)
Charlotte Hale - Children (maternity cover Jan-July 2018)
Clare Wood - Young People
Karey Parsons - Marketing Officer
Paul Bellamy - Administrator
We have a team of an experienced, professional dance teachers.
Dancefest has a skilled and dedicated board of trustees.
We're grateful to all the people and organisations we collaborate with throughout the year, especially our creative and supportive volunteers.
Using the power and joy of dancing to enhance people's lives
Enabling everyone to take part in, be inspired by and express themselves through dance.
Read our Vision, Mission, Values and Aims
Dancefest want people to find joy in dance through being confident and creative participants.
Our highly skilled community dance leaders use contemporary techniques, creative and choreographic skills to work with people of all ages and abilities in a range of settings.
Read our full artistic statement
Helen Stallard, the Chair of Dancefest’s board and a Communications Consultant, has been talking to people who come (or used to come) to our classes, to celebrate their achievements and also help other people see how they can get involved with Dancefest. You can see their stories here.
‘Thank you for all of your work and the inspiration you give both teachers and children’ – Teacher, Leominster Primary School
‘It was good to be a part of a project like this and made all of the rehearsals worthwhile – very rewarding’ – Big Jigsaw participant
‘I think that everything Dancefest offers is excellent! The chance to be part of a huge community of dancers of all ages and all abilities who are dancing because they/we love it!’ – Choreography class participant
‘We all look forward to our wonderful classes and to the enjoyment of being in each other's company’ – Chance to Dance participant
‘Good variety, lots of opportunities to go to performances and events’ - Audience response
‘Making friends through the process of having fun and performing, doing something I enjoy’ - Class participant
‘Fantastic'- great fun and I feel part of a big family called Dancefest!’- Worcester DFY participant
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