We are excited to share our spring season with you, including performances, workshops, and classes for all ages to take part in. Our classes have started this week, and it’s great to see lots of new and returning faces back in our studios. We look forward to welcoming you back to our theatre, kicking things off with Jasmin Vardimon Company’s ALiCE at the end of January!
Following a sell-out run in 2022, this magical re-imagining of the ground-breaking classic Alice in Wonderland returns to Ipswich, and promises a sensory feast of arresting images, powerful performers, and striking kinetic scenery. Suitable for ages 12+, it’s a great evening out for young people and adults alike.
For younger children, get immersed in The Sticky Dance, a colourful, engaging and stimulating performance for ages 3 – 5. Featuring a stage full of brightly coloured washi tape, audiences are encouraged to explore freely, choosing how they engage, and turning the rules upside down. You are invited to tape, stick, and groove, to see and feel sound or to be still, watch, and listen.
Enjoy the creative freedom of dancing with your little one and join us for our highly anticipated Spring themed Baby Loves to Boogie, the best disco in town! Led by Lizzie, our early years disco queen, you and your little one will explore all the joy and excitement of the season, from blossoming flowers to prancing lambs and hopping bunnies. This event is designed to nurture your little one’s natural love of movement in a structured yet relaxed environment, no previous dance experience necessary.
With just a few weeks to go until half term, are you looking for inspiring activities for young people? We have an exciting opportunity to check out, our Once Upon A Dance Day is being hosted in partnership with Suffolk Libraries. We have bursary places available, so everyone can join in the fun! Find out more and book here.
Do you know a young person aged 10 – 16 who loves to dance? Interested in finding out more about the DanceEast Centre of Advanced Training (CAT)? We are running a series of CAT workshops this February Half Term across the East of England. This will be a day filled with fun, excitement, and practical workshops for young dancers to come together and share their creativity and get a taste of the DanceEast CAT Training. Find you nearest taster day here.
Throughout the spring, we have got a great offering of dance classes for you to discover, whether you are aged 8 or 80! Our classes provide a great space to get creative, feel energised and meet like minded people, with no pressure of grades or getting it perfect, it’s all about exploring the joy of movement and learning something new. Discover what’s on here.
With climate emergency an ever more urgent issue, Lila Dance’s Fault Lines pairs dance with immersive digital imagery, evocative writing, and cinematic music, to explore the earths changing landscape, through sun-scorched plains, roaring waves, cityscapes, and smoking forests.
This March, Mark Bruce Company returns to DanceEast to present a double bill of new work. Bruce presents his adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel, Frankenstein, performed by six incredible dancers. Jonathan Goddard plays the role of the tragic monster, sewn together from the shreds of humanity, rejected and wandering in a timeless landscape. Don’t miss this gothic performance, plus Bruce’s shorter work, Liberation Day. A powerful, contemplative dance work about life, love, and the passing of time, danced to songs written by Bruce.
Choreographer Joseph Toonga and his company Just Us Dance Theatre brings Limited Edition, a new commission of works from leading UK Hip Hop Dance artist and companies to DanceEast this Spring. This event includes a special commission from internationally acclaimed Krump and Hip Hop artist Bruno Duarte hailing from Rio, Brazil.
Wrapping up our Spring season at the end of April, we are excited to have Akram Khan’s much-loved family friendly production of Chotto Desh return to the Jerwood DanceHouse. Kathak and contemporary dance are mixed with spoken text, dreamlike animation, visuals, and specially composed music, to create an enchanting and poignant dance-theatre experience for children and their families to enjoy together.
In May, HOST is back! This full day event celebrates dance and age, shining a spotlight on the ever-evolving network of older community dancers, dance groups and companies in the East of England and beyond. It brings dancers together, along with artists, practitioners, and choreographers, to move and talk in a programme of workshops, presentations, discussions, and performances. Find out more about HOST and book your place here.
Discover what’s on throughout the spring here.
