HOST 2026

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Duration: 60 minutes

Step into the vibrant rhythms of Afro dance with Vivian Tanaka. In this upbeat, empowering workshop, you’ll explore music and movement inspired by cultures from across Africa and dance to the infectious sounds of  afrobeats. This uplifting, beginner-friendly session is a joyful way to move, celebrating confidence and self-expression.

Vivian is a passionate dance artist and instructor who has been dancing since childhood, with a background in competitions where she fused street and Afro dance styles at a time when Afro dance was not widely recognised. She now teaches Afro dance to children, young people, and adults across schools, community settings, and health and fitness spaces. Her work is rooted in a strong belief in the power of dance to support health, wellbeing, and self-expression, creating inclusive and uplifting environments where everyone feels confident to move.

Duration: 60 minutes

Galit’s practice delves into the performative presence of the body within space. Through personal exploration, improvisation, and movement research, this workshop will cultivate somatic work, imagery, awareness of the body, its senses, and space. Exploring body research through the ‘Gila  language’ and seeking to uncover the unique movement portrait of each dancer.

Galit Liss is an independent choreographer and teacher, and the founder and artistic director of Gila School of Movement and Stage Art. As part of her artistic and social agenda, Galit aspires to push the boundaries of  contemporary dance beyond the acceptable perceptions and stereotypes in society and rethink the relevance of any – and every – body. She works to create an artistic space for ageing women  and promote the idea of life in a society that enables self-realization and development in the older body. For the past 17 years, Liss has been developing the Gila practice – a unique
methodology for working with the mature body by exploring its distinctive physiological aesthetics. Alongside her artistic work, Galit lectures at professional conferences and events dedicated to challenging stereotypes, particularly around ageing, while exploring creative processes and the connection between art and society.

Duration: 60 minutes

Join Rosy May for a joyful, uplifting and vibrant May Dance workshop bringing together rhythmic dance styles from across the globe. With each movement rooted in the natural elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, you’re encouraged to dance in the way that feels right for you.

Rosy May is a movement artist who loves to move freely to all kinds of music. She trained on the DanceEast CAT before attending Performers College and now directs movement for theatre alongside leading community workshops. Rosy produced The Islands: a Caribbean dance-led narrative piece filmed at DanceEast during the pandemic and available to watch on YouTube.

Duration: 60 minutes

Lavani is an iconic folk dance from Maharashtra’s Marathi cultural heartland in western India, known for its pulsating rhythms, bold storytelling, and intricate gestures that weave tales of romance, social satire, and everyday resilience. This beginner-friendly Dance Folks workshop offers a curated gateway into Lavani’s expressive movement language, highlighting rhythmic footwork, upper-body artistry, and character-driven presence inspired by Maharashtra’s vibrant folk legacy.

The seated version of this workshop (at 2pm) will focus on upper-body movement, gesture, expression and storytelling. Dance Folks are a regional  company, bringing the Spirit of India to Suffolk and celebrating their rich cultural heritage through specialised Bollywood and Folk dance classes,
blending Western and Contemporary styles. Founder, Bhushan Salunke, has worked as a Bollywood Choreographer, Dancer and Theatre Artist in India for over two decades.

Duration: 60 minutes

David Zambrano, the creator of the Flying Low technique, ‘redefines the history of partner dancing for the modern era’. In this workshop, we will experience the joy of social dancing, where the only way to communicate with partners is through ‘eloquent hands’. We will explore a few technical elements before dancing to various music genres.

Originally from Italy, Luca is a London-based portfolio dance artist and senior academic with several years of international experience in performance, education, choreography and practice-based research. He is the Artistic Director of The Remarkable Dance Company, and currently works for the ENBS, ISTD, NSCD and DanceEast’s CAT. As a performer, Luca worked for Luca Silvestrini, Blanca Li, Lîla, Akademi and Amina Khayyam Dance Company, and performed pieces by Jiri Kylian, Merce Cunningham, Shobana Jeyasingh, Tony Adigun, Adriana Borriello and more.

Duration: 60 minutes

Through excerpts of film and conversation, this session reflects on the body as a site of knowledge, memory, and performative presence. The film, by Stefano Azaria, is drawn from the project, Pushing Boundaries, created in
collaboration with EncoreEast and Flexer & Sandiland. The talk focuses on the choreographic work of Galit Liss with the mature body, addressing questions of visibility, agency, and the evolving body within contemporary performance. The session opens a space for dialogue, inviting audiences to engage with the practice and its broader artistic and social context.

Duration: 50 minutes

The film screenings in the Seminar Room will each feature a compilation of short films from community dance companies from across the UK and around the world. Each film screening session will features a different selection of films.