About us

TeesDance is a new voice for dance in the Tees Valley. Through innovative programmes, partnerships, and advocacy, we strive for excellence by creating opportunities for dancers, choreographers, and audiences, fostering creativity, diversity, and high-quality provision.

We challenge perceptions of who dance is for and what can be achieved. Dance that makes a difference; developing artistic and aesthetic understanding, cultural awareness, health and well-being, learning and attainment, life and employability.

Our programmes are designed for the dance sector to flourish. By embedding best practices, and partnering with freelancers and established organisations, we champion the work of local talent to do work with and for participants and audiences, both new and existing.

We are committed to creating conditions in which dance artists can thrive by establishing strong networks and delivering targeted professional development programmes, platforms, and seed commissions.

Through our work, we are:

  • Profiling, celebrating and advocating the importance of dance in all its diverse forms and settings.

  • Making high-quality dance accessible to all.

  • Supporting the workforce to achieve excellence in dance performance, education and management.

  • Improving conditions for dance to be learnt, discussed and seen.

History

In 2020, in the midst of a national lockdown, Amy Swalwell delivered an online festival; TeesDance Festival 2020 to celebrate and profile the workforce across the Tees Valley to help support them during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was from this moment that TeesDance was born!

In 2021, thanks to funding from Arts Council England through Patricia Suarez’s Research and Development project in Middlesbrough, TeesDance collaborated with Patricia and freelance artists to provide in-depth research in creating a 10-Year Vision for Dance in Middlesbrough.

Now, and until 2025, we are pioneering a programme that features a variety of new ideas, effective remedies, and mobilising strategies to transform the sector stemming from our research.

Our first project, MoveUP, delivered in partnership with Darlington Hippodrome, supported young dancers to make their own work as a choreographer and express their creative practice over a 6-month duration. This project was made possible thanks to seed-funding from Creative Darlington as part of Helix Arts’ Flourish programme. From this project, it identified the need for progression routes for young people as well as building infrastructure for artists to thrive.