We are excited to celebrate the end of the first year of our newly expanded version of Quiet Beats with an extra special summer school. The week will be led by 2 special guest choreographers and supported by our dance Officer Amber Howells. And will be in the Dance Studio at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff.

Who will you be working with?

The current Company interviewed each of the prospective Choreographers in May and then selected their favourites to work with them. This was not an easy decision and the Company final chose two who will work with you for half a week each

Jules Young (He/Him) is a performer, choreographer and technician from Abergavenny. He graduated from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and toured with their postgraduate company, VERVE. His work blends theatre, contemporary dance, circus and lighting design, which he explores as co-artistic director of No Sleep dance theatre. He makes work that is memorable and exciting, combining many different forms.

Anna Seymour is a Deaf dance artist and actress based in London. Anna was born profoundly deaf to a hearing family in Lismore, Australia and started dancing at the age of 6 years old. After a long break where she didn’t dance for several years due to the inaccessible nature of dance at the time, she moved to Melbourne to study a BA of Creative Arts (Dance) at Deakin University. She lived in Melbourne for 14 years as a freelance dancer, choreographer, and teacher before moving to London in 2020 to join Candoco Dance Company as a dancer. Her work with Candoco has taken her all over the UK, Europe as well as America and the UAE. 

Anna is arguably one of the most successful professional D/deaf dancers working today and is passionate about sharing her love of dance! 

What will it be like?

From Monday to Wednesday lunch you will work with Jules. Jules will do a warm-up class each morning with lots of floorwork and high-energy games and sequences. The rest of the day will be spent developing your individual movement styles through choreographic games. You will have time to develop skills such as footwork and movement memory. The days will be fun and give you a chance to learn lots of new skills and confidence. You will work on your own, in small groups and as a class.

From Wednesday afternoon to Friday you will work with Anna. Anna will do a contemporary dance warm up at the beginning of each workshop focussing on body and spatial awareness, release work and sequences. The rest of the workshop will slowly progress through movement and choreographic tasks individually, in pairs, small groups and as a whole group. The focus will be on collective movement, collective rhythm, collective ritual with a rave element! The days will be explorative, fun and give you an opportunity to develop your own movement sequences and work collaboratively. 

What ages is it for?

We invite all ages to come for the morning from 10am-12noon and then older ones aged 12+ will stay after lunch and do an afternoon session too.

There will always be two really experienced teachers in the class so you will get plenty of help.

Will there be an Interpreter in the room? And what if I can’t understand the tasks or learn the moves?

Yes we will always have an interpreter in the room who uses BSL and SSE. We have worked with lots of D/deaf dancers over the years, young people like you as well as professionals and have adapted the way we work to meet your needs. We always welcome you to tell us how we can improve the way we teach. Our dance artists will take the classes at the speed you need. 

Quiet Beats will most importantly be fun but we will try and challenge you, so you can surprise yourself and grow in confidence. 

What if I can’t come for the whole week?

We would love you to as this way you will get the most out of it but you don’t have to. You can join for one day or all four days, whatever is best for you.

I want to come but I feel a bit nervous.

It can be scary doing something new for the first time. You might be worried that you won't know anyone, or you might be worried about not liking it. We are the most supportive and welcoming group. We want everyone to have a happy time, to flourish, to feel supported and valued. If you are intrigued but a bit worried about any aspect of these workshops then please let us know so that we can make suitable adjustments. You may like to just commit to the first hour while parents wait for example to see how you like it. There is never any pressure to stay if it isn’t for you. In this case we will refund your fees. 

Although… We think once you get started you will love it!

How much does it cost?

Thanks to Arts Council Wales we are able to offer these workshops for free.

However, these sessions are expensive to run and difficult to plan when we don’t know who is coming. We respectfully ask you to book as early as you can and to honour your bookings. If something comes up and you can’t come please let us know as soon as possible.