Press Release: Discover a new way to create and share dance as Greenwich Dance launches ArtsUnboxed

[Jan McNulty]

Discover a new way to safely and sustainably create and share dance as Greenwich Dance launches ArtsUnboxed 

 

Greenwich Dance is thrilled that ArtsUnboxed, its innovative new platform created to safely and sustainably create, produce and share work, has now launched.  

 

Featuring new commissioned dance works from a diverse group of artists, ArtsUnboxed offers venues, festivals, dance organisations and schools across the country the opportunity to purchase everything needed to present these original creations in their own settings using local artists.  

 

Works featured on ArtsUnboxed focus on animating public spaces, engaging communities, and adding to traditional theatre programming in a way that will help venues reintroduce audiences back into their buildings.  

 

They include Dance:Connects from Joss Arnott Dance, with producer Phil Hargreaves.   A choreographic framework to help people create digital dance works that can be shared online or in person, celebrating and connecting people through dance. Joss Arnott Dance have created nine variations for a range of bodies and varying levels of experience.  

 

Sarah Blanc in collaboration with Annie Vicky Sarah and producer Emma Abbey, have developed Familiar Spaces, an inclusive duet that explores our sense of memory and place, accessible to disabled and non-disabled artists for either digital or live settings.  

 

Created by NOCTURN, with producer Sarah Shead Spin Arts, The Riddle is an online outdoor dance experience where participants help the central character Pæn reengage with the outdoor world by using their phones to find QR codes, solve riddles and share dance moves.  

 

Pervez Live 2 Break, with producer Kate Scanlan, has created Dance Your Socks Off an interactive dance game where participants earn points by learning and performing a number of different dance styles. This intergenerational game has been designed to be accessible to all ages and abilities.  

 

MidSummerland by Anatomical with producer Claire Summerfield, is an audio adventure for parents and their children designed to be experienced in pairs or groups of three in indoor or outdoor environments. Audiences are led by a voice to an imaginary festival and encouraged to dance together.  

 

A new work by Temujin Gill – Grounded Movement, with producer Kate Scanlan, will be available shortly. Designed for schools, youth groups and theatre groups this work will focus on young people’s hopes and dreams for the future and give them a chance to use their voice to create their own show.   

 

Following its launch, a second phase of the project will open ArtsUnboxed up to other artists interested in using the platform to promote their work and ideas. Any creatives interested are invited to get in touch to propose works they’d like to be considered.  

 

Funded by the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund, ArtsUnboxed offers a safe and sustainable way of touring ideas rather than people. It has been designed to help support cultural employment at a local level while also offering further support through royalties to the original creatives beyond the commissioned period  

 

Melanie Precious, Chief Executive Officer of Greenwich Dance said “I am so thrilled to see ArtsUnboxed launch today. A project that only a few months ago was just an idea now houses ‘recipes’ for some of the most original and exciting new dance works from our incredibly talented artists, available for venues to buy and recreate in their communities.  

 

“This new digital platform gives us the opportunity to share innovative, cutting-edge work in a safe and environmentally friendly way. It is my hope for ArtsUnboxed to complement the existing touring model that generally benefits large-scale companies and give independent artists the opportunity to have their work and ideas seen by more people than before.” 

 

To deliver the programme, the artist and producer pairs are supported by a team of freelance specialists including Senior Producer Rajpal Pardesi, Dramaturg Lou Cope, Communications Consultant Lucy White, Access and Inclusion Consultant Alex Covell. The project also sees performer Annie Edwards take on a paid shadowing position, mentored by Alex, to help support her professional career development. 

 

ArtsUnboxed is live now on artsunboxed.com 

 

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Notes to editors  

 

ArtsUnboxed is funded through the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund, administered by Arts Council England on behalf of Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. 

 

About ArtsUnboxed 

ArtsUnboxed is a revolutionary new way to create and tour dance. Devised by Greenwich Dance, it is an online shop where ‘boxes’ containing the full instructions for remounting participatory or performance work are available for venues, festivals and organisations to purchase for presentation in their own settings, with their own local artists. 

 

By touring ideas rather than people, ArtsUnboxed creates a new income stream for artists as well as addressing environmental concerns of shipping people around the country. The initiative shares great ideas and provides the inspiration and toolkits for purchasers to recreate with, by and for their own communities and audiences. 

 

About Greenwich Dance 

Greenwich Dance, established in 1993, provides a place for both non-professionals and professionals to move, watch and create regardless of age, experience or background within a wide range of activities including classes, performance projects, festivals and events. Over the past 8 months Greenwich Dance has stayed operational, forging brand new ways of working to include online classes designed to tackle loneliness and isolation, a podcast, blogs authored by freelance artists, digital dance round-ups, online dance creation and doorstep performances.