DanceXchange

Together with Birmingham Hippodrome and Birmingham Royal Ballet, DanceXchange is part of the largest dance partnership in Britain. Housed within the Birmingham Hippodrome complex, DanceXchange has some of the best dance facilities in the UK, with three studios and The Patrick Centre, a 206-seat studio theatre which was the first dedicated dance space outside London and remains one of the most important spaces for dance performance and production in the country.

DanceXchange takes the best British dance to a worldwide stage, brings outstanding artists from across the world to Birmingham, and has a growing reputation as a producing house. DanceXchange produces innovative site-specific commissions and large-scale performance events in both professional and community contexts, co-produces a range of touring productions, and runs its own small-scale touring dance company, Bare Bones.

DanceXchange also engages people from all backgrounds in healthy participatory dance activity, and nurtures gifted young people to help shape the dance artists, performers and leaders of the future. As part of this, DanceXchange runs an open recreational Class Programme of around 45 dance classes each week for people of all ages, from beginner to professional, in a diverse range of styles, from Contemporary, to Capoeira, to Kathak – and delivers high quality dance projects that engage young people and communities at risk of exclusion.

DanceXchange is also the strategic West Midlands hub for a number of nationally significant dance initiatives and partnerships, currently including:

Running the Centre for Advanced Training for South Asian and Contemporary Dance, in partnership with sampad South Asian Arts, funded by the Department of Education’s Music and Dance Scheme, aimed at young people with exceptional talent and potential in South Asian or Contemporary dance;

Leading a network of partner organisations based in each of the six sub-regions of the West Midlands to ensure a joined-up region-wide strategy for Youth Dance;

Leading on a substantial new Outdoor Dance Programme (Spill and Breathe the Beat), in partnership with Regional Dance Agencies Dancefest, Dancescape and Dudley Performing Arts, created for public spaces around Birmingham and the West Midlands from Summer 2011 to the end of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Autumn 2012. This bold and innovative project, comprising commissioning, digital and participatory strands, forms a major strand of the Dancing for the Games programme, connecting people with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games through dance.

DanceXchange, in partnership with Birmingham Hippodrome, also produces the biennial International Dance Festival Birmingham (IDFB), one of the largest and most diverse dance festivals in the world, bringing outstanding international dance to theatres across the city and creating inventive new productions for public spaces. IDFB makes a significant contribution to the cultural life of the city and has a positive impact on perceptions of Birmingham as an attractive visitor destination. Building on the successes of IDFB 2008 and 2010, the third festival IDFB 2012, was delivered in April/May 2012.