Dance Re:Ignite 4.0

ARCHIVE: Dance Re:Ignite 4.0

(September 2023 to August 2025)

Image Credit: Simon Richardson

OVERVIEW

Dance Re:Ignite 4.0 was a programme of dance activity, spanning from September 2023 to July 2025, that aimed to challenge the dance offer for 55+ year olds and disabled adults in Hertfordshire. It took place between. Building on previous iterations of Dance Re:Ignite, it hoped to increase the artistic ambition and demonstrate the impact of the work more widely across different sectors including Social Care and Sport. It took a hyper-localised approach to delivery across 6 towns in Hertfordshire, collaborating with local partners, local artists, volunteers, and leading national artists.

This is the fourth iteration of Dance Re:Ignite, founded on the need to provide a space for older people to have access to dance provision local to them. Furthermore, BEEE Creative identified that in order to enable this, better dance infrastructure needs to be in place. This does not just include the development of local dance artists but developing sustained cross-sector partnerships with organisations who work directly with and for older people.

AIMS

Dance Re:Ignite 4.0 aimed to increase the reach and access to high quality dance experiences for older adults and disabled adults in local communities in Hertfordshire. It aimed to increase the diversity of leaders of dance and develop the skills of dance local practitioners to attract less engaged communities in physical and creative activity.

HEADLINE FINDINGS

Assumptions about older adults and disabled adults were challenged. Participants in the programme were challenged on assumptions about themselves and those they worked with. There was an increased sense of identity, with the dance workshops often drawing out hitherto unknown histories of those taking part.
Wellbeing was impacted across the project. The Volunteer Dancers felt more connected to themselves, each other and their communities. The co-creation process enabled them to feel creative, have ownership of the project and valued for their contribution. Many felt good at being able to give back to the community. Benefits to wellbeing were also observed in those who took part as audience participants.
Through the development of cross-sector partnerships, a greater reach and diversity of people accessed dance. In particular, older people in care homes and supported accommodation, often underserved were reached.
Cross-sector partnerships were developed and strengthened, with 63% of partners new to BEEE Creative and numerous new to dance provision, and now increasingly likely to re-engage with this type of work again.
BEEE Creative’s co-creation practice is central to the impact that it creates. It aims to provide as much as possible a space for co-creation in its delivery with participants, and furthermore works towards a co-production model, involving as many stakeholder voices as possible in shaping its projects.
BEEE Creative has further developed its co-creation practice, better understanding the role co-creation plays across its work, its benefits, and its limitations. BEEE Creative has demonstrated how it builds the conditions to enable its co-creation ethos, and this project has demonstrated that through modelling its practice this ethos continues via its participants.

EVALUATION

A full evaluation report is available for this project >>

EVALUATION REPORT PDF

A behind the scenes project scrapbook is available for this project >>

SCRAPBOOK PDF

PROJECT CREDITS

Dance

Adriana Welham, Vida Wellness Club
Carrie Washington, BEEE Creative
Dawn Hudson, Trestle Arts Base
Laura Horn, New Connections
Louise White, Dacorum Community Dance
Rebecca Benford, Full of Life Dance

Visual Arts

Anji Archer
Gabrielle Vickery
Jane Glynn
Katharine Harper
Kathryn Holt
Maxine Ellis

Music

Alexander Eales
Jenni Pinnock
Jonathan ‘Stan’ White
Malackey Henderson
Peter Lemer
Stuart Neale

Film

Tom Hobden Dance

Wider Team

Carrie Washington, Director
Hannah Delaney, Project Manager
Annie Smith
Lo White
Katie Williamson

Partners

Age UK Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire Sports Partnership
Moving Memory Dance Theatre
44 Community Partners

The project was funded by Arts Council England, Dacorum Borough Council, North Herts Council, Watford Borough Council, East Herts Council, St Albans City and District Council and The Victoria Wood Foundation.