Dance Artists

There are currently 20 dance development posts, Dance Artists and Dance Development Officers, throughout the local authorities in Scotland.

Their remit is to promote and develop dance opportunities and participation in dance throughout the community by, for example: delivering classes, organising a calendar of events and liaising with local government and organisations in promoting dance and dance activities for all ages.

Louise Marshall, Dance Artist for Inverness, based at Eden Court Theatre provides an insight into her role as dance artist which not only covers Inverness but also the surrrounding rural areas and Ross-shire.

Dance in rural areas

'The post started nearly four years ago with Scottish Arts Council funding, though it is now funded by the local authority (Highland Council) as a permanent post which is a success in itself.

The initial remit was to introduce different types of dance to the populace of Inverness, in particular children. Inverness is not a huge city so this doesn’t sound too difficult. But the Inverness area includes lots of rural and remote schools and venues. Consequently travel is a major part of the job because it is vital to be able to deliver dance activities to people in their community.

The response has been tremendous. Schools are extremely keen to receive projects and workshops for all ages, including at nursery level. The cost and complications of transporting kids into the city has limited their experiences, so teachers are delighted that someone will come to them. The enthusiasm I encountered in schools has been repeated at community level. There are now well-attended classes for all ages running on a weekly basis. These start with ‘Mini-Movers’ for parents and toddlers from six months old, to the Adult Ballet and Contemporary classes.

The success of the regular activities encouraged me to arrange bigger projects. Eden Court now holds a regular Youth Dance Week each summer and up to 70 teenagers come from as far as Skye to participate and perform. In April 2004 the theatre hosted an evening of dance performed by the local groups, ages nine to 69. In addition, Eden Court is the only theatre delivering the Higher Dance Practice course (accredited by Telford College) as an ex-curriculum course for students in the Highlands. In its second year, the course has already encouraged some P. E. Departments to offer the dance module as part of Standard Grade P. E.

Obviously, this is a very brief outline of what is happening in the Inverness area. Demand is huge across the Highlands and we now have a second dance worker for Ross-shire. But this still isn’t enough as we get requests for workshops from Fort William to Thurso. To try and fill a little of this demand we are currently planning a small-scale dance production for schools that will tour the Highlands. I am also hoping to liase more with the local dance teachers and encourage them to develop their activities and to branch out beyond Highland dancing.

The dancers are out there, we just have to reach them.'

For contact details on Dance Artist and Dance Development Officers near you download the Scottish Arts Council Dance Contact List. All images courtesy of Scottish Arts Council

Funded by the National Lottery through the Scottish Arts Council