Moving Out and Moving On.

The Assembly Rooms have been a long and proud home to Ludus Dance since the 1980s. Our story, like any other is a journey and we are now preparing to move on. We have increasingly found our building a restriction to our aspirations, both financially and practically. The Coronavirus pandemic has put this into a sharper focus and through the challenge and unfolding impact we, like everyone else have been forced to change our working practices. The realisation has been that our delivery model is ideal for outdoor, moveable, digital and mobile dance. In fact, over the past 18 months we have delivered projects for children and young people in schools, libraries, museums, in patients units, care homes and outdoors.

Our focus remains children and young people, introducing them to dance no matter their background or experience. We move to make art that matters inspiring, engaging and empowering through dance. We will continue to take dance to social, educational, mental health and wellbeing settings but no longer need to be anchored to a physical space, allowing us to be more inclusive, test new and innovative ways of working and stay nimble on our feet, responding to needs and adapting to change. Always moving.

As an organisation, we are committed to:

• developing talent in all young people
• devising innovative programmes of participatory work
• producing high quality digital experiences
• reaching audiences that have a limited access to cultural provision
• co-creating work with, and for young people in a range of settings

Over the Summer, we have been trialing and testing outdoor delivery in Williamson Park, More Music courtyard and Ryelands Primary and Nursery School. In the seasons to come, we aim to run our Studio Programme from different locations. For the Autumn and Winter of 2020, we will be working in partnership with Ryelands Primary and Nursery School, Lancaster. Delivering cultural education and targeted learning in school during the week and running our Studio Programme from the school grounds and other public spaces on Wednesdays and Saturdays. At the moment it isn’t possible to accommodate everything, so Space Babies and Mini Movers will stay on hold for now as we adapt and develop our plans to adhere to social distancing guidelines to make sure we keep everyone safe.

We’re not moving to be further away but to be closer to you, in the community, in places of need and making new connections to create opportunities for collaborative, creative and inclusive dance. We want to thank all our families, dancers, artists and supporters over the years and ask you to continue to follow, participate, donate and dance with us, as we move out, move on and stay nimble on our feet.

We have a lot to do and prepare over the coming weeks but if you have any queries or questions you can still get in touch with us in the usual ways. You can also take a look at the Questions and Answers blog about our move.