Independent Dance

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Independent Dance

ID runs an international programme of classes, workshops, research labs, events and talks.

Independent Dance (ID) is the UK's leading artist development organisation for dance. Founded in 1984, it has been artist-led ever since, working responsively to support dance artists in all roles, of all physicalities, and at all stages of career. We work with an international community, with a particular focus on inclusive body-based research enriched by cross-disciplinary and diverse approaches

. Through our year-round programme, we offer paid work to on average 80 artists every year. Our public programme includes classes and workshops, research spaces, talks and exchanges, led by internationally-renowned artists and inviting artists and audiences to deepen enquiry and exchange ideas. ID receives funding from Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) as part of a consortium with Siobhan Davies Dance, whose building we are based in. In 2019-20, ID’s portion of this funding is £71,068, which covers most of our core operating costs; salaries of our four part-time staff, office rent and administrative overheads which we aim to keep to a minimum. In addition, we raise funds through trusts and foundations and through individual donations. Our artistic programme exists on an income-generating basis, with earnings from curating and delivering an extensive programme aiming to cover costs.

23/06/2026

Explore the experiential and kinaesthetic with Adam Moore next week in Morning Class, bringing awareness to the sensations, positions, orientations, and vast and subtle movements shaping our perception of internal and exterior worlds 🌱⁠
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📅 29 June - 3 July, 10am-12pm⁠
🎟️ £10 ⁠or £8 with a class card⁠
📍 Siobhan Davies Studios, SE1⁠
🔗 Book via ⁠https://independentdance.co.uk/event/morning-class-adam-moore-3/
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Adam's class will offer and share some conceptual and image-guided prompts and scores, and there will be some structured work in partners exchanging touch, solo and ensemble improvisations, witnessing and observing, sounds –maybe bliss, discomfort too.
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Photo Credit: Adam Moore, Bright Dynasty, Phoenix Artspace, 2022. Photo by Phoebe Wingrove.
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[Image Description: We see Adam lying down on a bright red carpet, one arm outstretched, the other resting on his stomach. His eyes are closed. He is a mixed-race Black man with a medium brown skin tone and curly dark brown hair. He is wearing a yellow knitted sweater, light green trousers and black socks.]

20/06/2026

We are excited to welcome Eva Karczag in July for Reimagining Form: Entering Masunaga’s Reclining Meridian Stretches Anew 🧘

Eva Karczag (she/her) is an independent dance artist who, for the past five decades, creates, performs, teaches and advocates for explorative methods of dance making.

She has been a member of leading groups in the field of experimental dance, including the Trisha Brown Dance Company (NYC, 1979-85) and Strider (UK, 1973-75). Performs solo and collaborative work internationally, her collaborations bridging diverse disciplines such as writing, video, music and visual art.

Teaching experience spans the range of major colleges, studios, organisations, private practice, and individual mentoring throughout the USA, Europe and Australia. During the 1990s was on the faculty of the European Dance Development Center (EDDC), Arnhem, Netherlands. Since 2020, her creative practice and teaching have expanded to include work online, using the potential offered by virtual interconnectivity.

Her creative practice is rooted in Eastern and Western body awareness methodologies and open-ended movement exploration. These include Anatomical Release Technique and Contact Improvisation, Ideokinesis, the Alexander Technique (ACAT Certified teacher), Kinetic Awareness, Taiji/Qigong, and Masunaga’s Meridian Stretches – forms which engender trust in the body’s innate capacity for ease, efficiency and integrated openness, that stimulate its infinite potential for movement, and that activate the imagination.

📅 Fridays, 17 July – 11 September, 8am-9.30am⁠ (BST, UK time)
🎟️ £12 per session⁠
📍Online, via Zoom⁠
🔗 Book your place via https://independentdance.co.uk/event/reimagining-form-entering-masunagas-reclining-meridian-stretches-anew-with-eva-karczag/

Photo Credit: Eva Karczag in 'your blue is my purple' (2016)

[Image Description: Eva dancing in a studio setting. The image has intentional blur showing energy and pace. The tone is neutral. Eva wears a black long-sleeve top and grey trousers with no shoes on].

19/06/2026

We welcome Rebecca Mackenzie back to the ID class programme as she leads Monday Night Improvisation in a few weeks time ✨
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Rebecca Mackenzie (she/her) is a performer, writer and teacher of improvisation. A certified teacher of Action Theater™, her performance practice interweaves movement, imagination, voice and the present moment. Rebecca created Book Club for Dancers for Independent Dance and developed Moving into Writing, a workshop for writers with Kirsty Alexander for the University of Glasgow. Recent performances include Brora Y Station at Sapienza University in Rome, and Swimming for Submarines at Tramway, Glasgow and Choreographic Instructions for People and Paintings at Brown’s Gallery, Inverness. Rebecca lives in Scotland where she is completing a PhD in Theology through Creative Practice.
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🔗 To book Monday Night Improvisation with Rebecca, 29 June, head to⁠ https://independentdance.co.uk/event/monday-night-improvisation-rebecca-mackenzie-2/
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Photo Credit: Dick Blau
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[Image Description: Rebecca, a person with silvery long hair, fair skin tone, stands on a chair as a description of action, wearing a red swimsuit with a burgundy onsie over it.]

18/06/2026

Have space to move with others who share similar lived experiences and to build knowledge together in the next Touch as Language: a guided movement space for Black, Brown and People of Colour, with Rhys Dennis ✨

📅 ⁠Saturday 4 July, 2pm-4.30pm⁠
📍⁠ Siobhan Davies Studios, SE1⁠
🎟️ £10, £12 or £14⁠ ⁠
🔗 Book your spot via https://independentdance.co.uk/event/touch-as-language-a-guided-movement-space-with-rhys-dennis/

This workshop invites participants into a grounded, playful, and attentive movement experience, guided by Rhys. Through a series of structured and open-ended explorations, we will work both with and without our sight, heightening our sensory awareness and deepening our connection to the body and space.

The session will include individual movement research, offering time to listen inwardly and follow personal impulses, alongside duo practices that explore touch, trust, and responsive communication. These partnered exercises are approached with care, consent, and sensitivity, allowing each participant to work at their own pace.

Group activities will support the development of a shared studio environment, fostering presence, generosity, and a sense of collective flow. Moving between moments of silence and carefully curated sound and music, the workshop encourages participants to access states of focus, openness, and embodied awareness.

[Image Description: A portrait collage of three images, all taken from the first Touch as Language session in May 2025. The tones are warm, and the energy is a mix of calm and dynamic. Most are moving in contact with another person. Overlayed in navy text on a light blue background, it reads 'Touch as Language: a guided movement space with Rhys Dennis. Saturday 4 July, 2-4.30pm. Join Rhys Dennis for this guided movement space, designed as a gentle incubator for movement-based research for Black, Brown and People of Colour.']

17/06/2026

📣 We're hiring!⁠

We’ve talked about ID ’tuning in’, and as we move through this period of reflection, we’re also looking at what we need to support our unfolding ambition. With that in mind, we’re recruiting. Check out our website for more information about a brand new Operations and Development Manager role!
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⏱️ 3 days/week (0.6 FTE)⁠
📍 Office-based at Siobhan Davies Studios, SE1 6ER⁠
💰 £38k (pro rata)⁠

You will play a pivotal role in the day-to-day operations of ID, at an exciting period of development for the company. The Operations and Development Manager will work closely with our interim Director, and in due course, a new Director. The post-holder will lead on operations, finance and fundraising to ensure ID’s effectiveness, financial stability and long-term sustainability.⁠
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🔗 For the full job pack, head to: https://independentdance.co.uk/about/vacancies/
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ℹ️ If you would like to submit an application in an alternative format, please feel welcome to contact us at [email protected] ⁠
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📅 Applications close: Tuesday 21 July, 5pm (BST, UK time)⁠

We look forward to hearing from you! 🌱

[Image Description: A vibrant purple background with light pink text that reads: Join our team! Operations and Development Manager. Applications close: Tuesday 21 July, 17:00 (BST, UK time) In the lower right corner is a light pink ID logo].

16/06/2026

Isaac Ouro-Gnao leads Monday Night Improvisation next week, focused on breathwork and movement exercises drawing from hip hop, contemporary, and Acogny technique influenced by Isaac’s work with Alesandra Seutin 🌿

📅 Monday 22 June, 6.30-8pm⁠
📍 at Siobhan Davies StudiosS E1⁠
🎟️ £10 / £8 with a class card⁠
🔗 Book via https://independentdance.co.uk/event/monday-night-improvisation-isaac-ouro-gnao-3/

Isaac's class will explore ways to notice and positively respond to your inner self, build embodied confidence, and expand creativity. Beginning with sensory scans of the body and its environment, before movement practices are introduced to explore responding to internal sensations.

Photo Credit: Tobi Izedomi

[Image Description: Isaac, a dark-skinned person with a short black afro, standing in a shaded leafy, woodland setting. They are wearing long sleeve shirt and trousers, looking around with their palms face up.]

15/06/2026

Next week with Independent Dance: Becky Namgauds join us for Morning Class, focusing on the experience and exploring moving the body in ways that are connected to life and the situations or conditions that the body exists within, or under 💫

📅 22- 26 June, 10am-12pm⁠
🎟️ £10 ⁠or £8 with a class card⁠
📍Siobhan Davies Studios
🔗 Book via ⁠https://independentdance.co.uk/event/morning-class-becky-namgauds/2026-06-22/

Becky's class will use the body to create hyper-real and surreal portraits of a person and their state, geeking out on specificity and timing. The class consists of improvisational concepts and tasks exploring spectrums of time, tension, relaxation and searching for portals to other dimensions of the body. It will consist of crossings in the space, group tasks and games to unlock the imagination.

Photo Credit: Camilla Greenwell
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Namgauds

[Image Description: A red-lit space flooded with club-like energy. There are many people moving in the space, but central is Becky, a white woman in her 30s with long brown hair, eyes closed, feeling the music. This image is energetic and vibrant.]

12/06/2026

There is still time to apply for the MA/MFA Creative Practice: Dance Professional 🎓⁠
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This programme focuses on dance, somatics and interdisciplinary practice as research, and it is taught by internationally renowned artists and designed to provide a flexible and bespoke programme of study, enabling you to choose from a range of modules. ⁠
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It supports practitioners to: ⁠
🔷 Reflect on their body of professional experience ⁠
🔷 Study intensively with internationally renowned artists and a skilled peer group ⁠
🔷 Deepen their own practice as performers/makers/movement researchers⁠
🔷 Develop their understanding of a range of research methodologies and pursue their own area of creative interest⁠
🔷 Become part of a growing international community of artists ⁠
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This MA/MFA is unusual in that it is partly based in a conservatoire – Trinity Laban – and partly in a professional dance context with Independent Dance at Siobhan Davies Studios. This offers a rare bridge between academic and professional spheres and enables practitioners to join a growing community of artists.⁠
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The MA/MFA Creative Practice: Dance Professional is a programme led by in partnership with Independent Dance and .⁠
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⁠🔗 For more info about the programme contents and financial support available from Trinity Laban, head to https://linktr.ee/ID_UK

Photo credit: Sandra Barefoot 2021 Photo by Tony Wadham.⁠
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[Image Description: An image of an MA/MFA student during the Investigative Practice module in 2021. They are crouched down, head turned away from the camera, while pieces of paper are placed on the floor around them.]

11/06/2026

📣 As we reflect on our future, we're inviting artists, participants, collaborators and friends to share their thoughts. Your voice will help shape what comes next for ID

🔗To find out more about this period + have your say via feedback form, head to our 'Tuning In' webpage, link in our bio.⁠ https://independentdance.co.uk/tuning-in-a-time-for-reflection-and-re-imagining-of-independent-dance/

📅 If you’d like to share your thoughts in person and chat with the team, we’ll also be gathering after Morning Class on Wednesday 17 June, 24 June & 8 July. Join us on the Mezzanine on the 1st floor the studios, 12:00-13:00, no booking required, all welcome.

Photo Credit: International Festival of Learning 1.0 (2021). Photo by Anne Tetzlaff.⁠

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[Image Description: 1 Lime green text on a blue background that reads: Have Your Say! Join us in conversation as we explore how ID can continue to evolve, collaborate and support artists and our community.
We welcome insights from everyone connected to ID, with all contributions helping to shape future programming and development.
Find out more and + fill out our feedback form via our website. 2 a group of people moving together in a naturey green space. They are in groups of fours, interacting and giving their weight to a green, elastic-like, shimmery fabric band.]

10/06/2026

Tuning into the space each time, SERAFINE1369 will lead sessions intuitively, offering simple invitations to dance, allowing space for the complexities of experience and relation to emerge as material ✨

📅 Sunday 5 July + Sunday 2 August, 4-6pm, with more dates to be announced⁠
📍 Siobhan Davies Studios, SE1 6ER⁠
🎟️ £12 / 2 x bursary places available for QTIPOC⁠
🔗 More information and booking via https://independentdance.co.uk/event/tuning-practice-with-serafine1369/2026-07-05/

In these Tuning Practice sessions, we will work with/through/between the energetics of the room, the day, the season, the group and each persons’ archive of experience. Practices will involve attuning our capacities for sensing and being open to the information that can surface or arrive moment to moment; cultivating states of readiness.

👉 There are 2 free bursary places, per session for QTIPOC (Q***r, Transgender and Intersex People of Colour). These places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. To register your interest, email [email protected] and let us know which date you would like to attend.

Photo credit: María Gracia Velázquez

[Image description: 1 An image of SERAFINE1369 in an illuminated pink-lit room. We see their face in profile, as they look down to the right corner of the image. Their hair is in locs and in motion, and they are wearing silver hooped earrings and a reddish vest top. Text in dark pink on a pale pink background reads 'Tuning Practice with SERAFINE1369, Sunday 5 July + 2 August, 4-6pm' in the top right corner, then in the left bottom corner it reads 'Dive into sessions that honour dancing as a wild and sacred relational devotional practice of moving energy with SERAFINE1369.' 2 an text graphic that tells you about the bursary places as detailed above.]

Address

Independent Dance, Siobhan Davies Studios, 85 St George's Road
London
SE16ER

Website

http://www.independentdance.co.uk/

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