News

We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded National Portfolio funding from Arts Council England as part of the 2023-26 cohort. We are committed to making our work more accessible to all and the funding we have been awarded will enable us to embed this further into our practice while also bringing stability. Since our beginning in 2013, we have been committed to making work with, and for, all ages and all bodies and we will now be able to grow our work with young audiences in particular. As a disabled-led company, we are especially pleased our work has been acknowledged. We would like to thank Arts Council England and our partners for their support on our journey so far and we look forward to continuing to work with them over the next three years.  

Artistic Director, Rosie Heafford, said: “I’m thrilled for Second Hand Dance to be invited into the portfolio. We strive to make beautiful, high quality and sensory experiences with and for young audiences and this investment will enable us to strengthen and create more opportunities for babies, toddlers and children to experience dance performance. As a disabled choreographer, this funding will also provide stability for us to test and ensure accessible working for me and our staff and collaborators. It feels like a fantastic step up as a company and I am incredibly grateful for all of the support from organisations, our board and our team over the past (almost) 10 years!”

On 13 October, FABRIC (the organisation recently formed from the merger of DanceXchange and Dance4) announced Artistic Director, Rosie Heafford, of Second Hand Dance as one of the recipients of an exciting new residency programme to 'provide artists based in the UK with financial investment, space, and staff time to explore new ideas and support the realisation of projects'. 

We are excited to start working with our current performers, new disabled/neurodivergent dancers, and participants, to develop and adapt a version of ‘We Touch, We Play, We Dance’ for a disabled and neurodivergent audience aged 3–18 years. 

"The support of FABRIC means we’re rekindling and developing new partnerships across the Midlands. We’re particularly pleased by how this project, through Fabric’s support, unites partnerships within the wider charitable sector with our partners, within more traditional cultural contexts.  We’re excited to be working in this way. - Rosie Heafford

Find out more about the Residency Programme: https://dancexchange.org.uk/new-fabric-residency-artists-announced-supporting-dance-development-in-the-uk/

Brighton and Hove’s first-ever building designed especially for dance has announced its first resident company will be Second Hand Dance. The Dance Space, which will open on 15 July 2022, will be run by South East Dance who have a longstanding relationship with Second Hand Dance.

As a Resident Company, Second Hand Dance will benefit from the facilities offered by the new building, including priority access to rehearsal space, use of its wellbeing spaces as well as accessible studios. Being based at The Dance Space means being able to make the most of the artistic community in Brighton and Hove and the wider region. South East dance will also create ways for us to share and seek feedback on their work in progress with our younger audiences.  

South East Dance’s Artistic Director Cath James said “We were keen to develop our relationship with Second Hand Dance as our first Resident Company because their work for children really resonates with our growing focus on early years audiences, supported by our Little Big Dance programme. And it’s vital that we support female, disabled-led companies like this one to thrive in a sector that continues to be very male-dominated.”

“As Resident Company, Second Hand Dance joins us at a particularly exciting time. With our new building opening, we’ll have the capacity to support Rosie‘s ambition for her company and provide that necessity – a home base, from which she can springboard into the future.”

Rosie Heafford says: “I’m thrilled! This is a chance to deepen our relationship and create space to explore questions around making and touring work for young audiences and being a disabled-led company. South East Dance has supported second Hand Dance since we first started in 2013 across various projects, professional development and business development opportunities. Their advice and encouragement across the years have been deeply valued.”