2019 Ideas Fund Awards Four Outstanding Dance Creatives At The Ideas Summit

By: Apr. 01, 2019
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Bursaries totalling 15,000 were awarded to four outstanding dance creatives, with a further two creatives to receive in-kind support, at the 2019 Ideas Summit, a day-long event on Friday 29 March, hosted by East London Dance at Stratford Circus Arts Centre.

East London Dance's Ideas Summit is a biennial event focused on enterprise in dance, uniting artists, producers, venues and organisations from east London and beyond, and creating the opportunity to share and exchange enterprising ideas in dance.

The 2019 Summit culminated in the ever-popular Ideas Fund, a Dragon's Den style contest, which awards bursaries of up to 5,000 plus in-kind support to independent dance creatives to research, test or launch new artistic and entrepreneurial ideas.

Now in its third year, to date, the Fund has previously awarded bursaries totalling 45,000 to 14 outstanding entrepreneurs. Crucially, this initial investment has led to a further 144,000 investment in their ideas.

The 15 shortlisted artists and producers: Anat Cederbaum, Le o Le rus & Tony Nwachukwu; Arunima Kumar (Arunima Kumar Dance Company); Bex Anson & Dav Bernard (MHz Scenography); Charlotte Edmonds & Elizabeth Pick; Claire Hough; Grace Okereke; Joel O'Donoghue (Joel O'Donoghue Company); Kasia Truefitt (A Truefitt Collective); Kate Scanlan (Scanners Inc); Kloe Dean (Myself UK Dance); Kristina Walsh; Lucy McCrudden (Dance Mama); Michael Simon; Patrick Collier (201 Dance Company); Sheena Khanna (Moxie Brawl).

The artists and producers pitched their ideas to the judging panel chaired by East London Dance Director, Polly Risbridger. The panel was made up of representatives from funding partners; Eva Martinez from Sadler's Wells; Jonny Siddall from Redbridge Drama Centre; Laura Howes from English National Ballet; Ligaya Salazar from London College of Fashion, UAL; Ruby Baker from East London Dance, and from supporting partners; Andrew Hurst from One Dance UK; Jasmine Wilson from Studio Wayne McGregor; and Tania Wilmer from Stratford Circus Arts Centre.

2019 winners:

Klo Dean (Myself UK Dance)
Founded in 2008 by creative artist, Klo Dean, Myself UK Dance is an all-female Hip Hop dance company based in London.

Pitch Project: 10 Year Celebration - ICON & Round Table Discussion
Awarded 4,987.33 and event support by East London Dance to support Myself UK Dance's 10th anniversary celebration. The project aims to launch an annual platform and discussion, paving the way for new and active female creatives in Hip Hop/Urban Dance to be seen, heard and celebrated equally alongside their male counterparts.

Kasia Truefitt (A Truefitt Collective)
Kasia and Ross Truefitt are a husband and wife collective producing shows, running creative workshops, promoting healthy minds and bodies.

Pitch Project: Magical Minds
Awarded 4,980 and one week's rehearsal space at Studio Wayne McGregor to develop Performance & Dancing Mindfulness workshops that focus on mental health and well-being. The workshops will be delivered to 10 primary schools across east London. Magical Minds provides children with a creative exploration into the human brain and tools to increase their ability to self-regulate their emotions.

Kate Scanlan (Scanner's Inc)
Scanner's Inc is a creative company working across the arts to produce incredible performance, pop up events, festivals and social gatherings in theatres, shops and public spaces.


Pitch Project: The Style Years
Awarded 2,833 and in-kind support from London College of Fashion, UAL, to support a 360-degree performance experience inspired by 37 years of Hip Hop culture in London. The Style Years features BBoys, Fly Girls, Roller Skaters and Funk dancers and tells the story of two boys captivated by Breaking, style and Hip Hop in 1983.

Michael Simon
Creative artist and choreographer, Michael Simon, is also a contributor to The 8 Club, a new web series from the Young Vic exploring ideas around contemporary masculinity.

Pitch Project: Cain and Able
Awarded 2,200 and introductions to Newham schools by Stratford Circus Arts Centre, to support the development of a first draft script and bespoke music, in preparation for a two-week R&D on a new dance theatre work that will use the biblical story of Cain and Abel to explore topics related to masculinity and knife crime.


Grace Okereke
Uprise Rebel Productions aims to address diversity in the dance sector.

Pitch Project: Uprise Rebel Productions
Awarded access to Sadler's Wells Senior Producing Team to support touring company, Uprise Rebel Productions, as it aims to address the balance of diversity within the dance sector by creating a network of venues that support the development and visibility of work created by black female artists.


Joel O'Donoghue (Joel O'Donoghue Company)
Joel's work is a mash-up of athletic movement, subtle everyday gestures, and fantastically bizarre moments of nothingness. Each work he creates is a composition of memories.

Pitch Project: The Museum of Memories
Awarded access to rehearsal, exhibition and event space and an introduction to Redbridge libraries by Redbridge Drama Centre, to support the rehearsal and production of a pilot event in east London, that focuses on bridging the gap between younger and older generations and making contemporary dance and culture more accessible to an older audience.


Polly Risbridger, Director of East London Dance and Chair of the Ideas Fund judging panel, said: "The Ideas Fund panel were hugely impressed with the breadth and quality of the ideas being pitched today, and the professional, impactful and often entertaining manner in which they were delivered. The shortlist offered us a welcome reminder of the creativity and entrepreneurialism alive in the UK independent dance sector, and each and every one showed such passion about the positive difference they want to make. As ever it was an extremely tough decision-making process but the winners demonstrate a breadth of projects that have huge potential for the future. We can't wait to support them in their ongoing journeys and watch their projects grow."



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