Exim Dance Company

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Week 1 - A time not to dance...

So we are coming to the end of our first week as a "proper" dance company. And by proper I mean we are being paid to do our job which is just incredible after 3 years of hard graft balancing what we do as a un funded dance company, with the work we have to do to eat.

This has meant quite a few changes for us as a company. Mostly about our own perception of what we are doing and who we are. Over the past few years the company has been through lots of drastic changes going from 4 University friends who though it would be a fun to set us a dance company to a company making work to tour the UK funded by the Arts Council of England. For me the biggest change to come to terms with is being the Artistic Director. Its a term that I have felt quite uncomfortable with since adopting it. My original title of General Manager was a much more comfy fit, I was in charge of the office stuff and I knew how to do that. To call myself an Artistic Director means that I'm ultimately in charge of it all, which I am and have been for a while now so I don't really know why it makes me feel so uncomfortable calling myself it. Anyway the last few weeks I feel like I'm settling into my new title and understanding much more about what this responsibility means. Traveling to British Dance Addition with Plymouth Dance gave me a new and refreshed outlook on everything but mostly about finding a clarity in what we are doing, be that selling a tour or a primary school a workshop. So while the dancers have all been having a lovely time in the studio with Adam Benjamin I have been working hard in the office to strengthen our infrastructure, finish booking our tour and getting ready for the summer term. I am happy to announce that we have been accepted as a member of Sported and have been given a incredible mentor called Martin Briggs who will be helping us to develop a three year business plan and to work on ensuring the companies long term financial sustainability. So yes I am very sad that I'm not dancing but I also have to accept that to lead the company sometimes that means I am going to have to spend more time in the office and less time in the studio. 

I am so excited about the next 12 months as the company is growing everyday employing more office based staff and artists and I am thrilled to be on this journey with some of the most wonderful, inspiring and generous artists that I know.

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Exim Dance Company Youth Group News!

What an exciting year it has been for Clash!

Last April the group under the direction of Claire from Exim Dance Company decided to continue, with support from the Flavel in Dartmouth, as a performing Youth Dance Company. The group worked hard over the first term with Claire to make up a new routine to perform at Exeter Respect festival and then later at the Dance Showdown in Plymouth.

In September Clash were awarded £200 from the Mars Milk fund which paid for Allen Gorniak a B-Boy from Plymouth’s Street Factory to come and teach the group some Break Dance! The young people LOVED it and used everything Allen taught them to make a new routine for their special performance at View Points 2 in November at the Flavel.

Clash were lucky enough to have three students from Plymouth University come and help out the group for 6 weeks while on their dance leadership placement with Exim. Nicola, Holly and Jasmine had a great time with the group and worked hard on the choreography.

November saw our second annual community dance platform View Points 2. We had performances from SpinDrift Youth, Plymouth based Jail-breakers, Plymouth University Students, Dizansa Dance Company and Dartmouth School of dance. It was wonderful to see so many talented young people performing alongside each other. We can’t wait until next year!

Since January we have ben lucky enough to have been working with Amy Chatwin a placement student from Plymouth University and Steve Hodkinson from Street Factory in Plymouth who are both doing her Dance Leadership Qualification with Exim. The pair have been teaching the group some new moves and choreographing a new routine with them, a mix of Break Dance and Contemporary. The routine will be finished in the next few weeks ready for our first performance on 1st June at Exeter Respect Festival! Image of Clash performing at View Points 2 in November

Clash and Exim would like to thank The Flavel for their continued support, BRNC, Cllr Hillary Bastone and The Mars Milk fund for their financial contributions without which the group would not be able to continue.

For more information about Clash please contact Claire [email protected]

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Happy Sunday everyone! Fancy doing a dance class a day for 4 whole weeks?!  Exim Dance Company will be in the studio creating and rehearsing work for our up and coming ImPACT tour from the 15th of April and we would love for you to come and join us in company class from 9:00-10:30 daily. Check out the leaflet for more details. If you would like to be emailed a copy please request this from [email protected]

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Exim Dance Company Needs Your Help!

You've probably heard that we have been successful in our G4A funding bid to launch our very first tour starting this year! This was absolutely incredible news but the hard work doesn't stop there. We need to raise a further £2000 to make the tour happen and we need your help!

Our ImPact tour is a triple bill of professional works made by choreographers Olivia Lockwood, Mike Williams and Adam Benjamin. We aim to begin our tour in June 2014 and finish in Spring 2015 with a 4 week intensive working period between April and June this year.

Any donations you can offer to help us towards our target will be extremely appreciated and we will be eternally grateful :) We also have some very lovely rewards in exchange for your generosity from a mention and a thank you on our social media sites, to t-shirts, free classes and tickets to come and watch one of our finished performances! So get involved!  To access more detailed information on our project and to donate please click through this link to our Kickstarter campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eximdance/exim-dance-company-impact-tour

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Clare Milne Trust Funding awarded to Adapt

We are extremely pleased and excited to announce that Exim Dance have been awarded £3000 funding for our inclusive youth project Adapt!

The money will go towards making sure the sessions can continue for the children involved and that they can experience exciting opportunities such as performing and watching professional dance performance.

Adapt Youth Company will be performing at City College Plymouth's community platform event 'Dance Infinity' on March 19th 2014 at the Goschen Centre, Plymouth.

Tickets are only £2 and can be booked by calling 01752 305096.

We would like to send our huge thanks to the Clare Milne Trust for the opportunity they have provided for us to continue to run this group as all that are involved have developed and evolved massively since beginning into beautiful and confident dancers and choreographers.

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Desiderium

Choreographed by Olivia Lockwood

Performed by Exim Dance Company

Platform event 'Pilot' held by Bath Spa University

6th February 2014

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Our Recent Performances!

Exim Dance have been extremely busy the last few weeks taking 'Desiderium' to two major platform events; Exeter Northcott's 'Watch This Space' and Bath Spa University's brand new platform event 'Pilot'.

We have been so lucky to have been picked to perform at these events and to have been able to show our work that we have done with Olivia Lockwood who has choreographed 'Desiderium' has been a huge privilege.

Both of the events went well with the first at Exeter being a massive eye opener for us and the first time we had performed 'Desiderium' in a big theatre space such as the Northcott. Naturally it pointed out a lot of points that we needed to address within the piece, something which all choreography experiences. We performed alongside some well established artists showcasing new work and to be alongside them performing ours was a really good feeling.

From here we had rehearsal time with Olivia before we then moved on to Bath Spa which was crucial to help us move forward even further with the piece being performers. We also lost one of our dancers due to injury and Olivia had to step in very last minute which put us all on edge going into platform number 2.

Nevertheless, the Bath Spa Platform went amazingly well and the hard work and friendly atmosphere generated throughout the whole day was extremely inspiring. The performance went so well with some hugely positive feedback from the audience at the end; "absolutely glued from start to finish" was just one example.

All in all a successful couple of performances and we are onle motivated and excited to progress with Olivia and 'Desiderium', it can only grow into something more thought provoking, stirring and beautiful with time than what it is now.

What Olivia said about the Exeter Northcott's 'Watch This Space" platform:

"On the other side of Watch This Space, Exim Dance Company and Choreographer Olivia Lockwood will continue to showcase new work 'Desiderium' as part of platforms in Bath, Plymouth, Cornwall and various other venues in the UK as part of their IMPACT Tour 2014. Watch This Space, was a great way to gain professional exposure and to introduce the work to a live audience. Olivia Lockwood hope's to develop the work more inside of rehearsals and workshops with the company and looks forward to the work been shown in venues in the South West and beyond."

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Here is a promotional video of Bath Spa University's brand new platform event Pilot.

We performed 'Desiderium' a piece choreographed by the wonderful Olivia Lockwood and one that generated some amazing feedback from the audience watching.

An absolutely lovely and hugely supportive graduate platform event that we would recommend to anyone!

Enjoy!

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Exim Dance Company have two very exciting opportunities just opened within the company!

One for two dance apprentices that will work closely with the company's professional practitioners learning key skills within all aspects of working as a freelance dance artist from teaching in the community to performance opportunities and everything behind the scenes :)

Our second opportunity is for a volunteer dance leader to work in schools. This position is ideal for someone wishing to gain a dance leaders qualification or to progress on the qualifications they have already by undertaking key work experience within schools teaching dance.

For more information or to pursue any interest in either positions please contact Claire Summers: [email protected]

Best of luck!

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Hello dance enthusiasts!

Keen to pass on your skills as a dance leader and pave the way for up and coming dance practitioners? Then this course will be ideal for you and a perfect little side project, what better way to work than to pass on the amazing privilege of teaching dance to others :)

Get involved and contact us: [email protected]

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Happy New year everyone!!! This year we are touring and we are all so excited and can't wait to get stuck in :-)

So watch this space for dates, in the meantime heres our promo video http://vimeo.com/81799184

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**Special Offer**

Book and pay before 10th January and you get the early bird discounted price of £170 (saving £30)

Contact [email protected] to book your place 

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Exim Dance Company - ADAPT project is awarded a £1000 from Devon Community Foundation

Devon Community Foundation has awarded a grant of £1000 from the Plymouth Drake Foundation Fund to provide ongoing support in the form of transportation to enable students to attend a highly beneficial movement session for young people with learning and physical disabilities.

This grant will ensure that Exim Dance Company can continue with their vital work within the community that aims to deliver high quality movement classes that help to engage creatively and inspire young people of all ages and abilities.

Claire Summers from Exim Dance Company said: “This grant will make a huge difference to people living in the local area. Thank you Devon Community Foundation.”

Laura Hewitt from DCF added “We are delighted to be able to support this fantastic group. It is groups like this working on the frontline that are so essential to our communities. It’s what makes DCF so important to ensure that together with donors and local groups we can build strong and vibrant communities for everyone in Devon, both now and for the future.”

If you would like to help Devon Community Foundation support groups like ADAPT to really make a difference to local people in need or if you’re a group seeking funding then just get in touch at www.devoncf.com. 

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New Tour Banner!!

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First Aid Course Places avalible

We are going to be running 2 Emergency First Aid at work courses and we have a few spaces on each course.

Dates: 31st October and 1st November

Times: 9:30-4:30

Venue: Street Factory Studios, Plymouth

Cost: £35.00 full £25.00 Student/ Low Waged 

For more information or to book a space contact [email protected]

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ImPACT Tour 2014

we are very excited to announce that we have officially started taking bookings for our ImPACT Tour next year! 

ImPACT is our first multi production tour and it features work by Adam Benjamin, Olivia Lockwood and Michael Williams. As well as original scores by Eduardo Mirranda, Magdalaina Walker and Lynsay Dart. More information about where you will be able to see us perform will be coming very soon!! To be kept up to date then sign up for our news letter http://eximdance.webplus.net/page25.html 

If you are interested in booking us then please contact [email protected] or check out our website http://eximdance.webplus.net/tour.html

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CLASH YOUTH DANCE CELEBRATES MARS MILK FUND AWARD

One of our Two youth companies have been selected to receive some funding from Mars Milk...woo hoo :-) Please see below for more information about the fund and if you are interested in joining Clash then get in touch [email protected]

Clash Youth Dance, based in Dartmouth, is celebrating after receiving a £300 donation from the MARS Milk Fund.

  The group gives young people in Dartmouth the opportunity to express themselves through different dance styles. Clash Youth Dance meets once a week to practice with the dancers choreographing their own routines to their favourite music.

  Claire Summers, dance instructor and managing director of the troupe says: “Class Youth Dance was originally set up as a temporary project but the young people in the troupe were so talented and committed that I had to keep it going. However, as we are a non-profit group it is difficult to find money to cover the cost of hiring instructors.

“With this donation from the MARS Milk Fund we can now afford to keep paying dance instructors to come in and teach the group new dance styles.”

A recent survey conducted by MARS Milk revealed that despite seven out of ten of us starting the week with intention of spending at least two hours on our favourite sport or hobby, cost and tiredness invariably put paid to these plans.

  The MARS Milk Fund was set up to help individuals, clubs and groups to try something new or simply to spend more time playing their favourite sport or hobby. The MARS Milk Fund, runs until October 6 2013 and has five £300 awards to donate each week.

  The fund is open to residents of, and clubs and organisations based in the UK and Republic of Ireland only. Applicants must be 13 years or over and only one application will be accepted per person, club or organisation.

  For more information visit www.marsmilk.com