Change is afoot at Swindon Dance

“WE were just up for taking risks,” Marie McCluskey once summed up the decades of tireless work, unflagging devotion and commitment which propelled Swindon Dance from a modest collective to a major player on the national arts scene.

The pioneering artistic director took a bow last December but her team has picked up the gauntlet with the same bold risk-taking tack which has stood the dance programme in good stead for close to 40 years.

Loyal to her vision, over the last nine months her successors have been hard at work laying down the foundation for the next generation Swindon Dance. Later this month they will unveil a fresh roster of ethnic workshops, community-focused health and wellbeing classes and packed bill of showcases.

“Marie left such a big legacy,” says acting executive director Cathy Downes. “It was completely new territory for us. We wanted to build on that and grow even more. We’ve not changed the core. Talent development is a huge part of what we do and it’s something we want to keep growing. But we wanted to emphasise that we’re open to everyone.”

“It wasn’t necessarily about doing more but doing the best we can to the highest standard for the largest range of people,” agrees Helen Ganberg, education development manager. “We just wanted to try new things and test run them.”

Swindon Dance hatched in its very early form in 1977 when plucky arts officer Terry Court, who passed away just a few weeks ago, set out to spearhead an ambitious artistic hub at the old Town Hall where musicians, dancers, a whole coterie of artistes would have free rein to experiment unhindered. Marie, then a 29-year-old dance teacher fresh from the capital, spotted an ad seeking creatives to get the venture off the ground and hopped on board.

After 18 months, the council received funding from the Arts Council for a dance coordinator at the venue. Marie turned down a much more financially attractive offer in Leicester to lead the next phase of the venture in Swindon. By 1979, Thamesdown Contemporary Dance Studio was born at the Town Hall.

It was renamed Swindon Dance in 1998 when the local authority became Swindon Council.

Over the years Swindon Dance has stood at the forefront of contemporary dance nipping at the heels of innovative companies in London. It was one of the first studios to teach hip hop and street dance in 1984 – a time when so much as busting some moves on the street would draw unwanted attention from the police.

Among its many guises, the charitable trust runs a Youth Dance Academy - one of just nine Centres for Advanced Training in the UK funded by the Government – to nurture young dancers. Swindon Dance was also one of the first schools in the country to introduce an access and support programme, offering former students and up-and-comers across the country a space to rehearse and put on performances.

Swindon Dance gave a young Matthew Bourne, now an award-winning choreographer and MBE a studio to perform his first three professional shows. Marie and her team were also instrumental in supporting acclaimed choreographer Russell Maliphant in the early days of his career. Famous alumni include Thomasin Gülgeç, who later trained at the Rambert School and joined the Rambert Dance Company and BBC Young Dancer 2015 Jacob O’Connell.

Appointing a suitable replacement to carry on the mantel after Marie’s departure was no mean feat. Following failed attempts to unearth an external candidate willing to shoulder her hefty workload and responsibilities, the charity’s board of trustees eventually turned to Swindon Dance’s trusty staff to pick up the baton. Marie’s duties were split evenly and entrusted to then programme manager Viv Slayford and Cathy. They are now acting artistic director and executive director respectively and will be until further notice.

“Marie had created the organisation from nothing,” gushes Cathy, who joined Swindon Dance 30 years ago as part-time receptionist.

“She had such a deep knowledge of the organisation; she had an overview of everything. The trustees couldn’t quite find the right person for the role. So they decided to look at a Plan B and split the role,” she adds self-consciously.

“We took a step back and some time to look at what we were offering. We’ve been through the process as a team so everyone is behind it and understands what we’re trying to do.”

The result is a crammed timetable of new classes including a tap class for eight to ten-year-olds, focusing on rhythm and musicality as much as technique, Street Jam sessions aimed at eight to ten-year-olds, adult contemporary taught to live music, and youth jazz for youngsters aged between 11 and 16.

“It was an opportunity to decide what we really wanted to do and develop what was already working,” says education development coordinator Katie Purcell, 31, who began teaching at Swindon Dance nine years ago after graduating from London Studio Centre. “We had already done some of them before and rebooted them or we just started new ones.”

Salsa and Caribbean funk classes, which only made the occasional appearance over the years, will become a permanent fixture as of this month. Keen to expand on the ethnic programme, the team is poised to introduce classical Indian Bharatanatyam dance sessions – a style that originated in the temples of Tamil Nadu. Swindon Dance is also preparing to reboot the Just for Kicks youth group, aimed at eight to 13-year-olds. The cross-genre workshop is open to youngsters without auditions and blends contemporary, jazz, funk and ethnic styles.

Determined to broaden Swindon Dance’s scope and reach out to a new cross-section of the community, staff will introduce health and wellbeing courses, featuring yoga, mat-based Pilates and Pilates barre later this month. The classes should also appeal to the current cohort of dancers, at a time when most professionals rely on other disciplines to boost core strength, improve flexibility and diversify their training, Helen explains.

“Sometimes we’d think, ‘Would Marie have done that?’,” admits Helen, 46, a dance and drama teacher who uprooted her life in Devon to head up Swindon Dance’s education team after spotting a job advert in The Guardian 20 years ago. She has taken on many roles since; all the while running her own troupe, Swerve Dance Theatre Company. "We've invited Marie to several events," chimes in 50-year-old Cathy. "She's not coming to look over our shoulder. She's very supportive."

The merry band is currently elbow deep in grant applications to support various ongoing schemes, not least the fledgling SALTO! Juniors special needs programme. More funding would mean not only dedicated classes at the Town Tall but outreach projects in local schools.

A number of family and children-friendly productions are also on the cards. While upholding Swindon’s reputation as a breeding ground for rising stars and gifted choreographers is crucial to Cathy and her colleagues, reclaiming the dance studio’s community roots is more vital than ever.

“What I’m passionate about is making sure people know we’re open to everybody,” she insists. “As a non-dancer I did my first ballet class at 47. You don’t have to be three years old to start. Age, size or shape don’t matter; anyone can come along. That’s what’s so special about Swindon Dance.”

The new accessible classes are only phase one.

"We never stop - there's a lot to do,” smiles Helen. “You feel your job is never quite done. It’s fine; it's all part of the journey."

For a full list of classes and to sign up go to swindondance.org.uk or call 01793 601700.