Our Cambridge Dance Festival on Sunday 29th June will offer a vibrant mix of fresh, innovative performances that spotlight local dance talent, and family-friendly dance workshops across a mix of dance styles. We want to celebrate the best of dance in Cambridgeshire, get people moving and stage an event where there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

👉 Dance Artists:
We are looking for dance artists or groups to perform a 20-minute piece at the festival. We are particularly interested:
new work;
from local artists;
that is family-friendly;
low-tech set ups suitable for a festival setting.

We’re open to a range of dance styles. What we’re hoping for are pieces that can be enjoyed by multiple generations and that might encourage and inspire new people to enjoy and take part in dance.

👉 Dance Workshop Facilitators/Teachers
We are also on the lookout for two to three workshop facilitators or teachers to lead one-hour dance workshops during the festival. We’re particularly interested in the following styles:
– Street dance, hip-hop, or commercial
– Ceilidh
– Salsa or Latin American

But we’re open to suggestion! We are also keen to have workshops that work equally well for children and adults, so that families can take part together if they wish.

This is a fantastic opportunity to share your passion for dance, connect with the local community, and be part of an event that celebrates creativity and movement. Performers and workshop leaders will be compensated above ITC rates.

We can’t wait to see what you’ll bring to the stage!

If you are a dance artist or dance group and would like to show some new work, please fill in this form by Tuesday, 22nd April.

If you are interested in running a workshop, please fill in this form by Tuesday, 22nd April.

We are delighted to announce that Arts Council England have awarded us funding for our new work, Tree of Life.

This work, aimed at children aged 7+, explores the cultural significance of trees in the East and the West. Drawing inspiration from Buddha attaining enlightenment under a Bodhi (fig) tree in India and Newton discovering gravity from an apple tree in the UK, Tree of Life weaves a tale of how these two events lead to a deepening of human understanding, spiritually and scientifically.

Our thanks go to Arts Council England and to our partners Akademi, Cambridge Junction, Cambridge University Hospitals-Arts, Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination, DanceEast, Hertfordshire Libraries, Mercury Theatre.

We will be recording how this work develops through a series of films on our YouTube channel – just follow our Tree of Life playlist.

Summer is here and we have some wonderful events coming up, as well as an update on this year’s touring and our new show in development. Read our latest news in our June 2024 newsletter.

Award-winning Sanskruti Dance brings a dance festival for everyone to Cambridge this July, with dance workshops and performances drawing from a wide range of South Asian dance traditions. The festival will be held on Sunday 7th July at Cambridge Junction, with dance workshops at 10am, 11.30am and 12.30pm, followed by an evening performance starting at 6pm.

The morning dance workshops are a great opportunity for people to unleash their creativity through rhythm and movement, exploring Bollywood and Manipuri dance styles. Run by the UK’s leading South Asian dance artists, these sessions are suitable for different ages and abilities, so the whole family can take part.

In the evening, the whole family can enjoy stunning performances from some of the best South Asian dancers, as well as local performers from Sanskruti Cambridge dance school. The showcase will include:

• Suhani Dhanki Mody, a performer, teacher and choreographer and Indian TV and film actress, who will perform Bharatanatyam dance, the oldest classical dance tradition in India
• Noel Datta, a dance movement psychotherapist and performer who will perform Manipuri, one of the major Indian classical dance forms from Manipur
• the ever-popular and increasingly familiar dance style from Bollywood, courtesy of London-based dance company Aparajita Burjwal Dance.

Krishna Zivraj-Nail, Sanskruti Dance’s Artistic Director, said, “Cambridge does not have a festival focussed on dance that brings families together allowing them to explore their own creativity with rhythms and movement. At Sanskruti, we believe that dance is for everyone, and can be made accessible, and are always looking for ways to reach out to new people,

including the elderly along with children and their families. We hope this one-day dance festival will be an opportunity for everyone to experience the benefits of dance and introduce more people to Indian dance and culture.”

To book your tickets, visit: www.junction.co.uk/events/cambridge-dance-festival/