The Common Space is a welcoming place to gather, connect and exchange ideas throughout the day and evening. Curated in collaboration with dance artist Natifah White, cultural producer Dwayne Church-Simms and DU Guest Curator Anthea Lewis, you are invited to experience a pop-up library, community playlist and a growing collection of stories, memories and a film installation by Gary Nurse.
Browse, read, listen or contribute to community reading recommendations.
Return throughout the evening to enjoy food, explore the evolving archive and continue conversations with artists and fellow participants.
Part of Touch The Floor, a Dance Umbrella event curated by Anthea Lewis exploring the history and evolution of Black British social dance and music cultures. Through talks, movement, music, making and participation, it celebrates the informal spaces where people gathered, connected and created community.
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Natifah White
Dance Artist
Natifah White (she/her)
Dance Artist
Nottingham (UK)
Natifah White is a dance artist from Nottingham who is currently applying movement principles to reimagine archive and library systems.
She describes her work as a referential web spanning performance (credits include: Seke Chimutengwende, Florence Peake, SERAFINE 1369 and Elinor Lewis/Joe Garbett) and a personal practice based on guiding questions.
A question anchoring her work right now is: ‘How do we take the immaterial into the material?’ (ref. Joseph Zeal-Henry). She uses this to reimagine archive/library systems, thinking about how these structures might be experienced and circulated through movement and collective stewardship. Her approach is relational – she’s interested in learning from others, building on existing practices, and finding ways to carry that work forward.
These enquiries extend into her digi-practice, thisishappening, which experiments with archiving as an “amplifying practice”, using crediting, repeating, and sharing as “strategies of solidarity”. (ref. Archival Textures)
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Dwayne Church-Simms
Artist, Curator & Cultural Producer
Dwayne Church-Simms (he/him)
Artist, Curator & Cultural Producer
Nottingham (UK)
Dwayne Church-Simms is an artist, curator, and cultural producer working across dance, storytelling, and curation.
His practice creates immersive, emotionally charged experiences rooted in embodiment, memory, and human connection.
Drawing from his background as a performer, choreographer, and educator, he develops work that centres intimacy, care, and collective exchange. Alongside his independent practice, he is Producer – Learning on FABRIC’s Centre for Advanced Training in the East Midlands, supporting the next generation of artists and shaping inclusive cultural spaces.
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Anthea Lewis
Creative Practitioner, Curator & Producer
Credit Miguel Altunaga Jr
Anthea Lewis (she/her)
Creative Practitioner, Curator & Producer
London (UK)
Previous Dance Umbrella credits: SystemsLAB Debate: Shifting Ground – Reset / Reconnect / Reinvigorate (2019, online); Panel Discussion: Out of the System – Tick Box / Break Glass / Look Pretty (2019, Young Vic)
Anthea Lewis is a multidisciplinary creative practitioner, curator and producer, and the founder of Blulilli Projects.
With a background in contemporary dance and physical theatre, she brings over 20 years of experience as a performer, alongside an established career in producing and curating interdisciplinary work.
Her practice centres on amplifying underrepresented voices and exploring themes of identity, embodiment and inclusion. She is the founder and curator of UnTamed, a platform supporting female choreographers, and has curated a range of projects that foreground experimental and socially engaged performance.
Anthea has worked with leading organisations including Dance Umbrella, Tate Modern, FACT, The Blue Coat, The Young Vic, Tramway, BOM (Birmingham Open Media) and Bernie Grant Arts Centre. She was the guest curator for Dance In Vancouver Festival 2024, contributing to the artistic direction of one of British Columbia’s leading international dance platforms.
Alongside her curatorial and producing work, she is a choreographer, movement director and educator, committed to creating inclusive, process-led spaces for artistic development.
Touch The Floor
Discover more events
24 Oct 2026, 2pm - 4pm
In-person Free
Rich Mix
Mapping the Dance Floor Zine making with Natifah White
Share your dance floor stories through collage, drawing and writing
24 Oct 2026, 3.30pm - 5pm
In-person
Rich Mix
Sitting in Limbo A conversation with Dwayne Church-Simms
A discussion exploring how Black cultural histories are remembered and passed between generations
24 Oct 2026, 6pm - 11.30pm
In-person
Rich Mix
Memory in Motion
An evening of stories, dancing, music and participation
Venue & Access +
Venue
Rich Mix
35-47 Bethnal Grn Rd,
London E1 6LA
Access information
Rich Mix is an accessible venue, which aims to ensure their events are accessible to as many people as possible.
For access bookings, please call the Box Office to book on 020 7613 7498 or email [email protected]. These are not currently available to purchase online.
Rich Mix offer:
- Step-free access via a ramp at the main entrance on Bethnal Green Road
- Lifts provide access to all gallery, performance, and cinema spaces
- Wheelchair bays are available in all three cinema screens
- Accessible toilets are located on the Ground, 1st, 2nd (next to Screen 2), and 4th floors
- Box Office, Stage, and Studio spaces are equipped with hearing loops. Most hearing aids can connect by switching to the ‘T’ position
- Infrared hearing systems are available in The Studio and in cinema screens. Headsets can be provided on request.
- A portable FM radio system with neck loops and headsets can be provided on request
- Rich Mix accept CEA cards, which allow disabled guests to bring a carer free of charge
There are four accessible toilets in venue with RADAR locks:
- On the ground floor near reception / The Stage / Streetside
- On the first floor by the Cinema Bar and near the Gallery / Cinema
- Outside Screen 2 (2nd floor in the cinema)
- On the fourth floor near The Studio and The Mix space
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