Hounslow Leap

As a part of our London Leap programme, between 2020-23 we worked in the London borough of Hounslow to undertake an exciting residency that explored ways to reduce barriers for young people and wider communities to engage with dance.

The residency, which was funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, enabled us to develop new partnerships with local cultural and community organisations and test approaches to engagement that were specific to the borough.

A dynamic coming together of ideas by young, aspiring musicians & dancers from Hounslow, Assemble was a creative development project for students at West Thames College.

Students were given the opportunity to work collaboratively with other young artists from West Thames College music and dance departments, enhance their composition and/or choreographic skills and develop a new work together for public performances at Bell Square and Watermans Arts Centre as a part of Dance Umbrella Festival 2021.

The students were mentored by dance artist Becky Namgauds, dance/music artist Tyrone Isaac Stuart and West Thames College staff.

A collaboration between members of Age UK Hounslow, Grounded Movement and Dance Umbrella, Feltham Moves is a dance film that explores and celebrates its protagonist’s relationships to their local area.

Feltham Moves premiered as a part of DU: Watermans Takeover in October 2021.

Choreography and concept: Sunanda Biswas and Temujin Gill, Grounded Movement
Filming: Alex Daniels and the performers
Editing: Monika Davies
Performers: Kanta Gomez, Hansa Makawana, Lakshmi Nayee, Anjana Patel, Ramaben Patel, Subhadra Patel, Minerva Stanley, Urmila Trivedi, Sudha Unjia

In 2021 we delivered a series of weekend Takeovers at Bell Square and Watermans Arts Centre, which featured as part of the Dance Umbrella festival 2021. 

Enlivening two cultural hotspots, our weekend Takeovers brought a mix of national dance, pop-up events, home-grown talent and workshops to Hounslow. Featured artists included Ahilan Ratnamohan, Takeshi Matsumoto, Jennifer Irons, Kesha Raithatha and Dani Harris-Walters alongside many of the participants who took part in our various projects. 

Visitors to the DU: Watermans Takeover were also given the opportunity to take part in free dance workshops in a range of styles including Kathak, Hip Hop and creative dance. 

Photo Summer Dean

Club Origami by Takeshi Matsumoto, created as part of Little Big Dance, an initiative addressing the lack of high-quality dance productions created for early years, was an immersive and interactive dance show inviting family audiences to create, imagine and explore new ways of thinking, playing, and moving. Dance, fashion, and live music met the magic of origami on a spirited and inspiring adventure in a land made purely of paper and play.

There were three performances of Club Origami as a part of the DU: Watermans Takeover weekend. In the week leading up to the performances, Dance Umbrella offered five music and dance engagement workshops with the show’s performers in a local Hounslow primary school which reached 119 Early Years Foundation Stage pupils.