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Sunrise to Sunset at Theatre Severn on July 10th, 2025

An incredible cast of dancers bring in a new day, using touch, weight, momentum, balance, flow and connection, celebrating how we move through the day and how the day moves us.

Wow what a night !

Shropshire Inclusive Dance is so proud of all the performers, our hard-working team and so thankful to such a brilliant and supportive audience. Sunrise to Sunset was a huge success.

Dancers, you were amazing ! Performing with creativity, connection, virtuosity and so much heart.

The show was presented by the wonderful Gareth Price-Baghurst, who wove our story of the day together with his writing expertise, charm, gravitas, poetry and humour.

Our wonderful SiD groups – Create, Highflyers, Thrive, Darwin Dancers, and Contact Dance Company created work to express and animate our experiences of the day from Sunrise to Sunset.

Our team of dance artists and specialists including Anna Belyavin, Delphine Wise, Cat Merrick, Julie Wright & Rosie Hayward worked with each group, supporting them to tell their stories and to shine.

Envisaging and bringing the show together has been satisfying and hard work for SiD Artistic Directors Rachel Liggitt ,Ray Jacobs and SiD Manager Jo Wright, but seeing the artistry expressed and joy that dance brings to everyone involved sure makes it worthwhile.

Comments from the audience.

‘The performance last night was inspirational. The concept of weaving a story into the performance was brilliant. Often you can be left feeling why was that show called what it was. So, Sunrise to sunset was clear and apparent throughout and made you feel you were indeed being taken on a journey.’

The show included those beautiful lanterns created by Amanda Hillier (Hillier Designs) and our costumes were cared for and tailored by our Wardrobe Supervisor Sue Hall.

Big thanks to Cal Barre and Theatre Severn technical staff who created a beautifully lit stage and operated sound and lights, the Hive Shrewsbury venue for supporting us throughout the programme of classes and dance making and The Gateway Centre supporting our classes through Herefordshire, Ludlow and North Shropshire College.

Many thanks to our Stage Manager Rachael Holbrook who kept us all calm, focused and organised on stage, and the extra support from Richard Edwards.

Also, a shout out to our board members supporting our front of house on the night and Ellen Purse who worked hard to support our marketing of the event.

SiD was supported by the presence and words of The Worshipful Mayor of Shrewsbury, Councillor Wagner.

More comments from the audience.

‘The performance was skilfully put together, and Gareth’s guidance through the evening tied all the threads together with ease. The performers shone and it was beautiful to see how individuals could shine through while watching a true company perform. All a reflection on how wonderfully SiD hold and guide your work.’

‘I left feeling light and energised for my journey home, which journeyed through the sunset and then I got to spend time with the full Stag Moon which was orange, huge and low in the sky – it felt like it was guiding me home.’

It is our funders who have made this event possible. We would like to acknowledge the support of The True Colours Trust, Shropshire Council , Arts Council England, Energize Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin , Actio Shropshire, Fabric, Herefordshire, Ludlow and North Shropshire College,The Basil Houghton Memorial Trust, Shropshire Community Foundation and The National Lottery Community Fund.

.All photographs are beautifully taken by Ming de Nasty, more images will follow soon


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We need your support to ‘Keep SiD Dancing’

Dear Friends, SiD needs your support to continue bringing inclusive dance into the lives of people in Shropshire, and to Keep SiD Dancing!

We are asking for donations, no matter how small, to support us running our programme of inclusive dance classes, projects and dance performance.

You can donate through our Just Giving page here.

https://www.justgiving.com/sidance

We believe passionately that dance makes a positive difference to people’s lives and we love creating opportunities for people to dance and move together.

We are lucky to be part of an amazing dance community who have danced through so much together.

We are aiming to raise £15,000 between now and the end of February to ensure that SiD continues to flourish and offer inclusive dance experiences for so many.

Any support you can offer us really will make a big difference.

We will share with you in the coming days ways you can help us fundraise and Keep SiD dancing

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Come and watch the SiD Summer Dance Celebration 2024

SiD’s Darwin Dancers in Performance

Please Join us for an evening’s celebration of inclusive, joyful and
spell binding dance at the Walker Theatre, Theatre Severn on Saturday 13th July.

 A Summer Dance Celebration features captivating performances and dance film from SiD’s participants & dancers plus a guest performance by the powerful and humorous dance theatre duet, Tom and Rob.
The dances will be introduced and woven together by
Makaton signing MC Sam Stephen.  

SiD’s Thrive group in Performance at last years celebration

SiD prides itself in creating dance experiences  which bring people together to celebrate artistry, connection, diversity, humour, and the power of dance.
The evening’s show will be shared in an accessible, supportive and relaxed environment.

Tom n Rob in rehearsal

Please book your tickets by pressing on the link below. Alla ccess details are available on the Theatre Severn Website Access Pages

Please press this link to book tickets

Doors open                 7pm

Show start time         7.30pm

Finish                          9.30pm

Cost

£12 Adults over 18

£6   Children 

We look forward to seeing you and dancing for you !

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All hands on deck for SiD’s Summer Dance Celebration !

It’s full steam ahead as we prepare for SiD’s Summer Dance Celebration at Theatre Severn on Saturday July 13th

SiD’s Dance Artists are absorbed in creating amazing performances, our dancers are working together, creating, learning & remembering their dances and the SiD team are super busy bringing all the show together.

Take a look at the images below of SiD performers in rehearsal.
Be sure not to miss this incredible celebration of the power, humanity and creativity of inclusive dance.

A Summer Dance Celebration features captivating performances from SiD’s participants & dancers plus a guest performance by dance theatre duet Tom and Rob. The dance performances will be introduced and woven together by Makaton signing MC Sam Stephen. 

Tickets are going fast so please book yours by clicking on the this link or by calling Theatre Severn Box Office on 01743 281281.

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Tom N Rob Guest Workshop – Tuesday 5th December 2023

SiD is hosting a one-day workshop led by

Tom N Rob on Tuesday 5th December 2023 
10am – 4.30pm at the Gateway Centre, Shrewsbury SY1 1NB
Cost – £30 

Join Contact Dance Company for a one-day workshop led by Tom N Rob. 
Tom and Rob (Tom Bright and Rob Hemming) are dance theatre artists who make and perform dance, celebrating their shared love of dance, theatre, laughter and improvisation. Their combination of physical energy, partner work, great dancing and comedy has wowed audiences wherever they perform. 

The workshop is open to Contact Dance Company dancers and people who are D/deaf, disabled, neurodivergent and non-disabled, who have previous high level dance experience. We would particularly like to reach out to dancers based in Shropshire or the West Midlands who don’t regularly dance with SiD. 

In the workshop, Tom N Rob will be sharing how they dance and make dances together through their non-verbal creative practice. On the day you will also get to watch their most recent short film ‘Happy Okay Mate’ which will inform some of the workshop content. The workshop will explore Partner skills, improvisation and creating work in duets and small groups. They will give an insight how to use these tools for choreography.

Contact Dance Company are an inclusive dance company produced by Shropshire Inclusive Dance. CDC meets to explore and experience dancing together, to express artistry through dance and to create powerful contemporary dance performance.

How to Book
Please email on officesidance@gmail.com to request a place on the workshop, If places are available we will then send a booking form with payment details.

About The Venue. 
The workshop will take place at The Gateway, Chester Street Shrewsbury.  

  • The Gateway is an accessible venue. There are a range of facilities including lifts to all floors, wide corridors and electrical opening entrance doors. 
  • There are 3 Disabled Parking Spaces  

The venue is close the train station and town centre car parks. There is some on street parking close to the venue.

More information can be found here:
https://hlnsc.ac.uk/apprenticeships/the-gateway-adult-and-community-education- 

Any Questions  

For more information, or to talk to us about what you might need to be able to access the workshop, please email SiD’s Co artistic director Ray Jacobs at directorsidance@gmail.com or call him on 07817194644 

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SiD’s next guest workshop Tom N Rob: Dancing Together

A one-day workshop led by Tom N Rob 
On Tuesday 5th December 2023 
10am – 4.30pm at the Gateway Centre, Shrewsbury SY1 1NB
Cost – £30 

Join Contact Dance Company for a one-day workshop led by Tom N Rob. 
Tom and Rob (Tom Bright and Rob Hemming) are dance theatre artists who make and perform dance, celebrating their shared love of dance, theatre, laughter and improvisation. Their combination of physical energy, partner work, great dancing and comedy has wowed audiences wherever they perform. 

The workshop is open to Contact Dance Company dancers and people who are D/deaf, disabled, neurodivergent and non-disabled, who have previous high level dance experience. We would particularly like to reach out to dancers based in Shropshire or the West Midlands who don’t regularly dance with SiD. 

In the workshop, Tom N Rob will be sharing how they dance and make dances together through their non-verbal creative practice. On the day you will also get to watch their most recent short film ‘Happy Okay Mate’ which will inform some of the workshop content. The workshop will explore Partner skills, improvisation and creating work in duets and small groups. They will give an insight how to use these tools for choreography.

Contact Dance Company are an inclusive dance company produced by Shropshire Inclusive Dance. CDC meets to explore and experience dancing together, to express artistry through dance and to create powerful contemporary dance performance.

How to Book
Please email on officesidance@gmail.com to request a place on the workshop, If places are available we will then send a booking form with payment details.

About The Venue. 
The workshop will take place at The Gateway, Chester Street Shrewsbury.  

  • The Gateway is an accessible venue. There are a range of facilities including lifts to all floors, wide corridors and electrical opening entrance doors. 
  • There are 3 Disabled Parking Spaces  

The venue is close the train station and town centre car parks. There is some on street parking close to the venue.

More information can be found here:
https://hlnsc.ac.uk/apprenticeships/the-gateway-adult-and-community-education- 

Any Questions  

For more information, or to talk to us about what you might need to be able to access the workshop, please email SiD’s Co artistic director Ray Jacobs at directorsidance@gmail.com or call him on 07817194644 

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SiD’s Summer Celebration 2023 and Food Festival Performance on Film

SiD shared a fantastic night of dance film and dance performances with a packed audience at The Hive in Shrewsbury.

Groups from SiDs weekly classes and its new project for 16 – 30 yr olds Darwin Dancers, shared amazing dances on film and on stage.

The evening culminated with the premiere of SiDs new professional touring piece
‘Here There Everywhere’

The new work choreographed by Siobhan Hayes and performed by Mervyn Bradley, Chander van Daatselaar, Beth Gardiner and Anna Belyavin was immensely enjoyed by the appreciative audience.

Below is a film of the evening created by Calum Barre capturing the unique atmosphere, commitment, skills and creativity of all the dancers involved.

Contact Dance Company performed Here There Everywhere to appreciative audiences at The Shrewsbury Food Festival. The work really captured the attention of festival goers, audiences literally stopped in their tracks to watch this powerful & unique work. The short film clip below was created by film Maker Calum Barre to support future touring of this eye catching inclusive dance show,

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Contact Dance Company perform Skirting Around The Edge

On Friday 24th September, Contact Dance Company performed a new duet as part of the FEAST Festival in Malvern. ‘Skirting Around The Edge’ performed by dancers Beth Gardiner and Anna Belyavin, is a lyrical exploration of connection and boundaries. The two dancers navigate the space, exchange glances and like so many of us during this time, experience being together after a long time apart.

The packed FEAST festival audience who were enjoying a sublime selection of poetry, music, performance art and physical comedy were entranced by the dance piece and the dancers. The audience were there with the dancers for every swing, turn, leap, touch and thanked them with rapturous applause at the end of the piece.

Skirting around the Edge, directed by SiD’s co-artistic director Rachel Liggitt was accompanied by the beguiling music track ‘Vardeldu’r by Signor Ros. Contact Dance Company continue to make dances which share the power and importance of human connection at a time when everyone needs it.

Shropshire Inclusive Dance are accepting bookings for this new work please contact directorsidance@gmail.com with enquiries.

Images by Ray Jacobs

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SiD Contemporary Dance Class on Zoom

Contact Dance Company dancers and guests have been taking part in a SID Contemporary Dance Class on zoom. The 1hr 15 minute weekly class led by Contact Dance Company dancer Poppy Mansfield is a chance to learn dance technique and move creatively in the comfort of your own home.

As well as joining in with dance sequences and creative tasks participants get to meet our company of dancers and share in the dance, together on screen.

The class takes place on Wednesday mornings and is suitable for people with and without disabilities with some dance experience. Places are limited and the class is popular but do contact us if you would like a place in the class. officesidance@gmail.com

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Contact Dance Company present ‘Being Seen’ on film.

In the summer of 2019 eight dancers with and without disabilities from Contact Dance Company worked with director and choreographer Jo Fong to create a new dance work for touring titled ‘Being Seen’.

The dancers were Becky Keir, Anna Belyavin, Chloe Shepherd, Rachel Liggitt,
Andrew Kelly, Mervyn Bradley, Amal Neffi and Kevin Shepherd

Creating the work with Jo Fong was an intensive, joyful and rewarding experience for the company. We are very proud of the piece that was created and performed.

‘Being Seen’ was exactly that, a call for performers to be seen as their selves, powerful, vulnerable, poetic, playful, graceful and human

Below is a 9 minute edited version of ‘Being Seen’ filmed live by JTV Production at Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, July 2019.

 

Contact Dance Company received very positive feedback from it’s premier at Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury

‘I enjoyed the close proximity of the dancers and the sounds of the wheels. I liked seeing the dancers, the objects and the interactions between them. I enjoyed the connection between people and the real closeness that was conveyed’

‘It felt  so personal, so raw, as if we were all part of it’.

‘Intricate, graceful, joyful and absolute pleasure to watch’.

Jo Fong’s work reflects the need in these times for people to come together. Her practice has been informed by notions of inclusivity, participation and is about being present, this moment, communication, listening, face to face encounters and the idea of forming community.  This work will be more important then ever as part of the healing process after the collective trauma of the Covid-19 crisis.

Being Seen is available for touring throughout 2020, please contact the company for more details.