Independent Dance

Home
United Kingdom
London
Independent Dance

ID runs an international programme of classes, workshops, research labs, events and talks.

Independent Dance (ID) is the UK's leading artist development organisation for dance. Founded in 1984, it has been artist-led ever since, working responsively to support dance artists in all roles, of all physicalities, and at all stages of career. We work with an international community, with a particular focus on inclusive body-based research enriched by cross-disciplinary and diverse approaches. Through our year-round programme, we offer paid work to on average 80 artists every year. Our public programme includes classes and workshops, research spaces, talks and exchanges, led by internationally-renowned artists and inviting artists and audiences to deepen enquiry and exchange ideas. ID receives funding from Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) as part of a consortium with Siobhan Davies Dance, whose building we are based in. In 2019-20, ID’s portion of this funding is £71,068, which covers most of our core operating costs; salaries of our four part-time staff, office rent and administrative overheads which we aim to keep to a minimum. In addition, we raise funds through trusts and foundations and through individual donations. Our artistic programme exists on an income-generating basis, with earnings from curating and delivering an extensive programme aiming to cover costs.

06/10/2026

Bisola Bello leads Monday Night Improvisation next week, sharing Root-Meter Method, an improvisation-based movement practice inspired by West African, Afro-Cuban, and Brazilian dance traditions 🌙

📅 Monday 12 October, 6.30pm-8pm⁠
🎟️ £10 / £8 per class with a Class Card⁠
🔗 Book Monday Night Improvisation via https://independentdance.co.uk/event/monday-night-improvisation-bisola-bello-2/
⁠
Bisola's session will focus on the relationship between the spine and pelvis, using guided improvisation to explore the movement qualities of undulation and vibration.
⁠
Drawing inspiration from Yoruba and Congo movement traditions, the class is accompanied by Afro-house music, providing a rhythmic foundation for participants to explore polyrhythmic movement through improvisation. Together, we will move with curiosity, freedom and joy.

Photo credit: Bisola Bello. Photo by Tamara Ferrari
⁠
Bello ⁠
⁠
[Image description: A black and white Image of Bisola Bello, with her head looking upwards, eyes closed and hair in Afro. The energy is free, light and relaxed.]

05/10/2026

Morning Class with Sasha Roubicek next week, using integrated mind-body approaches requiring investigative and reflective practice, involving articulate sequences that build in sophistication and complexity🧘

📅 12-16 October, 10am- 12pm⁠
🎟️ £10 / £8 with a class card⁠
🔗 Book via ⁠https://independentdance.co.uk/event/morning-class-sasha-roubicek-4/2026-10-12/
⁠
There is a particular focus on skeletal alignment, breathing, centring, physical integration, proprioceptive orientation and energy management. Sasha aims to encourage intellectual engagement and imaginative play.
⁠
Photo credit: Sasha Roubicek. Photo by Brenda Astara

⁠
# KleinTechnique ⁠
⁠
[Image Description: Sasha, is outside in a long lunge, arm stretched upwards. She is wearing a red vest top, black trousers and is barefoot.]

04/10/2026

For the next few weeks of our autumn class programme, we have:⁠
⁠
🌅 Morning Class with Sasha Roubicek, 12 - 16 October ⁠

🌙 Monday Night Improvisation with Bisola Bello, 12 October⁠

🌅 Morning Class with Charlie Ashwell, 19 – 23 October ⁠

🌙 Monday Night Improvisation with Esme Rocha-Benjamin, 19 October⁠

🌅 Research Exchange in Morning Class with Manuela Albrecht, 2 -6 November

🌙 Monday Night Improvisation with Colleen Bartley, 2 November⁠
⁠
🎟️ £10 / £8 with a class card⁠
🔗 To view and book onto our class programme, head to https://independentdance.co.uk/programme/category/classes/
⁠
ashwell
benjamin
⁠
⁠
⁠
Photo Credits: 2 Sasha Roubicek. Photo by Brenda Astara 3 Bisola Bello. Photo by Tamara Ferrari. 4 Charlie Ashwell, Working Titles residency at Leaf Hall for LIVE EDITIONS (2026). Photo by Alice Denny 5 Esme Rocha-Benjamin. Photo by Leon Doggy Dog 6 Manuela Albrecht. Photo by Diogo Vaz. 7 Colleen Bartley and Dorethée Däster improvising in Wales. Photo Cheshire Dance.

[Image Description: A carousel of the upcoming classes with Independent Dance this autumn. The opening image introduces the lineup before the rest spotlights each artist as captioned above. The tones and energy vary from image to image but overall are dynamic].

02/10/2026

We welcome Sarah MK Archdeacon + Tom Marshman for our next ID Conversations, as part of our Autumn Gathering! 💬⁠🍂⁠
⁠
📅 Friday 30 October, 6.30-7.30pm⁠
🎟️ £9 / £12 / £7⁠
🔗 Find out more and book ID Conversations via the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠
⁠
Sarah and Tom Join us for our third ID Conversation – an ongoing research project exploring live performative dialogues between artists. Each conversation is guided by a score devised by Efrosini Protopapa. These conversations seek to not only gain insight into the artists’ and their practices but to reveal process and move towards undoing hierarchies of knowledge.

Sarah MK Archdeacon is a London-based theatre maker and Artistic Director of performance company . Tom Marshman is an artist that creates performance that uncovers hidden histories and amplifies LGBTQIA+ voices.

🔗 Booking and more information about ID Conversations via https://independentdance.co.uk/event/id-conversations-sarah-mk-archdeacon-tom-marshman/
⁠
🔗 Find out more about ID Conversations
⁠
Photo Credit: (left to right) Sarah MK Archdeacon photo by Joc C Archdeacon. Tom Marshman photo by Jon C Archdeacon.
⁠
marshman

[Image Description: A collaged portrait image of both Sarah MK Archdeacon, on the left and Tom Marshaman on the right. Sarah is photographed gesticulating and hold a book in her right hand and Tom is in movement with fairy lights draped along his torso and face. Both images are in black and white].

01/10/2026

Today we're excited to launch Autumn Gathering: a weekend of moving, dancing, sharing and being together, following on from our Spring Gathering earlier this year! 📣

Across 30 October – 1 November, we’ll be offering workshops with Katsura Isobe, Katye Coe, Natifah White, Emma Lewis-Jones and SERAFINE1369, plus an ID Conversation with Sarah MK Archdeacon and Tom Marshman.

We’ll also be gathering together for sharings of works, ideas in progress – fragments of whatever you’re busy with. The invitation to share work or to witness is open to all sharing slots will be allocated via lottery.

Each of the sessions stand alone, but common threads of embodied thinking, relational spaces, sharing, witnessing and being alive to the moment mean they complement each other, offering the possibility of navigating the weekend in whatever way you choose. Our time together in the studio is interspersed with time to hang-out with friends, collaborators and co-conspirators old and new. We’re looking forward to welcoming you all! ⭐

🔗 Check out the full Autumn Gathering programme at https://independentdance.co.uk/project/autumn-gathering/

marshmanisobe.bodymindsoul

[Image Description: A collage of 7 images, each displaying an artist facilitating or participating in the Autumn Gathering. The tones vary, some are in motion and others in conversation. Colours are dynamic, ranging from dark and sombre to vibrant and human- all eyecatching.]⁠
⁠
Photo credit (left to right): 1 Sarah MK Arcdeacon by Jon Archdeacon. 2 Emma Lewis-Jones by Dan Brown, 3 Kayte Coe by Neil Horsley, 4 SERAFINE1369 by María Gracia Velázquez 5 Tom Marshman by Jon Archdeacon 6 Natifah White by Kirsten McTernan, 7 Katsura Isobe by Dominique Rivoal & Sam Russo.

29/09/2026

Elisabeth Mulenga will lead Monday night Improvisation next week, working with silence, repetition and the expressive face 🎭

📅 Monday 5 October, 6.30-8pm⁠
🎟️ £10 / £8 with a class card⁠
🔗 Book via ⁠https://independentdance.co.uk/event/monday-night-improvisation-elisabeth-mulenga/

This class offers you time to fine-tune your awareness of desires and create and remove boundaries with our audiences while being witnessed in improvisation. Elisabeth’s class embraces both exaggerated performance and introspection, working with a practice that centres on being specific about the ways we wish to be seen or unseen.
mulenga

Photo Credit: Lauren Cremer

[Image Description: A blurred image of Elisabeth, a brown-skinned mixed race, woman, with long black box braids. She is in motion; the tones are warm, and it is energetic..]

28/09/2026

Rhys Dennis leads Morning Class next week, welcoming you to move through sequences of flow, contact partner work, rhythm and musicality 🌀
⁠
📅 5 - 9 October, 10am- 12pm⁠
🎟️ £10 / £8 with a class card⁠
🔗 Book via https://independentdance.co.uk/event/morning-class-rhys-dennis/
⁠
Drawing on release-based techniques, communication through touch, and Rhys’ background in both Hip Hop and contemporary dance you will focus on pushing our physicality with these techniques, while maintaining a high level of sensitivity and awareness to respond to the atmosphere and camaraderie we create in the studio.
⁠
Photo credit: Rhys Dennis. Photo by .⁠
⁠

[Image Description: A black and white image of Rhys, a brown man with a beard around the chin and a moustache, dancing toward the back of this dark space. His left foot and right arm are slightly out of focus.]

26/09/2026

Joining the ID class programme, we have Esme Rocha-Benjamin for Monday Night Improvisation ✨

Esme Rocha-Benjamin (she/they) is a dance artist, somatic practitioner, and researcher whose work explores embodied culture, queerness, and mixed-heritage identity. She began her training at Dixon-Woods School of Dance before studying at London Studio Centre and later completing an MA at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).

Esme is currently a Practice Research PhD candidate at the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE), Coventry University, supported by a fully funded Midlands4Cities Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) studentship. Alongside her academic work, she has a strong interest in clowning and recently trained at École Philippe Gaulier, completing the summer programme Le Jeu (2026).

Over the past 15 years, Esme has taught, performed, and collaborated with artists and companies including KWAM Collective, Uchenna Dance, Kloé Dean, Babel Theatre, Farrell Cox, and Movement Angol, where she is an Associate Artist. She also co-created the internationally award-winning experimental dance film SOMA with KWAM Collective. In 2026, she became an Associate Artist at Hoxton Hall.

Some of you may have caught Esme at our Spring Gathering back in April, and if you didn't, here's your chance!

🔗 To book Monday Night Improvisation with Esme, 19 October, head to https://independentdance.co.uk/event/monday-night-improvisation-esme-rocha-benjamin/
benjamin

[Image Description: 1 Esme is sitting in front of a window. They are smiling and looking just away from camera. The photo shows Esme's upper body and she is wearing a black short sleeved top.]

24/09/2026

For Tuning Practice with SERAFINE1369, we are offering two free bursary places per session for QTIBPOC (Q***r, Transgender, Intersex, Black and People of Colour)🌸

To register your interest, email [email protected] and let us know which date you would like to attend. These places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

📅 Sunday 4 October, 4-6pm⁠, with more dates to come!
🎟️ £12 / 2 x bursary places available for QTIPOC⁠ per session⁠
🔗 Book your spot via our website; link in our bio.⁠ ⁠https://independentdance.co.uk/event/tuning-practice-with-serafine1369/2026-10-04/

In these sessions with SERAFINE1369, we will honour dancing as a wild and sacred relational devotional practice of moving energy. The work will guide participants towards accessing their most liberated dancing beyond form.

[Image Description: A text graphic that tells you about the bursary places as detailed above in the caption. The colour scheme is light pink and purple and features the Independent Dance logo in the bottom left corner. 2 An image of SERAFINE1369 in an illuminated pink-lit room. We see their face in profile, as they look down to the right corner of the image. Their hair is in locs and in motion, and they are wearing silver hooped earrings and a reddish vest top.]

22/09/2026

Join Sam Burkett next week for Monday night Improvisation and zoom into simultaneous movement and text improvisation 🗣️

📅 Monday 28 September, 6.30-8pm⁠
🎟️ £10 / £8 with a class card⁠
🔗 Book via ⁠https://independentdance.co.uk/event/monday-night-improvisation-sam-burkett/

You are invited to turn your attention outward in this class: working with each other to observe, react, and respond in real time: creating and connecting at once to get out of our heads and into the room. Drawing on tools from improv comedy and contemporary dance, we’ll fry our brains to create without filters, finding freedom and fun in our dancing.

Photo Credit: Sam Burkett

[Image Description: A portrait image of Sam, a white, tall person with short hair and a moustache. They are positioned in front of a white backdrop, wearing a light blue shirt tucked into brown trousers. Their left hand is on their hip while the other hand is angled up to their head. The energy is playful and fun.]

Address

Independent Dance, Siobhan Davies Studios, 85 St George's Road
London
SE16ER

Website

http://www.independentdance.co.uk/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Independent Dance posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organisation

Send a message to Independent Dance:

Featured

British DJ & MC Academy
The grangeway
Hephzibar Foundation