Attenborough Arts Centre, East Midlands

Next Door Dance

Walk 0.3 Miles in My Boots

images of young dancers performing in green t-shirts and sunflower wreaths around their necks, during half time at a very busy rugby game

Next Door Dance and Leicester Tigers Rugby Union fans have made a new film combining dance and rugby!

Next Door Dance (NDD) created some bespoke accessible choreography to share with the 25,000-strong crowd at the Leicester Tigers. This was performed at their home game on 29 February 2020, when Tigers launched their Inclusivity Celebration, along with sunflower lanyards and sensory backpacks. Next Door Dance, with 40 performers including dancers and rugby players, filled the pitch with sunflowers at half time to spread the message that small adjustments can make life more accessible for everyone. Attenborough Arts Centre supported the creation of this work in order to forge a link between the local rugby community and the accessible arts space on their doorstep.

The second stage of the project was the creation of a film with Keith Allott from local production company Bad Shoes. The film shows the journey of a fan from home to the rugby ground, and sees young people and rugby fans dancing through their city! The film was premiered at Attenborough Arts Centre in Summer 2021.

Attenborough Arts Centre

Attenborough Arts Centre,
University of Leicester,
Lancaster Road,
Leicester
LE1 7HA

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Next Door Dance

Next Door Dance

Next Door Dance are an all-female company based in Nottingham, passionate about creating performances that are exciting and relevant to a wide range of audiences – especially those that might believe dance is not for them. Participatory projects are at the heart of what they do, stand for and believe in.

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