Anjali Keep Dancing

You don’t need Dancewear Central to tell you how brilliant dancing is- over the last few months we’ve seen how it has joined communities together, helped raise millions of pounds for charity and allowed us all to have a LOT of fun. Dance is becoming more and more accessible and now everyone can get involved, but two years ago one of the pioneering groups, that have helped open up the dance world for dancers with learning disabilities, was forced to close due to financial difficulties. Thanks to the generosity of two anonymous donors, however, it was able to re-launch this week with a celebratory show-case at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Anjali Dance Company was set up in 1993, after the success of a series of contemporary dance workshops led by Nicole Thomson (now the company’s artistic director) and was the first of its kind. It aimed to demonstrate that ‘a distinctive and powerful quality could emerge from a group of dancers with learning disabilities’. It sought to break down audience’s preconceptions and prejudices as well as provide people with learning disabilities the opportunity to create and perform original dance pieces. The company has worked with leading choreographers including Charlotte Vincent, Matthew Hawkins and Claire Russ, danced with members of the Royal Ballet and have performed in Berlin, Lisbon and Madrid as well as at the Royal Festival Hall and Royal Opera House. On top of all of this, it also runs a youth dance company and weekly classes for children and adults. Due to the cost of rehearsal space and transportation, however, the company needs £100,000 a year to survive and in 2011 cuts to the Arts Council meant that Anjali fell into financial difficulties. After a fund-raising campaign throughout 2012 and these anonymous contributions, which totaled £70,000, the company was thankfully given a second chance. Since then, it has also been awarded an Arts Council Grants for Arts award to help research and develop their production Genius, choreographed by Lea Anderson and Gary Clarke, which challenges the audience’s perceptions of normality. On Tuesday 9^th July therefore, Anjali celebrated with a press launch and show case of their recent research at the Royal Festival Hall. Hannah Dempsey and Daisy Garratt performed The Reflection (choreographed by Aya Kobayashi), which they also performed at the 2012 Paralympics, while Nick followed with a solo performance entitled Second Skin. The rest of the company then performed a series of little sketches, proving that this inspirational dance troupe is back to stay.