Disco Dadz is a fun 2-hour event for dads and their kids with a live DJ and dance tutor, disco lights, party games, prizes, face-painting, refreshments and social time. Sessions welcome other family members too – including mums, carers, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Get on your dancing shoes, and join the party!

Baby Boogie comes to the Story Museum.. so prepare to get funky!

Toddlers and grown-ups grab some space on the dance-floor and let the music take you away. Take a break in the chill-out zone with free face painting. Kick off your shoes and turn up the volume for a disco delight with your toddlers.

Duration: 60 mins

For ages 0-6 year olds with older siblings welcome.

All children must be accompanied by an adult.

“I can’t see how arts and cultural organisations can afford not to attend this course. The information is invaluable!”

(Course participant, June 2017)

The Course:

This workshop aims to support arts and cultural organisations and practitioners to develop and build partnerships with schools. Led by Artswork School Liaison Managers, the day will focus on recent changes and developments in the formal education sector

Offering strategies for gaining access to decision makers in schools, a refreshed awareness on the value of partnerships, key education language and a focus on Arts Council England’s Quality Principles, this day will leave you equipped to build on and develop your offering for both primary and secondary schools.

Ideal for:

Any arts and cultural organisation that wants to build their knowledge of working with schools
You will gain:

An update on Progress 8 and the latest curriculum reforms
Information on how you can support schools in developing their pupil’s Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural development
Practical ideas for developing your offering to primary and secondary schools
Q&A session with senior leaders working in schools
Course cost:

Places on this course are charged at the subsidised rate of £70 per person. This subsidy is available to individuals and organisations working in the south east region*, as part of Artswork’s South East Bridge Programme. The usual cost of places on this course is £130 per person.

Book your place below. If you work outside of the south east region and wish to attend this course, or would like further advice and information, please contact Miranda Hewitt-Green at MirandaHewitt-Green@artswork.org.uk / 02380 332491

*The South East region is defined as covering Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, Southampton, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes, Surry, East & West Sussex, Brighton & Hove and Kent (excluding Medway and the districts of Gravesham, Dartford and Swale)

Performing Lines & NORPA (Australia) and Dance Touring Partnership present
Cockfight
by The Farm

Two blokes in an office. One older, one younger, each body pushed to its limits. A cross between The Office and an Australian style cage-fight, this game of comical one-upmanship builds to a moment of impact where everything is suspended. A flash of bared teeth, the desperation of needing to prove yourself versus the need to hold on to what you’ve got.

Cockfight explores the power play between men, the frailty of the ageing body and questions culture’s desperate desire for achievement.

Skilfully enacting a full-throttle mash-up of extreme physical risk-taking, graceful movement and slow-mo fight sequences, this darkly humorous and surprisingly tender piece of dance theatre by The Farm, sees long-time collaborators Joshua Thomson and Gavin Webber reassess who is in charge.

Without each other these two performers have nothing left to fight for.

“It is sidesplittingly hilarious and beautifully athletic and graceful.” ABC Arts

“[Cockfight] is physical theatre at its most extreme: bodies slam into walls and office furniture, and perilous interlocking rolls, tackles and lunges fling performers through space.” The Australian

“Its physicality is masterful and its comedy biting” Dance Australia

“At times broadly comedic, with a Buster Keaton-esque physicality on show, Cockfight switches effortlessly to moments of beauty and poignancy” ArtsHub

“They’re terrific movers, speedy, strong and fearless…” Ballet.co.uk

Originally commissioned by NORPA and supported by DanceNorth, Townsville; the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Cairns (COCA); Arts Queensland and the Australia Council for the Arts, and toured by Performing Lines. The Farm is supported by the Gold Coast City Council. UK tour is funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and presented by Dance Touring Partnership.

The performance will be followed by a Q & A

Running time 70 mins
Age suitability 14+

Finding Beulah is a love story of two half’s literally, the male and the female, the past and the future, the African experience and the rest of the world.

In the play we see our lovers reincarnate at key times in human history, bringing to life ancient African civilizations, and sharing life lessons and experiences.

Their final incarnation occurs in 2027, against a backdrop of western economic instability, in which Africa is free from international debt and calls home her lost sons and daughters.

Will our lovers connect with their spirits? Or be lost to each other forever?

A compelling black on black love story.

An epic journey told through drama, song, dance and multimedia.

Suitable for 10+

A delicate dance-theatre performance for children and their adults, playfully exploring sound and silence.

Two characters set out on a journey through a world filled with Boings, Whooshes, Tick-Tocks and Cacophony! Their journey is punctuated by silence, and as they are wrapped up in stillness, they learn to listen to that silence.

The research and development for the show was in collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Institute of Acoustics and Vibrations at Southampton University.

Peut-Être Theatre led by Artistic Director Daphna Attias brings a surreal poetic aesthetic to the world of children’s theatre. Driven by a desire to create unforgettable early theatrical experiences for young audiences, our shows effectively combine the visual, the physical and the musical. The company created seven productions to date. (This is a That 2008, The Bug and the Butterfly 2010, Draw me a Bird 2011, The Tin Soldier 2012, Clunk 2014 and Dare to Sea 2014. Shh…Bang! 2015 is their most recent show)

Shh…Bang! Movement Workshop

This 45-mins workshops for children & families will be an exploration of the themes of the show using dance and movement. Children will move like the different sounds boint, woosh, tick tock, splash… listen to silence and create a fun cacophony! Places are limited, so book early to avoid disappointment.. Call our box office to book your space. Places for the workshop are £2.

The show is kindly funded by the Wellcome Trust and Arts Council England. Suitable for ages 3+

Bounce onto the dance floor with the ever popular Baby Boogie.

Toddlers and their grown-ups throw some shapes and groove to the tunes from the live DJ. Try a warm-up workshop (call the box office to book) and take a break in the chill-out zone with free activities in the café.

Workshop 45 minutes
Disco 60 minutes

For ages 5 and under

Following a year of sold out Spanish Night shows at Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot, we are delighted to be moving into the Cornerstone Arts theatre.  The Spanish Night on 30 September will be our first in Cornerstone's theatre which will give us fantastic sight lines, an even more ntimate setting and amazing atmosphere.  This will be Flamenco at it's finest.

For our first Spanish Night show in it's new setting we are thrilled to welcome the legendary "Flamenco Express" company, starring multi-award winning male dancer Alejandro Molineros (Madrid) and Jerez based singer Antonio El Pola, together with long time "Flamenco Express" dancer La Joaquina and sensational guitarist Chris Clavo. You can see film clips of Alejandro Molinero and "Flamenco Express" in performance on our Facebook page (accessed via our website).

It's been a year since their last storming Flamenco show at Cornerstone and we know they will bring all the power and passion of their unique group to this show. 

Although we'll have a new stage design (which will mean even more of you can be up-close to the performance) we'll be keeping the other elements of our Spanish Night shows at Cornerstone; the audience will be seated cabaret style, at tables of various sizes from 2 - 10 people and each table will have complimentary and authentic Spanish bar snacks for you to enjoy.

The Cornerstone bar will be offering a great selection of Spanish wines and beers and will be running an special pre-order service so you can have the drinks of your choice delivered to your table.

Join this dance session for dancing contact improvisation to celebrate 3 years of Oxford Contact Dance! There is also a introductory class at 2pm if you're interested. We're suggesting a £5 donation to the Crisis homeless charity for attendance but it's not obligatory.

Contact improvisation is a dance which originated in the 1970’s and which has now spread throughout the world. It’s often taught in university dance courses but it’s easy to learn and fun. It’s an improvised dance - a dialogue in movement - which has a fluid and dynamic form, and it’s social dancing; not stage dancing. Suitable for everyone, whatever your age, gender or dancing experience.

Please bring a water bottle and wear loose clothing in which you can move freely.

Facebook event for the class from 2 - 4 pm: https://www.facebook.com/events/26073032...

Here's an example of a dance session for contact improvisation: https://vimeo.com/207956543

Information about Crisis: https://www.crisis.org.uk/get-help/oxford/

Photo: Dancing at the first session of Oxford Contact Dance on 13 September 2014 at the Old Fire Station, Oxford.
Slide show of first session of Oxford Contact Dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG75dJ9G...

This class is for people with little or no experience of dancing contact improvisation. After the class, you'll have the confidence to take part in a dance session for contact improvisation also known as 'a jam'. There's a Jam after the class from 4 - 6 pm.

We're suggesting a £5 donation to the Crisis homeless charity for attendance but it's not obligatory: part of the celebrations for our third anniversary.

Contact improvisation is a dance which originated in the 1970’s and which has now spread throughout the world. It’s often taught in university dance courses but it’s easy to learn and fun. It’s an improvised dance - a dialogue in movement - which has a fluid and dynamic form, and it’s social dancing; not stage dancing.

Please bring a water bottle and wear loose clothing in which you can move freely.

Here's an example of a dance session for contact improvisation: https://vimeo.com/207956543

Information about the homeless charity Crisis: https://www.crisis.org.uk/get-help/oxford/

Photo: Class at Oxford Contact Dance, 2017 by Michelle Azdajic