News Story

2025 was epic and we just want to make sure we're holding close all that great stuff as we start another new and exciting year.

Schools were a major part of our agenda in 2025 and we did a Summer and Winter tour around BCP schools with 2 amazing performances. We went outdoors with CAGED by our Associate Artists, Linden Dance and then inside for our contemporary and street dance adventure, The Snails' Dragon Tale with dance artists Jazz Gritt and Katie Neal. We delivered 27 workshops and performed to over 2300 children at 13 schools, including Poole High, The Grange, St Edwards, Bourne Academy, St Mary’s, St Luke’s, St Walburga’s, Malmesbury Park, St Ives, St Katharine’s, Livingstone Academy, Christchurch Juniors and Victoria Livability School - a huge thanks to BCP Cultural Hub for making it possible.

“It was a wonderful experience for the children to witness a live dance performance. Opportunities like this not only bring joy but also inspire creativity, cultural appreciation, and a deeper connection to the arts. Thank you for providing such an engaging and memorable event for our students – they loved it!” Class 4 Teacher, Christchurch Junior School

CAGED has had a phenomenal year touring around the UK. All whilst the creators extended their own little family! We’ve loved having Chris & Sara and all the CAGED performers at our venue this past year. And wish them lots of luck for 2026. Our Autumn commission The Snails’ Dragon Tale is a contemporary and street dance adventure for ages 7–11, inspired by a local Dorset myth. And the kids loved it! It’s coming back for 2026 so get in touch if your school wants to be part of it.

We hosted some great artists working, researching and sharing work in development including supported artist, Olivia Wallis-Jackson, touring her work Stasiland in libraries and Visiting Artist, Lauren Scott, bringing freestyle street and popping to our youth dance company Coast, during her residency. We’ve loved having all our artists in residence and the diversity, passion and talent that they bring to the dance world. Thank you for sharing your work with us!

We presented some fabulous sold out shows like The Magic Flute preview for families. We welcomed back visually impaired artist Holly Thomas to present Half Light with guests from Dorset Blind Association among the audience enjoying the performance. And we’ve created a fantastic line up for Spring 2026! From 1930s Paris to ancient Japan and back home again we’ve got some fantastic artists and performances lined up. Make sure to check out What’s On this season.

We celebrated 15 years in our venue with so many great stories and an offer to get our theatre buzzing in 2026. Can’t wait to see you all in the theatre this Spring!

Our weekly class dancers and teachers brought the choreo, the sass, the glamour and the joy that our Spring and Autumn Revues showcase so well. And every week we get to see the amazing benefits that dance brings to our participants – from mini movers just starting out to our amazing Mature Movers and Parkinson’s Dancers. Some trying it for the first time, some returning after a break, some just for fun. It’s all brings so much wellbeing and if we could bottle it we would!

We went offsite to some fabulous venues like Russell Cotes Museum where our adult contemporary dance company, Co Evo performed outdoors in the gorgeous grounds as part of the May Morris exhibition. The stunning location and amazing performance in the sunny outdoors made quite the spectacle.

We’d love to mention everyone but please take this is as a huge THANK YOU to everyone that we connected with in 2025. We can’t wait to see what 2026 brings and all the communities we’ll get to move with or be moved by. Let’s do this!