Hannah Robertshaw, Yorkshire Dance’s Creative Director reflects on Ageless 2024.

“There’s something about Ageless which feels incredibly special. Whether it’s the coming together of audiences of all ages or the slightly provocative programming or the fact that we always end together on the dance floor, there’s a spark about this event which I treasure.

This year’s Ageless began with a Big Communal Boogie – a simple concept where Ageless artists selected a favourite track, introduced it, and we let loose on the dancefloor. It set the tone for the festival and immediately brought audiences together through dance. What followed was a series of beautifully conceived workshops and presentations by Katja Heitmann, Chris Matthews and Christine Thynne. All uniquely moving, they each had a deeply personal resonance, focussing on individual stories and the wisdom and knowledge we hold within the body.

Other highlights of the festival included a double bill featuring Susan Kempster’s ‘Mother’ and Lisa Kendall’s ‘One Woman Wrestling Invites…’ offering two very contrasting works which challenged our expectations and assumptions about women’s roles, relationships and behaviours. Katherina Radeva’s 40/40, was an authentic and honest portrayal of a woman turning 40 and finding joy and connection through her body; and Carl Harrison’s Apocolypse Wow! offered audiences a birth to death alien drag show before a warm invitation to enter the performance space for a closing party.

Workshops led by Funmi Adewole Elliot, Susan Kempster and Kyra Norman filled the Yorkshire Dance studios with beautiful moments to connect, move and explore new movement practices. Das Clarks performance of ‘A Brief History of Difference’ turned Studio 3 into a beautiful treasure trove of objects, tapestries and pigeons.

Over 20 professional artists contributed to the festival along with community performers from Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool. A research presentation between Yorkshire Dance’s intergenerational Company of People and guest company Fevered Sleep, took place as a durational installation at Leeds Art Gallery, with over 350 audience members in attendance.

I left the festival reflecting on the skill and artistry of the artists who poured so much of themselves into Ageless. There was a generosity and openness which resonated across the festival and this enabled artists and audiences to show up as their authentic selves.

I’m already full of ideas for the fourth edition of Ageless which will take place in 2026. I’m keen to look outside of western contemporary dance forms and learn from other cultural dance forms about their relationship with age and the body, and obviously, a Big Communal Boogie and awesome closing party will be high up the agenda.”