On 30-31 May we welcomed artists and audiences to our building for our Collective Encounters festival celebrating LGBTQ+ identities through dance.  

The festival began on Friday evening with a presentation of Trans*Performativity by Portuguese artist AURA. The white dance floor and sterile white lighting acted as a canvas for the five trans* performers in their colourful blue, pink and purple costumes. The performers slowly came together across the work using partially improvised movement to weave their individual experiences into the piece.  

Following the work, our Artist Development Producer, João, led an audience Q&A providing insight on the history of the work with AURA explaining the creative process behind adapting this version to a new cast. The performers reflected on the use of tarot cards, a common activity at queer house parties, in the work, explaining that the cast improvised different movements each night based on the cards drawn. The cast also discussed their approach to touch within the work and feeling gender euphoria on stage. 

Saturday’s programme kicked off with the welcome event featuring an allyship workshop with Luca from Curious Arts, a charity championing LGBTQIA+ artists and communities. Luca explained different terminology and highlighted the importance of including the ‘plus’ in LGBTQIA+ before opening up a discussion about allyship. The session ended with a pop-up performance by Thick and Tight which used archive interviews together with movement and lip sync to delve into a comic exploration of Twiggy and the swinging 60s. 

Dance artist Alicia Meehan led What Adult Am I? workshop with collaborator Lucy Harries, inviting participants to don colourful costumes and traditionally gendered items like high heels to explore notions of adulthood.  

In An Anatomy of Identity workshop, AURA created space for local trans* people to explore their personal memories through movement. The session began with reading the experiences of notable trans artists before creating movement based on participants’ written reflections. 

“An incredible event that was so needed and was both educational and cathartic. It provided a safe space for release and the performers were emotionally impactful.” – Festival Visitor 

Jaivant Patel led a workshop exploring gender constructs in South East Asian dance before appearing in conversation with our Creative Director Hannah to discuss his work and experiences as a Gujarati queer dancemaker. 

Graham Clayton-Chance presented excerpts of his heartfelt documentary about a queer country-western dance weekend in San Francisco, Last Dance at the Sundance Stompede. Graham explained how he stumbled across the Stompede and then his efforts to return, slowed down by COVID, to document the event. One audience member had attended the Stompede in San Francisco and emotionally commented on how Graham’s film captured the joyful atmosphere of the event. 

In addition to his talk, Graham presented a multi-screen installation immersing festival goers with extended interviews as footage of Stompede goers danced around the space. 

“Welcoming and thoughtful – a really important and carefully curated event.” – Festival Visitor  

To round off the afternoon, The Cactus Club’s Peter Flockhart led a packed line dance workshop exploring the unique role of country & western in the LGBTQ+ community and teaching a variety of line dances.  

The festival ended with Ghetto Fabulous who brought their Catwalk Extravaganza from Manchester to Leeds for one night only. Hosted by Darren Pritchard, the Ghetto Fabulous dancers strutted their stuff on the catwalk with vogue inspired moves and one of the loudest audiences Yorkshire Dance has ever heard. The show ended with a rallying cry for allyship in response to recent news.  

“Collective Encounters was a really beautiful festival which connected people through dance and foregrounded LGBTQIA+ people and their stories. There were moments of care, joy and vulnerability, highlighted through contributions such as Graham Clayton Chance’s documentary and installation ‘Last Dance at the Sundance Stompede’ – a testament to the friendships and community forged within dance communities. From a high energy line dancing workshop and Ghetto Fabulous’ vibrant catwalk, to Jaivant Patel’s insight into gender in South Asian dance and AURA’s thought-provoking Trans*Performativity, the festival highlighted the importance of providing safer and braver spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community and reminded us all of why dance and movement is such a powerful way of communicating where words can often fail.”

– Hannah Robertshaw, Creative Director 

Photos by David Lindsay

(Trans*Performativity by AURA photo by Yorkshire Dance)