The Strategic Alliance for Black Dance (SABD) is a forum for dialogue that brings together artists, makers and producers interested in supporting the development of the Black dance sector.  

We are in a period of planning and at our launch last November we agreed our terms of reference and set out an outline of the next steps vision for 2012 and beyond.  We are pleased that most of the agreed action points will be achieved this spring.

Notes from the launch meeting
These notes are packed full with key themes and ideas for the SABD that emerged from our conversations. Notes were distributed via our last e-newsletter and can be found here if you haven’t read them.

Key organisations to meet before the next national meeting
Funding from the Arts Council England has enabled us to organise a facilitation day where we will aim to draw up a long-term strategy for the Alliance.  The event will take place on 13-14 March in Leeds, and full outcomes will be discussed at the next national meeting on Saturday 31 March.

National Meetings programme
We hope that you can join us at our next national meetings taking place across the country this spring:

• The Drum Birmingham  3-5pm Saturday 31 March followed by performance by an Easter Gala Performance which marks the end of ACE Dance and Music’s Revival Project, featuring Idrissa Camara of Ballet Nimba as guest choreographer.  This is a great example of partnership working the West Midlands region.
• The Curve Leicester 5-7pm Thursday 17 May followed by a networking event

We hope that you might be able to join us for both these events.  Not only will these meetings enable us to set out how we will achieve our aims, but they provide a great opportunity for meeting new and old friends.

Bursary
We are offering ten travel bursaries up to £50 on presentation of receipts plus FREE tickets to the ACE show in Birmingham for up to 20 people (first come, first served).  To sign up for this offer send us an email by Friday 31 March.

The Launch meeting for the Strategic Alliance for Black Dance

A very lively and enthusiastic meeting took place on 24 November at The Place Theatre. It was great to see so many faces and to receive apologies from a significant number of key individuals who would have liked to have attended. This shows that the Strategic Alliance for Black Dance (SABD) is a long awaited initiative and that the sector is ready for change and development.

An introduction by Deborah Baddoo MBE (Artistic Director) and Jenny Williams (SABD Coordinator) from State of Emergency (SOE) outlined the events leading up to the formation of the Alliance. The initiative has been driven by the findings of SOE's research into the Black dance sector, published in the report Altered States.

The launch concluded with an address from Kenneth Tharp (Chief Executive of The Place) who welcomed everyone and was followed by an impassioned and supportive speech from Pam Johnson (Arts Council Relationship Manager for Dance, Yorkshire) about the need for and focus of the SABD.

We've already had offers from two regional partners to host the next two SABD meetings. (See below) The full minutes of the meeting can be downloaded here.

Next meetings
As mentioned above, it is fantastic that we already have the offer from two regional partners to host the next two meetings and we are taking on feedback from the meeting by combining the next two meetings with an opportunity to see work as well as network.

The second meeting of the SABD will take place on 31 March at The Drum in Birmingham between 3-5pm. This will be followed by networking and a performance by ACE Dance. It’s the Easter Gala Performance marking the end of the Revival Project being run by The Drum in Partnership with ACE Dance with Idrissa Camara as guest choreographer. Click here for a location map.

We are able to offer 15 bursaries of £25 towards travel by coach or rail and a free ticket to see the performance for those individuals travelling from outside Birmingham. These will be distributed on a first come, first served basis on presentation of a travel receipt either in advance or can be collected at the event. Please email admin@stateofemergencyltd.com if you want to take up this offer.

The third meeting of the Strategic Alliance will take place on the 17 May at Phoenix Square, Leicester from 5.30–7pm to be followed by networking and an amazing chance to see L’Antionette Stines’s Company L’Acado performing Rukumbine at The Curve starting at 7.45pm.

This event will be part of the Let’s Dance Festival organised by Serendipity Arts. There will be a number of discounted tickets for the performance for those attending from outside the area. Further details of this will be announced in the next newsletter.

Altered States report
Several people requested a copy of State of Emergency’s Altered States report into the Black dance sector.
This is now available to download from our website following this link.