Dance Reading Returns With Diversity and More

November is Dance Month! And Dance Reading Festival kicks off in a striking new spot next weekend - and then runs at venues across Reading, Caversham and Wokingham until early December, featuring everyone from household names and the best in UK dance to emerging local talent - and you!

The annual celebration of dance in all its forms returns with a wide variety of events, following the most successful festival yet in 2022. This year the dual focus is on youth work - with dancers and producers from local Arts Award youth projects heavily involved - and on encouraging children and adults alike to try something new, whether as a participant or spectator. This includes joining the Hexagon for two shows by Britain's Got Talent winners Diversity on November 15 & 16, youth groups visits and workshops to be announced.

It all starts on Saturday October 28 outside Reading FC's Select Car Leasing Stadium with two free performances of CODE by the nationally acclaimed Justice in Motion. Mixing music, physical theatre, parkour, live rap and bike stunts, the spectacular show is in partnership with Community Safety Partnership and Safer Streets 4 and supported by Reading Football Club and Reading Borough Council. No booking is required for the two performances, at 10.30am and 1.30pm, ahead of the Royals' home match with Portsmouth that afternoon.

South Street Arts Centre steps up its involvement in Dance Reading this year, with five stunning shows for all tastes. The award-winning Bert and Nasri bring first The End and then The Beginning to the much-loved venue on November 1 & 2. Taking on themes of relationships, ageing and climate change, the beautiful, funny and thought-provoking dance-theatre pieces feature, respectively, young John Madejski Academy actor Olly and a chorus of local residents aged 60 and over. Sunday November 19 sees a double-bill of Ruins, Fubunation's exploration of masculinity within the Pan-African diaspora, and hip-hop choreographer Dani Harris-Walter's heart-stirring, coming-of-age piece Happy Father's Day. Then on Saturday November 25 multi-award-winning, multi-form artist Katherine Radeva, whose work has been seen everywhere from the Barbican to BBC iPlayer, shares her latest show 40/40 ("an exercise in generosity of spirit" The Guardian).

Festival favourites Drishti Dance mark their 15th anniversary with an exciting evening of traditional, storytelling Indian dance at Wokingham's Whitty Theatre on November 26, followed on December 2nd by the grand finale, the JUMP! showcase. Featuring Hip-hop, Kathak, Ballet, Contemporary, Belly Dancing, Lindyhop - and maybe even some Tap - from Reading's incredible dance schools, dance groups and individual dance professionals, the event moves to Queen Anne's School in Caversham for the first time.

Festival producer Beth Allum said: "A big part of our mission is to spread the joy of dance as far as possible, and to celebrate all the incredible dance that is taking place in Reading. This year our youth project and a team of amazing young people are making the festival happen, there's so much going on behind the exciting programme of shows and workshops. We want to get everyone moving, however they can, from football fans to senior citizens looking for a new challenge, the thrill of seeing people of all ages trying dance for the first time is unmatched!"

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