Future Dance Leaders Strategic Apprenticeship Programme 

Deadline extension

Mughal Miniatures Scene 1 : The Awakening at Birmingham Botanical Gardens by Greta Zabulyte

Apprentice Call Out

Are you a talented, young, Midlands based dancer or dance producer, working in South Asian dance traditions, looking for career enhancement, mentoring and creative collaboration opportunities? This could be the opportunity for you!

Artist-led dance and music organisation Sonia Sabri Company, supported by partners Birmingham Hippodrome and Black Country Dance Hub, is looking for 5 emerging dancers, and/or dance producers, that are Midlands based or are able to demonstrate a strong connection to the region, to undertake a bespoke 8-month Apprenticeship Programme.

This is a paid Apprentice Programme is for dance artists and producers from South Asian backgrounds and/or who specialise in South Asian dance forms. The programme offers real-world training opportunities at the heart of our touring company, in response to the marked lack of clear progression routes for dancers whose principal practice is in South Asian forms, in the wider dance sector.

The Apprentice Programme will run from October 2022 – May 2023 (flexible working; not full-time).

Outcomes

·        Develop your networks and career prospects

·        Enhance your collaborative skills, in particular creating artistic work in dialogue with other dance forms

·        Be inspired and more knowledgeable to pursue future work in a variety of contexts e.g., schools and education, outdoor touring, community work

·        Be more employable

·        See yourself as not just a dancer, but a dancer-deviser

·        Receive a £1,000 ‘no strings attached’ seed cash commission to create/produce a new piece of performance.

Criteria

·        You will be aged 21 years old or above, there is no upper age limit.

·        You will be working professionally as a dance artist or producer for a maximum of 5 years (doesn’t need to be consecutive or full time)

·        You will be interested in not just performance, but work that encompasses children and young people, and community based creative projects.

·        You will be interested in getting experience of a variety of roles in a touring dance company (education, administration, education, performance).

·        You will be interested in how your dance specialism can be brought into dialogue with other dance styles and artforms.

·        You will be disciplined, committed, and have good availability across the project period.

 

What will the Apprenticeship entail?

• You will be allocated a key contact Mentor from Sonia Sabri Company’s core team.
• Together you will establish a series of personal key enquiry questions you want to interrogate through the programme.
• You will have 12 paid core days to shadow, explore and investigate your practice e.g. 4 rehearsal/studio shadowing days, 4 masterclasses days, 4 mentoring/networking days.
• The key contact person will additionally meet with you (in-person or zoom) once a month to offer support, guidance, networking, and signposting.
• You will also receive a series of 6 masterclasses with leading Midlands choreographers (working both in South Asian dance forms and, crucially, other forms) to further inspire your work.
• You will take a leading role performing in/producing dance performance-based workshops as a touring team, for 10 diverse primary schools in Birmingham and the Black Country.
• You will receive a £1,000 ‘no strings attached’ seed cash commission to create/produce a new piece of performance.
• At the end of the programme in May 2023, apprentices and mentor organisations will come together over the course of a ‘Graduation Weekend’ to share commissions, have practical artistic dance workshops, evaluate, and reflect.

 

Fees

This is a paid Apprenticeship opportunity. In addition to your ‘no strings’ attached commission of £1,000, your time to undertake the Apprenticeship programme will be paid at £100 daily rate or £510 weekly rate.

How to Apply

Please send your CV, or portfolio, or examples of your work, alongside either:

• A cover letter (max 2 A4 sides) OR
• A video (max 5 mins - captured on your smartphone is fine) OR
• A voice note (max 5 mins)

 The supporting cover letter/video/voice note should indicate clearly:

• How you meet the criteria
• Why you are motivated to be an Apprentice
• Initial thoughts on what you’d hope to get out of the bespoke mentoring

Please let us know if you require this pack in large print or other accessible formats - we are very happy to help.

To informally discuss the project and opportunity before you apply, please reach out to Ciara Clayton, Programme Manager, to arrange a call: ciara@ssco.org.uk  

Please send all applications to info@ssco.org.uk with subject header ‘Future Dance Leaders Application’.

Due to the unprecedented recent events over the last ten days and the recent Bank Holiday we are extending our deadline to apply to Monday 26^th September 2022.