Second Hand Dance (Artistic Director, Rosie Heafford)

Tell us about your company

Second Hand Dance is a disabled-led dance company driven by Artistic Director Rosie Heafford and Executive Producer Claire Summerfield at Tandem Works. Established in 2013, we create touring shows and digital dance experiences for children and adults. Based in England our work has a growing international profile as well as local and regional impact. We have toured the globe – from the UK to Europe, China, Canada and the USA.

We create beautiful, sensory dance experiences that are accessible and welcoming to all bodies. Our work is bold, and distinctive, with a rich visual and participatory aesthetic. We use movement and play to create an expanded reality, opening new spaces for expression and feeling that forge connections across generations. We inspire our audiences to carry on dancing long after a performance has ended.Collaboration with audiences is vital in the creation and performance of our work. With every project we make, we engage with children and adults throughout our research, centring their voices in the work. We dance together, we talk together, we observe together, and we allow this to inform our creative decisions.

Tell us about your proposed research/project

We Touch, We Play, We Dance was created in 2019 for 0-3 year olds. Working with our current performers, new disabled/neurodivergent dancers and participants, our proposal is to develop & adapt the show for a disabled and neurodivergent audience aged 3-18 years.   

What do you think are the benefits of working with FABRIC in a Midlands context?

The support of FABRIC means we’re rekindling and developing new partnerships across the Midlands. We’re particularly pleased by how this project, through Fabric’s support, unites partnerships within the wider charitable sector with our partners, within more traditional cultural contexts.  We’re excited to be working in this way.