Future Shift Youth Company was formed in 2023 and is based in the West Midlands.

In November 2022, following the incredible achievements of Critical Mass 22 and its shift in perceptions around dance and disability, FABRIC made a commitment to push the artistic boundaries and possibilities of inclusive dance, embedding it into other aspects of our work. We held research and development sessions with Critical Mass alumni to test what a talent development programme could look like.

In February 2023, Future Shift Youth Company was born, with 6 young talented dancers forming the group. The group is aimed at young people aged 14-25, with identified disabilities, who have a passion and talent for dance and are considering the arts as a career. They meet for 3.5 hours once a month to train in technique and creative choreography.

In May 2023, FABRIC commissioned Stopgap Dance Company to create a new piece of work called The Twelve, which was performed by members of Future Shift and young dancers from the Midlands Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) Programme. The piece was then showcased at Birmingham Festival 23 in July, as part of FABRIC’s EveryBody Dancing day.

Ambitions for Future Shift Youth Company

For 2023-2024, ambitions for Future Shift are:

• To recruit more talented young people to join the youth company.
• To explore other performance opportunities such as U.Dance and film opportunities.
• To support personal development through mentoring, shadowing and placements, if desired.
• To support application & audition for the CAT programme, if desired.

Want to Join Future Shift?

If you are interested in joining Future Shift, please contact our Participation Producer, Sophie Humphries at sophie@fabric.dance to express your interest.

Workshops

We can also deliver recruitment workshops in SEN colleges and day centres, so please get in touch with us if you’d like us to come into your space to deliver something.