The Dance Leaders Group (DLG) is an open, independent network of over 300 dance professionals and leaders from across the West Midlands.
Driven by a shared commitment to inclusion and equality, members come together with a hunger to collaborate, exchange ideas, and strengthen the region’s dance ecology through collective action and shared purpose.
Who is the Dance Leaders Group?
The network enables members to work together to develop bold, ambitious and unique programmes and activities, through partnerships that extend and share expertise, resources and capacity.
The DLG is a regional network of dance professionals and organisations that work collaboratively to strengthen and develop inclusive dance participation, training, performance, education and professional development.
What makes the DLG unique that is not a single organisation, but an independent collective that brings together people from difference dance styles, career stages, and organisational settings. Through collaboration, co-production and generously shared learning that happens on a region wide scale, members pool their expertise to contribute ideas and shape activity on an equal basis.
The network is a responsive and pioneering model of dance development, promoting cultural democracy and creating the conditions for the dance community to connect, grow and thrive across the region. This approach has earned the DLG a strong reputation both within the region and nationally.
We wish to build on the DLG’s role as independent of any one dance organisation and not an organisation in its own right. Members believe this independence is central to the group’s effectiveness, collective power and continued success.
Background
DLG pioneered a creative enquiry action research approach to learning and development, in which dance participation professionals were paired across the region and across different sizes and types of organisations to exchange practice.
#DanceConnect20 Research & Development evolved in response to the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. It set the scene for the Steering Group to secure additional funding for Beyond Borders 2021 and to negotiate an exceptional partnership with Birmingham 2022 Festival team to deliver Critical Mass 2022 as a high-profile signature of the Commonwealth Games Culture Festival in 2022.
How to join the Dance Leaders Group
The network currently comprises 70+ dance professionals from core funded and project-funded organisations as well as independents, working in all parts of the region.
If you wish to join the Dance Leaders Group please complete the sign up form below.
Projects and work
Other work and projects
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Launched in October 2024 and running until April 2025, Strength 2 Strength focused on skills and capacity builidng for artists, organisations and emerging talent across the region.
Strength 2 Strength comprised of three interlinked strands which were complemented by the region’s existing activity. These were:
- Training & Skills Development
- Networking, Sharing & Events
- Progression Routes into Dance
Strength 2 Strength was managed by Sophie Humphries, Engagement Producer at Fabric, and generously funded by United by 2022, as part of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund through West Midlands Combined Authority.
The Dance Leaders Group (DLG) is convened by Fabric, with steering group representatives from Birmingham Royal Ballet, Mercurial Dance, independent facilitator Orit Azaz, and our six sub-regional hubs.