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2024-03-31-accounts

Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the financial year ending 31 March 2024

The trustees are pleased to present their annual directors’ report. The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).

Independent Dance

Company limited by guarantee Charity number 1180239 Company number 05096892

Registered office

85 St George’s Road, London, SE1 6ER

CONTENTS

Reference and administrative information 3
Trustees’ Report 4 - 22
Independent Examiner’s Report 23
Statement of Financial Activities 24
Balance Sheet 25
Notes to Financial Statements 26 - 31

Company information at 31 March 2024

Trustees Nicky Childs (co-Chair) Sara Reed (co-Chair) Iris Yi Po Chan Kimberley Harvey CJ Mitchell Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome Mita Pujara Company number 05096892 Charity number 1180239 Registered office Siobhan Davies Studios 85 St George’s Road London SE1 6ER Senior management Henrietta Hale, co-director (resigned September 2023) Nathaniel Parchment, co-director (took up the role October 2023) Nikki Tomlinson, co-director

Governing documents Memorandum and Articles of Association

Independent Examiner Rowlands Webster Limited Austin House 43 Poole Road Bournemouth BH4 9DN

PURPOSE AND PUBLIC BENEFIT

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in Section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit, “Charities and Public Benefit”.

The charitable objects of Independent Dance are:

To advance education for the public benefit by the promotion of the arts, in particular, but not exclusively, of the art of dance

To advance the arts for the public benefit by the promotion of the arts, in particular, but not exclusively, the art of dance

OUR VISION

Our support for radical enquiry in diverse dance and movement practices empowers artists and engages publics locally, nationally and internationally.

OUR MISSION

Independent Dance (ID) is a leading dance development organisation. We support the development of dance through radical enquiry, learning, community-building and audience engagement.

Based at Siobhan Davies Studios in London, ID is a research engine and ‘home’ organisation for a growing community of practitioners in the UK and around the world. Artist-led since 1984, ID is currently staffed by a team of four part-timers, all of whom sustain freelance practices alongside their role with the organisation.

Our public programme supports a wide range of accessible and interdisciplinary approaches to dance, somatic practices, improvisation and choreography. Co-designed with UK/ international artists and partner organisations, this far-reaching programme includes classes, talks, workshops, research, digital initiatives and small-scale festivals. ID also bridges higher education and professional spheres, leading on MA/MFA Creative Practice: Dance Professional in partnership with Trinity Laban and Siobhan Davies Studios.

Our aim is to generate a diverse and dynamic ‘community of practice’ which is not limited to one place or location and to agitate for positive change and justice within ID, the arts and society.

Over the past five years we have been working to diversify and broaden our programme offer and expand our reach, supporting a wide range of artists and practices through a live and online programme. We have undergone significant organisational change and revised our policies, including making commitments to anti-racist and anti-ableist working practices and to reducing barriers to engaging with our programme and organisation at all levels. This ongoing work is critical to our future development.

As such, ID is a thinktank, a hub for research, a meeting and learning ground, and a base for artists across generations. It is considered a ‘home’ organisation and reference point by a wide community across the UK and internationally.

While Independent Dance and Siobhan Davies Studios (SDS) are different organisations and charities, they are proud to be partners in an ongoing National Portfolio Organisation consortium, currently receiving regular funding from Arts Council England, with SDS as the lead partner. ID’s funding has remained at standstill since 2006, at £71,000 per year.

OUR AIMS

Independent Dance aims to

We do this by

OUR VALUES

Trust: working continuously to be a fair organisation with a consistent high-quality programme offer Curiosity : demonstrating an open attitude to learning and reflecting together

Rigour : working with care and precision

Risk : forging bold new programme avenues and supporting artists to experiment with and deepen new practices

STRATEGIC OVERVIEW 2023/24

//Our approach: ‘vibrancy through renewal’

ID’s programme continued to evolve in response to artistic, social and cultural developments, with aims to be future thinking and to model good practice with a focus on equity, fairness, rigour and well-being.

Key to this is how ID values and nurtures leadership by artists. A strong collaborative and responsive approach to working with artists and other freelancers, based on porosity, listening and exchange, has been essential to ID’s approach throughout our near-40-year history. Our resulting public programme is a fluid combination of responding to approaches from artists - and from organisations – as well as ID’s own curatorial initiatives. As a result, there are many ways in which we work in collaboration and partnership, with UK-based and international artists as well as other organisations.

ID is currently non-lead partner in an ACE NPO consortium with Siobhan Davies Studios. ID’s core NPO funding has remained at standstill since 2006, at £71,000 per year.

As such, ID operates on a lean income-generating model, using staffing time partially afforded by core funding from Arts Council England to produce the public programme and therefore lever income; more than 60% of our turnover has been earned income in recent years. A recent shift in circumstance is the opportunity to apply (as non-lead NPO consortium partner) for ACE project funds. Organisational priorities include a review of how our programme is resourced and extension of our fundraising capacity. Being creative with limited resources and mindful of sustainability is also key.

In 2023/24, we continued the delivery of our 2022-2026 Business Plan. We built on adaptations to the public programme made necessary by the Covid-19 pandemic years, and continued to experiment with multiple delivery (online, hybrid, outdoors, in-person), having returned to (an at times exceeding) prepandemic level of programme delivery.

The Business Plan sets out how we will sustain the programming and operational developments of the Covid-19 pandemic years while aiming to increase financial resilience, inclusivity, environmental responsibility and staff wellbeing. Together with the staff, Trustees, and artist-ambassadors we will continually address how ID is fit for the future and can model progressive practices.

We are aiming to reduce over-production, restore lead-in time to pre-pandemic levels, and ensure impact without burnout. We continued to review our communications, evaluation and reporting systems and fed this forward into longer term programming and organisational development. At the heart of this is the writer Richard Sennett’s concept of ‘recursion’, where learning is an organic process of adding to, testing, recalibrating, adapting. In this sense, ID seeks vibrancy through renewal rather than expansion.

//How we support artists and practices

We co-design, deliver and evaluate our public programme with artists at all career stages and in response to their interests and needs, as well as wide artistic, social, and cultural developments. Key to this is how ID values and nurtures artistic leadership ; employing 100+ freelance artists annually and with all four of

ID’s staff maintaining freelance practices, we are in constant dynamic exchange with the sector. Through listening, exchange, and data-gathering, we build a multi-stranded public programme which is a porous combination of responding to approaches and suggestions from artists, audiences and organisations and our own curatorial propositions which fit ID’s public benefit remit.

As an organisation which specialises in supporting artists and artform development, working directly with 6000+ practitioners a year through an open access learning programme, ID’s primary role is in creating opportunities for practitioners to develop and sustain skills and careers . ID is a training and learning ground which supports critical , experimental, and innovative enquiry in a range of dance forms, somatic practices and improvisation as well as interdisciplinary approaches. We are interested in deeprooted research, connections, and community-building; in this way we see ID’s work as ‘radical’. We note a shift away from individual authorship and self-development towards relational practices and activity which is more outward-facing and socially engaged. How the artistic community values ID comes through strongly in feedback. Practitioners supported by our programme work and apply their skills - as performers, makers, facilitators, teachers, researchers in a wide range of other contexts both within and beyond dance. We also note that while ID is based in South London, our programme employs and reaches significant numbers of practitioners based in other parts of England and internationally, as well as London itself.

ID continued to offer an extensive studio and online learning programme which resists any notion of a ‘normative’ body. It offers multiple entry points for beginner to experienced dancers/movers to build new skills; space for collaborative exchange and for organic progression from participating to teaching, project-leading, mentoring, and governance roles. It enables agency and leadership-building with ideas and contacts flowing easily between activity strands and across the consortium partnership with Siobhan Davies Studios. Artists directly influence developments by proposing research projects, by taking on freelance roles within the programme, and by becoming Artist-Ambassadors and Trustees. Artists often move between our public programme, teaching pool and MA/MFA Creative Practice and tend to remain part of our community for decades, extending reach through an international diaspora . In these ways we support artists across places and generations and have become a home organisation and reference point for a growing community of independent dance artists. This longitudinal support and involvement are key to the ‘ community of practice’ which ID has evolved over the past 40 years.

ID is also a seed organisation , with collaborations and projects spiralling out of initiatives we innovate or support through mentoring and advice. Advocacy and discussion at national sector level focuses on conditions, equity, access, and systemic change and aims to feed artists’ voices into key networks which ID is an active member of, including One Dance UK, UK Dance Network, and Moving for Change.

//Creative Case for Diversity, intersectionality, and partnerships

In 2020 ID achieved ‘Strong Met’ in ACE’s assessment of our work towards the Creative Case for Diversity. Since then, we have aimed to build on this through the artistic programme in specific ways: We continued to take an intersectional approach , aiming to offer a genuinely inclusive programme and foregrounding anti-racist, anti-ableist and anti-genderist issues through the programme itself. This is

illustrated by the intensive work which has been happening through the programme in recent years around Anti-racist Dance Practices and the positive impact this has had on the demographic of freelance artists and practices we now work with. In 2023/24 we aimed to further increase marginalized voices across the programme, artistic workforce, staff and Board and to expand the range of dance and movement forms and practices we are supporting. This continues a trend across the past 6 years of ID supporting research and learning in embodied approaches to diverse forms of dance including Hip Hop, Bharatanatyam, Yoruba, Butoh as well as somatic practices which we have historically been more strongly associated with. There has been a concerted and ongoing strategic effort to engage with communities adjacent to ID with whom we have previously had little contact e.g. House dance communities and Black-led organisation iIRIE! dance theatre. This aspect of our work will continue to deepen in 2024/25.

The programme continued to be offered at low cost to artists and audiences in recognition of socioeconomic barriers and widespread precarity among artistic communities. Bursary places were offered to 20 practitioners to attend our public learning programme free of charge. We also invested from reserves to support bursary awards for practitioners from underprivileged socio-economic backgrounds to undertake MA Creative Practice: Dance Professional.

In 2023/24 we prioritized work to increase leadership and participation of disabled, d/Deaf and neurodivergent artists and those with long-term health conditions. We delivered a substantial year-long programme ranging across mentoring, bursaries, talks, labs and consultation with a focus on foregrounding leadership, and widening the dissemination of anti-ableist practices (See ‘Centering Disability’). We also continued to support the progression of female artists in the field of dance. Despite the large proportion of female entrants to the sector, women are under-represented in key leadership positions in dance, especially as well-supported choreographers.

//International and Digital working

We continued to engage with international artists; through workshops with seminal embodiment practitioners Andrea Olsen (USA) and Caryn Mchose (USA), a residency supporting Sahar Damoni (PL), and through delivering modules of MA Creative Practice: Dance Professional engaging an international cohort of practitioners. International partners included HZT Berlin and Movement Research, New York.

We also continued to offer a learning programme online, extending our reach to participants based outside London and the UK. Feedback highlights the value of being able to engage from further afield and shows a segment of ID’s audience welcome opportunities to continue to participate virtually; feedback also indicates that some participants formerly lived in London and are now part of a wide diaspora. We therefore plan to continue a strand of online delivery responding to this extended geographic reach and demand via online movement labs, commissioned audio scores and talks delivered in hybrid format. This area of work included Audio Dancing, a set of movement scores for online use by Gaby Agis, an online movement lab led by Galit Cridden exploring matriarchal patterns in movement, and a solo choreographic development lab by Rosalind Crisp (AUS), again delivered online. The latter meant we

could work with an international artist remotely without any travel, tying in with our commitment to reducing environmental damage.

A key element in this digital and international offer is the restored and refreshed Digital Library created out of ID’s 20-year archive. This collection is freely available on our website with enhanced accessibility, referencing and branding. New documentation will be added to the library from future programming; at 150+ items, it has become a significant resource for practitioners and researchers in and beyond academic spheres, helping to realise our strategy to evolve as an internationally renowned and sustainable research engine for dance.

//Partnership and collaborative working is integral to ID’s whole ethos and programme delivery and is aligned with our commitment to resource-sharing and knowledge-exchange. We partner with projectfunded organisations, artist-led initiatives, larger-scale NPOs, and academic institutions to extend our reach and impact nationally and internationally and to deliver our vision on a larger scale than is possible as a small organization alone. ID forms a rare bridge between professional and academic spheres by leading MA/MFA Creative Practice: Dance Professional with Trinity Laban and Siobhan Davies Studios; this is a key strength and enables a flow between higher education contexts and professional practice.

Funders and organisational partners in 2023/4

Arts Council England Siobhan Davies Studios Dance Umbrella Sadler’s Wells Candoco Dance Company The Work Room Glasgow Team London Bridge HZT Berlin Movement Research, New York Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance

ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS 2023/24

Our public learning programme offered a range of approaches to dance, improvisation and somatic practices and was delivered indoors, online and outdoors, continuing the multi-modal offer established during the Covid-19 pandemic. Through key partnerships with other organisations and with freelance artists, we also delivered MA/MFA Creative Practice: Dance Professional, research labs by international and UK-based artists, livestreamed talks and the continuation of FLOURISH, a peer mentoring scheme for under-represented artists. We ran a year-long programme focus on Centering Disability – more about this is detailed below. Overall, the programme built on and aimed to amplify the focus on intersectional dance practices of recent years.

As set out in our Equity and Inclusion Policy and Action Plan 2022/24, diversifying the range of lived experience of people involved across the programme and organisation - staff, ambassadors, trustees and the artists, audiences and participants we work with - remained a key priority. We continued to take a multi-stranded approach to this, building on change incrementally, and diversifying the range of practices supported, developed, and disseminated through the programme.

Anti-racist approaches to recruitment and retention training was undertaken in 22/24 by directors and trustees and informed our approach to recruitment of all roles. An indication of growing diversity of ID in terms of staff team is that in 2023/24 staff team was composed of 60% people of the global majority; in 2021/2 it was 100% white. This is mirrored in the composition of our Board of Trustees. Support for leaders of the global majority included external mentoring, training, increased contact time with Trustees. Support for incoming Trustees included a buddy system and access to a range of training.

While representation forms only one element of ID’s multi-stranded approach to equity and inclusion, we note that among artists contracted to lead programme activity, representation of disabled people and people of the global majority is significantly higher now than three years ago. In 2023/24, 40% of artists leading the programme overall identified as Disabled, D/deaf, neurodivergent or with a long-term health condition, where this was 16% in the previous year. Of those who completed surveys in 2019/20, 15% of artists contracted to lead programme activity identified as being of the global majority; in 2022/23 this figure was 35% and in 2023/4, 40%.

Across the programme, 120 freelance artists were employed contractually, making ID a significant employer in the dance field. Of these, over 50% were based outside London, either in the four nations or internationally.

ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE

Programme Activity Plan 2023/4 Target Actual Target Actual number of
number of number of number of attendances
sessions sessions attendances
delivered delivered
(session – half
day)
OPEN ACCESS LEARNING
OFFER
Morning classesin diverse dance
and movement forms @ SDS		 x 30 weeks @
5 classes per
week		 150 sessions 2280 2139
(77% capacity)
Evening classesin approaches to
improvisation @ SDS		 x 30 weeks @
1 per week		 29 sessions 570 875
(100%+capacity)
Online Creative Labs: guest-
curated improvisation course		 x 14 weeks @
1 per week
14 sessions		 9 sessions 40 27
Workshops & research project labs
led by international artists and / or
co-developments with local artists
@ SDS		 x 7 per year @
2 - 5 days
28 sessions		 38 sessions 504 782
International partnership project
Sahar Damoni choreographic
residency in partnership with
Sadler’s Wells, Movement
Research New York and Siobhan
Davies Studios		 0 10 sessions 10 10
Fête de la Fête –outdoor artist
gathering of performances and
conversations		 1, with 3
performances
& 1 talk		 1, with 3
performances
& 1 talk		 60
participants,
300 passer-
by audience		 174
Commissioned online resources
Audio Dancing by Gaby Agis		 A 10-episode
commission		 A 10-episode
commission		 1200 80 individual
users, unknown
number of
downloads
Dissemination of digital resources
e.g podcasts for online use
published via digital library		 150 items 150 items 5000 4500
Talkswhich share artists processes,
@ SDS / partner venues / hybrid		 4 5 400 257
Teaching artists forums:exchange
and development sessions		 2 1 12 18
PARTNERING WITH HIGHER
EDUCATION
MA/MFA Creative Practice: Dance
Professionalin partnership with
SDS and Trinity Laban
Heni Hale (Lead Tutor)
1 x module led by Jo Fong (Lead
Guest Artist)		 200 200 1200 1350
Open daysabout MA/MFA
Creative Practice for those wanting
to find out about the programme		 2 2 50 55
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
INITIATIVES
Intergenerational Reciprocal
Mentoring Scheme FLOURISH:
support two pairings of artists of
varying ages/experience levels to
co-mentor on their respective
practices and careers		 4 artists 6 artists 20 30
In/formal exchangeswith artists
and organisations; meetings and
advisory		 42 external
meetings with
NP Oct-April
5 + 62
(between NT
and HH
combined) -
104 total		 50 104
Total attendances
YouTube channel views n/a 76 items year-
round		 n/a 2919 sessions
Website sessions n/a n/a 35448
Website users n/a n/a 31077

OPEN ACCESS LEARNING PROGRAMME

Centering Disability: artistic approaches to access and inclusive leadership

in 2023/24 we launched a programme foregrounding leadership among disabled, d/Deaf, neurodivergent dance artists via a year-long focus on artistic approaches to access and inclusion. Through this we intended to hold spaces in which radically inclusive artistic practices could be shared widely – among artists, organisations, practitioners and audiences – in a range of frames/modes to include labs, talks, performances and mentoring.

Conceived by Heni Hale and Nikki Tomlinson, this programme aimed to foreground disabled, neurodivergent and d/Deaf artists as leaders and widen the dissemination of anti-ableist dance practices. Partner organisations on different strands of the programme included Candoco Dance Company, Sadler’s Wells, The Work Room, Dance Umbrella and Team London Bridge. This programme was supported through public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and with subsidized space at Siobhan Davies Studios.

We were conscious that expertise in the area has been built over several decades. With this strand of work, we were aiming to hold space for learning and exchange among a wide group of practitioners and audiences, to further embed inclusive practices in ID’s programming and approach, and to hopefully influence creative approaches to access more widely through facilitating the dissemination of artists’ expertise.

As an organisation which supports the development of dance through radical enquiry, learning, community-building and audience engagement, we want to put access centre stage – not only this year, but this year and beyond, via learning on our part (when we say ‘our’ we mean us, the people in the organisational team), resource-building, and extensive collaboration with artists with lived experience of many different disabilities, neurodivergencies and long-term health conditions.

End of project summary:

Centering Disability sought to 1) address ongoing underrepresentation & lack of inclusive training opportunities in dance 2) build learning about how to work inclusively within and beyond ID & 3) share the expertise of renowned disabled international & UK artists with numerous disabled & non-disabled artists/audiences in accessible, engaging ways.

The project benefitted the people & communities we intended to reach via:

22 bursaries for dancers to attend ID classes free + much reduced prices to attend labs. This resulted in a significant increase in the number of disabled, d/Deaf & neurodivergent dancers attending ID’s programme overall. In turn teaching artists developed more experience of working with multiple different access requirements and practices.

Performances included a participatory Resting Score by Linzy Na Nakorn & Raquel Meseguer Zafe, and a sharing of practice by Kat Hawkins, both sited outdoors in our Fête de la Fête. We also presented a studio version of Last Shelter by Jeanine Durning (USA) for Candoco Dance Company.

Labs

Seeing, Saying, Sensing : weekend led by Jo Bannon, Katherine Hall, Holly Thomas on creative approaches to audio description inspired by the strategies, movement techniques and knowledge of visually impaired artists.

Artistry & Access intensive week guest-curated by Annie Hanauer and Susanna Recchia bringing multiple different approaches to inclusive dance through the expertise of 8 guest teachers. 50% of places were reserved for those identifying as D/deaf disabled or neurodivergent. Importantly, non-disabled artists also took part, reflecting the aims of Centering Disability to share the expertise of inclusive practices widely through the dance sector.

4 talks, of which 3 are transcribed and available on ID’s Digital Lbrary:

Engaging with difference: a conversation on dance practice, disability and inclusive leadership led by Kate Marsh with Annie Hanauer and Susanna Recchia sharing learning from Artistry & Access lab

Last Shelter: a conversation with Candoco Dance Company : Following studio-based sharing of Last Shelter by Jeaning Durning, Candoco Dance Company dancers Anna Seymour, Annie Edwards, Ben Ash, Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome, Laura Weston, Jane Mason, Sean Murray and Artistic Director Charlotte Darbyshire discussed the choreographic approach, collaborative dynamics and personal narratives that shaped the work

Reworking Rhythms , panel discussion with Raquel Meseguer Zafe, Sho Shibata (Stopgap), Xan Dye and facilitator, Tarik Elmoutawakil, discussing time and pacing in the making and producing of performance

Seeing Saying Sensing : Jo Bannon in conversation with Charlotte Darbyshire (Artistic Director, Candoco), at Sadler's Wells

Mentoring

Centering Disability supported the evolution of FLOURISH, an intergenerational, reciprocal mentoring scheme. Two pairings of artists - Shakeera Ahmun with Ebony Robinson. and Xan Dye with Jo Bannon - were supported to mentor each other online in artistic & professional development. Staff were also offered mentoring support via the project.

Learning from Centering Disability: summary

The above activity was laced through several programming strands/formats rather than delivered as a stand-alone project. This approach intentionally sought to embed participation of more disabled dance artists across our programme in multiple different roles and encourage meaningful change – and interconnection - over an extended period. The activity fostered more awareness of inclusive dance practices among non-disabled as well as disabled practitioners and audiences and provided capacity and opportunity for our staff team to learn about inclusive producing practices, question our working methods, attitudes and production timelines.

Data shows a significant increase in the % of disabled, deaf & neurodivergent practitioners engaging with ID's programme. ID contracted 120 artists in 2023-4 to facilitate our programme. In 2022-23, 16% approx of these artists identified as disabled/d/Deaf or neurodivergent. In 2023-24 the percentage is 40%. We have made a substantial number of new connections with artists and deepened connections with others, gained deeper knowledge of how to reduce barriers to our programme, and changed perceptions of who ID's programme is for/lead by.

The project helped us consolidate a partnership with Candoco Dance Company. Partnerships with other organisations meant we could engage audiences on a scale beyond ID's own - namely the positioning of talks within Dance Umbrella's festival and Sadler's Wells programme allowed for amplified inter/national amplification.

Our staff learned through doing and we delivered a scale of activity beyond what was originally set out in the application. We spent considerable time evaluating activity with artists, participants and among ourselves as a team. Our overall sense is of learning a great deal from collaborating with artists/partners with lived experience/expertise different to our own and feeling emboldened to continue to embed progressive change.

We found ourselves stretched at times to support the range of rhythms and requirements involved in working with many collaborators and participants; holding space ethically for multiplicity (eg a range of visible and invisible disabilities, learning and physical disabilities as well as chronic health conditions) requires a nuanced and in-depth understanding of barriers, how access friction can arise, and skills in mediating friction, to a degree. This was discussed openly in a public talk and forms the basis of a new collaborative project with The Work Room supported by Four Nations fund in 2024-5.

DANCE AND MOVEMENT CLASSES

ID delivered 30 weeks of public daily morning class intended for experienced dancers and 30 evenings of improvisation sessions open to all. Each week is with a different teaching artist who brings their own practice and approach, offering a space to build and hone skills, work with other artists and be part of a growing community. With a focus on movement explorations that attend to what movement feels like, rather than imitating an ideal form, we aim to make classes accessible for all physicalities. ID’s programme is not based on a normative view of the human body and the classes embody an ethos of questioning, extending notions of what dance can be and for whom. This year’s class programme included several artists who were new to teaching with ID and the teaching pool was further diversified.

Our program saw a notably high demand for Monday Night Improvisation (with classes running at 100% capacity throughout the year), continuing its trend of being oversubscribed. The team reviewed attendance patterns and explored how this popular strand integrates with other program elements. This period laid the groundwork for optimizing class schedules and enhancing participant engagement.

Morning Class was enriched by the Centering Disability programme, bringing together a vibrant mix of teaching artists including guest-curated weeks by Candoco Dance Company. This highlighted the value of

co-teaching, fostering meaningful communication and exchange among artists. The diverse teaching roster not only provided varied learning experiences but also strengthened connections across the community. The last part of the year continued this positive trajectory, combining a broad range of somatic approaches to dance, in conversation with social dance, hip-hop and African dance practices that attracted new participants and sparked innovative dialogues. Monday Night Improvisation maintained its success, led by both regular and new teachers, further cementing its role as a cornerstone of our program.

FESTIVALS

Fête de la Fête

A studio sharing of Candoco’s work Last Shelter by Jeanine Durning was followed by a panel discussion with the company about the practices and principles embedded in the work, its relevance to Candoco’s organisational development and inherent strategies for living, and about how access was considered in the making process.

Outdoor performances included a Resting Score led by Raquel Meseguer and Linzy Na Nakorn with an invitation to audio describe our perceptual experience, followed by a performance and participation score by Kat Hawkins entitled the same thread runs through everything. This included an installation of sculptural material relating to Kat’s mobility support devices and prosthetics, through which they explored the space and people they encountered. These took place in an orchard by the Imperial War Museum.

ONLINE PROGRAMME AND DIGITAL OFFER

Online labs with Rosalind Crisp and Galit Cridden

Galit Cridden’s lab focused on matriarchal approaches and Rosalind Crisp’s solo-making practice lab were both delivered in April. Online course programme is on hold over the summer months and is up for discussion on whether ID will continue this regularly now that in-person work is back to full capacity.

Audio Dancing by Gaby Agis

Commissioned and disseminated by ID, Gaby Agis’ 10 digital audio dances in public spaces around London – parks, estates, cemeteries, wasteland - accompanied by interviews with collaborators, intended for participants to engage with in their own time and space.

Digital Library

Housing an extensive range of research material to read, watch and listen to, the material is drawn from work ID has programmed over the past 20 years. A new digital space, this library is a home for documentation of our programme and research and is a non-academic, accessible, dance research resource which is freely available to all. 150 talks are now fully transcribed and publicly available. The library will continue to grow as future recordings and documents are added. Recent additions include talks: Moving Between Worlds with Andrea Olsen, Caryn McHose and Eeva-Maria Mutka and Engaging with

Difference; a conversation on dance practice, disability and inclusive leadership led by Kate Marsh with Annie Hanauer and Susanna Recchia. Notes from all previous HE Roundtables are also now available.

WORKSHOPS AND RESEARCH LABS

Archiving Gestures – a lab with Farah Saleh

Farah Saleh is a Palestinian choreographer based in Scotland whose work bridges compositional movement and gestural scores and political discussions around migration and the sharing of personal histories in the social realm. For Farah, choreographic devices are a way to make private personal narratives more sharable in social, global ways. Farah was keen to reach participants of various abilities and not necessarily dance-trained. We opened 4 free bursary spaces to people who identified as have experience of migration as an asylum seeker or refugee background, and for whom the participant cost might be a barrier.

Moving Between Worlds: a workshop with Andrea Olsen and Caryn McHose

Andrea Olsen and Caryn McHose (USA) have 40 years’ experience working with experiential anatomy and somatic awareness, delving into presence, creativity and ecological thinking through the body. We released additional spaces due to high demand. Moving Between Worlds included a talk & screening of Matkalla, a film by Scotty Hardwig featuring Olsen and Eva Maria Mutka and talk which was well attended.

Artistry & Access Lab

An intensive guest-curated week of workshops led by renowned UK-based artists, each sharing their varying methodologies and insights into creative approaches to access in dance; Claire Cunningham, Maiya Leeke, Anna Seymour, Laura Jones and Chris Pavia (of Stopgap Company), Alexandrina Hemsley, and curators Annie Hanauer and Susanna Recchia themselves. The week sold out quickly evidencing demand from artists who do and don’t identify as disabled, d/Deaf, neurodivergent or with a long-term health condition. 4 artists based in Scotland were financially supported to attend through bursaries offered by The WorkRoom, Glasgow. BSL interpretation was available throughout and some artists attended with support workers.

3-PHASE: a workshop with Dog Kennel Hill Project

Dog Kennel Hill Project (Ben Ash, Heni Hale and Rachel Lopez de la Nieta) shared playful, philosophical and poetic practices honed over their 20 years of collaboration working across performance, dance, embodiment, choreography and lived philosophy. This lab followed on from their presentation of ~ snakeskin in the wild ~ their NEUROLIVE performance commission, an SDS project with Goldsmiths University of London.

Participant feedback

I loved this. It was the first dance workshop/lab workshop I attended and I thought the combination of trust in participants to explore our own bodies in whichever ways emerged with the prompts based on the scientifically-informed specificity of the endocrine system was fantastic. Such a wonderful practice.

Creative Articulations Process: Prof. Jane Bacon and Dr Vida Midgelow

An introduction to the ‘facets’ of their research methodology which includes various approaches to moving, writing and mark-making as a way of articulating a wide range of creative practices. The programme was sold out with over 40% of attendees being new to ID. 95% of responders to feedback said that there was a good number of participants and 85% said that the cost was ‘good value for money’ or ‘reasonable’.

Participant feedback

Giving me language to discuss the creative process with other people. Having not been able to find confidence to say I'm an artist or a creative, I felt like the CAP workshop helped me put words to this thing that I've felt my whole life, which has until this point felt scary, intangible and trivial somehow - like a force that I felt I had to tame and push away. Being able to articulate the creative process has brought me great confidence, as has working in a room full of people who value something I do

TALKS

Chris Matthews with Nic Conibere at Sadler’s Wells

A talk about Act 3, the final instalment in Chris Matthews; trilogy of works considering queer masculinity in dance, desire, body image and working-class dance histories. Continuing his studies of intimacy between two figures, Act 3 is an exploration of queer desire in later life. Presented by Sadler’s Wells in their Elixir Festival 2024

RESIDENCY

Sahar Damoni (NP)

In collaboration with Sadlers Wells, SDS, and Movement Research New York, we provided a residency opportunity for Palestinian choreographer Sahar Damoni who used rehearsal space, took part in our class programme, and exchanged with artists and organisations in London. This residency built on a commitment to advocate for Palestinian culture through curatorial intent rather than political statements.

TEACHING ARTISTS FORUMS

An exchange about creative practices and/around the experience of dis/ability in arts and dance: Alexandra Baybutt & Mira Hirtz. This was held at UCL, where Alexandra is resident researcher and was attended by teaching artists, ambassadors and MA alumni. A space was held to share knowledge and questions about how to manage diverse access and inclusion needs when teaching, how to measure success and work with challenges, how to support one another as practitioners and extend learning in the field.

WORK IN HIGHER EDUCATION

MA/MFA Creative Practice: Dance Professional

Delivered in partnership with Trinity Laban and Siobhan Davies Studios (SDS). The MA/MFA Creative Practice: Dance Professional programme strove to build on recommendations from 2021 (as part of the 5- year revalidation process) - the nurturing and professionally vibrant environment provided by ID/SDS, quality of teaching and learning, the strength of community generated among artists and organisations, provision of the programme outside of an academic institution and the speed at which the programme

had been adapted online. Trinity Laban’s 2023 panel review identified the partnership with ID as a strength in the programme’s international reputation for excellence.

The student cohort was international with students from Japan, Korea, China, Germany, Iceland, Iran and UK. The teaching cohort for the modules run by ID was of international renown, including Jo Fong and Adesola Akinleye.

Over 50% of students graduating from this pathway achieved results in distinction categories. Graduates from 2023 have been awarded AHRC funding for further doctoral research, one being awarded a 5-year UK talent visa and several gaining teaching posts and artistic commissions. Nathaniel Parchment graduated from the MA in 23/24 and was appointed Co-Director of ID, succeeding Heni Hale.

Recruitment for 24/25 cohort is currently strong due to the boost that the Gill Clarke Bursary Awards have offered this year to practitioners from underprivileged socio-economic backgrounds.

MARKETING

We continued to focus on implementing a house style with welcoming and plain language, strong imagery, and increased use of social media, incorporating image descriptions with the benefit of additional time invested in a Digital Communications role. Marketing campaign for MA recruitment started earlier to align with Trinity Laban’s objectives. Strong cross-marketing with Siobhan Davies Studios has also been of benefit.

Sign-up to e-mail newsletter increased rapidly, mostly via new website. Newsletter open rate average has risen from 25% average in 2016/17 to 52% av. in 2023/24. (average arts industry open rate is 26%) Strong international followings (email list, website, socials) in Europe (Netherlands, Germany, Italy), China, South America & USA.

PARTICIPANT AND AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

For you, what is the value of ID's work and what are your reasons for taking part in our programme?

ID provides unique opportunities in the expanded fields of dance and choreography not available anywhere else for professional artists in the UK. Their programming is diverse, enriching, inclusive, interdisciplinary, thought provoking, nourishing. I am so grateful that ID exists and for their thoughtful programming.

ID’s classes/work is everything. It is really difficult to find the in-depth, rigour and curiosity about movement elsewhere and I value it really highly.

I enjoy how ID’s programme is responding to the real world – how things are changing and what is needed

There are few spaces that really encourage truly experimental work and practices related to movement and the body, and which are truly 'open' in the sense that ID really encourages participation without judgement, drawing in individuals who have diverse relationships to movement - particularly those from different disciplines outside of formal dance training. It is so important to have a dance/movement centered space that privileges personal experience, collaboration, exploration, accessibility and joy over discipline and skill. I don't feel that this is available elsewhere in London and I think is absolutely invaluable. Participant

Extremely accessible to artists/movers at many stages, enriching the whole community

FINANCE

Reserves policy

ID’s policy as a charity is to maintain reserves comprising of unrestricted and designated funds at a sufficient level to ensure the prudent day-to-day financial management of the charity, and cover the risks identified in the risk register. The policy also aims to ensure that designated funds are built to match six months of running costs, or £50,500. The charity regularly reviews the funds set aside as designated funds and general contingencies, and to ensure that strategies are in place to enable such funds to be able to meet their purpose on an on-going basis. The Trustees carry this out as an integral part of the charity’s risk management process.

Financial review

The net deficit for the year was £-32,024. Of this £-28,977 relates to the spending of restricted funds. General reserves (unrestricted and designated funds) now stand at £109,181 and £50,500 respectively with total funds at 31 March 2024 being £159,681.

Going Concern

ID delivered a full public programme in 2023/24 in keeping with our mission and met our income targets. Fortunately, ID has built strong reserves and does not face imminent threat. The Trustees continue to review the charity’s resources and consider these adequate to continue the proposed activities of the organisation for the foreseeable future. The trustees confirm that the charity is a going concern.

Income generation

Income generation forms a key part of ID's financial model, helping to ensure the organisation’s sustainability and underlining the value of its offer to the public. ID offers a mixture of free and ticketed activities to ensure we maintain a balance between widening participation and audiences, supporting our diversity policies to broaden access to groups who are either economically or socially vulnerable. This is coupled with a pricing policy to remove barriers to participation. ID senior staff and Trustees regularly review pricing strategy and take care to balance the need to generate income with the mission to provide a high-quality artist development programme at prices that lower barriers for those on a low income. Competitors and partners’ price levels are considered, as is information from evaluation forms and audience profiles.

Fundraising

The principal source of funding for the organisation is Arts Council England (ACE) through a revenue grant to ID and partner organisation Siobhan Davies Dance (reg. charity no. 1010786) as a consortium within Arts Council England (ACE) National Portfolio of Organisations, of which SDD is lead partner. Back in 2022/23, the consortium was successful in receiving an offer of continued investment from Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation 2023-2026, for standstill funding. The total annual grant awarded was £582,018; ID usually receives £69,784 and the balance of £512,234 retained by SDD as part of the agreement. In 2022/3, due to an inflationary uplift from ACE, the amount paid to ID became £71,068. This grant is unrestricted but must be managed within the terms of the funding agreement with ACE.

The Trustees take their responsibility under the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 seriously and have considered the implications of their activities. ID receives some donations from individuals and is subscribed to the Charities Aid Foundation. Donations received through individual giving totalled £135, lower than our target of £1000.

The charity does not work directly with commercial participators or professional fundraisers. The Trustees are not aware of any complaints made in respect of fundraising during the period.

Investment

The Trustees, having regard to the liquidity requirements of operating the charity, have kept available funds in an interest-bearing deposit account. The trustees seek to achieve a rate on deposit which matches or exceeds inflation as measured by the retail prices index.

Risk Management

The policy of the charity is to take a structured approach to risk management in pursuit of the organisation’s artistic objectives. This approach involves a regular process of risk assessment, whereby the potential impact of risks to the achievement of objectives are identified, quantified and mitigated as far as possible. The principal vehicle for risk management is a risk register which is reviewed regularly by The Trustees.

Staffing

ID has a staff of five (3.5 FTE), all of whom are part-time and active freelancers as well. The year saw several staff changes:

Heni Hale stepped down as Co-Director in September and was succeeded by Nathaniel Parchment. Alison Thomas stepped down as Programme Coordinator in December and was succeeded by Renée Bellamy. And Renée Bellamy stepped down as Digital Communications Assistant in January and was succeeded by Cheniece Warner. Nikki Tomlinson continued as Co-Director.

Training and staff development in 2023/24 included Anti-racist Approaches to Recruitment and Retention, with Aretha George-Tooley, Digital Ethics and Environmental Sustainability training with Julie’s Bicycle.

Governance

ID has seven trustees who meet quarterly. In addition, co-chairs meet regularly with co-directors outside of these meetings. In 2023/24 the Trustees dedicated time to supporting recruitment and retention processes in collaboration with the Co-Directors.

This Trustees’ report was approved by the Board of Trustees on: 25 September 2024 and signed on its behalf by

N Childs

Co-Chair

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT

TO THE TRUSTEES OF INDEPENDENT DANCE

I report to the Trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Independent Dance (the Charity) for the year ended 31 March 2024.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the Trustees of the Charity (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 Act).

Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the Charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the Charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or

  2. financial statements do not accord with those records; or

  3. the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or

  4. the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.

ML Rowlands CTA FMAAT AAT(Fellow)

Rowlands Webster Ltd, Austin House, 43 Poole Road Bournemouth, BH4 9DN

Statement of Financial Activities
Notes
Income from:
Donations and legacies
2
Charitable activities
3
Other trading activities
Investment income
Total incoming resources:
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
5
Charitable activties
5
Total expenditure
Net income/(expenditure) for the
year and net movements in funds
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward 1st
April 2023
Total funds carried forward 31st
March 2024		 Unrestricted
Funds
£		 Restricted
Funds
£		 Total
Funds
2024		 Total
Funds
2023
£
71,204
65,110
450
1,899
138,663
(4,943 )
(136,767 )
(141,710 )
(3,047 )
162,728
159,681		 3,755
-
-
-
3,755
-
(32,732 )
(32,732 )
(28,977 )
28,977
-		 74,959
65,110
450
1,899
142,418
(4,943 )
(169,499 )
(174,442 )
(32,024 )
191,705
159,681		 112,420
78,843
976
536
192,775
(5,019 )
(186,014 )
(191,033 )
1,742
189,963
191,705

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses incurred in the year. All incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuing activities. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 13 to the financial statements.

Balance Sheet

Notes
Fixed Assets
Current Assets
Debtors
10
Cash at bank and in hand
Current liabilities
Amounts falling due within one year
11
Net current assets
Total assets less current liabilities
Funds
Unrestricted
Designated
Restricted
Total funds
13		 2024
£
450
170,158


£
-
159,681		 2023
£
26,519
174,927		 £
-
191,705
191,705
112,228
50,500
28,977
191,705

170,608
201,446

(10,927 )
(9,741 )
159,681
109,181
50,500
-

These accounts are prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act relating to small companies and constitute the annual accounts required by the Companies Act 2006 and are for circulation to members of the company.

The notes on the following pages form part of these accounts.

The Financial Statements on pages 12 - 19 were approved by the board on: 25 September 2024 and signed on its behalf by:

Sara Reed and Nicky Childs Chair

Company Registration No. (England and Wales) 05096892

17

2 Voluntary income

Grants, donations, legacies and similar incoming resources

Arts Council England, London:
National Portfolio Funding
ACE Festival of Learning
ACE Centering Disability
Total Arts Council England, London
Grants, donations and sponsorship:
Individual donations
Total grants, donations and sponsorship
Total voluntary income
Arts Council England, London:
National Portfolio Funding
ACE Festival of Learning
ACE Centering Disability
Total Arts Council England, London
Grants, donations and sponsorship:
Individual donations
Total grants, donations and sponsorship		 Unrestricted
£
71,068

-
-
71,068
136

136
71,204
Unrestricted

£
71,068
-
-
71,068
457

457		 Restricted
£
-

-
3,755
3,755
-

-
3,755
Restricted

£
-
7,100
33,795
40,895
-

-		 Total
2024
£
71,068
-
3,755
74,823
136
136
74,959
Total
2023
£
71,068
7,100
33,795
111,963
457
457
3 Incoming resources from charitable activities
Unrestricted
Income received from:
ID Talks
120
Classes
19,900
Workshops & Intensives
4,980
Events & Exchanges
3,934
Festival of Learning
-
MA Creative Practice
33,901
Centering on Disability
2,275
Total
65,110		 Restricted
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Total
2024
120
19,900
4,980
3,934
-
33,901
2,275
65,110
Income received from:
ID Talks
Classes
Workshops & Intensives
Events & Exchanges
Festival of Learning
MA Creative Practice
Centering on Disability
Total		 Unrestricted

125

17,698
7,455
4,350
10,220
37,595
1,400
78,843
 Restricted
-

-
-
-
-
-
-
 Total
2023
125
17,698
7,455
4,350
10,220
37,595
1,400
78,843

4 Allocation of support and governance costs

Management
IT & Finance
External Accounting
Human Resources
Legal and other fees
Total
Management
IT & Finance
External Accounting
Human Resources
Legal and other fees
Total		 Charitable
activities
£
29,672
4,913
666
1,838
1,720
38,809
Charitable
activities
£
24,148
5,268
674
1,890
1,916
33,896		 Governance
function
£
1,665
1,665
690
-
-
4,020
Governance
function
£
1,685
1,685
600
198
-
4,168		 Total
2024
£
31,337
6,578
1,356
1,838
1,720
42,829
Total
2023
£
25,833
6,953
1,274
2,088
1,916
38,064

5 Analysis of total expenditure

5
Analysis of total expenditure
Cost of raising funds
Management
Finance
Charitable activities
Support & Governance
Events & Exchanges
Classes
Marketing
Workshops & Intensives
MA Creative Practice
Festival of Learning & Digital Library
Centering Disability
Total
Cost of raising funds
Management
Finance
Charitable activities
Support & Governance
Events & Exchanges
Classes
Marketing
Workshops & Intensives
MA Creative Practice
Festival of Learning & Digital Library
Centering Disability
Total
6
Net incoming resources for the year
Is stated after charging:
Depreciation
Independent examiner fee		 Staff costs
£
3,278
1,665
4,943
26,757

6,318
6,485
10,067
10,709
19,122
11,981
1,668
93,107
98,050
Staff costs

£
3,334
1,685
5,019
29,488

6,721
7,054
12,761
11,363
18,988
14,727
1,751
102,853
107,872
 Other costs
£
-
-
-
16,072
3,180
18,674
2,055
7,910
5,726
-
22,775
76,392
76,392
Other costs
£
-
-
-
8,576
3,806
21,200
2,153
4,170
4,906
35,283
3,067
83,161
83,161
2024
£
690		 Total
2024
£
3,278
1,665
4,943
42,829
9,498
25,159
12,122
18,619
24,848
11,981
24,443
169,499
174,442
Total
2023
£
3,334
1,685
5,019
38,064
10,527
28,254
14,914
15,533
23,894
50,010
4,818
186,014
191,033
2023
£
600

7 Analysis of staff costs, numbers and renumeration of key management personnel

Salaries and wages
Social security costs
Pension costs
Total		 2024
£
93,939
2,069
2,072
98,080		 2023
£
102,038
3,386
2,448
107,872

No employee received emoluments of more than £60,000. The key management personnel of the charity are considered by the trustees to be the Co-Directors. The total employee benefits of the key personnel in the year were £63,966 (2023: £64,108).

There was no trustee remuneration for the year (2023: Nil).

The total employees for the year: 2024 2023
Number Number
Independent Dance 3 3

8 Pension

The charity operates a defined contribution scheme to which contributions of £2,072 (2023: £2,448) were paid during the year.

9 Taxation

The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

10 Debtors 2024 2023
£ £
Trade debtors - 18,751
Accrued income 450 7,616
Prepayments - 152
Total 450 26,519
11 Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 2024 2023
£ £
Trade creditors 6,114 3,968
Accruals 1,978 2,115
Other taxation and social security 1,798 2,621
Other creditors 1,037 1,037
Total 10,927 9,741
12 Analysis of net assets between funds
General Designated Restricted Total
£ £ £ £
Net current assets 109,181 50,500 - 159,681
Net assets at 31 March 2024 109,181 50,500 - 159,681

13 Funds

Restricted funds
ACE: Centering Disability
Total restricted funds
Unrestricted funds
Designated funds
Total funds
Funds
Restricted funds
ACE: Festival of Learning
ACE: Centering Disability
Total restricted funds
Unrestricted funds
Designated funds
Total funds		 At 1
April
2023
£
28,977
28,977
112,228
50,500
191,705
At 1
April
2022
£
21,942
-
21,942
114,053
53,968
189,963		 Incoming
Resources
£
3,755
3,755
138,663
-
142,418
Incoming
Resources
£
7,100
33,795
40,895
151,880
-
192,775		 Outgoing
Resources
£
(32,732 )
(32,732)
(141,710)
-
(174,442 )
Outgoing
Resources
£
(29,042 )
(4,818 )
(33,860)
(153,705)
(3,468)
(191,033)		 Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-		 As at
31
March
2024
£
-
-
109,181
50,500
159,681
As at
31
March
2023
£
-
28,977
28,977
112,228
50,500
191,705

14 Related Party Transactions

There were no related party transactions