Jones the Dance News

Today (Wednesday 2nd July), the Arts Council of Wales published the review into dance in Wales. Read on for our response.

“We welcome the announcement made by Arts Council of Wales today following their review and the recommendations for the next steps for dance in Wales.

The recommendations and medium-term strategy they have outlined addresses the priorities we have at Jones the Dance/y Ddawns. These include working with and inspiring young people as the next generation of Welsh dancers and connecting to communities through dance across Wales. We also aim to break down barriers for everyone to experience the unspoken language of dance in our original productions that are rooted in our shared culture and experiences, and through creating opportunities that support artists and those that work in dance to thrive in Wales. 

As a small project company, we have made huge strides in recent years to increase who gets to enjoy dance since the company began in 2015 (as Gwyn Emberton Dance). We take our touring dance productions to places and venues across Wales that make attending dance accessible for everyone, alongside producing our youth dance programmes for young people who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing in South Wales (and soon to be in North Wales) and for young people who are rurally isolated in Mid Wales, Quiet Beats and Jones Bach respectively. We continue to work internationally with new artists from Wales and beyond. We are grateful to have been able to achieve this with essential support from Arts Council of Wales and increasingly from trusts and foundations. 

Continued and increased support and resources for dance and improvements to the dance infrastructure are much needed to make the vision of dance creators, performers and practitioners possible, firing-up possibilities for the future of dance. It allows inspiration to flow and opportunities for artists to create a landscape in which everyone can enjoy and experience dance.  

This review by Arts Council of Wales recognises the vital part that dance has in the cultural landscape of Wales and by accepting the recommendations it recognises the need for action. We hope the suggested joined-up approach will ensure a flourishing future for dance in Wales. 

We are excited by and support the recommendations to make connections between communities, artists, venues and other cultural organisations, and audiences. Within a forward-thinking framework, dance companies, artists and practitioners can collaborate and expand ideas about what dance is and can be. Dance truly thrives when there is the understanding and drive to create the environment, support and funding needed for it to be able to flourish and evolve.

We look forward to hearing more detail on these plans and to working with Arts Council of Wales and our colleagues across the sector to achieve these goals. We will fully support this journey, continuing to evolve, explore and inspire how dance is experienced in Wales in the years to come.”

Jo and Ellie - iCoDaCo residency in Llandudno, February 2025

Image: Full Mongrel