Coalesce Dance Theatre is an all-female identifying, LGBTQIA+, and disability-led contemporary dance company based in Manchester. They are dedicated to telling thought-provoking, physically powerful, and socially relevant stories through striking dance theatre performances.
The company engages diverse audiences and communities throughout the UK through a range of creative activity. Fern Wareham & Rachel Maffei Co-Directors, are passionate about bringing accessible, high-quality and inspirational arts & cultural activity to audiences. Together they have established an ethos that places people at the heart of their practice, specifically supporting and making space for underrepresented female voices in their work. The company aims to create structures and networks which centre women in leadership roles, as well as enabling female stories of all kinds to be told through exciting and powerful dance theatre.
Coalesce also focus their work on the physical, creative and emotional development of children and young people across the North West of England. The company aims to support young people aged 4-25 with activity specifically tailored to their needs. The company have three successful touring shows that have been co-created with young people, embedding youth voice into the heart of the work being produced. Coalesce offer a range of access points for young people to connect, from outreach classes and workshops, to their youth company CYD, finally culminating in their professional level class DanceConnect. Coalesce believes everyone should have access to the creative arts, and are committed to supporting young people to pursue dance for social enrichment, wellbeing, and career purposes.
The company’s current works 'The Old Green Time Machine' and 'threads' have toured to over 100 theatre, library, rural touring and alternate venues in the last 3 years. The company have been widely supported by Arts Council England since 2018. The company is now in the process of developing a new family work, Mika and The Polar Bear, which looks at themes of environmental disaster and forced displacement for both humans and creatures. This show is closely linked with the company's work as a GMAST and Climate Leadership organisation.
Since Coalesce was formed in 2017, they have developed a unique movement language which forms the foundations of both their facilitation and performance styles. Combining a floor based technique, which focuses on tension and release, with full bodied fluidity and extension. “Coalesce Dance Theatre is an exciting new company for the region, creating work that is both relevant and engaging for a variety of audiences.”
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Fancy connecting with us? Why not join our pro class DanceConnect on Tuesday night, or perhaps you might be the right age for our youth dance company CYD. Go check them out in the menu above.
