Memorandum submitted by LABAN LABAN
AS EXEMPLAR
The story of dance as we enter the 21st Century
is a story of success. Dance's ability to develop creativity,
raise achievement, extend opportunity, foster inclusion and contribute
to the health and well-being of the nation is now widely acknowledged.
Quantitative indicators show that audiences for contemporary dance
have grown by 28% in a five year period[1]and
that the study of dance within the school curriculum at GCSE,
AS and A Level has grown by over 200% in 10 years.[2]
This document shows LABAN as an exemplar in the achievements of
dance. Our art form is based on collaboration, our success is
based on partnership. We believe that we are evidence of an arts
institution that can add value beyond its core business.
BUILDING OF
THE YEAR
"It is a building which champions the idea
that intelligence, creativity, imagination and art make life better"
Rowan Moore, London Evening Standard
LABAN's new home in Deptford, Creekside is a
collaboration between LABAN (client), Herzog and deMeuron (architect)
and Michael Craig Martin (artist). It has been achieved through
a successful partnership with Arts Council England, London Development
Agency, Lewisham and a number of Trusts and private donors. At
a cost of £23 million it is the largest and, arguably, the
finest facility for contemporary dance in the world. In 2003 it
won the Stirling Prize, the RIBA's Building of the Year and a
whole series of other awards for its architecture, access, and
provision of civic amenity. It is a tremendous achievement for
our whole sector that the building judged finest of the year by
the RIBA is a building built for dance. LABAN's new presence in
Deptford has been acknowledged as a key driver of the cultural
and economic regeneration of the area, and was formative in the
inclusion of Deptford as one of the ten Creative Hubs recently
announced by Creative London.
DANCE ARTIST
TRAINING
At the core of our activities at LABAN is dance
artist training. We contribute to the development of professional
practice and artistic innovation at a national and international
level. We currently have students representing 34 different countries
undertaking a range of programmes from BA Hons to PhD. Ours is
the largest community in the world engaged in contemporary dance
practice. Our size is determined not by a belief that "biggest
is best" but by the economics which allow a wholly specialist
staff and a range of fully professional facilities such as our
three theatres, dance health facility, and library. We have created
an arts centre that is fine tuned to the nurturing of dance artists.
In recognition of the high quality of our work and of the achievement
of consistently achieving professional employment levels for our
alumni of over 85%, we are funded at "premium level"
by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Our
relationship with HEFCE is relatively new but we are hopeful of
extending our partnership with them as we can demonstrate our
place as a leader in areas in which they are developing new initiatives.
One example is the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), in
which, in close association with the Regional Development Agencies,
they are encouraging the delivery of knowledge transfer projects
organised around three strands—community sector, public
sector and industry exchange. LABAN can already evidence a level
of activity and success in these areas, which puts it at the leading
edge of the initiative.
EDUCATION AND
COMMUNITY
Alongside Dance Artist Training, LABAN has a
strong commitment to social and cultural activities that involve
the community. We offer a range of programmes which include the
provision for both physically and learning disabled people, performance
opportunities for young people, professional development for artists,
teachers, and community workers, creative dance workshops and
projects for schools and community organisations and a programme
of dance classes at LABAN for adults and young children. This
work now reaches, on average, 1,000 people a week, and is completely
additional to our core dance artist training work. Three themes
underlie LABAN's Community programme: Access, Progression and
Support.
Access
By complementing and supplementing dance within
the school and youth dance sector, we can raise achievement in
and through dance for young people. Our work extends opportunities
for life long learning in dance, promotes inclusion and contributes
to health and well-being.
Progression
We are able to identify talented young people
and provide them with opportunities to have a high quality dance
experience to prepare them for a career in dance and the arts.
The work of our Education and Community Programme both raises
aspirations among young people for further education in dance
or other arts subjects and also, vitally, broadens the range of
participation in HE from young people of diverse social and economic
backgrounds.
Support
LABAN as a specialist resource for learning
allows dance skills and knowledge to be more widely available
and gives us the focus as Knowledge Exchange both for the dance
profession and the local community. Continuing Professional Development
for teachers and community workers is a key element of our provision
and evidenced through training days, short courses and our annual
summer school.
LABAN THEATRE
LABAN has a state-of-the-art theatre at the
very heart of its building, providing the axis/pivot to every
aspect of the organisation's work and placing it in a prime position
to engage with dance, theatre, emerging technologies and cross-art
collaborations. LABAN as an organisation is committed to the ongoing
enquiry into performance and seeks to address fundamental issues
relating to this area not only through training but also through
an innovative approach to programming. We are currently developing
a unique programming identity, which will set us apart from other
traditional dance venues and which will embrace appropriate performance
work from other art forms. In the development of LABAN Theatre
we seek the ongoing partnership of Arts Council England (ACE).
ACE were a major contributor to our capital plan but the development
of an ongoing funding relationship is at an early stage. Later
this month, and made possible by the first of our programming
partnerships with ACE, LABAN will present, as part of the London
International Festival of Theatre (LIFT), Societas Raffaello Sanzio.
The company will produce one of a series of "Episodes"
in London. Previous Episodes have been produced at significant
cultural centres across Europe including Festival d'Avingnon,
the Hebbel Theatre, Berlin and the Theatre Odeon in Paris. Each
of these venues has an international reputation as a pioneer within
the performing arts. Our inclusion will endorse both the intentions
and quality of LABAN as a local, national and international venue.
DANCE HEALTH
LABAN aims to offer dance health expertise at
the highest level for the benefit of our own dance students, the
wider dance community and the general public as a whole. We are
aided by first class facilities in the building which include
a Dance Science Laboratory, a large Pilates studio and injury
treatment rooms for physiotherapy, osteopathy and massage. Partnership
has been vital in the formulation of the dance health facility
and partnership remains vital to its development. Through our
association with organisations such as Dance UK and the International
Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) we are developing
LABAN as a leader in the field of dance medicine and dances science.
We have pioneered the world's first MSc in Dance Science and earlier
this year hosted an international dance medicine and science conference.
All of LABAN's health facilities are available to the public and
our links with local GPs ensure a significant rate of referral.
THE ISSUE
FOR THE
FUTURE
LABAN, through collaboration and partnership,
has achieved a potential for creating significant added value.
We bring together Higher Education, the Arts and the Community
in a mix where the whole exceeds the sum of the parts.
Our future success is dependent on the receipt
of strategic funding. Currently, the only regular funds we receive
are for the education and training of dancers, through HEFCE and
direct from the students.
LABAN does not receive any regular funding to
develop its work in Theatre, Health or Community. This work, when
supported at all, receives money in the form of project grants.
These grants, do not allow strategic developments and they invariably
do not fund core costs.
Unless LABAN can develop further relationships
with its partners which result in regular, planned funds to cover
the core costs of our provision, the potential described within
this document will not be achieved.
2 May 2004
1 Target Group Index comparison 1991-95 with 1995-2000 Back
2
DanceUK Back
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