South West Dance Hub

South West Dance Hub is a new initiative for practitioners, based at Exeter Phoenix. We spoke to Ruth Bell and Jenny Pill to find out more…

What do you do?

South West Dance Hub is a co-facilitated dance space for practitioners based in the South West, with a focus on cross-art collaboration. We are supported by the Exeter Phoenix and run Tuesday morning classes for six-weekly terms, with a different focus each term. We are interested in providing a space for creative people to come together and inspire one another. This term, we have concentrated on dance for camera and working with filmmakers; next term will be visual arts, followed by music and spoken word.

Who do you work with and why?

Dance Artists, Choreographers, Film-makers, other Artists. This is a space for artists to come together and play, explore and hopefully germinate the seeds of creativity.

How did you get started?

Jenny says: Ruth and I were searching for a space where like-minded artists could get together to create, inspire and support one another. It didn’t seem to be out there and so we started the Dance Hub this year. We see ourselves as facilitators; we are open to others being a part of the creative drive, and hope to involve many talented Creatives as our Hub grows.

What keeps you going when things get tough?

Jenny says: I am motivated by a deep drive to communicate, challenge, and connect with people. Being creative for me is the reward in itself, but without that sense of community – of getting together with other artists and being fired up by their processes and vision, too – it would be a very lonely place.

Name one thing that would make your life easier as an artist or arts organiser.

Ruth says:  It would be wonderful to have a team member who is good at producing, promoting, social media and funding applications! This would free both Jenny and I up to focus on facilitating, dancing, collaborating and making new work.

Sometimes it is challenging to find the time to give this project what it really needs to grow. Jenny and I are working hard to promote and facilitate these sessions.

Tell us what a typical month/event/show looks like? 

We don’t yet have a typical event or show as we are just finding our way and growing as a collective of artists.

Saying that, we have an opportunity to perform on 14 December in MakeTank’s shop window space, on Paris Street. This will be a structured improvised piece taking place over a sustained period of time between 4pm and 6pm. A really nice ending to our first term.

Give us a wave if you are passing by!

What does the next year look like for you?

Exeter Phoenix have been brilliant in supporting us and will continue to over this next year, which we hope will give us the time to build a self-sustaining community of practitioners.

The Phoenix will also be hosting a Scratch night for us on 7 June 2022. A place to show work which has hopefully sprung from the South West Dance Hub’s year of creativity and collaboration.

So, thank you, Naomi Turner for all your support!

We will just continue to grow and develop this Hub, which we can only do with active participation from dancers, movers, makers and other artists.

What’s been the best moment for you or your group in the last year?

Ruth says: We invited film-makers into the session last week and for me this was the best outcome I could have hoped for. It was a truly creative and inspiring session, which I hope has planted a seed for future dance-film collaborations.

It has been great to connect with Cinesisters, who are a very inspiring collective, supporting and creating opportunities for female film-makers in the South West.

What’s needed in the city to really make your event/organisation get to the next level?

This is a tricky question as we are only just beginning to make connections and realise what opportunities there are in Exeter. At the moment we just need to keep growing the core and discovering performance and collaboration opportunities to aim for.

What if ….?

It would be wonderful to have opportunities to create work and perform in and around Exeter. Site specific work is a strong theme for us, alongside the rich pot of cross-artform collaborations. Connections with venues and events would be really helpful for us.

To enable us to work with dance practitioners and other artists we would need to be able to pay professional fees for projects, so help with funding applications and securing seeds of money would be brilliant.

How do we find out more?

FaceBook: @SouthWestDanceHub

Ruth Bell: ruth.danceartist@gmail.com

Jenny Pill: jennyppill@yahoo.co.uk

The new term begins at Exeter Phoenix on 25 January, 10am-12noon, with a focus on the Visual Arts, inviting artists in from the midpoint.

Head to MakeTank, Paris Street, on 14 December, 4-6pm, to see an in-window performance.