Image: Freestyle dancers, parents & teacher with Ella as part of BBC Dance Passion Filming

Supporting ACE document

Research & development into developing new choreographic practice with C&YP from Freestyle dance

WHAT?

Application for ACE support to research & develop the choreographic & narrative language of co-creation with Freestyle dancers.

The R&D will include:

  • 1 week R&D at Bradford Arts Centre, 1 week R&D at EPA in Mansfield

  • 6 R&D sessions with Freestyle dancers from CAPA college

To explore:

  • Choreographic research in the studio with C&YP

  • Choreographic research into working with young Freestyle dancers in a group

  • Placing Ella’s choreographic practice on other bodies, generating movement material & extracting movement from creative exploration

  • Storytelling from C&YP from Freestyle lived experiences

WHAT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED?

  • Premiere of Disco Queen, solo dance theatre show about Freestyle dance in Bradford - made working with the Freestyle community supported by Arts Council England and BD25

  • Pilot tour of Disco Queen at The Place and The Lowry

  • Interviews recorded with young Freestyle dancers in priority places, with Anna Jones - Freestyle dance pioneer & ex Freestyle dancers

  • Development of relationships/engagement with 3 x Freestyle dance schools in Bradford/Leeds - Bingley Dance Studio, DAZL & Soul Dance Academy, 2 x Freestyle dance schools in Mansfield - Unity Dance and EPA, Horizons Community College Barnsley

  • Established the Disco Queen brand that audiences recognise

  • Co -creation of film work with Freestyle dancers scouted from Can You Dance Freestyle convention with dancers from Liverpool, Glasgow, Bradford & Mansfield

  • Development of Freestyle collaborators; costume designer, make up artist, Freestyle specialists (dance teachers)

  • Development of engagement activity pack for Freestyle dance schools

  • Leading Disco Queen workshop for professional dancers - introducing them to movement vocabulary of Disco Freestyle

  • Leading Disco Queen workshops to primary schools, secondary schools, and inclusive theatre companies (Mind The Gap)

WHY NOW?

  • Following on from the success of Disco Queen to further integrate the Freestyle community into the co-creation choreographic process

  • Capitalise on the interest and excitement from the Freestyle community around Disco Queen

  • Research needs to happen now in May 2026, before a Disco Queen Autumn 2026 tour - it will support audience development and engagement in both projects

  • Development of Ella’s choreographic practice to go from making solo work to group work

  • Be able to work with Freestyle dancers & Capa College students during the Summer holiday period

CO-CREATED FILM WORK WITH C&YP FREESTYLE DANCERS (PART OF DISCO QUEEN SHOW)

This ACE R&D grant would allow us to bring Freestyle dancers into my choreographic work in a new way.

Including:

  • Embedding them within the studio based research from the start

  • Introducing Freestyle dancers to contemporary dance-theatre making processes through live studio based research

  • Discovering ways to collectively tell their stories through movement and theatre

  • Testing how it works to bring young performers 16-20 years from a different artistic/cultural background into R&D spaces with arts orgs/venues

BBC DANCE PASSIONS - Disco Queen Feature

WORK WITH THE FREESTYLE COMMUNITY

WHAT AUDIENCES HAVE SAID ABOUT DISCO QUEEN & the impact it has on the Freestyle community

REVIEWS

“In Disco Queen, Tighe treads the boards of the home of British contemporary dance, with all its legitimacy and seriousness, and demands that her sisters are seen.” Dance Art Journal, September 2025

“Freestyle isn’t without its controversy. Often derided as lacking refinement, overly gaudy, and too working class, it has long been the butt of the joke in the dance community. Where others see wildness, Tighe sees a determined taking of space in a world where young girls aren’t taken seriously. This re-framing of Freestyle as a legitimate dance form is enlightening, particularly in its reflections of class” Dance Art Journal, September 2025

Read the full review here

WORKSHOPS WITH NON-FREESTYLE COMMUNITIES

Click here to read Disco Queen’s Children, Young People & Vulnerable Adult’s Safeguarding policy