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

Disco Queen Supporting ACE document

Application to ACE to fund a five venue, Northern tour of Disco Queen; a dance-theatre show about growing up as a competitive Disco Freestyle dancer.

Venues include:
Bradford Arts Centre
Edge Hill
Sheffield Theatres
Stage @ Leeds
Barnsley Civic

With:

  • A curtain closer in each location with a local Freestyle dance school

  • A workshop with local Freestyle dance schools in each location

  • Freestyle dance ambassadors employed in each location to advocate for the show (early career opportunities)


RATIONALE FOR TOUR MODEL
5 date Northern tour allows us to:

  • We want to connect with audiences in the regions where Freestyle dance is most popular (Sheffield, Liverpool, Bradford, Barnsley, Leeds)

  • We know there is demand for venues in the North based on a sold-out Bradford premiere whereby:

    • 60% of the audience were first-time attendees

    • 70% of the audience were from the Freestyle community

    • Over 200 C&YP engaged in development

  • We know that the Curtain Closer model supports Freestyle dancers & their families to feel part of the work & have worked with 2 Freestyle dance schools in Bradford & London, with 24 dancers dancing in the show, with support from their parents & families buying tickets to watch the show

  • The Northern tour will build profile for Disco Queen & build demand for a National tour in 27/28

AIMS

  • Build on the success of 2025 pilot tour (Alhambra Bradford, The Lowry and The Place) of Disco Queen + a feature on BBC Dance Passions.

  • Meet the demand to tour Disco Queen to new audiences across the North, specifically in locations where Freestyle dance is popular.

  • Place based engagement with C&YP from working class, underrepresented dance form, Freestyle dance.

  • Develop audiences through Freestyle ambassadors and curtain closer performance by C&YP from Freestyle dance schools in each location.

ACTIVITY:

  • Remount Disco Queen over a 2 week rehearsal process at Bradford Arts Centre. Touring to Barnsley Civic, Sheffield Theatres, Edge Hill, Stage@Leeds and Bradford Arts Centre.

    Place based engagement with C&YP (specifically Freestyle dancers) including:

  • Create a curtain closer with Freestyle dancers across the 5 venue locations

  • Recruit Freestyle dance ambassadors for each tour location

  • Collaborate with Freestyle dancers at CAPA College to be part of a curtain closer performance

  • Disco Queen workshops in each location

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, BD25 and The Place

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

  • Webinars delivered on Freestyle Dance as an underepresented dance form

  • 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)

  • Disco Queen Extract featured on BBC Dance Passions in November 2025, reaching broad audiences across the UK

CURTAIN CLOSER MODEL

The Disco Queen pilot tour tested out an innovative approach to working with a Curtain Closer model, for placed based activity.
Rather than introducing a dance group to the choreographers way of working and doing a mini version of the show, Disco Queen curtain closers focus on celebrating the existing talent of the grassroots Freestyle community.

It is successful because:
- It celebrates working-class women working as Freestyle dance teachers as choreographers in their own right and allows their choreography to be seen on professional stages.
- It validates Freestyle as a form of dance - not trying to mould the Freestyle dancers to work with other material.
- It allows Freestyle dancers to showcase the routines they take to competitions week in week out, rather than asking them to perform unfamiliar material.
- Gives an efficient way of engaging with a community that doesn’t drain the DQ project resources and choreographers time.
- It is an important part of the Disco Queen narrative to close with the dancing handed over to the next generation of Freestyle dancers.


What we learnt:

  • The methodology; Ella meets Freestyle teacher/schools, Ella shares information about the show, Ella gives Freestyle track to the teacher, on the day tech & blocking.

  • Timeline needed to make the curtain closer happen; BOPA, venue arrangements, safeguarding in the venue, support from producer in venue.

  • Budget requirements to support Freestyle dancers participation.

  • How to successfully bring Freestyle dance schools into a professional theatre environment.

  • That the show is stronger when supported by an informed audience who understand Freestyle, it helps contemporary audiences understand that they can clap, cheer and shake their pom poms.

WHY NOW?

  • Disco Queen premiere at Alhambra Studios Bradford sold out, with audiences asking for further performances up North

  • An increased social media following of Disco Queen off the back of the success of the pilot tour, means there is a captive audience to engage with

  • There are still many Freestyle communities to engage with to introduce them to the show and into arts/cultural spaces. According to this website https://www.danceschools-uk.co.uk/yorkhumb.html - 60 - 75% of UK Freestyle activity happens in the North.

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

Similar to the creation process of Disco Queen, young Freestyle dancers will be an integral part of the tour process.
Often from working class backgrounds and less likely to frequent arts/cultural spaces, the Disco Queen tour has been designed to ensure the Freestyle dance community are in the audience at the abovementioned venues.

Steps taken:

  • Free/subsidised tickets available to Freestyle dancers, parents and families

  • Freestyle ambassadors paid and employed in each location to do social media posts for Disco Queen shows

  • Curtain closers with local Freestyle schools in each location

BBC DANCE PASSIONS - Disco Queen Feature

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