Special Feature: A Celebration of Dance
Critical Mass:
Dancing to the Commonwealth Games
Katie Stevens reports on how the West Midlands region is in full swing preparing for the arrival of the athletes and visitors, and how dance is taking centre stage of the celebrations.
Photos: Top: Lensi Photography, Bottom: Dani Bower for One Dance UK
Critical Mass Participants
What makes Critical Mass? Critical Mass, Tara explains, is the brainchild of Martin Green, Chief Creative Officer, and Raidene Carter, Executive Producer, both of Birmingham 2022 Culture Festival. Katie Stevens They believe that although there Critical Mass, an inclusive dance has always been opportunity for collective made up of 300 young community dancers to be involved in people aged 16-30 from across mass projects, few on this scale are truly the West Midlands, has been inclusive - barriers such as physical generously funded by The Spirit access into the space, or lack of time of 2012 and is the hub of the or funds to see the project through can performance activity that will run stop people from getting involved. throughout the Commonwealth As Birmingham 2022 will have a fully Games. The collective will perform integrated Para Sport programme, it is at a number of celebratory important that this inclusion is reflected events on the lead up to and for within the cultural festival too. the duration of the Games, with Critical Mass is made up of several it all kicking off in March with standalone performances created Wondrous Stories, the opening of by different choreographers, dance the Birmingham 2022 Festival. artists or in collaboration with the After attracting so many participants. The 300 participants will participants to perform at high have the opportunity to perform in profile events and with rehearsals several high-profile events such as well underway, we wanted to hear Wondrous Stories – the opening show of how the process was going. Tara Birmingham 2022 Festival, Birmingham Lopez, Senior Producer of Critical International Dance Festival, festival Mass and Zoie Golding, Lead sites throughout the Games as well Dance Artist, gave us an insight as the Opening Ceremony of the into this unique project. Commonwealth Games. 14 The One Dance UK Magazine | Spring 2022
The dance artists of Critical Mass Dance artists have been leading free weekly dance sessions across Birmingham and the West Midlands, with 16 separate classes taking place each week. A warm and welcoming space has been created, with a team spirit running throughout the sessions. In our conversation, Zoie clearly acknowledges the emphasis on building trust and relationships between the participants and dance artists before the art is even considered, helping to avoid anyone feeling vulnerable throughout the process. The dance artists provide the crucial link between choreographer and dancer in Critical Mass. With so many participants and only a handful of choreographers, the dance artists negotiate the choreographers’ intention to suit the dancers in their sessions. This allows for a more inclusive nature – each artist knows the dancers personally and has an understanding of everyone’s needs. Zoie champions the idea of including creative opportunities for both the dance artists and participants to contribute to the creation of the
