STOMPING GROUND CALL OUT

Citymoves Dance Agency leads positive impacts through dance in the North East of Scotland. Established in 1987, the charity strives to improve individual lives and transform communities by offering a diverse studio timetable, co-designing projects with local communities, and collaborating with partner organisations to promote dance both nationally and internationally. Citymoves champions EDI, environmental sustainability, and Fair Work in everything they do and focuses their activities across four core pillars: Dance Health, Communities, Education, and Professional Pathways.

DanceLive Festival: Produced by Citymoves in Aberdeen, the annual four-day festival embraces a broad programme of professional dance and performance events by leading Scottish and UK artists. The festival includes professional performances in traditional theatre venues, site-specific work, films, exhibitions, professional workshops, and networking events. A festival that inspires, celebrates, and champions innovative work.

https://www.citymoves.org.uk/

Creative Crawley brings arts and culture to life for everyone in everyday spaces across Crawley. We care deeply about the way things are made - and who they’re made for. Through thoughtful events and collaborations, we craft experiences that connect people, celebrate local, national and international stories and make creativity feel welcoming, meaningful and truly shared.

https://creativecrawley.com/

FABRIC is a strategic dance development organisation based in the Midlands. We harness skills, knowledge and expertise to create expansive programmes that benefit from the scale, scope and success of our original, individual organisations (Dance4 and DanceXchange), and our collective expertise; building on a combined legacy of 60 years. Our mission is to create the conditions for dance to thrive through curiosity, disruption and joy. Guided by our approach informed by care, openness, and rigour, our work is shaped by our four cornerstones: Research, Engagement, Sector Development, Showcasing and Performance. FABRIC is the producer of nottdance festival.

https://fabric.dance/

FESTIVAL.ORG is one of the UK’s most ambitious and prolific outdoor arts producing organisations. We set out to raise the ambition, quality and diversity of outdoor performance produced in the UK. Beyond our flagship annual festival Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF), we manage the national Global Streets network and are a founding partner of the Without Walls and Stomping Ground consortia. FESTIVAL.ORG plays a distinctive, strategic role within the wider outdoor arts sector working with culturally diverse artists, introducing new artists into the outdoors who might previously have worked in building-based contexts, pioneering new approaches to access and audience engagement and developing new outdoor work with Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists.

https://festival.org/

Pagrav Dance Company was originally established by Abha Desai in Ahmedabad, India. The company was re-established in the UK by Urja Desai Thakore in 2005, as a platform for a contemporary, female-led vision of Kathak dance, as well as a vehicle for education, talent development of future generations of professional artists. Pagrav invigorates the classical form of Kathak within a modern British context, design, and presentation. Tracing our roots back to traditional stories, Pagrav celebrates the power of dance and dance making to empower people and to change lives and communities.

www.pagravdance.com

Strike A Light is a non venue based organisation in Gloucester. We work alongside communities and exceptional artists to produce unforgettable experiences in community spaces that inspires, engages and renews community pride. We combine top-quality, ambitious contemporary artistic work with on-the-ground, relevant community engagement. We bring Gloucester alive with exciting cultural activity that genuinely connects with residents. We are excited by performance that helps create social change, is diverse and champions underrepresented voices.

https://strikealight.org.uk/

The Place, London’s creative powerhouse for dance development, has been leading the way in dance training, creation and performance for 50 years. In a changing landscape, our vision for the future remains steadfast: We are powering imagination through dance, championing new ideas, embracing risks and creating a dance ecosystem unlike any other in the world, with optimal conditions for dance artists and enthusiasts to realise their full potential. The Place is home to London Contemporary Dance School, an extensive theatre and artist development programme, education projects, a range of classes and courses and a nationwide touring model. As a pioneering dance organisation, we are committed to creating no-barriers access to exciting dance experiences and opportunities for everybody, offering a diverse and dynamic theatre programme for audiences, empowering artists and dance makers and giving young people access to the highest quality opportunities to touch their lives with dance.

www.theplace.org.uk

Tramway is a world-renowned arts centre in Glasgow that is locally rooted and internationally connected. Tramway’s mission is to engage, inspire and stimulate meaningful dialogue between artists and audiences by commissioning, presenting and hosting a dynamic year-round programme of free exhibitions, performance, dance, live art and engagement events. Tramway is managed by Glasgow Life, the charity that leads culture and sport on behalf of Glasgow City Council and is a Creative Scotland Multi Year Funded Organisation (RFO).

https://www.tramway.org/

We are looking for a short solo or duet tourable to primary schools, festivals and other public spaces around the country.

The piece needs to be suitable for performances in school playgrounds for primary aged children, to be presented as part of The Place’s Playground Tour Summer 2026. We also expect that the commissioned piece will be suitable to tour to other outdoor festival contexts offered by the Stomping Ground partners.

The piece should be created with children as the primary audience in mind. However, we welcome proposals from artists interested in adapting aspects of the work for presentation to broader audiences in a festival setting.

Small in scale doesn’t mean small in ambition. We are looking for ideas which encourage curiosity, discovery and joy, and want to commission works that are dynamic, engaging and centre innovation. In your application, we encourage you to think about what makes your idea particularly exciting for children. We know for example that children respond well to humour, high energy, decisive and bold movements. You might also be exploring a theme currently on the school curriculum or ask questions that will spark children’s curiosity.

We are particularly interested to hear from artists who incorporate dance styles which are underrepresented in the sector.

You don’t need to apply with a completely new idea. You can apply with a piece that has already had some development if it hasn't toured yet.

We are expecting to build opportunities together with the artist for testing the piece with groups of children during the rehearsal process. This will be done in collaboration with the commissioning partners who are specialised in producing works for schools and wider outdoor contexts.

We are inviting applications from UK-based artists, who define themselves as having an established practice, and track record of making and presenting high quality work.

We encourage applications from artists with a range of lived experiences and from a range of backgrounds, and we particularly welcome applications from those who are underrepresented in the dance sector, including artists from Global Majority backgrounds, artists who identify as LGBTQIA+, deaf, disabled, neurodivergent artists and artists from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

The selected piece will receive a £20,000 commission, up to 2 weeks of studio space in kind at The Place, guidance on producing outdoor work for children, and performance opportunities with the commissioning partners.

The piece will be co-produced by The Place as part of The Playground 2026, and go on a 5-week tour around schools and family festivals.

The Stomping Ground partners may offer presentation opportunities which will be negotiated with the commissioned artists, and which will be subject to additional touring fees. Artists are not expected to raise additional match funding.

Applicants should consider the parameters below when submitting their idea.

Production parameters

• A solo or duet

• Using dance or movement as the main medium

• For children aged 6 to 10 year-old

• Up to 20 minutes long, followed by a Q&A when touring to schools

• Minimal props which can be packed easily and transported in a small vehicle

• Can be performed on a variety of surfaces (e.g. concrete, astroturf, grass); or with a light and transportable flooring e.g mats.

• Can be performed twice a day

• Can be toured with one technician

Budget parameters

We are expecting project to be made with:

• 3 to 4 weeks of rehearsal

• 1 or 2 understudies

• The piece’s presentation cost should be £2,000 maximum per show days including travel, accommodation and per diems

• The Place will manage The Playground Tour and contract the performers separately. Performers will be paid a minimum of £660 per week, plus holiday pay.

If invited for an interview, you will be asked to send in advance a creation and touring budget.

Timeline parameters:

• The piece should be ready to premiere in June 2026

• Available to tour for 5 weeks throughout June and July 2026

• The commissioning partners will be given the priority to book the work for their festivals and outdoor events

More information about The Playground Tour can be found here.

• We are looking for ideas that are innovative, engaging and dynamic, and which respond to the way the world is now.
• In your application, we encourage you to think about what makes your idea particularly exciting for children. We know for example that primary audiences respond well to humour, high energy, decisive and bold movements. You might also be exploring a theme on the school curriculum or ask questions that will spark children’s curiosity.
• We encourage you to think about how your work will work in other outdoor contexts, how it can appeal to both dance and non-dance audiences, committed attendees and passersby.
• We are open to receiving ideas for adaptations of existing indoor works reimagined for outdoor, but we will want you to strongly demonstrate how the piece is suitable for outdoor performances.
• We are asking applicants to demonstrate in the form how access is considered in the way the piece is made and how it communicates with an audience.
• We are keen to hear from artists who want to explore more sustainable ways of making and touring, and who explore themes of environmental sustainability in their work.
• We will ask you to talk about your collaborators and the performers for the work you’re applying with. We are interested in hearing about how their skills and experience will contribute to making a high quality work.

Artists applying must:

• Be based in the UK

• Be applying for a work with a strong and distinctive movement element - we welcome applications from dance artists as well as artists from other disciplines who use movement in their practice

• Have previous experience of making and touring high quality work in different contexts

• Not apply with a work that has been submitted to Stomping Ground before unless it’s had further development since applying

• Not currently be in education (unless at PhD level)

We are interested in hearing from artists who we haven’t worked with before as well as artists we have existing relationships with.

To apply, please fill in the form via this link: Application Form

You can also submit your application via video, please follow the instructions in the application form.

A PDF version of the questions is available here: PDF Application Questions – if you are having any trouble using the form, please contact us at producing@theplace.org.uk

If you require any support during the application process, or if another format or application process would be more accessible for you, please contact producing@theplace.org.uk and we will make the appropriate arrangements.

Please also complete one of our Equal Opportunities monitoring forms which you will find attached to the application form.

The Equal Opportunities monitoring form is optional and will help us to monitor whether our Call Outs are reaching groups that are currently underrepresented in our programmes. These forms will be reviewed by our HR team and will not be seen by the shortlisting or interview panel.

• Thursday 16 October 2025 | 9am-10.30am: online application workshop focusing on making work for children and for outdoors, BSL interpreted. Please email producing@theplace.org.uk to sign up

• Wednesday 29 October 2025|12pm (midday): deadline for applications

• Tuesday 2 or Wednesday 3 December 2025: online interviews

• Shortlisted applicants will be notified by Friday 21 November 2025 if they are invited for an interview.

If you have any questions, we would encourage you to read the application guidance carefully. If your question is not answered here, please email producing@theplace.org.uk

The selection is carried out by a panel of producers and programmers who work in the partner organisations.

If invited to an interview, you’ll need to tell us a bit more about your idea, how you’ll use the resources – money, strategic support - to make the project happen, and show how your previous experience will support you in making the work. You will also be asked to send in advance a creation and touring budget.

You will be notified of the interview panel when invited to the interview and will be offered a fee to prepare for and attend the interview.

The partners have a budget to support access costs for applicants to prepare for and attend an interview. There is no additional money, on top of the commission, to cover access costs in the making of the work.

In some cases, support workers and/or access equipment and technology can be funded via Access to Work funding if support is necessary and relevant to you. For more information, visit the Government website or check out Disability Arts Online's handy guide to interpret the Access to Work rules and official guidance, with specific advice for the arts and cultural sector.

https://disabilityarts.online/projects/access-to-work-guide/

Deva by Pagrav Dance - Stomping Ground and The Playground Tour A collaboration between Urja Desai Thakore and Hetain Patel which seeks to question and challenge subconscious biases towards brown skin, whilst exploring a playful and engaging way to invite unsuspecting public to reconsider their biases. With British Sign Language integrated, four dancers moving to classical music, wearing classical Indian garments envelop urban outdoor locations as the piece unfolds.

Future Cargo by Requardt & Rosenberg - Stomping Ground

An outdoor dance spectacle performed on the back of a 40ft haulage truck. It transports audiences with an other-worldly experience using binaural headphones. Future Cargo has toured across the UK and internationally since 2020.

TREAD by Walker Movement Theatre Company - Stomping Ground
An outdoor show created for alternative spaces, using a treadmill to discuss internalised frustrations within the Black experience. This entrancing and hypnotic work has a cast of 6 dancers of African/Caribbean descent who stride, amble, trip, dive, pant, and tread their way through the landscapes and hellscapes of their revolving worlds.

the album: skool edition by SAY - The Playground Tour

A short, high-energy and interactive duet created by SAY (Sarah Golding and Yukiko Masui), celebrating the joy and innocence of making up dances in the playground. This piece is part of a series of work called ‘the album’ exploring collaboration between SAY and music artists.

You Too Can Tutu by Gandini - The Playground Tour

Gandini Juggling brings a captivating fusion of grace and playful precision to new audiences. This time, with a mischievous twist—a witty take on classic ballet storytelling, following two ambitious characters determined to create the world’s first juggling ballet.

Book4Shorts by Birdgand - The Playground Tour

An interactive and lively show where two opposing characters discover that their personality differences make them stronger when they work together. The children are directly involved in the story telling, voting on who their favourite character is and are invited to participate by dancing along.