About the Artist Community

 

A group of seven East-Asian performers in rehearsal clothes are posed on an inflatable mattress reading over the shoulder of the performer in the middle.

We are an artist member-led organisation, which means that our artistic programmes are made by, with, and in response to a community of roughly 100 independent artists.

The membership is made up of dancers, artists, choreographers, directors, educators, improvisors, facilitators, producers, curators, writers and other arts workers who are invested in experimental dance and performance. Many of these artists make work on the margins of form, process, or discipline, and may be at points in their careers where they cannot access other institutional support.

It is our members who shape our work, so the opportunities we offer change depending on who our members are and what they need. We welcome applications from artists of all backgrounds and disciplines, and selection prioritises those who have been historically underrepresented at CDS, including Global Majority heritage and disabled artists.

Find out more about what we stand for and the benefits of membership below.

Apply to be a CDS Member

Applications to the membership are currently closed.

We will open for new applications in Summer 2023. Keep a look out on this page and our socials for more information.

If you are interested in becoming a CDS member, want to know more or or if you have any questions please email: frances@restore.chisenhaledancespace.co.uk or phone our office on 0208 981 6617 to speak to a member of the team.

Being a CDS Member

Unlike other membership programmes, Chisenhale Dance Space is not a fundraising strategy nor is it a funded artist development scheme. We are a community of artists, guided by principles of inclusion, collectivity, and DIY working.

Being part of the CDS members’ community has both responsibilities and benefits, but we do not treat this as a capitalist exchange. The ‘reward’ is the participation; being able to make things happen here that might not be possible elsewhere, organising collectively and learning from each other.

Membership can mean different things to different people, and though many of our members live locally in East London, other live right across the UK.

Some of the benefits of membership include:

Programmes and Artist Support

  • Create, curate and contribute to CDS’s programming across all strands of our activity
  • Apply for member-only residencies, bursaries and other opportunities
  • Be a part of selection panels for commissions and other opportunities
  • Seek advice and project support time from CDS staff

Space

  • Receive 15% off space in our studios, for your rehearsals, classes or workshops
  • Free next-day studio space (bookable via phone after 16:00 the day before)
  • Free access to our Artist Room work space

Organisation and Community

  • Attend bimonthly members’ meetings and our Annual General Meeting to give input into the strategy and ethos of the organisation
  • Receive regular ‘Chisenmail’ Member-only emails with news and opportunities
  • Join our Discord server to stay in touch with other members and share your news
  • A Member profile listing on our website and posts about your work on our social media

Statement from our Members

The following is an evolving statement created over several months in the summer of 2019 in collaboration with Members, Trustees and staff.

Chisenhale Dance Members are an artistic community working in experimental dance and body-centred performance.

  • Together we are the artistic leadership of Chisenhale Dance Space, shaping its programme, ethos and ethics.
  • We are part of a pioneering artistic lineage of movement innovation that began with the X6 Collective and New Dance, but we are now broader than ever.
  • Experimentation is at the heart of what we do. Experimentation is not just about the shape the work eventually takes, but how it is made, and who gets to make it.
  • We are united by our diversity of form, style, process and content. We celebrate the overlap of the roles we take on and the differences in our disciplines.
  • We draw on our collective experiences to acknowledge and challenge structural injustices.
  • We want to make positive change in our work, our communities, the broader arts sector and the world.

Chisenhale Dance Members commit to…

  • Reach into our pioneering history to actively reflect on our legacy and curate more inclusive environments for making and other artist support.
  • Make Chisenhale Dance Space and our activities safer for outsiders, independents and practitioners who are often marginalised by mainstream dance practices.
  • Work in ways that are respectful, transparent, ethical, anti-racist, environmentally-conscious, and non-discriminatory.
  • Champion and foreground the work of people of colour, LGBTQIA+ people, and women.
  • To champion the work of disabled people, while acknowledging the physical limitations of the building we currently occupy.

9 September 2019

Image Credits:
Snakes (May, 2019) by Owen Ridley-DeMonick (pictured) & Jia-Yu Corti
August Residencies 2022; Ghost and John; Photo by Jane Lam

The sense of community and inclusivity is really crucial. I believe CDS offers an island of open creative possibilities amongst the often competitive, capitalistic and exclusive context that the London scene offers.

Marie Chabert, independent artist and CDS member

Member Programmes

A group of artists sit in a circle on the wooden floor of a dance studio in the early evening. A mixed race woman is leading a conversation whilst they sit on large cushions. There are big sheets of paper on the floor between them
A white woman is holding a microphone, head tilted back. She has strawberry pencils taped to each finger in her right hand and a black strap under her chin.
In the foreground, a dark-skinned performer is lying on their front. They are wearing white boxer shorts and have multicoloured coiled ribbons in their hair. In the background, a light skinned performer is crawling on their hands and feet with their face obscured. They are wearing white boxer shorts.
An East-Asian man is pointing towards a large piece of paper with various coloured sticky notes attached. He is looking towards a group of participants. They are in the communal area of Chisenhale Dance Space.
A black woman wearing a bright green t-shirt and a white skirt is leading an outdoor Lindy Hop class for children and adults.
A light skinned person with pink hair is pictured arching their back while off-balance in a dance studio. There are various pink items of clothing hung on a ballet barre in the background as well as a pink electric guitar and drum kit.
A group of people are gathered in the Chisenhale Dance Space communal area. A medium skinned performer with long curly hair is moving out of frame. They are wearing white dangly earrings, a bra that matches their skin tone and a white lace skirt. A dark skinned man in a patterned shirt looks on smiling widely.
A medium-skinned performer in a turquoise wig and a white tutu cuts a pineapple in half with a cleaver onstage. There are several other pineapples on the table in various states of wholeness.
May 2023; WTF Thursdays Launch; Facilitated by Renée Bellamy
2017; Fiver Fridays; 'Herpes' by Eirini Kartsaki
August 2018; Open Studios; Malik Nashad Sharpe and Kam Wan (both pictured); Photo by Zbigniew Tomasz Kotkiewicz
August 2022; curated by Ghost and John; The Ghost Festival Potluck; August Residencies; Photo by Iris Chan
Summer 2021; Lindy Hop Class led by Angela Andrews; Chisenhale Summer of Art
2017; Open Weekend; Ray of Pink Suits (pictured); Photo by Vanek Photography
2019; Mother the Verb by Ivy Monteiro and Javier Stell-Frésquez; EcoFutures Festival; Organised by CUNTemporary
2019; Tropical Awkward Bastard by Priya Mistry