Ballet Queer return with a new series of workshops exploring queer identity through dance.

The Queer History of Us is a series of workshops to delve into your Queer journeys through movement. Sessions will use informal ballet practice, movement and dialogue to explore queerness and build community. Specifically for LGBTQ+ Hackney residents without formal dance training. Participants are welcome to join just one or all six sessions.

Sessions will be led by Ballet Queer's founder and choreographer Jonathan Watkins who has been a dancer for over 20 years, including with the Royal Ballet, alongside creative collaborator Araminta Wraith – a dancer and theatre maker, and past soloist with Scottish Ballet.

“So beautiful to get permission to move freely again and particularly in Queer community in a time when we need community more than ever” - Feedback from previous workshop participant

This workshop is exclusively open to Hackney based LGBTQ+ participants without formal dance training. To create a safe space for movement and dialogue, the workshop will only be open to those aged 18+. There is no upper age limit, and we hope to foster intergenerational communities of queer people through creating a sense of belonging and solidarity throughout the workshop.

You can take part in any number of the 6 workshops. Sessions are designed for people to attend just one, or all of them, although we would love to see people come back each week, and have the opportunity to build community over the 6 weeks.

To find out more about Ballet Queer, visit www.balletqueer.com

Waiting List and Returns

Workshop spaces are first come first served, with only 12 slots available each week. If tickets are no longer available online, it means we have reached capacity, however we do have a waiting list - please email susannah.bramwell@shoreditchtownhall.com to join. Equally, if you can no longer attend, please email us so your space can be offered to someone else.

What to Expect

Each workshop will include a warm-up and opportunities to interact and talk other participants. You’ll be given different improvisation exercises, listen to music, and explore ways to respond to music with movement. The workshops are really a way for you to be inspired by your own experiences and move your body. We will end each week with a choreographed dance that will be made for the group. In the final session, there will be an opportunity for participants to invite guests to an informal sharing of what we have been working on. This is optional.

Access for All

Jonathan and Araminta are experienced in adapting practical workshops to be available and accessible to all bodies, including participants who are disabled and chronically ill.

Please let us know if you have any access requirements by emailing susannah.bramwell@shoreditchtownhall.com. You can find out more about Access For All at Shoreditch Town Hall by clicking here.

Photography by ASH

Ballet Queer delivers these workshops in partnership with Shoreditch Town Hall and is funded by Cultural Hackney - a Hackney Council initiative reflecting and celebrating the borough's rich diversity and heritage through its communities.