Short Film Showcase is a box office success!

6th February 2024

Last Tuesday we were delighted to welcome over 50 guests to join us for our inaugural short film event at The Strand Arts Centre.  By sharing the five films, we hoped to showcase the range of our dance work and how we advance dance as an artform using it to build community connections, foster tolerance and respect.  The evening was hosted by Board member Tom Hughes:

and each film was introduced by someone who had participated in the making of it.  The films we screened were:

-A Chance To Dance: Celebrating how age is no barrier to dance featuring Alternative Energies, our intergenerational project in Ballycastle was introduced by Deborah Hamilton, our Youth Engagement Project director:

-Little Stranger: A film on the plight of unaccompanied child migrants which was introduced by Sheena Kelly, Community Engagement Artist who was integral to the film:

-Ode to Gaia: Celebrating the diversity of a group of women who have chosen to live in West Belfast coming together to dance, share and create was introduced by two participants Halla and Carole:

-The Effect: The last in a series of films with young carers and young people referred to social services as needing support.  This dance film explores how some of these young people feel and our Artistic Director Mags spoke about the real impact the project made on the participants’ self confidence:

-Tribe: A look at the dance performance which broke ground for Belfast Boys taking them to the prestigious U Dance showcase. Tribe show how friends and community are key to every young adult achieving their highest potential and Belfast Boy dancer Oisín introduced the film and spoke about why he enjoys being part of the group:

The audience feedback was fantastic!:

“The scope of the work is amazing and so personal, moving, important and uplifting.”

“Wonderful to see the support that Dance has.”

“Really insightful and impactful on the work that DU Dance do!”

“It was a most interesting showcase of the cross-community work undertaken by DU Dance. It was wonderful to hear of the personal development showing in the faces and work of the dancers, young and old.”

“It was brilliant to see the films and the work you do.”

“I found it really moving and impactful- loved hearing the participants voices and stories in…A Chance to Dance.”

“I liked every film but was moved to hear of the west Belfast group, the Little Stranger group and the achievements of the young carers dance.”

“It was really uplifting to watch the results of such important work presented in such beautiful forms.  The range of groups and participants and the clear pride and pleasure everyone had gained from the work was great to see.  It was also good to have the introductions to each film, setting them in context.”

Thanks to all the team, but especially Creative Producer Gina, for pulling the event together.  Let’s do it all again next year!