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Dancer

Join Ian Johnson - Scotland’s leading learning-disabled artist - and Gary Gardiner as they hit the floor in this delicate, dapper and downright hilarious exploration into what it really means to be a 'dancer'. Expect outrageously camp jerks and thrusts... and complete stillness. Dancer was originally co-created by the late Adrian Howells’ during his year as Arches’ Artist in Residence at Glasgow’s Touchbase, a resource run by Sense Scotland.

Touring History

2014:
UNLIMITED at Southbank, London
Fierce Festival, Birmingham
Battersea Arts Centre, London
People’s Dancing Festival, Cardiff Millennium Centre 

2015:
Behaviour Festival, The Arches, Glasgow
The Place, UK’S Premiere Centre for Contemporary Dance, London
Bounce Festival Belfast

2016:
Dancebase – Edinburgh Fringe (Made In Scotland Showcase / Total Theatre Award Nominee)

2017:
GAM, Santiago, Chile (June 2017)
Nøtterøy Kulturhus, Norway (September 2017)
Ibsenhuset, Skien, Norway (September 2017)
Bølgen Kulturhus, Larvik, Norway (September 2017)
Drammens Teater, Norway (September 2017)

2018:
Thanks to funding from Arts Council England:
Lancaster Arts (January 2018)
Colchester Arts Centre ( November 2018)
Chats Palace, Hackney ( November 2018)
York St John’s (November 2018)

2019:
Made in Scotland Festival, De Kriekelaar, Brussels

2023:
Platform, Easterhouse (April 2023)

PRESS

★★★★

“Dapper and delicate… such a lovely piece of work: simple, generous-spirited, vulnerable and entirely without side.”

Guardian – read full review here

★★★★

“beautiful” 

Scotsman – read full review here

★★★★

‘Ian is a joy to watch as he shows how dance can make you come fully alive.’

Skinny – read full review here

★★★★

‘Dancer has the simple audacity to break a boundary, to let someone tap their toes and twirl their arms and to say that’s okay..’

Fest – read full review here

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Credits

Created by Ian Johnston, Gary Gardiner and Adrian Howells
Performed by Ian Johnston and Gary Gardiner
Creative Producer:  Lucy Gaizely
Associate Artist & Mentor: Jon Reid
Technician: Michaella Fee
Marketing & Press Manager: Niall Walker
Executive Producer: Louise Irwin
Assistant Producer: Zac Scott

Made in Scotland Showcase 2016
Total Theatre Award Nominee 2016
Developed with the support of The Arches and Sense Scotland.
Recipient of Unlimited Commission 2014.

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