Announcing partnership with BAiD | Black Artists in Dance

BAiD is a dance organisation who ‘aim to showcase the contribution that black dancers, artists and academics  make to the development of dance, specifically within the UK’.

We are excited to launch this partnership in order to work collectively with industry partners to amplify the voices of dancers of global majority, to develop our anti-racism work and move forward into sustainable action on racial justice within our School community and beyond.

As part of our Anti-racism and Racial Justice work we have taken active steps to engage in discussions, formal and informal, training, and resource sharing. We have created a bank of anti-discrimination resources to tackle relevant issues relating to social justice, to expand on our awareness of issues and educate each other, but our anti-racism work has been at the top of the agenda. We have also launched our Anti-racism and Racial Justice Steering Committee, members of which are working towards implementing the action plan.

As part of our programme of interventions we have organised a staff and student development day to focus on Racial Justice which will be facilitated by the BAiD artists Joyce Gyimah and Gerrard Martin and focus on contextualising racism and white privilege.

About BAiD

Founded in 2014 by Joyce Gyimah and Gerrard Martin, collectively BAiD represents 25 years of experience in dance management, producing, mentoring, educating, choreographing and performing. The BAiD vision is to build a sustainable and inclusive global dance environment where Black artists create, develop and thrive. BAiD aims to support individuals and organisations, empowering them to question dominant societal ideologies and perceptions of the dancing body, aesthetic and language. Find out more about BAiD on their website.

Meet the BAiD team

 

Joyce Gyimah

Dance Artist & Movement Specialist, Co-Founder of BAiD
Joyce is a freelance educator, choreographer, manager and consultant. She has worked with a range of dance institutions and organisations including Trinity Laban, Greenwich Dance Agency, Greenwich Musical Theatre, Union Dance, UK Foundation for Dance, Tavaziva Dance, National Portrait Galley and most recently The Arts Council. She began her training at Lewisham College before undertaking a BA (Hons) at The Laban Centre for Movement and Dance. Joyce is the founder of Dance Physics and Jazz Inc.

Gerrard Martin

Artistic Director/ Dance Artist, Yoga Instructor, Guest Lecturer and Choreographer, Co-Founder of BAiD
Dance artist, choreographer, movement director, dance educator and yoga teacher Gerrard trained at De Montfort University, gaining a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Performing Arts, before undertaking further studies at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Gerrard has performed in companies, such as Phoenix Dance, Ballet Black, Tavaziva Dance, Union Dance and for the West Ends’ Lion king. Gerrard is a guest teacher at the Place, RADA and Guest Associate lecturer at the University of Northampton, he created his company Gerrard Martin Dance in 2011.