Commissioning new dance for the Tees Valley
MoveAhead™ is TeesDance's professional commissioning programme — growing the pipeline of high-quality dance work made in and for our region.
Photo Credit: How long is a piece of String by Fully Booked Theatre at Hartlepool Town Hall. Photographer: Phil Hill
Key MoveAhead™ stats…
4
New commissions.
£20k
Invested in artists.
4
Tees Valley Boroughs
About MoveAhead™
In 2024–25, TeesDance partnered with Darlington, Hartlepool, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Councils to invest £20,000 in four brand-new professional dance commissions — each rooted in the communities, landscapes, and stories of the Tees Valley.
Supported by Arts Council England and Tees Valley Combined Authority, MoveAhead™ brought together emerging and established dance makers to create work for the region for the very first time — proving that the Tees Valley is a place where professional dance belongs.
All four works were performed in their respective boroughs in 2025, reaching new audiences across the region and creating lasting relationships between artists and their communities.
⚲ DARLINGTON
Resound Theatre | Carriage
Performed at The Hullabaloo, Darlington — November 2025
Darlington-based physical theatre company Resound Theatre brought Carriage to The Hullabaloo — a striking work inspired by the first journey on the Stockton & Darlington Railway, 200 years on. Blending object puppetry, acrobatic movement, and sonic design, the piece followed two workers discovering what happens when rigid routine gives way to invention and human connection. Resound Theatre are one of the most exciting emerging companies working in the region, and Carriage marked a significant step in their professional development as makers.
⚲ HARTLEPOOL
Beth Veitch | The Lighthouse Project
Delivered in Hartlepool — 2025
Dance artist and facilitator Beth Veitch brought her deep understanding of coastal communities to The Lighthouse Project — a collaborative work involving Hartlepool community members, a live folk musician, and two professional dancers. Using movement as a metaphor for the beacons that guard our coastlines, the project explored architecture, safety, and community resilience, inviting everyone to participate — whether as performer, process participant, or audience member. An affirmation that we can all be lighthouses for one another in difficult times.
⚲ STOCKTON-ON-TEES
Lizzie Klotz & Luca Rutherford | The Fabric of Us
Performed at Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF) — July 2025
Interdisciplinary duo Lizzie Klotz and Luca Rutherford created The Fabric of Us — a new outdoor dance work staged at one of the UK's most beloved arts festivals. Rooted in community engagement exploring relationships in our modern technological world, the piece wove together the places we meet, the moments we connect, and the threads that unite us. As two of the region's most respected contemporary performance makers, Klotz and Rutherford brought their signature person-focused, socially engaged practice to Stockton — creating a work that spoke directly to the communities who live here.
⚲ REDCAR AND CLEVELAND
Autin Dance Theatre | Up in the Sky
Performed at Between the Tides Festival — August 2026
Birmingham-based Autin Dance Theatre — one of the country's leading outdoor arts companies — is bringing her spectacular aerial and physical theatre to Redcar and Cleveland for the first time. Up in the Sky, mounted at the Between the Tides Festival, followed two siblings navigating challenges of displacement, resilience, and belonging using a striking 7-metre truss structure. Family-friendly, visually stunning, and socially resonant, the work engages younger audiences and invites them to reflect on adaptability and the power of human connection. Autin's commitment to working alongside Tees Valley creatives throughout the development process made this a true local partnership.
MoveAhead demonstrates what becomes possible when local authorities and arts organisations work together.
By pooling investment across four boroughs, TeesDance created a commissioning model that individual LAs couldn't have achieved alone — bringing professional-quality dance to communities across the Tees Valley, investing in local artistic talent, and establishing new relationships between makers and venues that will outlast the project itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
MoveAhead™ is TeesDance's professional dance commissioning programme, which funds the creation and performance of new dance works across the Tees Valley. Working in partnership with all four Tees Valley local authorities, MoveAhead invested £20,000 in four commissions in 2024–25, supporting both emerging and established artists to make work for and with communities across the region.
-
TeesDance supports professional dance artists through a range of pathways including commissions via MoveAhead™, professional development through MovePro™ practitioner classes, artist platforming via Move: In Progress™ scratch nights, and direct investment in emerging talent through programmes like MoveUP™. TeesDance has invested over £207,000 in matching funding to support local artists since 2021.
-
The 2025 MoveAhead™ commissions were performed at The Hullabaloo in Darlington (Carriage by Resound Theatre), at the Stockton International Riverside Festival (The Fabric of Us by Lizzie Klotz and Luca Rutherford), and at the Between the Tides Festival in Redcar and Cleveland (Up in the Sky by Autin Dance Theatre). Beth Veitch's Lighthouse Project was delivered in Hartlepool.
-
MoveAhead™ was funded by Arts Council England and Tees Valley Combined Authority, with £5,000 contributed by each of the four participating local authorities — Darlington, Hartlepool, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Councils.
Want to work with TeesDance?
Whether you're a dance artist looking for support, a funder who shares our vision, or a local authority interested in partnership — we'd love to hear from you.
