[Deadline Passed] CALL OUT: Choreographers

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Call opens: 27 April 2021

Deadline: 16 May 2021

Dumfries and Galloway dance is seeking four choreographers to create or re-stage existing outdoor pop up performances from July - November 2021, working either in person or online. Fixed fee £1500, plus travel and accommodation where required.

Dumfries and Galloway is a region built by communities with a strong history of grassroots arts projects. Dumfries and Galloway Dance aims to grow and support the region’s dance ecosystem, with a specific focus on ensuring that residents have access to watch dance regularly, creating a clear career route for local young dancers and promoting the brilliant activity that already takes place here.

The project is funded by the Holywood Trust and Creative Scotland’s Touring Fund, delivered in partnership with Dance Base.  Funding from Creative Scotland was initially intended to develop a region-wide programme of bimonthly dance touring. However, we have responded to the restrictions of Covid-19 by facilitating monthly online watch parties, paying over twenty Screen Dance Makers to share their work over the year, and growing the community interested in watching and discussing dance.

We are now looking to expand this programme by developing outdoor pop up performances that can tour the region and are looking for expressions of interest from choreographer’s based in or with a strong connection to Scotland, to create this work.

Pop Up Season
In response to the potential change in Covid guidelines we are looking to tour five new or existing works across Dumfries and Galloway from July - November 2021.  One of these will be created by Dumfries and Galloway Lead Artist Emma Jayne Park, and four will be created via this call out.

Choreographers will be given two weeks with up to three dancers, to create performance work that is adaptable to a variety of outdoor sites in the region.  Depending on Covid restrictions, and the choreographer's personal requirements as restrictions change, the work may be created in person or via Zoom.  This will be discussed with each choreographer in advance of the rehearsal period.

The work created can be a solo, duet or trio, and should be between five and fifteen minutes in length.
Choreographers may choose to create a series of short works or one longer piece. .

Choreographers can propose any preferences in terms of performance site if it is relevant to the work.  All works will need to be able to tour in a standard size car with minimal production support.  We anticipate that audiences will not be ticketed but will happen upon the work, although some performances may be pre-arranged (outside of a school for example).  The brief is simply that the work is flexible and created in a way that responds to outdoor, public settings.

Once created the work will stay in Dumfries and Galloway Dance’s rep until July 2022, and may Pop Up at any time during this period.  Dumfries and Galloway Dance will only tour the work within the region during this time and no contractual obligations will be written that limit the potential for the work to travel to other places.  Essentially, the work is the choreographer's; we simply wish to retain it in our rep for up to one year so that local audiences can enjoy it for that duration, creating the potential for the local community to request pop ups they would like to see again!

The Basics

  • Choreographers will be paid a fixed fee of £1500

  • Choreographers will have two weeks to create their finished work. We anticipate that choreographers will undertake the majority of their prep and research within the two week paid period, reflecting the scale of the fee.

  • There is a small additional budget of approximately £4000 to be allocated across the programme depending on each choreographer's needs.  Please request what is required for your work in terms of collaborators, set or costume, bearing in mind that this is a budget for the whole programme.

  • In response to changing Covid Guidelines and the individual requirements of each artist, choreographers will either work via Zoom or in person.  If in person all travel, accommodation and access costs will be covered.  This will be discussed with each choreographer.

  • Works can be new work or adapted existing works.

  • We are looking to work with choreographers who have a strong connection to or work in Scotland.

  • We intend to ensure that two of the choreographers contracted are from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the Scottish dance community, including but not limited to BIPOC+* artists, disabled artists, working class artists, older artists and trans artists.


*For the context of this call out we use the phrase BIPOC+ to refer to artists from the African diaspora, Latinx, the East Asian diaspora, the South East Asian Diaspora, from the South Asian Diaspora, West Asian (includes Middle East) Diaspora, bi-racial/ mixed heritage, or who also self-identify as a Person of Colour or Black.

Space to Fail

This is a quick turnaround Covid response and although it excites us massively, we are aware that as the project unfolds we will make mistakes or expectations may need to shift.  We are looking to work with people who are willing to communicate concerns in the early stages so that we can pre-empt issues and support the artists we work with.  We will co-design the process for doing so with choreographers upon offer of contract..  If anyone has any questions about this prior to submitting an expression of interest please email contact@dumfriesandgalloway.dance.

How to Apply

Please submit a one page expression of interest and up to three images or a video of no longer than five minutes detailing the following:

  • A short description of the work you would like to create or adapt.

  • A short description of your artistic practice.

  • Why you are interested in creating pop up work for communities in Dumfries and Galloway.

  • Three image examples that best reflect your work, or up to one minute of video footage.

  • Details of any additional resources you would require to make the work.

  • Please note if you identify with any of the characteristics we list as currently underrepresented in dance, or others we have not listed.


Please send your expression of interest to contact@dumfriesandgalloway.dance by Sunday 16th May 2021.

A small panel, including a local artist and a local audience member from Dumfries and Galloway, will meet to discuss the programme on Tuesday 18th May. Details of the panel will be made available as soon as possible.

Shortlisted choreographers will be invited to a short conversation on Monday 24th May.
This is not an interview. It will simply be an opportunity to answer any questions about the programme and better understand how the choreographer works so that the right environment can be created throughout the working period.

All choreographers will receive a response no later than 31st May 2021.
Feedback will be available upon request, as our small team is employed on a part-time basis this may take up to four weeks.