West Somerset

Halsway Manor Society is a charitable organisation dedicated to encouraging people to participate in the folk arts in England - including traditional dance. Based at Halsway Manor in Somerset – a residential centre for folk arts courses, events and activities - we are developing an outreach programme to engage more young people with traditional dance – including how traditional folk dance / music and contemporary artforms can influence each other successfully.

We are offering a fixed-term, part-time post for a dance practitioner who can engage effectively with young people and develop our youth dance programme - including the formation of a (traditional/folk-based) dance company for young people that can perform locally, nationally and internationally. The successful applicant will either be a folk dance teacher/practitioner with demonstrable experience of working successfully with young people OR a contemporary dance practitioner / teacher who wants to explore traditional music and dance in a range of work.

You will be prepared to learn and develop in post and have an enthusiasm for engaging with young people – and collaborating with the best traditional and other dance practitioners available to us. Folk dance isn’t about attempting to recreate the past – it is about engaging young people with traditional dance forms so that they can draw on that rich cultural history in their artistic expression.

The terms and conditions will be negotiable with the successful candidate within the resources we have available, but it is envisaged that the post will be for 2 years and occupy the equivalent of up to 16 hours a week in the first 12 months. Some work will take place at Halsway Manor, some will be outreach – for example with local schools or at festivals nationally. Planning and administration work can be done from home or from Halsway Manor.

The successful candidate will share our ambition to extend the post by developing an exciting programme for young people that has the support of key regional and national organisations.

How to apply

Please read through the Job Description and Person Specification (download links to the right). Also included is our Youth Dance Development Plan which sets out our plans and objectives to develop the folk arts programme.

Questions?
Please phone Paul James (CEO) at any time for an informal and confidential chat. Happy to discuss any aspect of the role and how your experience relates to it.
07825 631 769
01984 618 274

To apply, please fill in the application form (download from www.halswaymanor.org.uk, or phone and we'll email it to you) and send it in by email to ceo@halswaymanor.org.uk by 6pm on Friday 1st June.

Please include any weblinks to any dance projects you have been involved in over the last 2 years.

Interviews will be conducted at a date to be arranged.

We would like the post to start as soon as possible and are prepared to work around other commitments where it is practical to do so.

Contact: 01984 618 274