Stopgap Dance Company
Touring dance company of disabled and non-disabled performers. StopGap aim to make work that is empowering, engaging, entertaining and accessible.
Related Content
Artificial Things: fusing poignancy and dynamism into dancing bodies
May 20, 2020Stopgap Dance Company’s film Artificial Things (Dir. Sophie Fiennes) was released on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter when social distancing measures came into force to combat Covid-19. Natasha Sutton Williams went to the Watch Party on 18 May. Filmed on location in a derelict suburban shopping mall, Artificial Things ...
Stopgap Dance Company’s The Enormous Room: a new genre for dance?
March 2, 2017Directed and choreographed by Lucy Bennett, The Enormous Room carries Stopgap’s hallmark qualities of an absurdist, narrative-driven dance genre we first saw come to maturity in the company’s 2014/15 touring production Artificial Things, a step further. Colin Hambrook caught the premier at the University of ...
Stopgap’s new touring work ‘The Enormous Room’ reflects on the surreal aspects of loss
January 16, 2017Stopgap Dance Company’s new touring production The Enormous Room, premieres at Sadler’s Wells Lilian Baylis Studio on 2 and 3 March 2017. Featuring renowned disabled dancer David Toole in a central role, The Enormous Room focuses on the complex but poignant relationship between a father and ...
iF Platform bursary winners Silent Faces come out of the filing cabinet with Follow Suit
May 12, 2016Silent Faces are an emerging integrated company and their physical theatre show Follow Suit has been awarded the iF Bursary at this year’s Brighton Fringe. Review by Colin Hambrook. Follow Suit as the finale piece creating a perfectly formed ending to the day of discussion and ...
iF Platform, Brighton Fringe
May 11, 2016The iF Platform is back, this time taking on Brighton Fringe and a fresh audience of curious, critical and creative disabled artists and allies. Hosted by Stopgap Dance and the Sallis Benney Theatre on Monday May 9th 2016. Bookended by daft flatulent cabaret from Moxie Brawl ...
The Enormous Room – the starting point
May 5, 2016In this first blog about Stopgap's next major production The Enormous Room, Artistic Director Lucy Bennett talks about the overall concept and how ideas for the work developed and changed. I spend so long thinking about an idea and letting it form before even beginning to communicate it to ...
Silent Faces on Follow Suit
May 4, 2016Silent Faces are an emerging integrated company and their physical theatre show Follow Suit has been awarded the iF Bursary at this year’s Brighton Fringe. Stopgap’s Lou Rogers caught up with them as they prepare for a performance on 9 May at the Sallis Benney ...
Stopgap’s ‘Artificial Things’ to be included on GCSE Dance syllabus
March 30, 2016The exam board AQA’s new specification for GCSE Dance, which was accredited last week, includes a focus on promoting excellence in dance to disabled and non-disabled young people. AQA signalled its intension by selecting Artificial Things by Stopgap Dance Company as one of six compulsory ...
Creative Minds one day conference 2015: discussions on the theme of ‘quality’
October 29, 2015Creative Minds is an invitation to the learning-disability arts sector to have a conversation about how we define ‘quality’. Colin Hambrook reviews some of the presentations at the conference: how do we know something is quality? And when we do decide what 'quality' is, how ...
Edinburgh Festival: Stopgap Dance Company’s ‘Artificial Things’
September 9, 2015Wild disorder descends into playground politics during Stopgap Dance Company's Artificial Things brought to the Edinburgh Fringe by the iF Platform. Review by Sophie Partridge. I was pleasantly surprised that, on the last day of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Stopgap were still performing their Artificial ...
Edinburgh Festival: ‘iF Not Now When?’
August 26, 2015Forest Fringe at the Drill Hall played host on 25 August to a day of lively and vibrant discussion: 'iF Not Now When?' produced by Stopgap and hosted by Jo Verrent, Senior Producer of Unlimited. Colin Hambrook reflects on some thoughts from the day's proceedings. Do ...
Edinburgh Festival: Jo Bannon presents ‘Alba’
August 25, 2015Described as being influenced by the artist's albinism, Jo Bannon's Alba is a performance which tells a story about paleness, blending in and standing out. Review by Colin Hambrook. As the audience settles, becoming accustomed to being in a room of near darkness, we become aware of ...
Trish Wheatley on ‘Shaping a Diverse Future’
July 17, 2015As part of an Arts Council's Catalyst funded programme arts professionals were invited to The Point, Eastleigh on July 10th 2015, to discuss through provocation, debate and performance 'Shaping a Diverse Future'. Here is Trish Wheatley's provocation on the future of the arts, which was ...
Unlimited 2014: Stopgap Dance Company: The Awakening
September 7, 2014Sophie Partridge gives an account of inclusive dance company, Stopgap’s performance on the terrace of the Royal Festival Hall on the penultimate day of Unlimited. Choreographed by main company member and learning-disabled artist, Chris Pavia with a riveting, rhythmic sound track by Andy Higgs, this was ...
