Northbound Dance was born in 2020 as Artistic Director, Louise Gibbons created her first interactive solo work, ‘Miss Baines’ , with the support of Arts Council England, Ludus Dance and Great Place: Lakes and Dales. The R&D and pilot tour, saw Louise take her work to rural communities, in particular care homes with invited primary school audiences.

At the heart of the work, it was about bringing people together to experience something new (in the form of dance-theatre) and to spark some new connections within the community to benefit the wellbeing of younger and older. The response from audience members and staff was overwhelmingly positive, including the final ‘family audience’ at Ludus Dance in Lancaster. We hope that 2021 will bring about more opportunities to spark positive change in unexpected ways!

During 2020, Louise started working with a community of older people who would normally meet to; sing, eat lunch and socialise. The ‘restrictions’ meant that the group couldn’t sing, but they could dance! For a couple of months, Louise led some chair-based dance which got everyone moving AND smiling. Again – hopefully there is more of this to come during 2021…

In July 2019, Louise led a series of ‘Afro-Brazilian Dance’ workshops, which led to her delivering a weekly class in Lancaster. Since March 2020, these have been continuing online (with some outdoor sessions where possible) and we hope that during 2021 we can resume face-to-face, weekly sessions. Participants regularly say that they feel the physical benefits but also that their mental health and wellbeing is boosted by the ‘feel good’ tunes and movement – which is music to our ears!