50 Years of Warwick Arts Centre: Ascension Dance

Our creative learning programme aims to bring people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds together through creativity to build a sense of belonging in our spaces.

We place artists and audiences at the centre of our programme. We encourage curiosity, platform ideas and celebrate engagement across all artforms. To do this, we work with incredible artists every day ...

Meet AJ

AJ is Company Director of Ascension Dance, a Coventry-based dance and movement organisation. Ascension Dance delivers youth workshops, professional performances and community engagement inspired by a contemporary dance style that is physical and centred around connection with other humans.

Born and raised in Coventry, AJ loved to dance but hadn’t found a group he wanted to attend regularly. In year 9, he joined Boys Dance, a Coventry and Warwickshire initiative to get young men into movement and dance, then joined Coventry Youth Dance’s group ‘Alpha’ and physical theatre company Highly Sprung…

... And here AJ’s story with Warwick Arts Centre began.

These groups’ annual performances were held at Warwick Arts Centre. “After a while, it became a place I felt comfortable performing in – which was such a privilege,” AJ said.

As a teenager, he volunteered for a local programme paying young people to attend theatre productions and write reviews. He saw many shows at Warwick Arts Centre.

The relationships with the youth groups he attended, and the review-writing programme, were more important to him for his career development than school or family connections. “My teachers were artists, and they recognised my passion.”

Over the next few years, AJ completed his A-Level in dance and worked on one-off projects at Warwick Arts Centre such as a dance performance for the opening of the Helen Martin Studio. He saw dance in his future, but not yet as his career.

AJ’s connection with Warwick Arts Centre continued into adulthood

During his undergraduate degree in Dance, and MA in Dance Performance, AJ performed up and down the country, and in his fourth year he even went to Norway and Slovakia to perform. But he couldn’t keep away from Warwick Arts Centre!

AJ returned to the Arts Centre during this time to take part in the research and development of a performance piece.

After moving back to Coventry, AJ worked with Highly Sprung and led a project with young people from Coventry and Warwickshire that concluded each year with an event in the Butterworth Hall.

AJ became the Youth Ambassador for the Coventry City of Culture bid team. He would visit Warwick Arts Centre’s Helen Martin Studio for key conversations about the role of the arts in Coventry. This work culminated in Coventry winning the bid for City of Culture 2021.

Warwick Arts Centre is a consistent feature in AJ and Ascension Dance’s work

In 2017, with his Ascension Dance co-founder, Ben, AJ’s next project was to create a dance film highlighting amazing places in Coventry with their friend Jamie, a filmmaker. The short film, ‘Sent to Coventry’ featured Warwick Arts Centre as a key location.

A few years later, Ascension Dance collaborated on another short film, ‘Swifts and the Awakening City’ for the BBC. The piece was filmed at Warwick Arts Centre while the building was undergoing it’s 4-year renovation. The empty spaces were “perfect” for the film, AJ said.

In 2019, AJ and Ben set up the Ascension Dance youth group, and every year they bring the group to see a dance performance at Warwick Arts Centre. Recent visits have included BLKDOG by Far From The Norm and Captive by Motionhouse. Next year, they hope to see Motionhouse’s Hidden here are the Arts Centre. 

In 2022, Ascension Dance were commissioned by the Belgrade to create a piece in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The filming of this piece included the University of Warwick’s sculpture by Richard Deacon titled ‘Let’s Not Be Stupid’ as a backdrop.

It’s an iconic piece that sits just opposite Warwick Arts Centre. “I call it the ‘kissing penguins’ sculpture!” AJ said. Why not visit our Sculpture Park and see the kissing penguins for yourself?

Also in 2022, Ascension Dance rehearsed and developed a project in Warwick Arts Centre spaces.

‘Unrestrained’ was a project for Sky Arts developing a piece that included dance and parkour in innovative inclusive ways for double amputee Jess Dowdeswell.

It led AJ and Ben to “think more creatively about how dance could be accessed by a wider range of individuals in order to experience the joy and freedom of movement”.

 Ascension Dance’s partnership with Warwick Arts Centre has gone from strength to strength

In Autumn 2023, Ascension Dance became Warwick Arts Centre’s Artist in Residence for our Family Sundays programme, Sunday afternoon free drop-in workshops for families to get creative and have fun!

Delivering five interactive sessions over the course of the season, and developing the Mead Gallery’s Making Space for the Phantom Sculptures exhibition, was “a joyous opportunity to explore creative family space!” AJ said.

In 2023-2024, AJ was an artist-facilitator for our Classroom of Creativity project, which brings artists, teachers and Primary School pupils together to design creative activities and a digital resource. This culminated with the children’s work being exhibited in the Mead Gallery’s Summer Exhibition 2024. 

“Are we famous?!” said one student after visiting the exhibition and seeing their art on display. It was “a beautiful fusion of creativity and artistic license for young people,” AJ said.