CPI Workshop with Linden Dance

Morning

Start the day with a high-energy, physical class rooted in musicality and expression. The class will explore dynamic phrase work, grounded movement, rhythm and full-bodied physicality, drawing on Linden’s Afro-Contemporary dance style.

The class will be challenging but open and supportive, creating a positive studio atmosphere where dancers can take risks, push their physicality and enjoy moving together

We will then move on to phrase work and rep from Linden’s new outdoor show, Beautiful Future.

Expect to move with power, freedom and intention, working through shifts in texture, rhythm, weight and dynamics. The focus will be on finding individuality within the material and allowing performance and expression to sit alongside technical detail.

Afternoon

We will move into a creative exploration based around our new work, Beautiful Future.

Beautiful Future is Linden Dance Company’s new outdoor dance, live music and installation work: a raised sundial world that transforms public space into a stage for extraordinary physical performance.

Inspired by Rob Hopkins’ How to Fall in Love with the Future, the show responds to climate anxiety without doom, fear or blame. Instead, it uses joy, physical risk, rhythm and imagination to move audiences towards hope, energy and agency.

We will explore use of the voice, creating voice loops to evoke movement, and explore how we can shape movement from voice and words. There will be time to delve into the themes and manifest them as expressive movement. We will also challenge the balance between abstraction and literal story telling within this.

Linden Dance Company is a Birmingham-based professional dance company led by Christopher Radford and Sara Macqueen. The company creates bold, visually arresting performances that combine exceptional physicality, striking design and emotionally accessible storytelling. Blending Contemporary and Afro-fusion dance, Linden’s work explores themes including identity, belonging, connection and hope, creating accessible experiences for audiences in theatres, festivals, schools, public spaces and unusual settings.

Linden has a strong national and international touring track record. Its professional productions CAGED and UNBOXED have collectively been performed 120 times, reaching more than 33,000+ live audience members and over 4,100 students and staff through school activities. The company has presented work at festivals and venues across the UK and internationally, including SO Festival, Appetite, Refract Manchester, Dancin’ Oxford, First Light Festival, Derby Feste, King’s Cross Summer Sounds and Prizren Fest in Kosovo.

Alongside its professional performance work, Linden is committed to increasing access to dance and ensuring young people are active creative voices within culture. Through school outreach, participatory projects and Linden Youth, its Birmingham-based community youth strand, the company creates inclusive opportunities for young people to build confidence, develop their own ideas and connect with others through movement and creativity.

At Ascension, we’re passionate about supporting graduates as they continue their training, meet new people, and build a thriving career in the arts.

If you’re a current student in training at a University or Conservatoire, use the code "STUDENTDISCOUNT" at checkout to receive a £10 reduction.

If you’ve graduated from university since May 2024, use the code "GRADDISCOUNT" at checkout to receive a £5 reduction.

Please help us in return by sharing this offer with your friends and helping us continue to bring industry best practices to Studio 17 and the Ascension world.