Organizer Information
The Place is a dance and performance centre based in Duke's Road, near Euston, in the London Borough of Camden, and is the home of London Contemporary Dance School (LCDS) and the Robin Howard Dance Theatre. Founded in 1969 by Robin Howard and first artistic director Robert Cohan, The Place was for decades the home of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre (1967–1994) and later the Richard Alston Dance Company (1994–2020). Today it houses LCDS, an extensive theatre and artist development programme, education projects, and a nationwide touring model, with a stated vision of "powering imagination through dance" and championing new ideas across the UK dance ecosystem. This Call Out is issued as part of Stomping Ground, a commissioning partnership between Creative Crawley, City Moves, FABRIC (Dance4 and DanceXchange), FESTIVAL.ORG, Pagrav Dance Company, Strike a Light, The Place, and Tramway, and it feeds into The Playground Tour, produced by The Place, which brings dance performances directly to primary school playgrounds each summer.
Title & Description
Stomping Ground Call Out — 2027 Commission
The Place, on behalf of the Stomping Ground partnership, is commissioning a new short solo or duet created for children, tourable to primary schools, festivals, and other public outdoor spaces around the UK. The selected artist(s) will receive a £20,000 commission, development support, and up to two weeks of in-kind studio space, with the piece touring for five weeks as part of The Playground Tour and potentially offered further touring opportunities at partners' festivals. The piece should be ready to premiere in May 2027.
Theme
No fixed theme is prescribed, but the commissioned work should be created with children (ages 5–11) as the primary audience, encouraging play, curiosity, discovery, and joy. The organizers are especially interested in ideas that are dynamic, engaging, and centre innovation — proposals might explore themes from the school curriculum, questions that spark children's curiosity, or approaches to environmental sustainability. Applicants are particularly encouraged to incorporate dance styles underrepresented in the sector.
Categories
- Dance
- Performance
- Choreography
- Multiple Disciplines
Eligibility
- Must be based in the UK
- Applying with a work that has a strong and distinctive movement element — open to dance artists as well as artists from other disciplines who use movement in their practice
- Must have previous experience making and touring high-quality work in different contexts
- Must define themselves as having an established practice and track record of making and presenting high-quality work
- May not apply with a work previously submitted to Stomping Ground, unless it has had further development since that submission
- May not currently be in education, unless at PhD level
- Encourages applications from artists with a range of lived experiences and backgrounds, particularly those underrepresented in the dance sector, including artists from Global Majority backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ artists, and Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent artists, and artists from lower socio-economic backgrounds
- Applicants may apply with a piece that already has some development, provided it hasn't toured yet
Program Benefits & Awards
- A £20,000 commission to create the new outdoor work (artists are not expected to secure additional match funding)
- Up to two weeks of in-kind studio space at The Place (subject to availability)
- Opportunities for facilitated sharing with groups of children
- Guidance and support in creating and producing outdoor work
- Five weeks of touring as part of The Playground Tour, produced by The Place, with performers' fees and agreed touring costs covered separately (not from the £20,000 commission); touring performers paid a minimum of £660/week plus holiday and pension pay
- Potential additional performances at Stomping Ground partners' festivals and events, paid via a separately negotiated performance fee (expected to be within £2,000/day including travel, accommodation, and per diems where possible)
- A fee offered to shortlisted applicants to prepare for and attend the interview
- Access costs supported for applicants preparing for and attending an interview (though no additional money beyond the commission is available for access costs during the work's creation)
Application Fee
None
Application Requirements
- Completed application form (available online, with a video submission option and a Word document version under the Access heading)
- Equal Opportunities monitoring form (optional; reviewed only by HR, not seen by the shortlisting or interview panel)
- If invited to interview: a creation and performance budget detailing use of the £20,000 commission and expected presentation costs
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 3 September 2026
- Shortlisted Applicant Notification: 5 October 2026
- Online Interviews: Tuesday, October 20 and Wednesday, October 21, 2026
- Premiere: May 2027
- Touring Period: 5 weeks throughout June and July 2027
Location
The Place, London, United Kingdom
Additional Details
- Production parameters: a solo or duet using dance/movement as the main medium, for children aged 5–11, up to 20 minutes long (followed by a Q&A when touring to schools), with minimal, easily transportable props, performable on varied surfaces (concrete, astroturf, grass, or with light transportable flooring), performable twice a day, and tourable with one technician
- Budget parameters: the £20,000 commission is expected to cover 3–4 weeks of rehearsal (including test sharing with children) and 1–2 understudies; presentation cost should be a maximum of £2,000 per performance day including travel, accommodation, and per diems where possible
- Selection is carried out by a panel of producers and programmers from the partner organisations
- Applicants are encouraged to detail any adjustments required for access needs, and to consider how their work translates to both school playground and outdoor festival contexts
- Support workers, access equipment, or technology may in some cases be fundable via the UK Government's Access to Work funding
- Examples of previous Stomping Ground/Playground Tour commissions include BUG by Lea Anderson, Deva by Pagrav Dance, Future Cargo by Requardt & Rosenberg, TREAD by Walker Movement Theatre Company, the album: skool edition by SAY, You Too Can Tutu by Gandini, and Book4Shorts by Birdgang
- Questions or accessibility needs regarding the application process can be directed to producing@theplace.org.uk