Chisenhale Dance Space (CDS) has been making space for artists to lead, experiment, and create for over 40 years, serving marginalised dance artists from Tower Hamlets, London, and across the UK. We support an Artist Community that spans all ages and roles within experimental performance, including performers, choreographers, teachers, curators, producers and advocates for sectoral change. We prioritise the needs of those who have been historically marginalised, including artists of Global Majority heritage and disabled/neurodivergent artists.  Our programmes are artist-led, centred on the belief that artists best understand their needs and are key drivers of change in the sector. We offer a responsive framework of opportunities and peer support tailored to the challenges artists face.

 Our main activity and impact strands are:

• Community Building: We are committed to being ‘choreographers of community,’ bringing artists together and providing vital networking and development opportunities to create a more connected, creative, and caring sector.

• Access to Affordable Space: We believe all artists should have access to safe, affordable, and easily bookable spaces. We are committed to being London’s most affordable studio space and wanting artists to feel at home, both physically and spiritually, with us.

• Artist Support: Being an artist is more challenging than ever, with limited opportunities. We pride ourselves on supporting artists in our community and beyond, especially those marginalised, by enabling projects that might not be possible elsewhere. Committed to sharing resources and knowledge, we see ourselves as the glue supporting artists when they have less institutional backing.
• Influence, Advocate, and Changemake: We seek to drive positive change in the dance and performance sector by promoting transparent, ethical, and inclusive practices – with a particular focus on anti-racist and anti-ableist practice. Through advocacy, innovative methods, and thought leadership, we aim to empower artists to embed these principles in their work and influence broader sectoral shifts.

CDS is one of three independent charities at Chisenhale Art Place, a former veneer factory on Chisenhale Road, alongside Chisenhale Gallery and Chisenhale Studios. Our location, which was central to the ‘New Dance’ movement of the 1980s and 1990s, continues to influence our identity and programming.

Funders: 

CDS is grateful to have recently received support from Foyle Foundation, Backstage Trust, Garrick Charitable Trust, Abderrahim Crickmay Charitable Settlement, Fenton Arts Trust, The Leche Trust and the Theatres Trust Small Grants Programme supported by The Linbury Trust. Funding awarded by Postcode Society Trust and raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England.