This Autumn, professional dancer Hamish Scott will be undertaking a 500-mile sponsored cycle ride to raise money for Dancers’ Career Development. Hamish is currently undertaking an internship with us, bringing his communication and content creation skills to our team whilst learning more about marketing, fundraising and working in a charity. We are so grateful for Hamish’s generosity and inspired by his drive to undertake this epic ride to support his fellow dancers in their moment of need. This is our one chance this year to raise money from the public to support dancers; we hope that friends of DCD will be inspired to back Hamish by sponsoring him, sharing the campaign on Instagram or joining him en route! See below for further details.

As summer comes to an end so does our annual programme of summer visits to our partner companies around the UK. This summer alone we delivered workshops and inspirational talks to over 200 dancers, in addition to 29 Individual Career Consultations. Thank you to all involved for your time, curiosity and energy, and best of luck for a fantastic autumn season!

The summer also saw a host of well-deserved accolades in the dance community. Our congratulations go out to all of those nominated or in receipt of awards, and particularly to those we work closely with who received National Dance Awards: The Royal Ballet for Outstanding Company and partners' dancers including Tommy Franzén (for performances including with ZooNation), Caspar Lench (The Royal Ballet), Beatrice Parma (Birmingham Royal Ballet) and Erina Takahashi (English National Ballet).

A special note of thanks and praise to Clare Smart, DCD Mentor and Grants Committee member, who received the Special Recognition Award for her dedication to mentoring, by our mentoring partner Moving Ahead this year. Many dancers have blossomed under her mentorship over the years, finding purpose, direction and confidence – thank you Clare for all you have and continue to do for DCD and the dancers you engage with, we are extremely grateful and blessed to have your support. 

With warm regards

Vanessa Lefrancois, Executive Director

DCD’s Retraining Grants can help support dancers with the practical costs of developing and progressing their career, whether within or beyond the arts. Grants can be used towards a range of costs related to retraining, from course and training fees, to equipment, maintenance, travel and childcare costs.

Upcoming application deadline: Monday 6 October (midnight)

Anyone considering submitting an application must book an Individual Career Consultation with a DCD Relationship Manager at least two weeks prior to the application deadline.

Clare Smart, well-known and hugely appreciated by the many dancers who’ve worked with her, has worked with us at DCD since 2021 as a Mentor and Grants Committee member. So we were delighted to see her recognised with a Special Recognition Award for Dedication to Mentoring, by Moving Ahead – our Beyond Dance Mentoring partners, for positively impacting the lives of over 20 mentees on their programmes since 2019. We offer Clare our congratulations on this well-deserved recognition, and our gratitude for the significant impact she has had on dancers and DCD.

Clare, a Business and Leadership Coach & Mentor, has most recently been working with us as we develop our mentoring programme to meet the current needs of dancers; most significantly to ensure this supports career paths within the arts as well as those in entirely different industries. We look forward to releasing further details of this updated programme, and enrolling our first cohort, early next year.

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DCD is ambitious for dancers' futures.