West Midlands

Name: Toby Norman-Wright
Regional Partner Organisation: DanceXchange
Email: toby.normanwright@dancexchange.org.uk
Telephone: 0121 689 3167
Address: DanceXchange, Birmingham Hippodrome, Thorp Street, Birmingham, B5 4TB
Web Site: http://www.dancexchange.org.uk

I’m Toby Norman-Wright, based at DanceXchange in the West Midlands.

I started dancing at the age of six. A few years later I joined The Royal Ballet School. When I left school I joined Birmingham Royal Ballet, where I danced for 12 years. During this time I choreographed several pieces for the company and got involved with their education work. Having completed an MA in multi-cultural dance and an arts management course, I left the ballet company to become Dance Officer for Arts Council England, East Midlands. I then went on to lead several dance projects for organisations such as The Prince’s Trust.

I have recently completed a specialist dance fellowship on The Clore Leadership Programme and graduated from Common Purpose, a cross-sectoral leadership programme. I am a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and like to get fully involved in the cultural strand of their work in the West Midlands region. I am also a board member of Dancefest.

I am very excited about my new role as YDSM. I hope to share my enthusiasm with partners who also value dance and its ability to inspire and create opportunities for young people. I will be linking up regional provision and activity, developing an infrastructure to sustain it and aligning it with Youth Dance England’s National strategy. I am particularly interested in developing this to include an International dimension and to look at how the development of digital technologies can enable more people to engage with dance in new and creative ways.

Name: Preya Chauhan
Youth Dance Officer

Email: preya.chauhan@dancexchange.org.uk
Telephone: 0121 689 3079
Address: DanceXchange, Birmingham Hippodrome, Thorp Street, Birmingham, B5 4TB

My experience of the Arts began aged 4 performing at my local temple.  My interest developed and I trained in South Asian and contemporary dance styles with a youth dance company.  I later joined the management committee.

After university I was accepted on an ITC fast track Arts Management course and enjoyed an audience development placement at Birmingham Rep.  I then worked freelance in community arts before being selected on a Channel 4 Researcher’s Training Scheme researching and developing ideas for Maverick TV, Channel 4 and the BBC.

I’ve since worked in film, theatre, education, events management, and youth work.  In my current role as Youth Dance Officer at DanceXchange I enjoy advocating and setting up a whole range of opportunities for young people to get involved in dance.

 

Toby and Preya are working with a region-wide team of Youth Dance Contacts based in partner organisations across the West Midlands to deliver the National Brief through a wide range of exciting youth dance opportunities. Click here to find out more about the West Midlands' Youth Dance Contacts.

Contact Toby, Preya or the Youth Dance Contacts directly to find out what's going on in your region

 

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Last updated: 27-11-2009