Hailed as the city’s first new cultural building in the last decade, the newly minted Jerwood DanceHouse has opened to the public. The dance center, a project of DanceEast arts agency, is the centerpiece of a GBP70 million ($112 million approx.) regeneration scheme of the city’s waterfront area.
The studio is in the lower floors of a 23-story, 71 meters tall, GBP50 million ($80 million approx.) tower block on the site of old Cranfields Mill, also designed by John Lyall. The interiors of the dance center features full ceiling to floor glazed areas, large glass fronted windows and views over the waterfront.
The dance center comprises three dance studios – the Wellbeing Studio, Sir Frederick Ashton Studio and Red Shoe Studio, fitness and Pilates suites, the DanceEats! Café, and the Dance Vibe dance wear shop. The center will also be home to the DanceEast Academy, the government-funded Centre for Advanced Training for the East of England.
DanceEast was founded in 1983 and gained National Dance Agency (NDA) status from the Arts Council the following year. The DanceHouse is dedicated to creative development, with a particular focus on developing new choreographic talent. The studio theater presents and produces new work before it tours nationally and internationally.
