Juliette has had a happy, healthy baby girl!!

We have recently had some great news within the Dance Resource Base office as Juliette has given birth to a beautiful baby daughter. Congratulations Juliette and we look forward to meeting wee Alice very soon!

Dance for Darfur

Just to say a huge thank you to everyone who joined in, and to those who supported Philip Johnston's fundraising event in Belfast yesterday. We managed to skip the rain and thunder and danced in glorious weather, surroundings and with glorious music too! And the best bit ... it was all in aid of Doctors without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières—MSF).

Please visit www.philip-johnston.net for more information or to make a donation.

Ponydance wins "Ulster Bank Pick of the Festival" Award at the Pick n Mix, OMAC

Dance Resource Base would like to congratulate Ponydance on their recent success at the Pick n Mix Festival at the OMAC (Old Museum Arts Centre), Belfast last month. The local dance company won the "Ulster Bank Pick of the Festival" Award for their performance of a Work in Progress. We wish them all the best for the future development of this piece and for their upcoming performances at Transfest, Belfast and The Fringe, Dublin this summer.

Visit: www.ponydance.com

June 2009 Members' Forum

Thanks to everyone who was able to make it to the June Forum held last Wednesday at Dance Resource Base. It was great to enable everyone who attended the chance to touch base with Dance Resource Base, share new ideas, and feed into our current and ongoing commitments to the dance sector.

Dance Resource Base hopes that all its' members come to next month's meeting, with a twist!, and will be in touch shortly with more details.

Dance Venue Research

Dance Resource Base are in the initial stages of researching dance studios and other spaces suitable for dance practice within Northern Ireland. We hope to gather information from all corners of the region and create a database open to Dance Resource Base members and visitors.

If you can assist with this research and know of a place suitable to hire for dance activity then please contact the Dance Resource Base Development Officer at info@danceresourcebase.org.

We value your input and your help is much appreciated, thanks.

Can I also just take a moment to say Hello to those I haven't had the chance to meet yet. I'm Jen Thornton and I will be covering the Development Officer post temporarily as Juliette has taken maternity leave with her baby due in July. All the best to Juliette!!

Presentation to the Board of ACNI

Dance Resource Base has been invited to present the organisation to the Board of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, on Wednesday 11 March. Which means we're busy working on Powerpoint at the moment!

Dance Strategy: meeting with the Arts Council

On Friday 9th January 2009, representatives of the dance sector (annually funded companies, the University of Ulster and Dance Resource Base) discussed the new Dance Strategy with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Held at the ACNI, the meeting was very positive and an opportunity to hear some good news: the ACNI is restructuring and is going to hire a part-time Dance Officer. The ACNI is hoping to have someone in place in 6 months.