Aune Head Arts worked with the BBC and Arts Council England to host Big Dance on Dartmoor, part of BBC1's Dancing in the Street, hosted by Bruce Forsythe and Zoe Ball, screened on the evening of July 22, 2006.

Big Dance was a week-long England-wide celebration of dance, with all kinds of dance events: dancing in the streets, in schools, fitness centres, arts centres, parks, museums, theatres and shopping centres. Download (pdf) the Big Dance press release. Our contribution was part of the Big Dance Class, which BBC Spotlight News called "definitely the most spectacular" of all the classes held across the UK. Also check out the feature article at BBC online.

On Saturday 22 July 2006, Aune Head Arts co-ordinated a mini-performance by hundreds of people on Dartmoor, as part of a special BBC programme –– The Big Dance Class. This was the flagship event for Devon: more than 400 people of all ages registered to take part, and we had hundreds of people dancing at Hay Tor. The Big Dance Class was an attempt to break the world record for the largest number of people simultaneously doing the same steps to the same piece of music, validated by the Guinness Book of World Records.

There was terrific support from the event partners, but we particularly want to thank Esther White from BBC Radio Devon who worked closely with us in producing the event. We made a dynamite partnership, and pulled the event together in less than six weeks. Thanks, too, to Dartmoor National Park, who worked with us, and who overcame their justifiable concerns to grant us permission to hold the event. Thanks to Ranger Bill Allen, who also took part in the dance! Also thanks to Arts Council England for their support.

There are pictures on the BBC website, but you can also see pictures of a rehearsal here, and pictures of the day here.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO TOOK PART, particularly Kagemusha Taiko from Exeter, who provided very special music to dance to. Although everyone across the UK was dancing to the same music in order to satisfy the Guinness world record attempt, because we were on Dartmoor, we did not want to have amplified music. Instead, we commissioned Kagemusha Taiko to make some music for us based on the music provided for the Big Dance Class.

By the way, the attempt to break the world record was a success, with more than 8,500 people taking part right across the UK. Big Dance on Dartmoor was one of a very few of the many many classes across the UK to be included in Dancing in the Streets on BBC1.

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Why was Aune Head Arts taking part? Because we believe dance, like all artforms, can be fun, accessible, and fantastic to take part in; and that just taking part may well lead you to want to know more about, and experience more, contemporary art/performance.

The project was directed by RIchard Povall and co-ordinated by Nell Harrison, working in close collaboration with Esther White at BBC Radio Devon.