Dance UK

Dance UK

Formation	1982
Type	NGO
Legal status	Registered charity
Purpose	Advocacy
Headquarters	Unit A402A The Biscuit Factory 100 Clements Road SE16 4DG
Location	London
Membership	1,500
Official language	English
Chair	Julian Flitter
Director	Caroline Miller
Main organ	Board of Trustees
Affiliations	Association of Dance of the African Diaspora National Dance Teachers Association Youth Dance England
Website	www.danceuk.org

Dance UK is a membership organisation that represents the dance industry in the UK. Its chief activities are to provide career development and networking opportunities, health information and advocacy for dancers and other professionals who work in the dance industry.

The organisation was founded in 1982 by a group of dance professionals who identified the need for a central organisation, which could tackle the big issues facing the dance sector as a whole.

By working with and on behalf of the sector, Dance UK aims to promote sustainable, longer dance careers and to improve the conditions in which dance is created, performed and experienced. The organisation advocates and lobbies government and the cultural industries to promote the importance of dance and needs of dancers.

Healthier Dancer Programme

Dance UK's Healthier Dancer Programme works to improve the physical and psychological health and wellbeing of dancers through providing advice and information on health, fitness and injury prevention for dancers, both for recreational dancers and for those in vocational training and working professionally. The organisation holds regular events for dance professionals, healthcare practitioners and scientists in order to share current research on dance health.

Dance UK operates the Healthcare Practitioners Directory, a UK wide database of medical practitioners and complementary therapists with experience of working with dancers.

Dance UK also advocates for improved healthcare for dancers, and along with the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science, was a key organisation involved in the creation of NHS dance injury clinics, located at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and Royal United Hospital Bath.

Merger

On 26 March 2015 Dance UK announced that it had received three year funding from Arts Council England to merge with Association of Dance of the African Diaspora, National Dance Teachers Association and Youth Dance England. The organisations will create a unified "go-to" industry body that will become the subject association for dance in schools in the UK.

The name of the new organisation, One Dance UK, as well its new website were launched 7 December 2015 at the Royal Society of Medicine at an event attended by approximately 450 dance professionals.