Dance Base Programme Review

A great deal of fun comes from a cursory glance at Dance Base's autumn programme. Pole dance workshops vie for attention next to Taoist Tai Chi; a Rambert masterclass rivals a Very Red moving and grooving session for all levels. The range of classes - over one hundred and thirty per week - expresses their inclusive enthusiasm.

Dance Base has been spreading its gospel since 1994. The purpose built studios in the Grassmarket appeared in 2001, creating a genuine base for the city's professional and amateur adult dancers. The diversity of styles- one wrong turn and a ballet dancer could end up in the burlesque class - bears out the seriousness of the company's mission statement: "Dance Base encourages and celebrates the potential for dance in everyone. As Scotland's National Centre for Dance, we offer a vibrant and uplifting focal point which reaches out and inspires well-being and creativity, and cultivates a future for dance in local, national and international communities."

In common with Glasgow's Dance House, Dance Base's vision incorporates both the professional and amateur, which leds to the distinctive dance culture of the Central Belt. There is no hard and fast divide between the career contact improviser and the purely-for-pleasure students. This helps to explain both why comunity work is so natural to Scottish companies - but also why there is a high level of awareness about new work. Janis Claxton, for example, is both a teacher at Dance Base and an up-and-coming choreographer.

Bookings for new courses begins on 6 September, although drop-in classes are available all year. Whether it is African, tango, ballroom or Musical Madness, Dance Base delivers.