Rachel Dean is an Independent Dance Artist and Educator and Artistic Director of Speedwell Dance. Speedwell Dance specialise in playful encounters between children/families and professional musicians and dancers. Thumbelina and May & the Mountain Witch are two touring productions co-created with children through extensive play sessions in community settings. I Stamped & An Island Appeared and Move and Play are joyful films which give an insight into these processes.

For the last 17 years Rachel has directed, performed and facilitated/taught in a wide variety of contexts in Leeds/Bradford, across the UK and in Europe. She creates performance and participation which enable people to engage with movement in empowering and sensorily rich ways. With Speedwell Dance she brings together a company of skilled artists to create work with and for children and families.

Flexible and collaborative ways of working allow her to create something that is specific to people and place in a particular moment. Inclusion and respect for the unique qualities each person brings are integral to her way of working and enable the creation of high-quality work with a wide variety of groups.

Research, reflection and exchange are an important to Rachel’s practice. She teaches in HE and regularly takes part in international exchange with academics and practitioners. She has an MA Creative Practice (Dance Professional Pathway for mid-career artists) from Laban and Independent Dance (2013) and a BPA (Hons) from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance (2006).

Photo Credit: Charlotte Levy