New Oldham & Tameside project celebrates dance heritage

A new heritage project to preserve and celebrate dance heritage across Oldham and Tameside invites local residents to get involved.

Called Dancing Threads, it will explore dance traditions including Morris and South Asian dance by gathering personal stories, memories, images and artefacts for an exhibition and public celebration event. The materials collected will also be stored in a publicly accessible digital archive.

Developed and coordinated by Mossley arts organisation Global Grooves, there are a number of ways Oldham and Tameside residents can get involved with the project.

Free training in oral history methods will be provided, with volunteers gaining experience recording interviews, researching artefacts, organising materials and developing the digital archive.

The team would like to speak to people connected to local dance traditions of every kind, from Oldham, Tameside and surrounding areas. They are interested to hear from community members, group leaders, long-time participants and musicians who have stories or memories connected to dance, as well as to the region’s industrial mill heritage, migration stories and wider global histories.

Participants may be invited to share their experiences through recorded conversations (audio or video), photographs or personal materials that help tell the story of dance and cultural traditions in the region.

Global Grooves also invites expressions of interest from creative practitioners who wish to respond to the collected stories and materials. Around eight micro-commissions and one larger commission of £5,000 are available.

Dancing Threads will culminate in an exhibition and public celebratory event at The Vale arts centre in Mossley, Tameside, in April 2027.

The project builds on The Worker Becomes Queen, which saw local artists and performers take part in a cultural exchange with partners in Barcelona last September. The programme, initiated and developed by Global Grooves, included performances at the Catalan capital’s La Mercè festival and celebrated the power of dance as a living link between tradition, place and people. Funding support has been provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Tor Lysaght, project manager, Global Grooves said: “Dancing Threads is a unique and exciting project that will shine a light on the people, memories and lived experiences of dance communities over generations.

“It will explore how dance traditions have been shaped by the region’s industrial heritage and global histories, from mill towns and migration to shared public spaces, festivals and community institutions.

“A further meaningful element of the project is a schools engagement programme, where young people will get the chance to reflect on what these traditions mean today, and help shape how they evolve and remain relevant for future generations.”