We Dance, We Connect is an international creative partnership between Anjali Dance Company, UK and com.dance e.V., Germany, exploring how dance can connect people across language, culture and difference.
The partnership grew from Cultural Bridge, an international programme supporting arts organisations in the UK and Germany to build relationships, exchange knowledge and develop collaborative practice. Anjali and com.dance first connected in 2024, beginning a relationship that has developed through artist exchanges, workshops, residencies and creative research.
From Exchange to Co-creation
The first stage of the partnership gave artists from Anjali and com.dance the opportunity to meet, share their approaches to inclusive dance and learn from one another.
Artists travelled between Germany and the UK, taking part in workshops and creative sessions and building relationships through movement. This created the foundation for a longer-term artistic partnership.
The project then developed into We Dance, We Connect — a co-creation exploring communication and connection, particularly how we communicate without spoken language.
At the heart of the project was the question:
How can we communicate through our bodies when words aren’t available?
Anjali dancer and com.dance dancers meeting for the first time in 2024 at DMU.
Photo by: Marucs Patten
A Shared Movement Language
Dancers during rehearsal in Germany
Photo by: Jennifer Rohrbacher
Artists from both companies explored improvisation, gesture, movement and listening to develop a shared, non-verbal way of communicating.
Rather than asking artists to work within one company’s existing approach, the project created space for everyone to contribute. The artists developed a movement language together, responding to one another and discovering ways to communicate across differences in language, culture and experience.
This process placed the artists themselves at the centre of the creative exchange.
The work became a physical conversation — built through trust, observation, responsiveness and shared movement.
Developing the Work
In 2025, artists from Anjali and com.dance came together in England for a further period of creative development.
The residency at De Montfort University in Leicester provided dedicated time for the artists to continue exploring their shared movement language and develop the work towards performance. The residency culminated in a public sharing of a 30-minute structured improvisation, giving the artists the opportunity to share their developing ideas with an audience and receive a response.
The project also included workshops and opportunities for wider participation, extending the exchange beyond the artists themselves.
Dancers during rehearsal in The UK
Photo by: Romy Whai
We Dance, We Connect at Unity Festival 2026
Dancers perform We Dance, We Connect at Hijinx Unity Festival in Cardiff.
Photo by: Kirsten McTernan
We Dance, We Connect reached another important stage in its development in July 2026, when Anjali and com.dance shared the work as part of Hijinx’s Unity Festival in Cardiff.
The performance took place as part of the festival’s programme of inclusive and disability arts, bringing the international collaboration to a new audience and providing the artists with an opportunity to share the work publicly within one of the UK’s leading festivals of inclusive arts. Unity Festival 2026 brought artists and companies from across the UK and Europe together in Cardiff, creating an important context for We Dance, We Connect and its exploration of connection across language, culture and difference.
The Cardiff performance was an important milestone for the project, moving the work from its development and work-in-progress stages into a larger public festival setting. It also allowed the artists to continue learning from audiences and from each other as the collaboration develops.
For Anjali and com.dance, presenting We Dance, We Connect at Unity Festival demonstrates the growing ambition of the partnership and the value of creating opportunities for learning-disabled artists to contribute to international, professional and high-profile performance platforms.
What We’ve Learned
We Dance, We Connect has demonstrated the value of creating genuine time and space for international artists to work together.
The project has strengthened the relationship between Anjali and com.dance while giving artists opportunities to develop their creative practice, build international connections and experience different approaches to inclusive dance.
It has also challenged our thinking about communication. By reducing our reliance on spoken language, the artists found new ways to listen, respond and understand one another through movement.
The project showed us that international exchange can be much more than presenting work in another country. It can create new artistic relationships, new ways of working and new possibilities for learning-disabled artists.
Dancers during the performance at Hijinx Unity Festival in Cardiff.
Photo by: Kirsten McTernan
What’s Next?
The relationship between Anjali and com.dance continues to develop.
Building on the experience of We Dance, We Connect, we are continuing to explore opportunities for the artists and organisations to work together, share practice and develop new creative ideas.
The project has given us valuable learning about how international collaboration can work well for learning-disabled artists — particularly the importance of creating time for relationships to develop, allowing artists to shape the creative process and finding ways to communicate beyond language.
We will use this learning to strengthen our ongoing relationship with com.dance and to inform how we develop new international connections and partnerships in the future.
Our ambition is to build international relationships that are long-term, reciprocal and artist-led, creating meaningful opportunities for learning-disabled artists to collaborate, develop their practice and contribute to the wider international dance community.
We Dance, We Connect team after the first showing at DMU, 2025.
Photo by: Elly Welford
With Thanks To
Artists
Anjali Dance Company:
Holly Riseborough
Lauren Payne
com.dance, Germany:
Elena Wilczek
Jasmina Rahmoune
Lisa Wethkamp
Creative and Project Team
Anjali Dance Company: Natalie Haslam, Lexy Garner & Alex Henwood- Martin
com.dance: Katja Gluding & Rebecca Narum
Supported by
Cultural Bridge
A UK–Germany programme supporting international cultural exchange and collaboration.
Lexy Garner, Katja Gluding, Natalie Haslam & Rebecca Narum
Photo by: Jennifer Rohrbacher