“There is something different about the way Everybody Now does thigs – there is a purposefulness of it – people absolutely know they are a part of it.

Now, I don’t want to say ‘unique’ because everything is unique… But there isn’t another piece of work nationally that is the same as what Everybody Now is doing.

In some ways it’s the fact that what they are doing isn’t new that is amazing. There is other work that involves community participants but what works for them is the way they do it is so beautifully crafted, thoroughly artistic.

My experience of these artists is that they care about story and are genuinely are interested in their participants – people feel really listened to and understood.

I love that this work validates community dance and brings back the joy of dancing for everyone.

In terms of where they are framed in the sector, Everybody Now sits in a funny place, as they aren’t a dance company but dance happens to be a medium they use to tell stories. They build on work that has gone before – there has been a lot of it – but not all of it is good and not all of it is done with the right processes.

They’re doing all the right things and there’s a lot of opportunities for this wok. They need to grow substantiality but shouldn’t change to meet different markets, what they are offering is strong. We need this work – to help bring back the joy of dance.”