Dance Makes the Floor
Mark Bleakley
Dance makes the floor is an ongoing project developed by Mark Bleakley. Centred around the creation of a collectively made dance floor, through workshops, interviews and performances this project aims to celebrate the vitality and power of dance; bringing people together with a variety of needs and desires.
Over the duration of the project, different iterations of performance and installation of the floor will be presented across the locations Mark works in.
This project is context specific, through the collaborations with different dance artists and community groups the performances and presentations will shift according to the research produced with the collaborators.
This project duration is approximately 3-4 years. Mark aims to create a dance floor that is distributed across the people and places that contributed to the process, and at the end of the project, bring the people and panels together.
“In 2020 when the world almost stopped I could feel the floor moving away from me. So I started to build my own.”
Mark Bleakley
Dance Makes the Floor was presented at Govanhill Festival in Glasgow, 2022. It was generously supported by Govanhill Baths. Mark partnered with Radio Buena Vida, a community radio station, who provided live DJ sets for the public to dance to.
It went onto be presented at Rise 2024 Dance North.
Hacks are currently providing creative support to Dance Makes the Floor, attending rehearsals and giving feedback on the content of the work.
We are also supporting funding applications in collaboration with Mark, and providing logistical support across the project as it continues to find its feet and fill dance floors.
Get in touch if you’d like to learn more about this project.