From 19th – 25th June 2022 The HUB returned to Southampton’s Holyrood community for the second year in a row!

The HUB is part of an ongoing programme of activity called We Are Holyrood. Led by Zoie Golding MBE, it marks ZoieLogic Dance Theatre’s third year of summer activity created with and for the Holyrood community since 2019.

It is a continuation of our long-standing commitment to embedding accessible cultural activities in the heart of Southampton communities.

Read on for the lowdown…

The HUB was a space for the Holyrood community to play, listen, share, discover, take part, and get creative. There were activities for both adults and kids, including workshops in dance, photography with In Focus, music with SoCo Music Project, wellbeing with Saints Foundation, creative writing with Artful Scribe, arts and crafts, plus food and culture discussions with TV Chef and Masterchef winner Shelina Permalloo.

I’ve never done anything like this before – I learnt a lot

Participant during the adult dance and movement workshop

Above: Each day, there were arts and crafts at The Hub. This was usually when The Hub became the centre of busy, noisy and creative activity!

New creative experiences

We worked with 4 local organisations and 6 independent artists to deliver The HUB. The brilliant visual artist Sarah Filmer worked with the community all week to creatively reflect and celebrate people’s experiences of the activities on offer.

Over the course of the week 64 people took part in 14 hours of free creative arts workshops and 16 hours of drop in arts and crafts activities.

  • 76% of participants experienced photography, music or writing for the first time
  • 55% of participants were new to dance

Above: Young residents of Holyrood work together in a photographer taster workshop. Below: A selection of images and video clips from the week’s activities. There were writing, musical and dance workshops!

I’d like to make a complaint! That The HUB is coming to an end – I want it to be here all the time!

Resident from Canute House

Building relationships

As well as being a place for play and creativity, it was also an opportunity for ZoieLogic and local people to make new connections and get to know each other better!

  • 70% of participants were new to ZoieLogic and 30% had taken part in previous projects. 
  • 46 Young people participated in a variety of free arts workshops across the week
    • 55% of young people took part in 2 or more workshops at The HUB.
    • 30% of young people took part in 4 or more workshops at The HUB.
  • 18 Adults participated in multiple free arts workshops throughout the week
    • 56% of adult participants took part in 2 or more workshops at The HUB.

Above: A time lapse of The Hub during the daily arts and crafts sessions

Community coming together

The ZoieLogic team were beyond delighted that so many different people chose to get involved – the age range of the participants 5 – 95 years.

As well as all of the creative activities, 198 people joined us to celebrate the creative outcomes of the week at 3 live events and 1 film screening on site.

Holyrood residents discussed, created, shared and ate together throughout the week. And some residents are already making plans for their own dinner event to bring people together. We’re thrilled about this and will be staying connected with the community in the weeks and months to come!

Above: Another selection of images from the week. Colouring in was a particular highlight for the young people. Below: A display of handmade journals made by the young people with Sarah Filmer

A wall is displayed with lots and lots of handmade books hanging down in front of it. They create a pleasing rainbow coloured display and each has different writing and images on the front created by young people

“What I’ve noticed is that often walking round the estate you’ll see or hear kids arguing or fighting, and this week there has been none of that. The HUB being here has really made a difference”
Holyrood resident

A huge thanks goes out to everyone who took part, to the wonderful delivery partners, and especially the independent artists and community volunteers who helped out: Sam Connis, Rudi, Cheyanne Ettienne-Chen and Ping Harvey

“My boys love the show so much that we are here to watch Ride again for the 3rd time this week!

— Local resident

Getting back on the road

RIDE was last performed in the city during the RIDE: Covid Response Tour, which included nine shows at five care homes and two retirement communities to almost 300 people between 28 July and 5 August 2020.

This time round, we cast three new fantastic dancers – Cameron, Dan and Clive – to join existing cast member Alex. And former cast member Nathan took on the role of rehearsal director for the first time. In March, we dusted off Stanley and set up camp at 101 Outdoor Arts Creation Space to rework the show for the new tour.

“Southampton is our hometown and for the past 22 years we’ve worked with local communities to bring dance into peoples lives”

Zoie Golding, Artistic Director of ZoieLogic Dance Theatre

Connecting communities

As we continue to reconnect with folk in the wake of the pandemic, it was important for us to work with local community groups and make sure as many people had the chance to see RIDE as possible.

Big thank you’s to Sam Connis, Ping Harvey, Julia Jaggard, Siân Tattersall, Ollie Webb, Kai and Rudi for making the tour happen, and Youth Options, The Venny, Abri, Junior Neighbourhood Wardens, Saints Foundation and Friends of St James’ Park for supporting the events and to everyone else who helped spread the word.

With free performances in Redbridge, Weston Shore, the City Centre, Holyrood, Mansbridge and Shirley, the show attracted audiences of over 2,600 local people from across the city.

30% of our audiences told us they’d never seen a live performance before and 73% of the audience were new to ZoieLogic.

“I can’t get over it – having something so amazing right here in Mansbridge for us!”

— Local resident

We were also grateful to our friends in the media, including BBC Radio Solent and The Daily Echo, who helped us reach thousands more people with news of RIDE, both before and after the tour!

Show time

Beep beep! What a RIDE! Strap yourselves in for a rollercoaster highlights reel from the tour…

With Southampton shortlisted to be the 2025 City of Culture, we’re proud to have got this special show on the road again and share some dance theatre magic with our fantastic city.

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to see us take Stanley on tour again – we had a blast! Stanley is back in his garage for now, having a rest before his next outing.

Cast for this tour: Alex Evens, Cameron Woolnough, Clive Rudd and Dan Radulescu.RIDE was originally directed and choreographed by Zoie Golding. 2022 Rehearsal Direction by Nathan Johnston. Music by Duncan Grimley. Written by Matt Beames. Supported by Arts Council England. RIDE was originally commissioned and co-produced by DanceXchange for International Dance Festival Birmingham 2016. It was co-commissioned by Gulbenkian (University of Kent) and Dance Village (Bristol Harbour Festival). Image, video and graphics credits: Cave & Sky, Fee Francis, Clive Rudd