Arts Council of Wales' Review of Dance - Impelo Statement

A crowd of people dance joyfully together in a filled hall with an audience watching from above
Photo credit: Jacquie & Tchad Blake

Arts Council of Wales’ Review of Dance - Impelo Statement

We welcome the Arts Council of Wales' recent review of dance in Wales and their renewed commitment to supporting this vital part of the cultural landscape. It's heartening to see recognition of the value that dance brings to individual lives, to social cohesion, and to the long-term health of the arts sector as a whole.

At Impelo, this moment brings a mixture of emotions. Since being removed from the Arts Council’s portfolio in 2023, we’ve gone through a profound period of change. The loss of multi-year funding forced us to pause, rethink, and reimagine who we are and how we connect with our communities. It hasn’t been easy - we’ve lost people, capacity, and certainty along the way. But we’ve also held on to our belief in the transformative power of dance.

We know that community dance doesn’t begin or end in cities or institutions. It’s held in school halls, village centres, and small studios across the country. In places like Mid Wales (where access is often limited by geography and infrastructure) the value of regular, joyful, locally-rooted dance experiences cannot be overstated. If we don’t nurture grassroots dance, we lose not only audiences, but future artists, creative leaders, and advocates for the artform.

We're eager to understand how Impelo can once again become part of the jigsaw puzzle that is dance in Wales. Over the past year, we’ve been planting the seeds of a new chapter: developing a Hub of Dance Artists through our growing membership - a network that both supports artists and acts as a ripple outward into communities. Through our evolving, flatter internal structure, this hub is helping us co-create work that is rooted in community need, shaped by local voices, and led with shared ownership. Much of what the review identifies as a need, we are already working to address. We’re rebuilding - with curiosity and hope. And we want to be part of shaping a future where the diversity, reach and potential of dance is fully recognised, supported, and celebrated.

With our newly refurbished Dance Centre (now a shared space with MNPMind) set to reopen soon, we’re fired up to reignite the space as a vibrant base for dance - a place where creativity, connection and community come alive.

We look forward to engaging with the Arts Council and with our peers across the sector as we work together to ensure dance continues to thrive - for everyone, in every part of Wales.