About the Building
A Building For the Future
Designed by award-winning architects Jacobs, work started on site in
Spring 2009 and the new building will open summer 2010.
The new six-storey building at Quarry Hill in central Leeds will be purpose
built to meet the demands of our two touring dance companies. It will have
seven dance studios, including a 200-seat studio theatre, health suite,
wardrobe facilities, office space, restaurant facilities and public exhibition
space.
It will be located on York Road (where it will be highly visible), forming part
of the cultural-quarter with its neighbours the West Yorkshire Playhouse,
Yorkshire Dance, BBC Leeds and the Leeds College of Music. The building, and
more importantly what goes on inside it, will establish Leeds as a powerhouse
for dance in the UK, complementing its already impressive dance and arts
portfolio.
The 200-seat studio theatre will offer new opportunities for the current
Artistic Directors and young choreographers, as well as the dancers from both
companies.
The creative team will be able to experiment with new work, something that is
impossible in our current buildings.
The new studio theatre will offer a more welcoming environment for audiences to
experience our work during training, rehearsal and performance. It will provide
more opportunities for the classical dance students to perform, which is an
essential part of their dance training. We will welcome other colleagues and
groups in the community to stage dance and other art forms in the studio theatre.
Uniquely, the new building will accommodate a national contemporary dance company
alongside a classical ballet company with an associated school.
The exhibition space will further enhance the public's experience of the
building, as well as acting as an additional public arts space for the city of
Leeds.
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