Vertical Dance – Despina Lloyd Goula

Vertical dance is an emerging contemporary artistic language that typically uses rock climbing equipment (ropes, harness and abseil devices) to suspend dancers off the ground on a range of vertical surfaces.
The vertical walls become the dance floor. Dancers will have the opportunity to explore the unusual sensation of dancing in the air. We will firstly focus on equipment introduction, followed by harness techniques, spatial orientation, and learn sequence’s from Despina’s repertoire. Further into the workshop, we will use guided improvisation to explore this new vertical territory creatively.

Ages: 15+
Levels: Movers group: A group of people with movement experience and good physical condition.

Photo credit: Sarah Bruat, RGB Studios

Despina Lloyd Goula

Despina is a Greek/Welsh Independent Dance Artist, with a BA (Hons) in Dance from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff. Since 2010 she has specialised in vertical dance. She works for the company Vertical Dance Kate Lawrence as a harness based aerial dancer and has enjoyed performing in many of the company’s works nationally and internationally. In August 2015, Despina received the opportunity to
train and perform with ‘Aeriosa’ a vertical dance company based in Vancouver, funded by Wales Arts International. The summer of 2016 she worked with the Aerial dance company Off Off devising and performing a site-specific show in the Swiss City of Basel.
She has trained with international vertical dance artists Julia Taffe, Wanda Moretti and Lindsey Butcher.
In January 2018 Despina was awarded Arts Council of Wales funding for her own research and development project creating an interactive art installation through the medium of vertical dance. In 2019 Despina premiered her own production which she choreographed and danced in,‘Roots in the Sky’, at ARC dance festival in Athens. She has worked as a freelance dance practitioner for community and inclusive dance-based companies in North Wales, such as Dawns I Bawb, Little Light and Conwy Expressive Arts, developing strong links with local community, delivering dance to all ages and abilities.