COMPANIES from the south west made up of mature dancers will perform at Bridport Electric Palace on Sunday, July 28 at 6pm.

Collect is a contemporary dance event hosted by Bridport’s own dance company Grace + Growl.

This lively and inspiring programme will profile mature dance companies from across the South West, celebrate diversity and challenge preconceptions about who makes and consumes art.

Enjoy an evening of live performance with choreography by award winning dance artists such as Eleesha Drennan and Liz Agiss, special guests from The Company of Elders at Sadlers Wells and a selection of short dance films.

Artistic director Anna Golding trained at Northern School of Contemporary Dance and lives in Bridport.

Anna is also the artistic director of Fingerprint Dance.

She said: "I didn’t consider myself a dancer until the age of 20, when I started attending African Contemporary classes at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

"I found a sense of truth within these classes which prompted a change of direction from my original training as a landscape architect. My mother painted and my father wrote; dancing was a form of creativity that was yet to be explored within the family.

"The ongoing relationship between dance and music is one that very much keeps me motivated. I find dance challenging creatively whilst offering a sense of release and ease.

"In other forms of art an artist doesn’t have a shelf life. They are on their journey for a long time and questions are able to reverberate on a deeper level. Often, the best work in an artist’s life is created later on because they have experienced joy, pain, life and death time and time again. They have discovered who they are and what they have to offer to the world after a series of experiences.

"The elite body is still a part of how we judge and value dance. The athletic aesthetic. An older body is really exciting to me as a choreographer because there’s a strength and fragility that is rarely seen in younger dancers. As we get older we can be more prepared to expose vulnerability, harder to do when young.

"Not many people I work with are formally trained and there is something freeing about this which can be both raw and fragile; the ideas behind the movement are honest. This is powerful and relatable. Mid 50s seems to be associated with sensibility and politeness but dance can give a license to breaking the rules.

"In this country there’s been a rise in excellent contemporary dance by the mature body on a professional or community level. Collect is an opportunity for groups in the South West to come together and harness their experience and exploration. Collect is a celebration but also an event to raise quality and initiate change. The idea is to raise aspirations by watching and sharing this lively and inspiring evening of work."

*Collect: Contemporary Dance, Bridport Electric Palace, Bridport, Sunday, July 28, 6pm. Tickets cost £8.50 in advance or £9 on the door. Contact the box office.