Our Charity
AWA DANCE (Advancing Women’s Aspirations with Dance) is a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) based in the UK, founded by the choreographer Avatâra Ayuso. AWA DANCE is dedicated to the leadership development of all women and girls, using the transformative power of dance as the tool to empower their voices.
We are also a network of creative, confident and inspirational female leaders that contribute to the progress of the dance sector and 21st century society, by sharing and embodying our five core DANCE values: Dream big, take Action, Navigate the world, Create an artistic and leadership voice and Empower others.
Message from our Director Avatâra Ayuso
Welcome to AWA DANCE,
the charity where women and girls thrive as creative leaders! We are here to support all women and girls in the UK dance sector, offering a platform for them to become the leaders they want to be. Allowing them to lead from within (who are you, what are your values, what does the experience of your body tell you about yourself and your reality), to impact the world we live in.
The idea for AWA DANCE came about a few years ago as I was fascinated with the amount of incredible women and girls I met through my work as a choreographer across the world. Despite the amount of talent and drive I was seeing, something was not right, I found myself asking “what stops women and girls from developing their full potential as leaders in the dance sector?”
This was the start of our journey!
Why do we exist
- We believe women have an instrumental place in the society, culture and economy of the 21st century and don’t deserve to be left aside by institutional, structural and gender barriers.
- We admire the women and girls of the world. They are astonishing creative forces of nature, whose energy and power can contribute to change.
- We want to empower the female perspective in society and the arts.
- We believe equality is essential for any society to flourish in the 21st century.
- We believe dance is a powerful tool to connect deeply with our body (soul, heart and guts), helping us to transcend social, political and cultural boundaries in order to connect with each other.
- We believe in leadership as a way to take ownership of your own life, and impact the lives of others.
How do we do it
- By creating the conditions and programmes where women and girls feel safe to explore their leadership style creating models outside the established infrastructures.
- By building a network of creative, confident and inspirational women that aspire to co-create the future and contribute to change by actively engaging, reflecting and generating conversations on the challenges of 21st century society.
- By sharing our DANCE values (dream, act, navigate, create and empower) and other resources as a toolkit for a life changing, thought-provoking and creative leadership journey.
- By giving visibility to and raising awareness of the extraordinary inequality in the dance sector, as a reflection of our society, and to include men into the conversation.
What do we mean by Women ?
AWA DANCE is an inclusive charity that champions all who identify as a woman regardless of their assigned sex at birth:
– Ciswoman
– Transwoman
– Non-binary
– Genderfluid
– Intersex
– Gender Expression
– Genderqueer
– Any other expression that identifies you as a woman
