Celebrating the best of UK dance today and engaging wide audiences, the dance season aims to showcase exciting new talent in a broad range of dance, as well as in choreography, film-making and interactivity, and to support inspiring collaborations across the sector. It will be inviting applications for BBC Young Dancer and for Dance Passion, in collaboration with the sector support organisation One Dance UK, including opportunities for five short films and five interactive projects.

BBC Director of Factual, Arts and Classical Music, Patrick Holland, says: “I’m so delighted that the dance season is returning to our screens in the near future. I’d like to thank all of the dancers, choreographers and production teams for bringing us such joy during these challenging times.”

BBC Commissioning Executive, Digital and Festivals, Stephen James-Yeoman, says: “After the most difficult year for arts organisations and performers alike, it is thrilling to announce the return of the dance season to the BBC, particularly with initiatives that highlight our ongoing commitment to nurturing young talents and attracting creative ideas from every corner of the dance scene in the UK. We hope that BBC Young Dancer and the BBC Arts collaboration with One Dance UK for Dance Passion will provide an inspiration and excitement for all audiences watching the shows at home.”

Further programming details as part of the BBC Dance Season 2022 will be announced in due course.

BBC Young Dancer 2022

BBC Young Dancer returns to showcase the very best of dance in the UK today and aims to celebrate a wider variety of talent across more styles of dancing than ever. The competition’s brand new Open Call for applications across all genres (Contemporary, Hip Hop, South Asian, Ballet, Voguing, Flamenco, African, Tap, and more) means that young solo dancers aged 16 to 21 devoted to any style are considered for a place in the BBC’s popular talent contest. Applications from the disability dance sector (with a 16 to 25 age bracket) are also encouraged.

Successful applicants from the wide-access Open Call will be invited to participate in the second stage of BBC Young Dancer 2022. Ten young dancers will be selected to join an ‘Academy’ style residency. This is a week-long residency at Dartington Hall in Devon in Autumn 2021 where they are mentored by some of the UK luminaries in their specific styles, and encouraged to collaborate, interact and create new cross-genre choreographies. Six dancers will progress to compete for the overall title at the Grand Final, where they present a solo work, a premiere, and perform as part of a group dance showcasing all ten dancers who attended the Academy.

The initial search for talent and the Academy stage will make up programmes for BBC TV, and be shown early next year on BBC Four, leading up to the Grand Final which will be filmed in January 2022, and broadcast on BBC Two (date TBC). All the rounds of the competition and the filming sessions will be set up in strict compliance with the latest Covid-19 related government health and safety guidelines.

BBC Young Dancer 2017 winner, Nafisah Baba, says: “Taking part in BBC Young Dancer completely changed my life. Personally and as an artist who was still finding their feet in the dance world after graduating. I was supported and inspired by my peers, mentors, theatre members and directors and the whole competition in itself, from start to end - it was an incredible, enriching experience I will never forget!”

Young dancers can apply from Friday 30 April 2021. Full details on how to apply are available online.

BBC Young Dancer 2022 is managed and produced by BBC Studios Music and Entertainment Cardiff.

BBC Arts and One Dance UK’s Dance Passion

Also part of BBC dance season 2022 is Dance Passion, a BBC Arts collaboration with sector support organisation One Dance UK. Dance Passion’s mission is to celebrate the UK dance sector - its unique creativity, pool of world-class talents, and innovative approach - with a wide range of projects featuring established names and rising stars, broadcast across BBC TV, radio, and online.

As part of this celebration, BBC Arts and One Dance UK are inviting dance companies, independent artists, choreographers and associated technical partners to apply for funding for short form films and interactive projects which will delight existing dance lovers and bring new audiences to the art form.

With funding provided by BBC Arts and Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants programme, the Dance Passion Open Call aims to showcase dance talent from the UK with five short films (no longer than 5 minutes each, featuring, e.g. live performance, behind the scenes insights or animation) and five interactive projects using tools in BBC Connected Studio’s MakerBox suite. This opportunity is open to dance companies, independent artists, dancers and choreographers based in the UK from both the professional and non-professional sectors, along with those based in dance education and dance medicine.

Applications for the Open Call are opening soon, and full details on how to apply can be found online.