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Public Record, New York, Summer 2026.
co-director and choreographer 🫡

So I had the most incredible privilege of spending 7 weeks of my summer with the Public Works community, New York, reimagining and remaking Public Record for the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park @publictheaterny

What. A. Ride. An unbelievable experience. This project took every last drop from me and gave me all the same back.

Public Record is an original work that moves between dance, words and song that Emily Lim and I dreamt up for NT Public Acts last year with an incredible community of people in Sunderland. Little did we know that just over 15 months later we’d be opening a remade version of it for New York.

New York became my second home and I fell in love with the city and with the community of 135 incredible performers we were working with.

New Yorkers from all boroughs and generations came together: people who’ve lived there all their lives, people who arrived only recently, parents, teachers, veterans, activists, award-winning musicians, a pastor, a DJ, a retired train operator, and so many more—every one of them an artist with a story to tell about life and community in New York. Incredible human beings - each of whom I grew so close with and feel shaped by in different ways.

It takes a village to pull something of this ambition and magnitude off. It also takes a partner of untold patience and care in Laura Dannequin. Shout out to just some of the Public Record team behind the scenes. Listed in the comments because there are too many for IG.

x by @dan_canham

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24 days ago

Brighter Still. Bradford 2025.
co director and choreographer 🫡
@bradford_2025

We did a hard thing. A really hard thing. Easily the most ambitious project I’ve ever worked on — and I couldn’t be prouder.

Hundreds upon hundreds of people pulling together to make magic happen in a park in Bingley. 10,000 people watching. Two nights.

The dust hasn’t settled on it for me yet - it still seems so surreal. I spent over 2 years working on this show with the one and only Emily Lim as director. We dreamed this thing up from the very beginning. At every step the team @bradford_2025 trusted in us. I did things on this project I didn’t know I had in me and met challenges I didn’t know I was equal to. To have pulled it off is such sweet relief.

Over 200 members of the cast - all of whom showed unbelievable amounts of commitment, heart, skill, courage and grit. Absolute warriors.

These kind of projects are rare to the point of unique. To have experienced so much hope, and joy, in community, at this time in the world is everything.

🎥 Livestream (with cutaway interviews) via link in bio.

team:

@myddpharo on the design
@thebrownhijabi on the words
@Benjibower and @flamin_beatz on the music
Madeleine O’Reilly @madzor associate director
@maymcquade associate choreographer
@Joshuapharo on the lights
@Hannah__hend on the costumes
@Petem sound design
pro dancers: @imogenmaee, @francesca__costa, @tongxiaoyiii, @builtby_leni, @ellgussstar, @shoaibali_dance, @ainereyno, @jojomanii, @tricia.swirl.ed
Naomi Parker Costume Supervisor
Amber Medway: Assistant director

BD2025 and Stage management team: Shanaz Gulzar, Jenny Harris, Laura Beddows, Kat Boon, Jessica Sweet, Jodie Noble, Eddie Bond, Rhiannon Hannon, Alfie Heffer, Beth Murrell, Rachael Abbey, Robyn Clogg, Becky Taylor, Hannah Blamire, Ben Pugh, Carrie English, and so many more incredible people across the board. Thank you!

#bradford #bradford2025 #westyorkshire #yorkshire #solstice

Footage from @Createdbystory by @dan_canham

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9 months ago

Lovely piece from the legendary Lyn Gardner in The Stage in honour of Public Record.

Posted in full here for you all without an account.

Wanna shout out all the teachers before graduating too because they’re not mentioned here and they taught me tonnes! by @dan_canham

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a year ago

BTS on Public Record, New York.

Words and images can’t get close to the intensity and enormity of this experience but here’s an attempt.

1. post-show
2. dress rehearsal
3. devising
4. Aguanile #2
5. New York Times
6. tech
7. finale
8. tech #2
9. the company
10. ghost

Thank you New York. Thank you @publictheaterny

official photos: Mark J Franklin by @dan_canham

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19 days ago

Last week, cameras rolled on LOWLANDS. 🌾⁠
⁠
Created by choreographer and filmmaker @dan_canham , LOWLANDS brings together 45 young dancers from across the Fens in a new dance film exploring identity, belonging and the landscape they call home.⁠
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The film is the culmination of Dan's three-year residency with Norfolk & Norwich Festival, building on projects including Fenland Elegy and Four Portraits from an Edgeland, which worked with local young people to tell new stories of the Fens through dance and film.⁠
⁠
Dancers from @20twentyproductions @danceeastcat @abbeycollege_ramsey @teapots_dance_company @4thdimensiondance
⁠
🤝 A huge thank you to the young people, partners, collaborators and funders who have made this ambitious project possible...⁠
⁠
Co-commissioned by Norfolk & Norwich Festival, 20Twenty and in partnership with 4D Dance, Dance East, Abbey College Ramsey, @thewildlifetrusts for Beds, Cambs and Northants, @moving_art_management and @sadlers_wells
⁠
We can't wait to share more with you soon...⁠

📸 @lily.monsey
⁠ taken in Fenland by @dan_canham

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2 months ago

We’re in the middle of making a film. It’s called Lowlands. There are a lot of people working really hard to do something special. Snaps from our first night of filming.

What a dream it is to be able to spend 3 nights under the fenland skies at sunset with 45 incredible young dancers and a sound system.

Absolute dream team. To name but a few:

@nnfest commissioning and producing.
@anslowalex @danatella_versase and the team producing the heck out of a super complex set up.
@wildlifebcn Alison, Lorna and the team, providing the site and so much else
@moving_art_management - Alice and Rachael and the team on the administration and bid writing collab

Dancers from @4thdimensiondance @20twentyproductions @danceeastcat @abbeycollege_ramsey @teapots_dance_company

@sarafordie legendary associate choreographer
@laura_dannequin queen dramaturg
@edbrayfilms triumphing on 2nd camera
@benjibower breaking our hearts with his music
James Burgess wizard production manager
Cordelia Gulbenkian Faram costuming 45 young dancers and making them look amazing.
Matt Bostock on site as runner keeping it moving
Incredible team of chaperones.

Two more nights team!

📸 @sarafordie by @dan_canham

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3 months ago

Delighted to say that two films I’ve made are getting a fenland premiere as part of @nnfest this month. 23rd May at March town hall.

These films have grown from spending time in my beloved fenlands over the last few years, courtesy of a residency with @nnfest. Collaborating with young people and dancers to document this incredible landscape and the people in it, in heartfelt and poetic ways.

Fenland Elegy - made with next level krump dancers @katie_boag and @ashgoosey . @benjibower / @terra_coda_collective with the music. Fenland skies with the backdrop.

Four Portraits from an Edgeland - Young people, landscape, dance. Collaborating with @20twentyproductions, @pigdykemolly, @4thdimensiondance and @abbeycollege_ramsey.

Drop by if you’re in the area. Link in bio by @dan_canham

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5 months ago

THIS SUMMER: PUBLIC WORKS RETURNS TO THE DELACORTE

This September, Public Works returns to Central Park with PUBLIC RECORD, a North American premiere. Originally commissioned and produced by the National Theatre, New Yorkers from all five boroughs come together to create a live album, on stage, in real time, capturing how our city sings, moves, and tells its story in this moment.

Based on a concept by Dan Canham and Emily Lim, and written by Lisa Sanaye Dring with music by Michael Thurber, direction by Emily Lim, and co-direction and choreography by Dan Canham, PUBLIC RECORD brings a cast of over 100 community members, musicians, and dancers together in an electrifying act of collective hope, joy, and resistance.

The album will be preserved by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, a lasting reminder that the true record of a city isn’t just its headlines, but the sound of neighbors standing side by side.

Learn more: thepublic.nyc/PublicRecord by @dan_canham

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5 months ago

A couple of months on from Brighter Still - the closing event for @bradford_2025

Here’s a little nugget of how one of the dances started and where it got to.

@Benjibower and @flamin_beatz on the music by @dan_canham

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8 months ago

A massive shout out to all of the incredible performers who made up the cast of Brighter Still @bradford_2025

So many they spill into the comments. Absolute warriors all. Standing out during tech in the rain, in winter, in Myrtle Park in Bingley. Showing up. Working their tails off. Watching the videos, practicing the moves and the lines. Smashing it in front of 5000 people. SALUTE🫡. Tonight we are the centre it all.

📸 James Glossop, Karol Wyzynski, Andrew Benge, & PA

Professional Dancers
Áine Reynolds, Eleni Green, Elliot Augustine, Francesca Costa, Imo Wright, Joachim “Jojo” Keke, Shoaib Ali, Tong Xioyi, Tricia Arthur-Stubbs

Community Cast
Aaira Zaahid, Aaliyah Bano, Aaron Collier, Alex Dobson, Alex Lacey, Alfie Blackburn, Aliraza Ismail, Alison Colborne, Alyssa Hareer Qasim ,Amaya’Rae Morgan, Anaya Zaahid, Anisa Afsar, Anne Bateson, Anne Mackay, Anoopa Waththuhewa, Brigitte Davidson, Chandni Soren, Charlotte Heald, Claire Sugden, Dariya Arif, Dave Forrest, Deana Morgan, Emmanuel Ndubuisi, Esme Yeomans, Evelyn Shah, Fatema Valiji, Francesca Hindmarch, Gavin Wood, Georgina Brooks, Hammad Aftab, Helen Davies, Honey Stansfield, Huma Javed, Ibrahim Towasin, Imaani Urfan, Isa Jahangir, Isabella Leggieri, Jacob Gill, Jane Howson, Janet Healey, Jenni Brooks, Jillian Griffiths, Jo Mullaney, Jonny Buck, Julia Huerter, Julie Pope-Carter, Kenzie Caines-McKie, Kim Booth, Kudrat Urfan, Layla Pettinger, Linette Ackroyd, Louise Hodgson, Margaret Naylor, Maria Balaz, Maria Edwards, Melanie Braithwaite, Melba Walker, Meraal Zaahid, Merle Brooks Wood, Mohammed Saeed, Molly Kenyon, Molly Wainwright, MusT, Owen Bolton, Paul Bell, Penny Green, Phil Bruce, Qazi Sheraz Uddin, Rabab Anis, Rachel Abbott, Rachel Amner, Rachel Lackey, Robbie Martin, Rumaisha Tariq, Sam Brooks, Samantha Lee, Sara Wainwright, Sarah Manning, Shifa Umar, Shiza Ahmed, Sophia Makower, Soumik Roy-Chowdhury, Stanley Holroyd, Stephanie Laycock, Su Mitchell, Tamara Hemsley, Tammy Tsang, Vanessa Maria Nkechi Ndukuba, Victoria Simmons, Xenia Tsourapa by @dan_canham

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9 months ago

2025

So it’s been a year. I know these kind of posts can feed the performative nature of this platform and how shiny things can seem when it’s always more complex. But I also have some things to celebrate. And I’m so thankful for so many wonderful experiences this year.

I’ve not had a year like it. Pick an adjective and it would likely apply to some point.

I’m so incredibly grateful for my partner Laura, for incredible friends, collaborators, colleagues and so many inspiring people I’ve met along the way this year.

I’ve done things I didn’t know I could do. Sometimes it has felt like the brighter the light the deeper the shadow. And it burned bright… Here we are. This was some of 2025.

Descriptions:

1 - Workinonit
2 - there she is
3 - Public Record
4 - team
5 - did some filming. Thank you Cat Boot for this one!
6 - just touched down in NY
7 - New York, New York
8 - rear window
9 - Lo
10 - safe place
11 - Kaleider filming in Terschelling
12 - SO many trains this year.
13 - tech
14 - primo collabo Emily Lim
15 - Brighter Still
16 - hatter
17 - archetype by @dan_canham

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9 months ago