International Dance Festival Birmingham 2010 Programme Manager Paul Burns is this week’s IDFB Guest Blogger.

So, we’ve reached the end of the second International Dance Festival Birmingham, and I’m really pleased to say it’s been a massive success. It seems like an awfully long time ago since we waved the Dancing the Waterways barge off to start the festival and the intervening four weeks have passed in a bit of a blur of trips to airports, rushing between different venues and, most importantly, a whole range of fantastic dance performances. Other than the Liquid Loft show in the first week, which fell victim to the ash cloud, all of the theatre shows went ahead as planned and there really were too many highlights to pick out. Some memorable moments for me personally though would include crying with laughter at the Pere Faura/Club Fisk double bill, play-fighting with the monks from Sutra backstage at The Rep, witnessing eight remarkable UK premieres in four days during the Outspoken weekend and hearing several capacity audiences of under 10s giggling during the Family Weekend. I find it impossible to pick out a favourite show, but I think the stunning beauty of Akram Khan’s Gnosis and the compelling, bizarre and extraordinary Self Unfinished by Xavier Le Roy, for me represent two very different approaches to making movement-based performance which sum up the diversity and quality of the work on show during the festival.

Outside the theatre settings, the work produced by the festival for outdoor spaces exceeded everyone’s expectations. Utopia, the folkloric spectacular in Victoria Square set the city alight, and brought colour, sound and some truly incredible movement to the city centre. (in)visible dancin’ surprised, amused and amazed passers-by and Dancing the Waterways brought dance to Wolverhampton and beyond via festival’s very own narrow boat, Oddball. Finally, Put Your Foot Down saw us out in style with the irrepressible Salah leading a mass-dance outside Bullring in front of thousands of shoppers on our sunny final festival Saturday.

We’ve had a busy four weeks, and achieved a lot, and all of this is down to the fantastic team of individuals and organisations we’ve worked with on the festival.  So, time to thank some people.

First up, none of this would have been possible without the support and trust of our funders; Advantage West Midlands, Arts Council West Midlands and Birmingham City Council. Then our principal sponsor Brewin Dolphin, who really embraced all aspects of the festival, even learning the Put Your Foot Down routine! Our media partners BBC WM have been incredibly supportive throughout, not only covering the festival events but also supplying impromptu weather forecasts and ash cloud updates! Our accommodation partner, Crowne Plaza Birmingham City Centre, have provided first rate accommodation and very tasty breakfasts.

Next, I must thank our festival venues. The staff at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Town Hall and Ikon Eastside have worked on the festival shows as if they were their own events and pulled out all the stops to make them a great success, as have our own venue teams at Birmingham Hippodrome and The Patrick Centre. Thanks too to Birmingham City Centre Partnership, who have once again demonstrated their commitment to ambitious and unusual outdoor events in the city’s public spaces.

Last, but certainly by no means least, I must thank our remarkable group of staff who have worked on this festival. All have shown a dedication and commitment to the festival’s success which has been incredible, and I have been really proud to have worked with them all. In particular, our two interns, Natalie and Helen, have been key members of the team and deserve particular recognition.

Unfortunately, there has also been a sad end to the festival. Neil Cooper, our technical director for both the inaugural festival in 2008 and this year’s edition was taken seriously ill in the week before the opening event, and sadly died on Friday 14 May. Neil was instrumental in making the festival a success, and his ability to work with a range of artists and organisations to creatively realise the technical complexities of some of our more ambitious projects was invaluable. His cheeky and irreverent sense of humour, his knowledge and his friendship will be hugely missed by the team, as it will be by so many other organisations, festivals and venues.

And so we look forward to the next festival, and the planning starts straight away. Whilst a number of members of the team will be moving on to new jobs and fresh challenges, I’m already starting to look for possible work for the next festival, and the core team are already starting to imagine new ways of filling the city with dance again in 2012. Until then, there’s plenty of dance to see and get involved in at both DanceXchange and Birmingham Hippodrome so don’t be a dance stranger!