The only dedicated dance house in the East Midlands region, acting as a local, regional and national resource for dance artists.
Derby Dance was established as a local dance development agency based at Derby Playhouse in 1991, before becoming one of the first wave of national lottery funded capital projects to aid its move to new premises in 1997. In 2008, the name of the organisation changed to Déda.
Déda houses a 124 capacity studio theatre, three dance studios, meeting room facilities and the CUBE café bar. It offers a weekly class programme with over 50 classes and a year-round professional performance programme for children, young people and adults, and an extensive community development programme. By providing a ladder of creative opportunities for artists, audiences and participants, Déda aims to foster an understanding of and respect for dance and related art forms.
In 2014, Déda has re-developed part of the Queens Street Leisure Centre, expanding its facilities to include Meeting Rooms and Conferencing facilities, along with a brand new state of the art studio and production space. The theatre will be dramatically improved to enable us to present larger scale dance productions – both by our own Youth Performance Companies and by National visiting companies. There is also an aerial rig to enable aerial skills and circus classes.
Déda currently hosts a BA degree in Dance in partnership with the University of Derby.