About us

Meta4 Dance Company are based in rural Northumberland. Set up in 2018 by Charlie Dunne and Lily Horgan, Meta4 is a community-based company with inclusion at its heart.

Meta4 Dance Company’s aims are:

  • To bring high-quality dance opportunities to young people with learning disabilities.

  • To bring high-quality dance opportunities into rural locations and communities to break down locational barriers, by speaking and learning from the locals we work with.

Both Charlie and Lily have lived experience with the company's aims. Therefore we believe transparency, inclusion and a welcoming environment are key to communities' involvement in contemporary dance.

One question we know you are asking…why are we called Meta4? 

When we started the company we discussed how dance can be used as a metaphor as it's defined as "A thing that is representative or symbolic of something else".

Charlie, one of our directors, is also severely dyslexic, and he finds reading words that sound the way they look much easier to read! So we settled with Meta4 - spoken (met-a-for). 

  • Lily Horgan

    Lily trained at Dance City on the Gateshead contemporary dance course before starting her training at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

    Lily has worked with Lizzie Kew-Ross on art installation projects, Awake Dance company touring nationally. She has also worked with SHYPP (Supporting Housing for Young People Project) creating dance films for young homeless people.

    Lily is qualified in Level 4 British Sign Language with the future aim of becoming a performance interpreter. She has a strong desire to create accessible dance for everyone.

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  • Charlie Dunne

    Charlie trained at Trinity Laban in 2013. Charlie has worked with 2Faced Dance company as both education officer and company dancer, as well as company dancer for Hit The Ground Running Dance Theatre Company on the regional tour of ‘Macho’ 2018.

    Charlie is a fully qualified drone pilot and has used his skills with Badger Hill Academy to create landmark art for The Tour of Britain.

    Charlie has a wealth of experience and knowledge surrounding teaching young people and has a drive to ensure all Meta4 classes are integrated.

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Board Members

  • Venda Pollock

    BOARD MEMBER

    Vee is an academic and educator, with over 20 years' experience of working with cultural sector organsations and strategic bodies. She is currently Dean of Culture and Creative Arts at Newcastle University, responsible for supporting and developing the University's cultural portfolio and partnerships. Her degree and PhD were in art history, with a particular interest in how art relates to place.

    Vee has served on Boards and Advisory groups throughout her career, with a particular interest in supporting organisations focusing on creative education, those developing participative and place-based practices, and those working across rural contexts. She very much enjoys mentoring emerging artists and academics in building their practices. When not working, she is a keen cyclist and triathlete and is known to undertake the odd endurance challenge.

  • Olivia Schaaf

    BOARD MEMBER

    Olivia Maria Schaaf is a musical theatre director and performance scholar based in Berlin, Germany. She teaches Musical Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of the Arts in Berlin. Her stage work focuses on cross-generational, queer interpretations of the musical theatre repertoire. Her doctoral research at Queen Mary University of London marks the first scholastic historiography of the Neuköllner Oper Berlin.

  • Alex Anslow

    BOARD MEMBER

    Alex is the Festival Connect & Create Senior Producer with the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, responsible for developing and delivering creative and cultural opportunities for children, young people and their communities, year round, across East Anglia: Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Such opportunities developed with and for children and young people will aim to empower, offer hope and change perspectives. Alex also works collaboratively with partners and the festival team to produce Festival Connect & Create project outputs in the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, developing and enriching children, young people and audience engagement. 

    Previous to this role, Alex was the Producer at Dance City, the regional dance development organisation for the North East and responsible for the professional dance artist development programme and the programming of the theatre. 

    A career in the arts was inspired by the studying of History of Art at York University followed by a Masters in Cultural Event Management at Northumbria University. 

    Alex has a true dedication and enthusiasm for working with people and in the arts and cultural sector. She wholeheartedly believes in rural communities having inspiring, creative opportunities and dance being accessible for all so it is an honour to join the Board of Trustees and be able to contribute to the growth and impact of Meta4 Dance.

    When not working Alex heads for the outdoors and loves walking, running, cycling and yoga on the beach.