Over and Over (and over again)
Join Candoco Dance Company and Dan Daw Creative Projects on a journey to a place where everyone is welcome; where you love doing something so much that you never want to stop.
“The show explores dance as a freedom practice and the innate need to move. It questions what dances the body remembers, and what brings people to the dance floor. By asking for what they need, dancing their histories and telling their stories, five dancers release their burdens and reach for something better – however fleeting.” OneDance UK, press release, 2025.
Told through Dan Daw’s unique blend of dance, narrative and iconography and Co-Directed by storytelling raver Stef O’Driscoll, ‘Over and Over (and over again)’ explores what happens when a beat takes hold, and we dare to colour outside the lines to create our own dance-floor utopia.
Trailer & Insight Video
Time stretches. The dance floor is a paradise. This moment is all there is. We are lifted by the lights, held by the music. Our hard edges soften and our hearts swell – finding place, finding ground, finding home.
Watch our Trailer and Insight video – also available in an Audio Described format – for a deeper understanding of the creative process behind Over and Over (and over again). Explore its themes, content, and the underlying concept driving the work.
Photography: Hugo Glendinning | Videography: Dorothy Allen-Pickard | Audio Description: Michael Achtman
Taking inspiration from rave culture and the lived experience of disabled dancers, Over and Over (and over again) is a search for utopia scored by a DJ set-like soundtrack of acid, house, techno, grime and everything in between. The show explores dance as a freedom practice and the innate need to move. It questions what dances the body remembers, and what brings people to the dance floor.
By asking for what they need, dancing their histories and telling their stories, five dancers release their burdens and reach for something better – however fleeting. Over and Over (and over again) combines Dan Daw’s blend of dance, narrative and iconography with Stef O’Driscoll’s storytelling and deep ties to rave culture to create a joyous, unapologetic act of resistance and liberation.
With moments that give you goosebumps, times that make you laugh, and themes that truly make you think, this production is a mesmerising way to spend an hour, capturing the perspective of disability within rave culture in a powerful and thought-provoking way.”
– ★★★★★ Theatre & Tonic Review
“It’s inspired by rave culture and the search for utopia, with a soundtrack of acid house, techno, grime and more. The performers dance out their histories in search for freedom’
– The Guardian’s Saturday Magazine
“A journey from a place of hardness to a feeling of freedom where all armour drops away. […] The show explores dance as a freedom practice and the innate need to move. It questions what dances the body remembers, and what brings people to the dance floor. By asking for what they need, dancing their histories and telling their stories, five dancers release their burdens and reach for something better – however fleeting.”
– One Dance UK
About Dan Daw Creative Projects:
Dan Daw Creative Projects (DDCP) is a disabled-led company, who are leading the way in creating accessible international touring work that blurs the lines between theatre, dance and activism, alongside creating systemic change in institutions and the sector for d/Deaf and disabled artists and audiences through long-term partnerships and residencies.
DDCP’s work explores what it means for disabled bodies to occupy, and be unapologetic in non-disabled spaces. Their mission is to use the arts to provoke change and reclaim space. They use dance, theatre and activism to educate, inspire and advocate for those most in need, whose lived experiences are similar to our own.
With the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels.
This commission was also supported by Arts Council England, and Cockayne Grants for the Arts, held at The London Community Foundation.
About Stef O’Driscoll
Stef is a critically acclaimed and award-winning theatre director who centres contemporary stories with a social-political heart directing new plays by some of the UK’s most significant theatrical voices.
Stef was the Interim Artistic Director at The Gate, Artistic Director of nabokov, and Associate Director at both Paines Plough and Lyric Hammersmith. Stef’s innovative storytelling spans across multiple art forms including theatre, music, raves, spoken word and film where they push the boundaries of gigs and theatre.
Accolades include the groundbreaking play With A Little Bit of Luck by Sabrina Mahfouz for the first radio play to be broadcast on BBC 1Xtra winning Best Radio production at the BBC Radio and Music Awards. Directing credits include: Brassic Fm (Zia Ahmed, Gate Theatre), The Flood (Vickie Donoghue, Queens Theatre Hornchurch), Love Reign (Shereen Jasmin Phillips, Young Vic), A History of Water in the Middle East (Sabrina Mahfouz, Royal Court Theatre), Inside This Box (Yamin Joseph, Clean Break), Lit (Sophie Ellerby, Nottingham Playhouse/Hightide), For Paines Plough: and Hopelessly Devoted (Kae Tempest), On The Other Hand We’re Happy (Daf James), Island Town (Simon Longman), Sticks and Stones (Vinay Patel). For the Lyric Hammersmith, as Co Director: A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Stef has directed plays with criminal justice organisations Clean Break and Synergy, where she is currently an associate artist.
The work was created between November 2024 and March 2025, and premiered in the UK in Spring 2025.
Interested in delving deeper into the creation process?
- Check out all our recent press articles, features and interviews with the Co-Directors of this piece.
- For more information about the creative process, please find our ‘Postcards from the Studio‘ – a series of weekly reflections sharing insights into our rehearsal weeks.
In addition to our international dates in Norway and France, ‘Over and Over (and over again)’:
– previewed at Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (Brighton) on 20 March 2025
– premiered at DanceEast (Ipswich) on 4 April 2025
– and was presented in London for the first time at the brand-new Sadler’s Wells East (2-4 July 2025)
Trigger warnings: The show features loud music throughout, bright flashing lights, haze and strong language.
For any information about the production, please contact our Head of Programme, Lucie Mirkova – lucie@candoco.co.uk.
For any press enquiries, please contact our PR representative, Emma Berge.
With the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels.
This commission was also supported by Arts Council England, and Cockayne Grants for the Arts, held at The London Community Foundation.
Production details
Produced by:
Candoco Dance Company
Commissioned Co-Directors:
Dan Daw (Dan Daw Creative Projects) and Stef O’Driscoll
Executive Director (at Dan Daw Creative Projects) & Studio Culture (Lead):
Liz Counsell
Choreographic Consultancy and Rehearsal Direction:
Amy Butler
Dancers & Collaborators:
Temitope Ajose, Annie Edwards, Maiya Leeke, James Olivo and Anna Seymour
Music Composition:
Guy Connelly
Lighting Design:
Nao Nagai
Design Concept and Costume Design Concept:
Erin Guan
Production Management (Lead):
Froud
Design Realisation:
Froud
Costume Realisation:
Shanti Freed
Production Management (Touring):
Helen Mugridge
Studio Access Support Worker
Lottie Vallis
Supported by:
Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
Year
2025
Running Time
1 hour, no interval
Suitability
14+ (may contain strong language)
Funders
Journal
Postcards from the Studio – Week 10
Postcards from the Studio – Week 8
Postcards from the Studio – Week 7
