Job Description: Dance Artist
Role: Dance Artist – for Turned On Its Head’s flagship Early Years Creative Movement Programme 

Reports to: Lead Artist Sophie Loosemore/Artistic Director Liz Clark  

Hours/Contract: Sessional / Freelance 
Thursdays 9am-12 midday Oct 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd. Nov 12th, 19th and 26th
Thursdays 9am-12 midday Jan 14th, 21st, 28th. Feb 4th, 11th, 25th. March 4th.  

Location: Pen Green Children's Centre, Rockingham Road, Corby. 

Apply: via email (see below) with a short CV and covering letter outlining your creative movement experience and why you’d like to join our team. 

Deadline: Wednesday 2nd September 2026 5pm

Zoom interview dates (max 45 mins): Friday 4th Sept or Mon 7th Sept between 10am and 2.30pm.

Email: liz@turnedonitshead.org 


Role Purpose
We are looking for a playful, and skilled Dance Artist to work alongside our Lead Artist delivering creative movement programme for children aged 2–4 years. The role is about using dance and movement as a tool for building young children's confidence, self-expression, and social connection, in a nurturing, child-led environment that reflects Pen Green's approach to early years learning.

You'll help create a space where very young children feel safe to explore movement, express themselves without judgement, and build the beginnings of self-assurance through movement, creativity and connection. 

The sessions combine developmental movement play and movement improvisation with child-led creativity as part of our three year Youth Music funded research into co-creation with young children. 

As part of this contract you’ll have the opportunity to have an inside view of our co-creation processes and our participatory performance work. 

Key Responsibilities
  • Support the Lead Artist in planning and delivering weekly creative movement sessions for children aged 2–4 identified as needing support with their emotional and social development
  • Work alongside family workers at Pen Green, who are inter/nationally reknowned for their work in early years as well as alongside parents/carers.
  • Support the lead artist with the development of sensory props and imaginative play to encourage spontaneous movement, exploration, and expression.
  • Help build a welcoming environment that cultivates a sense of belonging, where children of all abilities and confidence levels feel able to join in at their own pace.
  • Observe and respond to individual children's embodied movement cues, adapting responses in the moment to suit each child’s developmental stage.
  • Support transitions within sessions (arrival, warm-up, movement exploration, goodbye ritual) to give children a predictable, secure structure.
  • Help set up and pack away session spaces, equipment, and props.
  • Feed-back informally to the Lead Artist and centre staff on individual children's engagement, progress, or any concerns.
  • Follow all Pen Green and Turned On Its Head’s safeguarding, health and safety, and inclusion policies at all times.

Person Specification
Essential:
  • Experience delivering or supporting dance, movement, or creative arts sessions with very young children (0–5 years).
  • A genuinely warm, patient, and playful manner with young children and their families as well as a sense of adventure
  • Contact improvisation skills and/or inclusive dance experience as well as confidence improvising and adapting activities in response to children's interests.
  • Ability to work as part of a team, taking direction from a Lead Artist while contributing creative ideas.
  • An up-to-date DBS check (or willingness to obtain one) and understanding of safeguarding responsibilities (or willingness to attend safeguarding training).

Desirable:
  • An understanding of child development in the 2–4 age range, particularly around confidence, communication, and self-regulation.
  • Background in dance or movement therapy, with an interest in early years education.
  • Experience working within a children's centre, nursery, or family hub setting.
  • Familiarity with child-led, observation-based early years practice.
  • Experience supporting children with additional needs or English as an additional language.

What We Offer
  • A supportive, creative team environment with an experienced Lead Artist and training/ supervision with our Artistic Director.
  • Ongoing training and development opportunities in early years practice and creative facilitation.
  • The chance to make a genuine, lasting impact on young children's confidence and self-expression at a formative age.
  • £30 an hour (£90 in total a week) plus travel up to £25 a week
  • The opportunity to expereince the companys work and take part in R and D weeks with them as they create their new show with the children and families at Pen Green (paid additionally)

You can see an example of our participatory performance work here:

You can see an example of our research work at Pen Green here:


 How to Apply
Please send a short CV and information about your experience working with young children and movement/creative arts to Liz Clark. We welcome video examples of your work as well as video applications. 

We also welcome applicants from all backgrounds and encourage those who may not have a traditional dance qualification but have strong relevant experience to apply.


About Turned On Its Head:
We create participatory projects and performances for children aged 0-4 and their adults. Everything we do is designed to move, uplift & challenge people to see the world differently. We innovate with form, blending improvisation and choreography (play and performance) to not only tell our story but also the stories of those who enter our workshop and performance spaces. Our work with families help us understand children’s and adults  fascinations and their cultural capital to design meaningful family theatre. 

We create opportunities for showcasing children’s expression & centre their voices. It is in doing this that we explore what a more equitable society might look like, where all voices are valued and celebrated. 

We believe dance has an extraordinary ability to enable us & our audiences/participants to express emotions, ideas & stories without words.

This job offer is part of a three year exploration of co-created dancing/making with children aged 2-4, their families and other significant adults at Pen Green/Kingswood Children's Centre and in Corby communities. Our aim in the three years is to:

  • ·Making visible and celebrating the characteristics of authentic co-creation in early years
  • Developing new understanding/knowledge around blended approaches to dance participation and performance.

About Pen Green:
Pen Green is an integrated children’s centre who’s vision is to inspire, challenge and innovate to improve outcomes for all children but specifically the most vulnerable children and their families. They provide training courses, leadership and research opportunities and bespoke nursery school provision to support in all aspects of early years work. The centre is unique and special place where outstanding early years practice is matched with research and training.