Dance Theatre at its best: BUSK to embark on an extended national tour

Project Dance has announced the first fully professional tour in its eight-year history: BUSK, a breathtaking story of love, hope and redemption, that promises to enchant audiences of all ages with world-class performances and a soul-lifting original score.

The “exciting, sad, thoughtful, provocative, engaging and joyous dance theatre work” (Fine Times Recorder, 2025) will visit venues across England in spring 2027. BUSK will be a co-production with Yeovil’s beloved but currently closed Octagon Theatre and will feature a professional cast of 10, all within the first 5 years of their careers.

Toe-tapping. Life-affirming. Joyous. Written and choreographed by Bamford alongside Grace Noelle, and composed by Charles Harrison, BUSK follows the lives of a messy and broken family transformed through encounters with a vulnerable travelling musician. A love letter to the unifying power of music, the narrative is communicated through Project Dance’s signature blend of clear human storytelling, and a genre-transcending movement language inspired by classical, contemporary and street dance forms.

“One of the most compelling things about BUSK is how damn good the storytelling is.” Fine Time Recorder, 2025

The 2027 production will pioneer a first of its kind development journey. BUSK first took the stage with a youth company of 45 dancers. Instead of adapting an adult production for young performers, Project Dance is taking a youth-made work into the professional repertoire. “This result is more than a greenlight for our project. It is a triumphant stamp of approval that our work deserves to be platformed across the country - that is a truly magical feeling.” James Bamford

Bamford founded Project Dance in 2018 (aged 14) after seeing the extra hours his mother worked to pay for his dance training while talented school peers lacked equivalent access. 8 years later, the organisation has supported thousands of young people through workshops, mentorship, bursaries and productions. Across the route, Project Dance plans to deliver 27 school workshops in addition to open company classes, community curtain-raisers and opportunities for local young dancers to appear in some of the performances. 

“BUSK completes a circle for us. It was made with young people, and now it is creating paid work for the latest generation of professionals. Grassroots purpose and artistic ambition are not opposites: together they are at their most powerful. We want audiences to leave moved by the story and young people to leave able to imagine a place for themselves in this industry.”

Project Dance’s model has already drawn national attention. A House of Commons Early Day Motion tabled on April 15 2026 commended Bamford and the Project Dance Charity Foundation for expanding access to the performing arts in rural and semi-rural areas.

Tickets will be released by participating venues following the tour announcement and will be available via buskdanceshow.com

BUSK 2027 TOUR DATES 02/03

• Westlands Entertainment Venue, Yeovil 03/03

• Westlands Entertainment Venue, Yeovil x 2 05/03

• The Blakehay Theatre, Weston-super-Mare 11/03

• South Hill Park, Bracknell 17/03

• The Lights, Andover 19/03

• The Atkinson, Southport 27/03

• Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple 28/03

• Key Theatre, Peterborough 30/03

• The Albany Theatre, Coventry 31/03

• Mansfield Palace Theatre, Mansfield 03/04

• Exeter Northcott, Exeter 04/04

• Redgrave Theatre, Bristol

More dates to be announced...

Presented in association with The Octagon Theatre, Yeovil. BUSK is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.