Principal dancer with the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Iain Mackay, will bring a bespoke pop-up dance group - Open Door Dance - to perform at QEHB on Wednesday 7 June. 

Open Door Dance (ODD) will deliver three performances, each lasting around 25 minutes, for the staff, patients and visitors outside the hospital next week.

Staged near the main entrance to the hospital, each performance will contain a variety of short dances, ranging in style from classical duet to modern contemporary pieces, especially choreographed for this unique event. 

The performances will also be filmed and live streamed using social media on both the hospital and Birmingham Royal Ballet’s social media platforms allowing all patients, staff, carers, volunteers and members of the public the opportunity to enjoy the shows - regardless of their mobility or location.

Dancer Iain Mackay, who has toured widely with Birmingham Royal Ballet throughout an impressive career, is leading on this new venture and has enlisted the talents of other dancers from the company to help bring his vision of accessible art in unlikely places to life.

Mackay commented, “The goal for Open Door Dance is to take high quality live dance into places you wouldn’t expect to see it. I firmly believe access to the arts is more important than ever and it should be experienced by as many people as possible – regardless of their situation.

“This is my community, my family’s community and as a Principal Dancer with Birmingham Royal Ballet, access to dance as an art form is something that I have to offer.

With ODD I want to use my unique skill set to help to bring people together and inspire them, and I’m so looking forward to starting this at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.”

Philip Norman, Executive Chief Nurse at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust which runs QEHB, said: “We are excited to be hosting Open Door Dance and hope that our patients, visitors, and staff - where possible - are able to experience the incredible live dance that will be on show outside the hospital - or from their bed space via social media.

“These world class performances will no doubt serve as a welcome and inspirational distraction for our patients and their loved ones in June.”

Performances will take place at 13:30, 15:30 and 17:30 on Wednesday 7 June outside the Main Entrance to the hospital, and are free for all to enjoy. You can also watch the performances live online via the hospital's Facebook page.