Dancers in recovery celebrate 15 years with first Liverpool Everyman show

An award-winning recovery dance group that made their debut 15 years ago at one of Liverpool’s smallest venues returns to the city this weekend to take to one of its most celebrated stages.

Fallen Angels Dance Theatre first performed at community arts centre The Black-E in 2011. A decade and a half on, the group, which now works with people in addiction and mental health recovery across Liverpool, Chester, Ellesmere Port and Wigan, are on track to sell out the Liverpool Everyman theatre.

Their new show, called Holding Light, celebrates the power of human resilience over adversity and it is coming to the Everyman on Saturday 17 October 2026, following sold out dates at the Royal Opera House in London (pictured) and Storyhouse arts centre in Chester.

To create the performance, eight local community dancers from Liverpool, Chester and Wirral, all in recovery from addiction or mental health issues, spent six months working with three acclaimed choreographers, including Russell Maliphant.

The resulting trio of short dance pieces blends powerful movement and resonant soundscapes to connect audiences to “courageous and honest “stories of lived experience, which the group says are rarely seen on stage. The three works each offer a different perspective on recovery journeys, from navigating everyday struggles to the healing power of community and the human instinct for rebirth.

Most of the cross-generational performers (aged from 20s-70s) have no formal background in dance, whilst some are reconnecting with the artform in their recovery. All started their Fallen Angels Dance Theatre journeys at free weekly sessions run by arts and recovery organisation at Liverpool Everyman and Storyhouse.

Two professional dancers – Arianna Sansone and Jo Freeman- join the group on stage.

And Fallen Angels Dance Theatre will be marking a second special anniversary during their Everyman performance as it is also one year since the group took up residence at the theatre.

Every Thursday, the group, which was co-founded by former Birmingham Royal Ballet soloist Paul Bayes-Kitcher, runs free movement and dance sessions at the theatre from 12-2pm.

Tom Denbigh, 77, an army veteran from Bromborough, has been a member of Fallen Angels since 2019. He said: “I dance with Fallen Angels every week and I call it my self-care Thursday.

“Dance has always been a part of my life,” he said, “from family weddings to ballroom and Latin and even 90s dance music, which is my unlikely passion.

“Dance is a good outlet for expressing emotions. Expressing yourself to music is so very powerful.”

Claire Morris, co-founder, Fallen Angels Dance Theatre, said: “At the heart of Holding Light are the voices and experiences of people in addiction and mental health recovery.

“Through Fallen Angels’ unique co-creation process, performers draw on their own journeys to create work that is honest, courageous and deeply human.”

Fallen Angels Dance Theatre: Holding Light runs at Liverpool Everyman on 17 October 2026. Tickets are available here.