Daily Inspiration Quote by Siobhan Davies

Davies is doing two things at once: she’s setting a bar, and she’s quietly defending a model of arts support that can sound indulgent to outsiders. By leading with “already got 3-4, if not 5-6 years’ experience,” she preempts the common misconception that development programs are remedial or entry-level. This isn’t a charity for raw talent; it’s an infrastructure for people who have already survived the brutal early filter of the dance world and still need room to evolve.

The phrasing is tellingly managerial without being corporate: “professionals,” “develop,” “resource.” In a field obsessed with youth and product (the next show, the next tour, the next premiere), Davies talks like someone trying to protect process. The subtext is political: artistry requires time that the market rarely pays for. When she says “using us,” she’s positioning an institution - a company, a studio, a network - as an enabling platform rather than a gatekeeping brand. It’s an argument for ecology over hierarchy.

There’s also an implicit rebuttal to the cult of the lone genius. Development here is relational: access to space, feedback, collaboration, and maybe permission to fail in private. Davies’ intent reads as both pragmatic and defiant: professional dance isn’t only made onstage; it’s made in the unglamorous middle years, when skill is real, funding is scarce, bodies are vulnerable, and the question isn’t “Can you dance?” but “Can you keep becoming?”