HEREFORDSHIRE’s only professional dance company 2FaCeD is in party mood as it prepares for its 10th birthday celebrations – and the contrast between now and this time last year couldn’t be more marked.

When Tamsin Fitzgerald, the company’s founder and artistic director, learned last year that a bid for Arts Council funding had not been successful, it looked as if there might not be a company this year, never mind a birthday party.

At that point, 2FaCeD’s keenly awaited annual show metamorphosed into a fund-raiser for the company, and the response proved extraordinary, ensuring that the show would go on – to Edinburgh and beyond.

Currently rehearsing the new show, Still Breathing, Tamsin takes time out to reflect on 10 eventful years, which have seen 2FaCeD grow into a professional company attracting rave reviews from sell-out audiences which also delivers an extensive education programme.

“It doesn’t feel like 10 years, but there have been changes,” says Tamsin, who was awarded a Rayne Fellowship in choreography in 2007.

“Choreographically, we’ve become more contemporary in flavour. The work is more complex than it was and has become more mature.

“People still tend to think of 2FaCeD as break dancing, but we’ve always fused different styles of movement. This time it’s more subtle, though. I don’t feel that I have to make things as obvious because of where we are now. But there is still a lot of breaking and street style in the work, because that’s always been a pull for me.”

For dancers Dan Lowenstein and Nathan French, the 2FaCeD experience has provided them with more than dance, as both are full-time employees, Dan as marketing officer and Nathan as education officer.

“It’s been a real training programme, learning a range of business skills, and making us more professional,” says Dan, who joined in 2002, having “dabbled in dance” and then discovered that dance offered more than other sports he’d been involved in. “In a way you can do what you want with dance. There are no restrictions.”

Having reached the milestone of the company’s 10th birthday, Tamsin is now looking forward to the next 10 years.

“I’d like 2FaCeD to be up there with Rambert, one of the top companies in Britain,” she says. “And I want the company to be here. It should be here – it belongs in Hereford.”

The gala birthday party evening on June 27, the culmination of a week of celebratory dance events, promises an explosive night’s entertainment, with highlights including appearances by leading comedian Stephen K Amos.

“We met him in 2004 when he asked us to teach him breakdancing in his show, so we thought we’d ask him if he’d come and do it for the gala,” said Tamsin.

Theatrical acrobats the Caesar Twins will also appear and another undoubted high spot of the celebrations will be a piece danced by Tamsin, Dan and Nathan.

The week’s events start with Fresh, a schools’ showcase on June 23 at 7.30pm in The Courtyard, followed on June 25 and 26 by the annual show, ten, featuring the 2FaCeD Youth DaNcE Company. Then on Saturday, June 27, the gala night is preceded by Blow Up, Hereford’s first ever breakdance battle when some of the best dancers in the UK go head to head in the Courtyard bar between 3pm and 7pm.

10 years of 2FaCeD - highlights of the last decade

1 "Seeing the guys get into dance school - that was a real ‘mummy’ moment." Tamsin

2 "Performing at the MTV awards in Lisbon, 2005." Tamsin

3 "Auditioning for Madonna ... even though we didn’t get it." Tamsin

4 "The response we had last year to the company (when they faced closure after failing to secure Arts Council funding) was phenomenal and touching." Tamsin

5 "The first ever show we did because so much had happened to get us to that point." Tamsin

6 "Writing my book - Hip Hop and Urban Dance. It was a real slog to write it, and it’s published here and in the States." Tamsin

7 "Winning the Rayne Fellowship (for choreographers) - it would never have happened if 2FaCeD hadn’t existed." Tamsin

8 "The response to the recent auditions for new dancers, when 84 dancers applied to audition." Tamsin and Dan

9 "Seeing how much it’s grown from that initial group of young people I worked with to a quite massive operation. We now work with more than 600 kids a week in Hereford, Worcester, Brecon and Hay." Tamsin

10 "The last tour, when we sold out the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury. The screams were so loud we couldn’t hear the music at times." Dan