It’s that time of year again and Edinburgh is already brimming with talented artists taking part in this year’s Fringe Festival – with the East of England well represented.

A total of 21 artists and companies from the region were selected to take part in the Arts Council’s talent development programme: Escalator East to Edinburgh 2011.

This year’s group includes a particularly strong cohort of dance companies with a diverse aesthetic, including Tom Dale Company, Dog Kennel Hill Project, SMITH dancetheatre and State of Flux.

Escalator East to Edinburgh, supported by Arts Council England and managed by Colchester Arts Centre in association with The Junction in Cambridge, helps talented individuals and companies from the East take their work to international audiences at the Fringe.

The impressive range of dance companies taking part is representative of the excellent quality of artists creating new work in the East. Underpinning them are the supportive organisations across the region such as DanceDigital in Chelmsford, Colchester Arts Centre, Watford Palace Theatre, The Junction in Cambridge, DanceEast and the University of Bedfordshire among others, who each offer invaluable resources and support towards developing grass roots dance.

State of Flux are performing their production Forgetting Natasha, which tells the story of one woman’s experience of dementia and explores the impact it has on those around her. The work is a collaboration of choreographer and director Heather Eddington with poet Anna Mae Selby and video artists KMA.

Describing the appeal of performing at Edinburgh, Heather said: ‘It’s great to have a long run of Forgetting Natasha (something that is practically unheard of in small scale dance touring circuits) to really let the performers own the work and see how far it develops. It is also wonderful to be surrounded by so many other artists, to go and see a wide range of performances and hang out with lots of creative people!

‘Being a part of East to Edinburgh 2011 is hugely important for both my company members and myself as it will allow us to take the next step into launching our careers both nationally and internationally.’

Dog Kennel Hill Project’s Working the Devil gives us two unusual perspectives on the world of work. Exploring minimalism with dark humour, it reveals the harsh truths in the working relationship between choreographer and dancer, using World War I and II references and live beat box score. In its second part, Hinterview, it seeks to address notions of economic progress and collapse through the medium of dance. As well as getting support from Escalator, it was also selected to be part of the British Council Showcase.

Dog Kennel Hill artist, Henrietta Hale explained how the company feels about performing the piece at Edinburgh, she said: ‘We’re very excited and, as first-timers, rather nervous. It’s a very different type of audience to the usual contemporary dance crowd we usually show to and it’s a great opportunity to see how our work sits against other more theatre or performance-based work.

‘Being part of Escalator is a great support base. It’s been incredibly useful to get the advice for setting up the optimum marketing strategy and it’s great to know that there are people to turn to with questions. We’ve had a great deal of support from several partners helping to market us including British Council, Dance4, Escalator and the Zoo Venue.’

Norwich-based artist Dan Canham who is performing with SMITH dancetheatre at the Fringe, was also supported with a Grants for the arts award of more than £4,000 for 30 Cecil Street which he is performing at the Forest Fringe event.

Dan said: ‘I’m very excited about performing in Edinburgh and am especially pleased to be on board with such a supportive, generous and vital gang as Forest Fringe. I haven’t been to the festival since I was a teenager so I’m really pleased to be going back.

‘Without Grants for the arts I would never have been able to invest time into making my own work and creating 30 Cecil Street. It set me up on the path of creating the piece and becoming a maker of my own work and so the money I received from Grants for the arts was invaluable in many ways.’

Dan also had a chance to perform his work to audiences in the East of England before taking the show to Edinburgh. He said: ‘Performing my work at The Junction as part of Sampled was a really positive experience. Likewise, Emma Bettridge at Pulse Fringe Festival has been very helpful and I had a great time performing there and at other venues in the region. It feels that despite the relative distance between organisations, there are opportunities to make links and to find support in making work.’

To find out more about Grants for the arts go to the Arts Council website.