dance about rehearsal 1

our first dance about rehearsal and what a lovely group! we explored moving in and out of the floor working alone and with partners and then working with props. we had some incredibly moving moments, and lots and lots of fun. i'm really looking forward to shaping the wonderful dance work the group create into a beautiful and thought-provoking show.

Flying School Poem

We've had this poem sent through from a poet who attended the aerial dance workshops run at Ashcraig School in Glasgow end of November. We thought we'd share it with you...

FLYING SCHOOL

Today in gym the class are learning to fly
They whoop. They’ve been let loose from double maths
for this afternoon’s workshop. Circus Skills.

They leave wheelchairs and a cobalt blue walking frame
in a corner. It’s time to wake muscles
that grimace if they’re touched. I watch a girl

migrate. She steps into a rope harness
I can scarcely see, then grins as the air
opens for her. I shiver as she swoops

past, caught by her draughts. She can do what she likes
now, powerful, so long as we’re convinced
she’s controlling the moves, shifting her weight

in this aerial dance so ropes will take
her where she wants to go. She does the twist,
then climbs ten feet to look down on her chair.

A new perspective. So often she’s looked up,
trying to catch an eye so she can talk,
or listened to doctors explaining no,

she’ll never tie shoelaces, walk or cook a meal….
Fill in this space. Afterwards she’s dizzy,
but amazed. She can’t wait to do it again.

Though these lessons will only last a week
and then it’s back to symmetry, exams,
I hope that she remembers how to soar.

When she has forgotten her times tables,
how flowers have sex or what some genius said,
she’ll still need to remember how to set

her own speed and direction. Flight’s a skill
she’ll practice daily for the rest of her life,
floating above a gobsmacked audience

who’re certain she must fall. Their hands outstretched.
they brace themselves, eyes wide, for her to lose
this impossible stance she’s taken up.

I hope she glides past their worried faces,
carried by a current of warm air, head
full of plans, still sure she can stay airborne.

Nuala Watt
13th December 2009.

Wander rehearsal

Great day again. Rehearsed on an outdoor basket ball court last night and back in a community hall today. The dancers are doing a fantastic job, here are Kwok Wah, Maru, Hofan and Chu...

Light show spectacular - possibly

The weekend has flown by in rehearsls - we did a run though this afternoon, I can't believe we have put a show together in 5 days - very rough around the edges but we have another 4 whole days to go.
We took some time out last night for a bit of shopping and tourism including the 'Symphony of light' which claimed 'experinece light, experience life' We thought not... see what we mean?

Hong Kong full on

Lovely people - so keen and able
Amazing place - Blade Runner meets Slumdog Millionaire.
Jockey Club Arts Centre is a massive concrete ex-wearhouse, full of studios and creative spaces, young people and light.
Dancing on a concrete floor but know one complains.
Eating noodle soup and drinking too much coffee.
The dancers have produced a huge amount of material in just 3 days - now a week to rehearse and put it all together...

First day on Wander in Hong Kong

Well, today was the start of the Wander a human landscape project in Hong Kong with The Centre for Community Cultural Development.

Our Artistic Director Rachel Freeman leads the project alongside digital artist Arnim Friess and assisted by Tids Pickard who has worked on numerous projects with the Company. They were poised at the computer ready to post an update, but then found it had translated all the words into Chinese! So we're posting this note and images from Arnim on his behalf....

"We've had a great first day with a large, enthusiastic group and friendly support from Mok and his team. Also the technical support is great and everyone is on board to make a beautiful show in a very short time.

We've learned three words in Cantonese and are quietly proud to have found our own way into town today, only slightly jetlagged. Interpreter and dancer Hofan helped us to order a snack - made easy by the fact that she was born in Edinburgh.

Hong Kong so far seems to me a mesmerising amalgamation of egg-box-design concrete high-risers, wire, neon signs and very friendly people - on the short way to buy a simcard three people tried unprompted to send me to the bus-station nearby..."

He's also done a short film edit from today's activities - take a look on the Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company YouTube account.

Where the wind blows tour-reflections and thoughts

This weekend was supposed to be time for me to rest and recover from the weeks tour of Where the Wind Blows in the east midlands. However I could not stop myself from talking to friends -thinking about various characters we met along the way, the fact I almost had no room on the final nights stay over due to an admin error, and being woken up on my day off on numerous occasions due to the fire alarm going off! I was later told that this was due to someones hair being set alight by their hair dryer and some over excited hair products. Oh the joys of the touring dancer!!

Every aspect of our working day was a joy to be a part of but I was particularly pleased with my ability to make choices about which workshop model was going to be suitable for each group. Most of the time this was not decided until we met the groups as they arrived to watch the show. Clare and I had a fifteen minute slot between the end of the performance and the start of the workshop. This was initially quite challenging for me but I became more confident as the project progressed. One group in particular were quite challenging so we decided to get everyone in chairs to work on the floor and we created tasks still based on the theme but with a different focus which could be done from the floor. A high percentage of the young people had one to one support from school staff which made it easier for us to really focus on getting the most out of each young person. It was a joy to perform each day. I liked the routine of this, and I feel I learned such a lot as a performer and workshop leader.

The feedback has been lovely - with an email this morning saying 'it's rare to find your combination of professional artistry and thoughtful, process-based workshop leading and communication with our young people. It seems everyone left the room feeling 'I can do...' surely the whole point of creativity in education'.
- 'Drama Becky' from Rowangate School in Wellingborough.

It's great to feel these young people will be inspired to keep dancing and working in an inclusive way. On reflection I feel it was a hugely successful week and I look forward to the next round which will take place in the southwest in the new year.

where the wind blows tour 3rd dec

Hi folks!!

Yesterday was a day off for me to sleep in and rest.However i kept busy by washing and ironing my costume in leu of the following two days shows.
today we were in a very lovely school in Loughborough. I was actually relieved to be performing again as I began to miss it on my day off...how strange?? Todays second show saw me have a breakthrough.I suddenly realised that I could use some makaton signing to project some of the feelings and events of the piece.This tour has been great for brushing up my makaton skills.

Ive really enjoyed working with Clare and Miriam I think we make a good team.Tomorrow will be our last day of this leg of the tour when we go to Chesterfield.I feel quite sad but will really enjoy sleeping in my own bed for once.

where the wind blows tour 2 dec 2009

Sally Here… I’m really enjoying being back on the road I just wish travel lodges had room service!!. Seriously it has been wonderful performing everyday and Miriam and Clare are good fun to be on the road with. I’ve finally laid to rest my ghost of not knowing how to operate the sat nav I’m getting better at it every day.The reaction to the piece has been amazing I really feel that my character has come to life. It has also been wonderful seeing the children respond to the themes in each workshop. I look forward to meeting our next group.

where the wind blows tour- 3 dec 2009

Here we are on the penultimate eve of the Where the Wind Blows whirlwind tour in a little chef in Chesterfield. We had a delightful day at Ashmount School in Loughborough where the children and staff fully entered the magical world of Where the Wind Blows friendship. The morning group had particularly complex needs and we were thrilled at the way they engaged with the performance. This tour is great for me because as stage manager/ technical support I get to actually enjoy watching the changing expressions on the children's faces and at every performance my heart leaps- especially when the children shout out to warn Sally... 'she's coming!!!!', and when I feel the relief break in the room when they become friends again. As the children created the animal shapes with their hands we were told that 'this is the longest he has kept his hands out of his mouth'. I particularly enjoyed watching them explore the mini-husks. The afternoon group were a whirlwind of leaps and spins, swings, smiles, laughter and sparkly eyes... let's see what happens tomorrow...

An evening at the panto

Oh yes I did...
after a busy day doing lots of wild and wonderful aerial tasks... the students are looking happy but exhausted!!!! Claire, Holly and I went to the faily alternative panto at the Tron, now I feel very much more in the Christmas spirit.

Teachers join in the fun and spin a lot.

Another fantastic day at Ashcraig School. Students worked on solo's and duets, in and out of contact, showing creativity and collaborative skill.
The after school session for some really enthusiastic teachers and physio's developed their appreciation of what the students were doing and produced much laughter and spinning.

Ashcraig and Smithycroft Schools

The first day of our schools residency in Glasgow.
Claire Cunningham and Holly Jones join to assist the project.
Students from Ashcraig and Smithycroft Schools meet for the first time are introduced to each other, the aerial equipment and some of the basic techniques.
A really good day, fantastic support form staff at the school, great soup for lunch and a warm hall to work in.

Participants wrote...
"I challenged myself"
"Like a bird, like Tarzan, like a superhero ninja hero!"
"It's all about momentum and a good grip with your partners hands"
"great feeling of being at different levels and exploring different body contacts and observing others"
"most exciting and wonderful"
"even small movements feel intense... finding out what the body is able to do without forcing it"
"encouraged creativity"
" I felt beautiful and fast"
"A weekend has never flown by so quickly as this one"

Glasgow flying day one

end of a brilliant first day in Glasgow. Such a lovely group of energetic, enthusiastic, supportive dancers. Nikki did a great job rigging and she and Claire have been assisting with the workshop.
Today we did some basic skills on the semi static ropes with and without partners. Tomorrow... hope people aren't too sore.

Blue Eyed Soul take to the road

Next week we kick start our latest outreach project. We are taking Where the Wind Blows on tour. This is a performance and workshop project for 4-8 year olds directed by Bettina Strickler.

We begin by visiting four schools in Telford where will be performing twice and delivering two workshops at each school. So far we have received terrific feedback from the schools we have already performed at, and I'm really excited to be performing this to so many young people in so many schools. Where the Wind Blows is such a departure from all the other pieces I have performed in. Throughout the piece we use paper based props and and myself and the other performer Claire Reynolds have quite animated characters. There are certain sections which really provoke a range of reactions from the audience.


After each piece we will be delivering a forty minute piece using some of the piece's themes. By watching first and then participating in the workshop the young people really get a sense of what Where the Wind Blows is all about. They can have a go at tasks themselves which we used whilst making the piece.


Following on from our week in Telford we will be taking the project to schools in Lincolnshire and we hope to confirm further dates in the new year.Please re visit the blog to follow our progress.

Hong Kong here we come!

We are all very excited about our next project abroad. In early December Rachel Freeman will be leading a community project in Hong Kong. We have been invited by Mok Chiu Yu Chief Executive of The Centre for Community Cultural Development.

Rachel will be accompanied by lighting designer Arnim Friess and by dance assistant Tids Pickard. Both artists have worked with the company on a number of projects before.

Wander a human landscape draws upon the personal and shared experiences of participants to create a shifting landscape of their lives and bodies. They will focus on intricate details as well as bigger pictures, exploring colours, textures, contours, perspective through live and recorded movement and digital media.

The project provides Hong Kong artists with training and will be performed at Hong Kong’s prestigious Jockey Club Theatre on the 19th and 20th December allowing the Company to return to Shropshire in time for Christmas.

Everyone else in the company wishes you all a very exciting and successful trip - and don't forget to take lots of photos fof future blogs!

BES Supporting our environment

In an effort to support environmental issues whilst looking after our staff's health and fitness, we have signed up for the national cycle to work scheme.

The scheme allows employees to purchase a push bike to travel to and from their worplace. A contract is signed which allows the employee to pay back the money through monthly instalments from their wages. Rachel Freeman is the first person from BES to benefit from the scheme as she is a keen cyclist.

The image shown is Rachel arriving to the office donning her helmet and a very fetching fluorescent jacket.

Like Youth Dance Project

We are about to embark on a new and exciting two year youth dance project in Telford called Like Youth Dance.

Over the two years will be delivering a wide range of events for young people. We will be performing Where the Wind Blows and delivering workshops alongside it to a number of schools in Telford, as well as organising a very exciting event we are calling Flashmob. For those of you who do not know ther term flashmob...the T-mobile advert with everyone dancing at a train station all at the same time is a flashmob. We are organising an event in a school where everyone gets told where and when a flashmob will happen, they will take their own ipods and dance to their favourite track or sharing an earpiece with a friend, creating a 'Silent Rave' event which will be filmed.

We will be touring where the wind blows to Telford Schools during the week of 23rd November. We will also be touring to schools in the Midlands going as far as Lincolnshire.

The workshops we will be delivering will be based on themes used within the show. Keep following this blog for further updates on Like Youth Dance development and responces to Where the Wind Blows.

Patua Dance final show

Last Satuarday saw the final phase of this project with a workshop and performance at Powys Dance Centre in Llandrindod Wells.

The workshop was held for a group of 20 adults from a local day centre and other local dancers.
Before this workshop could even take place I had an epic journey to get there. When I arrived it became obvious there were no taxi's to take me to the venue. I began to push myself as I thought it was not far to go, I was very wrong...I had to push myself about three miles uphill and when I arrived I was told I was in the wrong venue. After a phone call and a lift from a member of staff I finally arrived in the correct place.

The workshop was great fun we explored tasks we used in the piece. This proved to be a great interest bringing in more people to the performance which took place shortly afterwards. I was paired up with a lovely young woman called Sarah,we had great fun improvising together.

We only had about an hour between the end of the workshop and the show. The venue technician was new and had a very hard time learning all our lighting and music cues. This was quite stressful for us all. Consequently we had a few problems throughout the show but I feel I dealt with them very professionally. It was really nice performing in such a small intimate venue.

I feel I learned a great deal about the different ways Choreographers work in the studio and about what it takes to deliver such a large project.

I am particularly pleased with all the photos taken of the show. I will look at them with found memories in the future.

Patua Dance

What an incredible two weeks I have just experienced!!!

I have experienced an amazing cocktail of emotions during this project>i have found it frustrating not being able to update my blog daily but I have not had internet access whilst i've been away.

Some of the challenges I have faced are these:

• Losing one of the dancers after week one



• having accommodation away from the other performers which wasn't very accessible to wheelchair users



• Managing my tiredness and fitness during long physical days in the studio



• Company politics

On the other hand, I can take so much away with me from this project. I was able to find new ways of working through new improvisation techniques. I particularly enjoyed using song and vocal techniques. I was lucky enough to sing part of one of my own songs as well as sing parts of other well known ones.

I enjoyed demonstrating to the others ways to improvise with my wheelchair and I also loved improvising from other styles of chairs. There was an real international theme going through the cast.I am English, one dancer was Welsh, another from Finland another from Brazil and we had a student on placement with us from Argentina...There were many different languages spoken every day which created a lovely rich environment to work in..I now can speak about 5/6 spanish words....JUST!!

As part of our residency in Cardiff we visited a special School on Thursday morning to show a section of the piece and to deliver a workshop to an inclusive group.The children really loved the dance asking all kinds of questions at the end . Eeva and I each sang a few lines from one of our songs.We used some of our improvisation tasks from the piece with the young people.This workshop was a little chaotic as it was a large group but everyone seemed to be able to participate and have a great time.

One of my favourite moments of the whole project was when we were doing an improvisation during week one. We were using movement, voice, and props,we used fake flowers.There were a few magical moments when everything clicked into place i chose good songs to sing and it all seemed right...we ended and Fernanda said..."that's it, we have our piece". because this improvisation worked so well we re -worked it and put it in the piece....its a really goose bump section and I love it.

Due to the re furbishment of Chapter Arts we were working around the builders noise, mess and schedule every day.As a result of this we decided to recognise it in the piece by coming onstage with florecent jackets and hard hats on.

Finally the day of the first show came around and I woke up with my heart pumping and images of the show in my head. We were a little disapointed at the lack of numbers in the audiance for this show however Satuarday night was almost completely full.

I am both excited and sad leading up to our next performance which will be our last.We are performing this saturday at Theatre Powys in Llandrindo Wells as well as delivering a workshop.

I have included some images in this Blog of our show on Saturday and next time I will provide a link to footage on Utube...enjoy the photos.

In my second month now!

Well hi. Miriam here.

I'm in my second month now at Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company. The members have really welcomed me... and my coloured pens!... and the amount of fantastic experiences I have had here already is incredible.

Has it really been only one month?

Do I really only work 25hrs a week?

Incredible.

My first month has seen me enagaging in a variety of different aspects of the company's work:-

Working as Sally's support at the Liberty Festival where I was thrilled to watch her first ariel dance performance, SUGAR. We really bonded that day and our working relationship has been building stronger ever since. In fact, during my second week, upon one of my unpredictable breaking into song moments I was thrilled and relieved to hear Sally say...

'Phew, you're totally bonkers!... Just like Rachel!'

Co-choreographing a performance with Sally and the Contact group for the AGM. This group have been working together already for many years and the high standards, strong levels of commitment, deep bonds between dancers, and ability to create high quality dance performance is clear and humbling. I have really enjoyed working with this group and getting to know them- and their laughter and joy- through the themes of the performance- Introductions: Who Are you When You Dance?

I have also had the pleasure of co-delivering with Sally some one-off workshops such as 50Ways to Lead a Workshop where I have had the truly precious experience of seeing workshop participants arrive looking at the floor with their arms folded.... and leave with their heads held high, giggling, with their arms around each other.

All this combined with getting to know the company's contacts and developing their extensive education and training programme.... newver mind finding out where the nearest shos are!... has been a whirlwind of brain and heart activity! Nearly all my telephone conversations have at the heart of them the trust and connection people have for the company from their past relationships and projects together and everybody asks after Rachel Liggitt and send their love to her and her new baby.

I feel I have been given the job of foster parent to a beautiful precious dancing child who has been brought up really well so far with the exact amount of love, care, attention and strictness required; and every day I breathe through this and feel such pride to be in this position.

This, my second month mainly sees me:

• Booking in our Where the Wind Blows tour to West Midlands, East Midlands (wondering if I'll get to go to any schools I know and love already from my home region) and South West
• Beginning to launch our 2year inclusive youth dance programme in Telford and Wrekin
• Applying for funding to create a performance tour to sound out interest in an inclusive county dance company

More exciting times to come! I'll keep you all posted.

Sally's first week at Patua Dance

Sally's had 2 days so far with her training and performance residency at the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff.

As she doesn't have internet access, she's informing me to report back as promised.

She's really enjoying getting to know 3 beautiful dancers from all over Wales. Lucy and Eeva are non-disabled, and Leila is a dancer with a learning disability.

They are exploring lots of new ways of working together using improvisation. No props at the moment. However she's been spending the afternoon giving the other dancers an opportunity to explore working from her wheelchair, and finding ways for them to climb and get height using the chair with Sally supporting them - all whilst travelling through space!

This morning she had fun combining movement and song.

Sounds like a much more exciting day than mine in the office!

Well we've been busy with aerial work.

Here's our very own Sally Edwards venturing onto the ropes in her chair for Sugar, and the fabulous Jodie Gorle performing Now Now at the Liberty Festival in Trafalgar Square

Photos courtesy of Paul Bronicki

And TAKE became to the air in the square, with a fabulous audience in front of the National Gallery.

Found a blog Mother of Shrek from a lady who attened Liberty and commented on the variety of performances.

The bad news is that we didn't win the Great Briton's programme to get our flights to Hong Kong for the community project A Human Landscape. But we'll make it happen, and thanks to everyone who voted for us.


And the good news is that we've uploaded some video to the Blue Eyed Soul YouTube account.

You can see a clip from Where the Wind Blows which is touring to primary schools in the West Midlands, East Midlands, and South West. Plus a section of the film projected in Be-Longing at Theatre Severn together with a clip of the performance. TAKE; a dance in the park is being edited at this very moment.

Also check out Danny Beath's photostream of images from the TAKE performance at the Quarry.


Happy viewing!

Performing in Cardiff - Patua Dance Project

I am very excited to be preparing to participate in a project in Cardiff.

Over the next two weeks as part of my professional development I will be working with the Artistic Director of Patua Dance and 3 other dancers to create a piece. This project is an inclusive dance project - the name of the show being Paisagem or Memory Landscape. Myself and three other dancers who have never worked together before will be put through our paces and will be exploring ideas about the human lanscape. We will be based at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff whilst creating the piece, and will be performing there on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th October. We will also be performing at Powys Dance in Llandrindod Wells at the end of the month. I am excited about performing at Chapter again as I performed there with Blue Eyed Soul in the very early days of the Company.

It is going to be very exciting for me to be working with other dancers but also to have the opportunity to dance, which is what I love the most in my work. I am looking forward to learning skills and ideas from the others as well as passing on some of my experience to them too. I will be keeping a diary whilst I am away and will keep you all up to date with my progression.

WISH ME LUCK !!!!

Shortlisted on BA Great Briton's programme

We're delighted we've been shortlisted along with 7 other applicants for the BA Great Britons programme!

Launched in February with Sir Chris Hoy, the programme underlines the airline’s commitment to the London 2012 Games and supports budding talent with a £500,000 travel fund between now and 2012.

Blue Eyed Soul visited Hong Kong in 2006 to perform at a disability arts festival and lead workshops. We developed a relationship with the Centre for Community Cultural Development, and it was this project that kindled the dream of ‘Wander – a human landscape’.

We're hoping to return this winter and work with 2 local artists and a group of 20 local dancers with and with out physical disabilities, learning difficulties and sensory impairment.
Sharing our 15 years of inclusive dance experience and knowledge, providing training and creating an inclusive community dance performance.

But we need people to vote for our project to win our flights!

Please visit our page in the Great Briton's website and give us your vote. And tell your friends too!

Many thanks

Flying high in London

Over the last two weeks I have been rehearsing a solo piece to be performed at the Liberty Festival in London. Although I've been performing with Blue Eyed Soul for many years now, Sugar is my first aerial performance. I've always found the harnesses difficult to work with, but our artistic Rachel Freeman has been very clever to invent a mechanism whereby I can fly whilst seated in my wheelchair. It's a much more comfortable environment for me.

Sugar is going to be performed at the festival along side our trio TAKE; a dance in the park, and Now Now another solo performed by Jodie Gorle who is a dancer from Hereford we have been working with.

During the first week of rehearsing it took me a good while to find my aerial stomach. The piece requires me to be suspended quite high up whilst moving backwards and forwards round and around. It has required a lot of trust on my part, but now the piece is made I am more confident.

I am delighted to be performing Sugar as I did not think it possible for me to fly. In particular I am thrilled to be performing in London..in Trafalgar Square too!!! EEEK!! I'm also very excited about my character within the piece as she is a very naughty seductive little madam. My costume is a very revealing black velvet dress with fishnet tights. All of this is such a departure from my normal character and it is so much fun.

I will be travelling to London with Miriam Keye, who is joining us as Education and Training Co-ordinator covering Rachel Liggitt's maternity leave. She is taking the role of my support worker for the day. I think this will be a wonderful opportunity for us to get to know each other as we will be working quite closely together over the next few months. Im very excited about working with Miriam - it will be a good way of developing my skills as a workshop facilitator and learning different approaches.

Over the bank holiday i will be listening to my piece of music for Sugar on Spotify and rehearsing in my living room as much as possible. Next time I write I will let you all know about my exciting and SWEET adventure to London....watch this space.xx

And after Sepia...

Well, we've enjoyed blogging about our small festival of dance Sepia so much, that it's fitting we continue. So you may notice I've renamed the blog to our Company name now.

Meanwhile TAKE; a dance in the park continues touring to Avenhan Park in Preston and Williamson Park Lancaster for the bank holiday weekend D.verCity Festival , London's Trafalgar Square for the Liberty Festival (with two new solo pieces Now Now & Sugar!) on Saturday 5th September, and Craven Arms Community Garden on Saturday 12th September for 'The World's Biggest Gallery'.

For all of you who said 'I want a go!' at the Shrewsbury Quarry performance, this is your chance, with 'learn to fly' workshops scheduled for them all.

And we commence our inclusive adult dance class Contact 7th - 21st September, with Miriam Keye and Sally Edwards leading, under the theme of 'Introductions'. There will be a performance at our AGM this year.

Who are you when you dance?
What brought you to dance?
What does it feel like when you dance?
A chance to celebrate your own unique relationship with dance.

We're looking for more non-disabled dancers to reach our aim of a balance of 50/50 disabled and non-disabled. If you're interested get in touch!

Information on all the above can be found on the events page of our website.

And finally, we're all very excited at our first Blue Eyed Soul baby little Ned, courtesy of Education and Training co-ordinator Rachel Liggitt. Before we know it he'll be on the dance floor...

Positive Altitude

This is a long overdue post-performance post about my take on TAKE – definitely one of the best experiences of my life. I have been so impressed by the tremendous goodwill that has surrounded the project and the generosity of everyone I’ve come into contact with, sharing skills and expertise, food, laughter and arnica cream. My friends tease me for my liberal use of the word ‘beautiful’ to describe everyone and everything (to the extent that they have to put it in quotation marks) but from the rig to the weather, the B word applies. Even our bruises were beautiful.

Working with Blue Eyed Soul has been like breaking into an organic fortune cookie (or perhaps something more wholesome like a flapjack) to find a lifetime of wisdom. Soul food indeed. It’s also been amazing to work with a company who celebrate all bodies – faced with this acceptance, mine surrendered to behaving itself and I finished the shows feeling stronger and healthier than I thought possible – so much so that I’ve signed up for an aerial summer school, to keep up the momentum til the next shows. (Being very careful of course Rachel!)

The performances themselves flew by, caught up in the enjoyment of working together to share what we had made. I did have a (in-retrospect) comedy moment in the first show when the ascent karabiner got stuck in my grigri at the top of the rig and I couldn’t swap ropes to descend the leg. Once the initial panic had subsided, I was just gutted to think I might have to spend the rest of the piece sitting at the top. Fortunately, I had some discreet (I hope!) direction from our rigger on the ground and all was well, lesson learned. Really looking forward to seeing everyone and performing again at the other end of the summer for some more ‘beautiful’ physics in action.

(With thanks to Lewis for the shamelessly poached title of this blog!)

Flurry of blogs

Thanks to Gekko for her review of TAKE; a dance in the park (it's dance in the park not walk in the park by the way, but we don't' mind). I don't think ITV were there (wish they were), but we did have it professionally filmed for a video promo for future tours. TAKE is off to Craven Arms, Lancaster and Preston, Trafalgar Square for Liberty festival and hopefully Washington DC next June.
Interesting comments on the costume, I rather liked the weirdness of the long skirts and hats against the metal, but yes, flying in bloomers makes the movement a lot freer.

Also check out Marttn's blog covering ShiftTime. You can see more of all the other activity taking place alongside.

Still not dared to watch video below.

Video interview with Moya Malekin

The interview that Moya did with Virtual Shropshire is now up on YouTube - Moya gives some background information on the performance, and the video shows some clips of the performance as well.

shift-time photographers

We've been really lucky to be involved with the shift-time blogging project, and to have so many talented photographers covering our performance.
Take a look at Sue Tortoise's photostream, and Marttn's photostream, and an upside down one from Gekko.
I've taken some images of other people's work over the weekend but have been lazy to upload. I promise I will soon!

Dancing in the Park - the big day

All over until the end of August. A brilliant experience,  a steep learning curve and a lot of fun.

Love aerial dance now!  The two shows on Saturday each felt very different. the first a bit nervy and trying too hard, the second more relaxed and really smooth, both very exhilarating and great to have a big and enthusiastic audience.

Loved working with everyone. Bruises slowly fading. Looking forward to the next installment.

Some beautiful photos

Pete Ashton took some fabulous TAKE; a dance in the park photos through his viewfinder lens and posted on Pete's flickr account.
They have a wonderful aged quality to them. I think what resonates for me is that this piece started by viewing old archive photos of performances in the Quarry park a century ago (you can see some in the Sepia exhibition in Theatre Severn Chapel Bar, on til 12th September). They seem to have a similar quality about them, and connects us with the past even more. Almost like we've come full circle.
I wonder how people in the future will view our descriptions and catalogue of the festival.
In fact, Shropshire Archives will be storing a treasure box of our gathered thoughts for permanent record. It's a real honour. You should have a forage yourself, they open again after refurbishment on the 8th July.

TAKE; a dance in the park - report

I'm Rick Mills, management board member of Blue Eyed Soul and computer geek; I've been involved with Blue Eyed Soul since I was introduced to the company by my wife Sonia, who used to dance with them when her health was in better shape.

Today saw a couple of performances of "TAKE; a small dance in the park" as part of the Shift Time festival in Quarry Park in central Shrewsbury - a visually spectacular 30 minute dance piece performed by 3 women dancers and involving breathtaking aerial dance work set around the company's mobile aerial rig (an impressive aluminium tripod dome with all manner of ropes and harnesses attached to it).

The theme of the performance was a history of live outdoor performance in Shrewsbury over a period of 200 years (1809 to 2009); the dancers' costumes reflected this journey through time, with the three dancers wearing period dress at the start of the performance, and gradually changing costume throughout the performance as the show progressed. The performance was accompanied by music and narrative describing both the women through time that the dancers were representing, and the dance moves they were making and the feelings they were experiencing throughout the performance.

The aerial work was stunning, particularly towards the end of the performance, where, freed from the constraints of the restrictive dresses of the 19th century, the dancers were able to move with increasing freedom and velocity.

Shift-Time festival today!

Make your way over to the Quarry today for lots of activity.
Our performances are 12.30 & 2.30 - just look for a big 3 legged metal dome. See a few photos from the dress run on our Flickr page. I love seeing the period costume against such a modern structure.
There are various people commenting on events at the Shift-Time blogging page, check it out throughout the weekend - and indeed the rest of the week.

You can follow Blue Eyed Soul Twitter updates along the left hand side of this page, and respond @moyam. We'd love to know what you think.

More photos on Flickr

We've put more photos from our visit to Shropshire Archive, Be-Longing rehearsal, and Aerial devising on the Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company Flickr page

TAKE; a dance in the park, this Saturday!

THE QUARRY PARK, Shrewsbury

Saturday 4th July

12.30pm & 2.30pm

TAKE; a dance in the park celebrates a rich and colourful history of live outdoor performance through the eyes of three remarkable 19 century women, Emma Darwin, Hesba Stretton and Lotty Burne.

Three women, two centuries and one park where audiences in their thousands gathered to watch in awe and amazement performances of electrifying skill and acrobatic daring. Bringing it into the 21st century and onto a spectacular aluminium dome where dancers magically glide, float and spin, narrowly missing each other in a playful journey through the archives.

TAKE rehearsals at the farm

Gravity and lettuces

Halfway point in the devising/rehearsing and the piece has a definite shape... Thurs and Friday were spent with the sound recordists adding our own layers to the sound score. Talking and dancing at the same time with radio mics was the biggest challenge and the elements were also against us... Rain on Friday saw the sound guys decamped to Rachel's polytunnel next to the rig, their equipment among the lettuces. But we have a score and it's all coming together... eek, now we have to do the material justice! I'm learning that aerial dance is as full of unique challenges as it is of surprises and delights - the biggest lessons are using the equipment swiftly but safely, and realising that the rope is ultimately in charge, which is frustrating at times until you learn that everything is a disciplined negotiation between you, the rope and gravity. We're performing physics without the algebra...

Flickr photos

We've got photos up from the Be-Longing technical rehearsal on our flickr page.

Take a look!

day 9

Piece really starting to form.

Reading a lot about Emma Darwin, getting a bit obsessed.

Spinning sickness seems to have passed.

Sections coming together, trying to be more efficient with the kit and transitions, lots to think about and sort out.

Enjoying the challenges and when it works it feels really good.  Lovely moments in the piece. The costumes are going to be lovely, Looking forward to rehearsing in them

 Windy today which is causing problems for the sound guys but still sunny. Recorded our character's spoken diary entries and biographies inside instead.

4th day

Today is our forth day.

We are a bit bruised and burnt but feel that the piece is getting a shape and that is exciting!

We started our day by running in the fields near sheep, hills, long grass and water. I had my pumps on  (as I have forgotten my trainers home....). Not a very good idea. Need to be prepared better next time.

We had a bit of practice on the ropes and made some new material. 

Rose and myself are sitting on a bench by the shade (which is broken apparently).. and writing our blogs. Jess is recording her voice reading her biography and journal of her character.

I think I need to go now back to the rig!

cocoon sequence/picnic

forward role to front balance

right arm back to sideways to sitting crossed legs

upside down

to sit and look at Rose and knee in to push to being caught.

stand up

left leg pushes sideways

around the world 3 times

untangle 3 times into an arabesque

spin round

to stand with both legs

Rose stops me spinning

lift to upside down handstand and stay for one count

sliding down to shoulders left leg around, pike

and  slowly down to crucifix

...spin and on the floor....

Be-Longing and Where the Wind Blows performance

Fabulous performances at Theatre Severn last week. I was really moved by the pieces, and the feedback has been fantastic. Martin Smith attended to review the evening performance, and has posted his commments on Marttn's blog - see for yourself!

Blogging abroad

Excited people are gathering again at the Hive to view the coveritlive site for Martin's trip to Holland to meet Theo Jansen. You can connect via the Shift Time blog. He's wandering a beach at this moment and thinks he's just spotted a beast! People are sending him questions to ask, in advance of Theo's trip to Shrewsbury as part of the shift time festival. We're looking forward to sharing the Quarry with him.

A dance in the park(land)…

Yes, arriving at out outdoor rehearsal space, the rig makes an arresting sight… Rounding a curve in the drive of this historic north Herefordshire parkland, it's like a futuristic mirage, an elegant aluminium beast that has accidentally slipped in from another dimension, or come striding over the fields on its insect legs.

As Rose says, our camp in the orchard next door is truly idyllic and we share supper under a fruit tree, the rig peering over the wall at us, our aluminium-alien friend, the fourth performer in this piece…

A day in the archives reading journals of three young women written more than a century before… there are the inevitable differences in the way we live, but more surprising are the similarities of female experience and we laughed in sympathy or outrage at some of their anecdotes (and improbable headgear).

Then Saturday and our first day back on the rig, at its full 6m height… against the clouds and sky it seems almost insignificant, up at the top grass is a long way down. We re-familiarise ourselves with kit, safety checks then the day rushes past like a dancer on a rope, a series of images flashing by:

saluting the sun

paramotor flyers pass overhead

blue skies & clouds – ultimate aerialists

the novelty of dancing in sunglasses

spinning & motion sickness

a few collisions…

& some lovely unison flying

the cocoon dancing in the wind like a sail

arnica cream & dreamless sleep…

flying and vegetables

First day of reahersals yesterday for Dance in the Park. Good to be back together. The rig looks great against the blue sky and it's lovely to be working outside with the wind in our hair. Remembering the techniques and ideas from last time and starting to create material. Very exciting. Feel brain and body cranking back into gear.

Enjoying our base on the farm and particularly Rachel's garden, we dined on her lovely spinach and strawberries on Friday.

Also a good morning on Friday at the Archives in Shrewsbury. Researching Emma Darwin, interesting woman. Got a bit carried away and could have stayed in there all day.

Technical rehearsals underway

The whole team are now locked in the darkness on a sunny day, doing the tech run through at Theatre Severn for Be-Longing and Where the Wind Blows, performed tomorrow 2pm and 7pm. A mixture of still archive and family album snaps plus video are projected in Be-Longing, along with a sound score. It's exciting seeing it in the theatre space, and the whole piece in continuity.

Meanwhile lovely Arnim the lighting designer is stopping at my house, and my 5 year old has kept him deep in conversation. I hope she doesn't make him late tomorrow!

Blogging surgery

I'm here at the Hive in Shrewsbury. The Shift Time festival (which TAKE; a dance in the park is a part of) has a blogging project, and have recruited award winning blogger Pete Ashton to train us novices, perfect!

Have a look at the shift-time blogging page, which will be linking up all the different blogs that are created as the festival snowballs.

Exhibition

Well, the exhibition is now up in the Theatre Severn chapel bar. It was really hard trying to choose from all the hundreds of lovely pictures we have!
We've printed them on metallic paper, which gives it a sheen. It's lovely seeing the archive pictures we gathered from Shropshire Archives on a big scale. They look great.

Be-Longing and Where the Wind Blows are being performed on Wednesday at Theatre Severn. Can't wait to see the finished piece, after sitting in on rehearsals. With projection and sound score it should be absolutely beautiful.

Jess inside the cocoon.

Eleni inside the cocoon

Just some small thoughts/ words from research

1809 -2009

Darwin

beetles

flower show

Quary

Shrewsbury: "the shady town for sunny people" Fay Eton

Shrewsbury: "the most polite town in Great Britain"

Where the Wind Blows schools performance

Blue Eyed Soul have been touring Where the Wind Blows at schools across the region. At the start of May we visited St Giles school in Shrewsbury to give performances and workshops to two classes.

It was really nice to pay our first visit to this school, and explore the theme of 'the changing nature of friendship' with them. The classes really responded well to the performance, and it's great that they then got to explore the themes for themselves. Chris, the photographer following our project came along to get some snaps of us all in action. As you can see, they really got stuck in!

Jess in rehearsal for TAKE a dance in the park

The week that flew by

End of the first week and I have a book full of scribbled notes and a head full of images, ideas, challenges and questions.
Thanks to the dancers Rose, Jess and Eleni who brought so much creativity, daring and skill. I think they make a really good trio, complementing each other beautifully, bringing a different movement quality and approach to the work.
Ben has rigged, de-rigged and re-rigged, made sure we were all safe and made the best Banoffee pie ever.
Linsey Butcher came to the week as mentor and support for me. She provided that and so much more, I love her generosity and the balance struck between fun and total professional expertese. An awsome woman, dancer, aerialist, teacher, skydiver...
So I have lots to do in preparation for the next rehearsal phase in June: new venue to find with more height, accommodation for the dancers, costumes, sound score, equipment etc.

Day two of devising

refined and invented today
very stretchy warm up led by Lindsey
revisited the conterweight work with third dancer input
walked, slid and stepped down the rig legs
did some more exploration at the top of the rig
moved the pulleys to find something new with the counterweight.
late lunch
late finish
a few bruises
looking forward to tomorrow

First day of TAKE a dance in the park

The next step of the dance...
A new space (thank you SCORE for all your support), three dancers, Rose, Eleni and Jess,
one rigger, Ben,
my mentor, Lindsey
and a rig that does not quite fit into the space (Aldous, Ben, Dave and I spent 6 hours, several cups of tea and one fruit cake putting it up yesterday)
So we're working at 5 metres rather than 6 and having to be careful not to crash into the wondows (not really possible but I did wonder if it would be for a while).
Some really interesting work today, new heights, techniques and many possibilities.
climbing, jumping, swinging, circling, gliding, hooking, reaching, falling, hanging, pulling and much, much more.

At rehearsals

Here I am at the Gateway, with Company 1 in their rehearsals. It's great to see everyone together here warming up.
We've been viewing our blog on the big screen, and I'm excited about getting the particpants involved!

TAKE; a dance in the park, has begun to grow like the lettuce in my garden.
Jess, Elani and Rose join the Company for rehearsals next week. Really looking forward to playing with some images and ideas.
Lindsey Butcher joins us for this first week of rehearsals, which brings additional excitement.
Biggest challenge is finding a rigger (though I had one but it all fell through last week!) so if anyone knows anyone let me know!
Walked though the woods today and was blown away by the quantity and quality of bird song - inspiring thoughts of sound scores from rural Shropshire. R

Rehearsals in full flow

Phew!!! The last two rehearsals have been very exciting. We have now put together various solo duet and small group material into an order which creates the start of the piece so its really taking shape. This was all very exciting - as we were working I was getting ideas for the connections between different parts of the material. I began to work with three of the dancers on some new material which is proving to be quite challenging as it involves me transfering in or out of my wheelchair. All of these challenges are part of the process so I am very confident it will all work out fine...fingers crossed. I am delighted that Rachel has chosen some of my writing as an idea for some material.

Today Rachel and I rehearsed Where the Wind Blows as we are performing it twice and teaching two workshops in a school on Friday. It was very funny as we only had the far end of our office to rehearse in. We had a good time and I feel ready to perform it tomorrow. We will have Claire with us who will step into Rachel's shoes to perform it with me when she goes onto Maternity leave. I am very excied to show her the piece and begin re working it with her....Good luck Claire!!!!

Where the wind blows

As part of Sepia, another piece we will be performing is Where the wind blows.This is a duet performed by myself and Rachel Liggitt choreographed by Bettina Strickler.It has been created to tour to Primary Schools for key stage 1 and 2. as well as being part of Sepia.

The theme looks at the ever changing relationship between friends.From an early stage we decided to use Vivaldi's Four Seasons as part of the sound score.

This piece has been delightful and challenging to do all in one go. I spend about 90 percent of the time out of my wheelchair for it which proves to be very demanding...I am hoping it will make me feel super fit!!

So far we have performed the piec to two schools and it recieved very posative feedback.

Rehearsals so far....

Now that the initial taster sessions are over rehearsals are really taking shape.

So far i have created solo material based on my memories of injuries to parts of my body along with the idea of having similar physical trates to other members of your family eg, markings, hair colour voice etc.

Other material I have created has come from memories of being in places special to me. I wrote a short story of summer walks in the stiperstones with my sunday school group. Whilst doing a task in rehearsals i told a story of being in a certain place and eating Prawn Cocoktail crisps - to my delight during the next reheasal session one of the other dancers gave me a gift of packets of these crisps wrapped up in beautiful ribbons...how sweet!!.

During rehearsal I have also begun to create a duet and a trio which I am really enjoying. All the cast are lovely and I'm enjoying being with everyone. For the next session I am taking with me a newspaper given to me by a neighbour. It is a paper produced every three months showing photographs and telling stories about people all over the county dating back to the early 1900's right up to five or ten years ago. Whilst reading it I discovered a photo of my Grandads Brother dated in the 1930's. Since starting this project I have become really interested in my family history and I am loving working in the studio.

Exhibition

One of our major sponsors for this project is Heritage Lottery Fund. We're working in partership with Shropshire Archives to research the history of people and places, and get inspiration for our creative work.

An exhibition of project and archive photographs and words mapping the making of Sepia – A Small Festival of Dance will be presented in the Chapel Bar Theatre Severn from 11th June - 12th September 2009. We'll be showing some of the amazing archive photos that have inspired the work (some of which can be seen in our brochure!) along with 'fly on the wall' images taken by local photographer Chris Nottingham, of 7studios.

The exhibition will continue to tour the region later in the year. If you're a venue that might like to host it do get in touch!

Visit to Shropshire Archives

I had a really exciting visit to the Archive Library. As well as photographs af the places I grew up I came accross a book about the area.There were quotes in the book from members of my family and people I have known all my llife.I came accross a photograph of my Grandads brother ploughing a field.

During my Archive visit I looked at photographs from the 50's of the church which overlooks the house in Minsterley i lived in as a teenager. I found out that the house was originally the village bank.I have become very excited about researching my roots.

Sally chatting with Alison in the depths of Shropshire Archive.

Photoshoot

The Blue Eyed Soul team headed off to the Music Hall to hold a photoshoot for our publicity material.



Here we can see Emma Burns harnessed on ropes, with Rachel Freeman and Rachel Liggitt preparing her.

Authentic Victorian costumes were kindly loaned to us from Blists Hill open air museum in Ironbridge.

Rachel Liggitt our Education and Training
Co-ordinator demonstrates some shapes for Emma - it's not quite so easy in the air though!

Rachel will be directing the community performance piece 'Be-Longing'

Rachel Freeman our Artistic Director instructs on holding the tension....









Mervyn Bradley and Ian Andrews are two regular participants with Blue Eyed Soul.

They took part in 'Trace' a project with 40 young people from Wolverhampton which was performed in February last year at the Arena Theatre.

They'll be part of the cast for 'Be-Longing', our community performance piece which will be presented in the Walker Theatre of the new Theatre Severn.





Chris Wroe our designer explains the image he's looking for, whilst Chris Nottingham a local photographer from 7studios snaps away.








Chris will be taking images throughout the project as a record of the activity and development. These contemporary images will be presented as part of an exhibition in the Chapel Bar Theatre Severn in June, along with copies of old photos from Shropshire Archives which inspire our work.

We're looking for other venues to tour the exhibition to - let us know if you're interested!

TAKE: a dance in the park

Thinking around some initial ideas
Inspired by archive photographs of performances in the early 1800's
Amazing images of audiences watching in awe, flat caps and bonnets
Tightrope walkers and trapeze artists
Must get on and recruit the dancers...

Tour of Shrewsbury Theatre Severn under construction

Our Artistic Director Rachel Freeman gets her first view of the Dance Studio. We're looking forward to getting the chance to work in this lovely new space.








Rachel Freeman of BES, Adam Burgan and Kath Brown of Theatre Severn looking out from the stage at the main auditorium.


Although it can seat over 600 people it actually feels quite an intimate space, with great sight lines and seating not too far from the stage.









The Walker Studio Theatre. This is a flexible space for seating 250 people or standing 450. We'll be performing our Double Bill of 'Where the Wind Blows' primary age piece choreographed by Bettina Strickler and 'Be-Longing' our community performance piece on June 17th 2009.

Adam Burgan of Theatre Severn looking out at the lovely views of Shrewsbury from the terrace.