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