Day 1 of rehearsals
rigging and laying a floor
hiring a ladder
meeting the sheep dogs
occupying the space...
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Post Project Reflections
Phew...the project is now over!!
Over the course of the weekend I have had time to sit back and reflect on the project at Merstone School. It was so lovely to witness the buzz of excitment and sense of achievment from all the pupils and staff involved. I see the project as if Miriam and I were the stones gently dropped into the pond and starting a gentle but awe inspiring ripple effect which reached all three schools.
Even though I have probably reached doubled figures in the amount of schools residencies I have co-led on, the hand on head/what shall we do challenges still face us. It ALWAYS seems worth it in the end as we sit back fighting tears of joy as the participants perform so beautifully.
Talking to support staff throughout the week we were constantly told how much participants are gainning from the week and how much the staff wish they could continue to work in this way on a regular basis.
As I sat looking through photographs of the project all the memories came flooding back. It is quite overwhelming to consider the magnitude of achievment for people.
I really hope we can visit again very soon. This project will stay with me for a long time.
Over the course of the weekend I have had time to sit back and reflect on the project at Merstone School. It was so lovely to witness the buzz of excitment and sense of achievment from all the pupils and staff involved. I see the project as if Miriam and I were the stones gently dropped into the pond and starting a gentle but awe inspiring ripple effect which reached all three schools.
Even though I have probably reached doubled figures in the amount of schools residencies I have co-led on, the hand on head/what shall we do challenges still face us. It ALWAYS seems worth it in the end as we sit back fighting tears of joy as the participants perform so beautifully.
Talking to support staff throughout the week we were constantly told how much participants are gainning from the week and how much the staff wish they could continue to work in this way on a regular basis.
As I sat looking through photographs of the project all the memories came flooding back. It is quite overwhelming to consider the magnitude of achievment for people.
I really hope we can visit again very soon. This project will stay with me for a long time.
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
50 Ways- Northampton- Leading with Eyes
Hello again... I just can't leave this wonderful work alone can I? Looking through more of my footage I realised that Sally and I never posted this fabulous edit of the 50 Ways Workshop we led for the Investment in Professionals programme at Northants Dance in March this year. I remember the participants on the day made a specific request to have it posted.
It is an exercise where anybody can lead a solo, duet, trio... or entire group of dancers merely by moving their eyes. It is a particularly useful exercise for people whose primary method of communication is through the movement of their eyes.
It is an exercise where anybody can lead a solo, duet, trio... or entire group of dancers merely by moving their eyes. It is a particularly useful exercise for people whose primary method of communication is through the movement of their eyes.
Dance About... And All the Trimmings!!!
As I sit in my garden in Nottingham, no longer officially in post with Blue Eyed Soul, I cannot resist one last look at the fantastic Dance About performance by the Contact Group in March. Clearly I got carried away and created this short edited version of the live piece. The group were so much fun to work with, adding their creative ideas to the mix, really committed, energetic and focused. A true team. After the 5 shows we invited the audience to come and learn some of the choreography and creative tasks we had used to develop it and all the performers were a great support through that process also. I feel honoured to have been given the time to create with them. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Merstone School Residency
It is now the end of day two at the Merstone School Residency. We are working with three schools with varying needs and abilities, Merstone, our hosts, is a school for children with profound and complex needs, Forest Wood is a school for children with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour and Smith's Wood College is a mainstream school. We are all working together with their staff to create a dance performance this Friday. The participants are boys and girls between 12 and 16 years old.
The residency started yesterday morning literally with the 3 schools in separate corners of the room. By the end of today it was hard to tell who was from each school as they played together in the break. The students are all bonding so beautifully. They play with each other at lunchtime and are learning some very specific things about how each other communicates and behaves.
So far we have made a group warm up sequence which we revisit at the beginning of each session exploring different qualities- tired and elastic/ 'yawny'; funky; heavy limbed; energetic etc.; explored each other's range of movement through massage and manipulation tasks; created travelling duets; created duets through different ways of touching; and begun a process of watching, feeding back and selecting material. We have been working in very close pairs and are currently looking at ways in which pairs can be swapped more so that more friendships are created.
The staff at all schools have been particularly sensitive,knowledgeable and supportive of the students, the choreographic process and our needs as well. Whilst exhausted, we are also absolutely thrilled and inspired to be here.
The residency started yesterday morning literally with the 3 schools in separate corners of the room. By the end of today it was hard to tell who was from each school as they played together in the break. The students are all bonding so beautifully. They play with each other at lunchtime and are learning some very specific things about how each other communicates and behaves.
So far we have made a group warm up sequence which we revisit at the beginning of each session exploring different qualities- tired and elastic/ 'yawny'; funky; heavy limbed; energetic etc.; explored each other's range of movement through massage and manipulation tasks; created travelling duets; created duets through different ways of touching; and begun a process of watching, feeding back and selecting material. We have been working in very close pairs and are currently looking at ways in which pairs can be swapped more so that more friendships are created.
The staff at all schools have been particularly sensitive,knowledgeable and supportive of the students, the choreographic process and our needs as well. Whilst exhausted, we are also absolutely thrilled and inspired to be here.
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
LIKE Youth Dance Workshop
Last Saturday Misha and I delivered four short workshops as part of an activities day set up by Telford Council. The day was held at Sundorne Sports Village in Shrewsbury. We were assisted by Vinnie a freelance dance artist who works in the Telford Area. We worked with young people from the age of 8 to 15/16 with physical and learning disabilities. We had originally planned to teach a session based on super heroes but very quickly decided to change the plan to something more physically dynamic and shorter as our 45 minute sessions were condenced to 20 minutes. It was lovely for me to see one or two young people I had previously worked with. We had lots of interest from the young people and their familiies about other activities they could do with us. We have taken details from lots of people for our mailing lists and future LIKE activities. Despite being unwell with a raging ear ache on the day I had a wonderful time and feel that I rose to the challenge of changing the original workshop plan at the last minute.
Monday, 8 February 2010
Open Arts Workshop in Londonderry
Last week myself and Miriam delivered a days workshop to a lively group of adults.It was also the first time I had worked with Julia my new support worker.The session was delivered for Open arts, who are an organisation who promote the inclusion of disabled people in arts activities. They are based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Open Arts are starting a project called Luminous Soul- a dance project for disabled people who would like the opportunity to train to be professional dancers/dance teachers over the next 3 years.There have been a number of workshops delivered prior to our session one of which was with Cando Co.
Our role was to deliver the session whilst the senior staff were carrying out an audition to choose the most suitable participants to be involved. We all met to discuss individuals at the end and give our professional opinions about their suitability for this project.
We had planned quite a challenging Technique session for the morning and then delivered tasks for more creative work. We were delighted to see that everyone was able to be actively involved and very comfortable with adapting movememnt to suit their own movement range. We were very quick to offer alternative movements throughout the day but most people were very capable. Prior to us leaving for Belfast I spent some time on my own planning some ideas. When Miriam began to look at my iniial ideas she stressed that I had put together some good suggestions and ideas for us to build upon. I had spent a long time thinking the plan through so was delighted with Miriams feedback.
The entire trip was a complete success and great fun, what with bumping into famous sports stars and drewelling over fast cars...this was all going on at Birmingham Airport before we had even left!! Once we had arrived in Ireland we set off to find a nice quiet place for an evening meal and to my delight we found a resturaunt which was hosting a Kareoke night that evening...I almost squeeled with delight!! Yes it had to be done i was not going to miss this opportunity.
Going back to the work, it was a pleasure meeting such lovely people and very exciting to see that a whole new breed of disabled peolpe are starting their careers in dance and seem as passionate about it as i was in my early years and still am today!!! I'm keeping my fingers crosed we can return to see the group develop in the coming months and years.
Our role was to deliver the session whilst the senior staff were carrying out an audition to choose the most suitable participants to be involved. We all met to discuss individuals at the end and give our professional opinions about their suitability for this project.
We had planned quite a challenging Technique session for the morning and then delivered tasks for more creative work. We were delighted to see that everyone was able to be actively involved and very comfortable with adapting movememnt to suit their own movement range. We were very quick to offer alternative movements throughout the day but most people were very capable. Prior to us leaving for Belfast I spent some time on my own planning some ideas. When Miriam began to look at my iniial ideas she stressed that I had put together some good suggestions and ideas for us to build upon. I had spent a long time thinking the plan through so was delighted with Miriams feedback.
The entire trip was a complete success and great fun, what with bumping into famous sports stars and drewelling over fast cars...this was all going on at Birmingham Airport before we had even left!! Once we had arrived in Ireland we set off to find a nice quiet place for an evening meal and to my delight we found a resturaunt which was hosting a Kareoke night that evening...I almost squeeled with delight!! Yes it had to be done i was not going to miss this opportunity.
Going back to the work, it was a pleasure meeting such lovely people and very exciting to see that a whole new breed of disabled peolpe are starting their careers in dance and seem as passionate about it as i was in my early years and still am today!!! I'm keeping my fingers crosed we can return to see the group develop in the coming months and years.
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