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We need your support to ‘Keep SiD Dancing’

Dear Friends, SiD needs your support to continue bringing inclusive dance into the lives of people in Shropshire, and to Keep SiD Dancing!

We are asking for donations, no matter how small, to support us running our programme of inclusive dance classes, projects and dance performance.

You can donate through our Just Giving page here.

https://www.justgiving.com/sidance

We believe passionately that dance makes a positive difference to people’s lives and we love creating opportunities for people to dance and move together.

We are lucky to be part of an amazing dance community who have danced through so much together.

We are aiming to raise £15,000 between now and the end of February to ensure that SiD continues to flourish and offer inclusive dance experiences for so many.

Any support you can offer us really will make a big difference.

We will share with you in the coming days ways you can help us fundraise and Keep SiD dancing

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Come and watch the SiD Summer Dance Celebration 2024

SiD’s Darwin Dancers in Performance

Please Join us for an evening’s celebration of inclusive, joyful and
spell binding dance at the Walker Theatre, Theatre Severn on Saturday 13th July.

 A Summer Dance Celebration features captivating performances and dance film from SiD’s participants & dancers plus a guest performance by the powerful and humorous dance theatre duet, Tom and Rob.
The dances will be introduced and woven together by
Makaton signing MC Sam Stephen.  

SiD’s Thrive group in Performance at last years celebration

SiD prides itself in creating dance experiences  which bring people together to celebrate artistry, connection, diversity, humour, and the power of dance.
The evening’s show will be shared in an accessible, supportive and relaxed environment.

Tom n Rob in rehearsal

Please book your tickets by pressing on the link below. Alla ccess details are available on the Theatre Severn Website Access Pages

Please press this link to book tickets

Doors open                 7pm

Show start time         7.30pm

Finish                          9.30pm

Cost

£12 Adults over 18

£6   Children 

We look forward to seeing you and dancing for you !

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Tom N Rob Guest Workshop – Tuesday 5th December 2023

SiD is hosting a one-day workshop led by

Tom N Rob on Tuesday 5th December 2023 
10am – 4.30pm at the Gateway Centre, Shrewsbury SY1 1NB
Cost – £30 

Join Contact Dance Company for a one-day workshop led by Tom N Rob. 
Tom and Rob (Tom Bright and Rob Hemming) are dance theatre artists who make and perform dance, celebrating their shared love of dance, theatre, laughter and improvisation. Their combination of physical energy, partner work, great dancing and comedy has wowed audiences wherever they perform. 

The workshop is open to Contact Dance Company dancers and people who are D/deaf, disabled, neurodivergent and non-disabled, who have previous high level dance experience. We would particularly like to reach out to dancers based in Shropshire or the West Midlands who don’t regularly dance with SiD. 

In the workshop, Tom N Rob will be sharing how they dance and make dances together through their non-verbal creative practice. On the day you will also get to watch their most recent short film ‘Happy Okay Mate’ which will inform some of the workshop content. The workshop will explore Partner skills, improvisation and creating work in duets and small groups. They will give an insight how to use these tools for choreography.

Contact Dance Company are an inclusive dance company produced by Shropshire Inclusive Dance. CDC meets to explore and experience dancing together, to express artistry through dance and to create powerful contemporary dance performance.

How to Book
Please email on officesidance@gmail.com to request a place on the workshop, If places are available we will then send a booking form with payment details.

About The Venue. 
The workshop will take place at The Gateway, Chester Street Shrewsbury.  

  • The Gateway is an accessible venue. There are a range of facilities including lifts to all floors, wide corridors and electrical opening entrance doors. 
  • There are 3 Disabled Parking Spaces  

The venue is close the train station and town centre car parks. There is some on street parking close to the venue.

More information can be found here:
https://hlnsc.ac.uk/apprenticeships/the-gateway-adult-and-community-education- 

Any Questions  

For more information, or to talk to us about what you might need to be able to access the workshop, please email SiD’s Co artistic director Ray Jacobs at directorsidance@gmail.com or call him on 07817194644 

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SiD’s next guest workshop Tom N Rob: Dancing Together

A one-day workshop led by Tom N Rob 
On Tuesday 5th December 2023 
10am – 4.30pm at the Gateway Centre, Shrewsbury SY1 1NB
Cost – £30 

Join Contact Dance Company for a one-day workshop led by Tom N Rob. 
Tom and Rob (Tom Bright and Rob Hemming) are dance theatre artists who make and perform dance, celebrating their shared love of dance, theatre, laughter and improvisation. Their combination of physical energy, partner work, great dancing and comedy has wowed audiences wherever they perform. 

The workshop is open to Contact Dance Company dancers and people who are D/deaf, disabled, neurodivergent and non-disabled, who have previous high level dance experience. We would particularly like to reach out to dancers based in Shropshire or the West Midlands who don’t regularly dance with SiD. 

In the workshop, Tom N Rob will be sharing how they dance and make dances together through their non-verbal creative practice. On the day you will also get to watch their most recent short film ‘Happy Okay Mate’ which will inform some of the workshop content. The workshop will explore Partner skills, improvisation and creating work in duets and small groups. They will give an insight how to use these tools for choreography.

Contact Dance Company are an inclusive dance company produced by Shropshire Inclusive Dance. CDC meets to explore and experience dancing together, to express artistry through dance and to create powerful contemporary dance performance.

How to Book
Please email on officesidance@gmail.com to request a place on the workshop, If places are available we will then send a booking form with payment details.

About The Venue. 
The workshop will take place at The Gateway, Chester Street Shrewsbury.  

  • The Gateway is an accessible venue. There are a range of facilities including lifts to all floors, wide corridors and electrical opening entrance doors. 
  • There are 3 Disabled Parking Spaces  

The venue is close the train station and town centre car parks. There is some on street parking close to the venue.

More information can be found here:
https://hlnsc.ac.uk/apprenticeships/the-gateway-adult-and-community-education- 

Any Questions  

For more information, or to talk to us about what you might need to be able to access the workshop, please email SiD’s Co artistic director Ray Jacobs at directorsidance@gmail.com or call him on 07817194644 

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Contact Dance Company begin an exciting new performance project with dance artist Jo Fong.

Contact Dance Company performers spent two fabulous & creative days with Jo Fong, gathering ideas for a new piece to be premiered by the company at Theatre Severn in the summer.

Jo Fong invited the dancers into her physical, energetic, and dynamic style of dance.

How close can we dance together?  How small can our dances be?
How much noise can we make while we dance. Can we all dance in this tiny space here?

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Jo’s invitations to move were enthusiastically accepted by the company dancers.
Dances of an incredible range were explored over the weekend, subtle small dances in pairs, wild chaotic dancers with the whole company in small spaces, moments of quiet tenderness, lots of laughter and applause, the work was beautiful, powerful and funny to witness.

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Jo Fong is a director, choreographer and performer working in dance, film, theatre, opera and live art. Her eclectic career includes performances with DV8 Physical Theatre, Rosas (Belgium) and Rambert Dance Company.

 

Talking about her work Jo states’

‘The work creates shared experiences, as an audience member, performer or as participant. It seeks to invite an open exchange and immediacy through arts creation and opportunities that aim to promote and support inclusivity and the value of art to everyone’

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Jo Fong and Contact Dance Company are a great match. Jo, during the workshop shared her observation of the incredible physical and creative connection shared between Contact Dance Company dancers. Jo likes to see the work she is making with Contact Dance Company,  with all its diversity, connection, humanness and dynamism, as the future, the new normal.

 

 

 

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Contact Dance Company perform TwoFold at the Feast Festival in Malvern

A full house at the festival witnessed Contact Dance Company’s absorbing and powerful programme of duets ‘Two Fold’. The programme featured;

‘Unspoken’ An intimate duet about friendship. How do we speak without words?

‘While you broke through to other worlds’ A duet exploring the dynamics and polarity between two people, the pull to strive ahead, the fear of being left behind.

‘Father Daughter’ a celebration of the real life connection between the two dancers.

The programme also included a beautifully made short film about the duets entitled
‘A bridge between us’ created by filmmaker Jonathan Tritton.

The programme culminated in a trio ‘The details in the hands’.

Dance development leader Elizabeth Crosswell and her son were in the audience

I came to watch Contact Dance Company at the Feast Festival at Malvern Cube Theatre with my 4 year old son, we were mesmerised. 

 I’ve never seen him sit on the edge of his seat like that before, watching the duet between Rachel Liggitt and Mervyn Bradley unfold. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him softly mirroring movements from the dancers, as a parent your instinct is to hush, to worry about disturbing the performance for others, but this was his response to the performance and my instinct said let him be.

His response came from the environment the performers had created, by connecting with us, the audience. They made us feel a part of it, drawing us into a duet for two, but we were also immersed in the moments of touch, the friendship, the meeting and parting. 

 The dancers were beautiful; from the measured, dynamic movements of the all-male duet, to the warm flow of the structured improvisation of the trio. I wanted to dance in that trio too, they made it look like so much fun. The way they connected with us as an audience is to me a huge part of what dance is about. The moment when the father proudly shows off his baby girl to the audience – we shared that pride with him. We see the love and care danced together when his daughter joins him later in the duet. It’s just magical.

 I thought it was brilliant that the dancers were available to chat with the audience after the performance. Unfortunately I had to dash off for the school run, but I would have loved to have asked about the process and how the work was created.

Please thank all the dancers for their wonderful performances. I was so grateful to have been able to see such high quality dance in such an intimate venue.

Shropshire Inclusive Dance would like to thank the feast festival for inviting us to be part of a very special festival and JTV for supporting our production with high quality lighting and sound.

Images from the duets Father Daughter and Unspoken. (photography Ray Jacobs)

Unspoken

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Come and watch Contact Dance Company perform in Wolverhampton

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Shropshire Inclusive Dance warmly invites you to a performance by Contact Dance Company, makers of powerful and moving inclusive dance

The performances is at the Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton
on Wednesday 10th October.

‘Unknown Places’ explores how we can navigate, compose and find comfort within the unknown.

The piece has been choreographed by award winning dance artist Joanna Young and is performed by our talented ensemble of disabled and non-disabled dancers.

Recent performances of this show by Contact Dance Company has received rave reviews

‘Focused, reflective, contemplative, infused with the presence not only of each dancer, but also the presence and energies of the natural world’

‘At times it felt like the piece was showing to me the ever moving qualities of the whole of humanity’

‘Unknown Places’ will be shown alongside a new trio by the company & also new work from Dance Unity.
 
 Dance Unity has created this new work through a residency with
Contact Dance Company.

The tickets at £5 each can be booked from the Arena box office on 01902 321321 or online following this link

Arena Theatre, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SE

The Arena Theatre is a wheelchair accessible venue.

How to get to The Arena Theatre:

By car


The Arena Theatre is situated in the heart of Wolverhampton City Centre, directly behind the Wolverhampton Art Gallery and next to the University of Wolverhampton’s Wulfruna building. The theatre is completely accessible by road.

The nearby Broad Street car park is open 24 hours a day and costs £4.50 for 24-hour parking. Parking is £2 after 5.30pm.

If you don’t have change available, you can download the RingGo app directly to your smartphone. The code for Broad Street is 8035.

By train

Wolverhampton train station is a just a five-minute walk away from the Arena Theatre.

 

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In Residency in Abercych

SiD had a fantastic time on residency in West Wales, with many thanks to ‘Maynard Abercych’ we shared our dance practise with participants from Pembrokeshire People First and Clynfyw Care Farm.

We were proud to present Arty Party‘s Four Solos in the Wild exhibition in the beautiful 2 Penrhiw where we were staying. Over 60 people visited the exhibition many of whom took part in a gorgeous workshop at Abercych village hall.

Over 30 people aged between 6 and 60 embodied so much of what SiD is all about, celebrating the moving connection between us all. The exhibition presented in the cottage deeply moved many of the visitors. The SiD team were Chloe Shepherd, Mervyn Bradley, Rachel Liggitt and Ray Jacobs. We gained from residing in the beautiful cottage and surroundings in the village of Abercych. Ingredients of the residency included; teamwork, trust, shared cooking, shared laughter, generous hosting from Sterling and Simon and a journey back through the snow.

 

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Ways of Being Together. A two day workshop with Jo Fong. March 5th/ 6th

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‘Ways of Being Together is a series of workshops, discussions and performances facilitated by Jo Fong centred around the idea of of Belonging. A sense of belonging is intimate and powerful, connected, optimistic, unknown and curious making’

Members of Contact dance Company were joined by dancers from around the region to dance under the energising and inspiring guidance of dance artist  Jo Fong.

Jo Fong is a director, choreographer and performer working in dance, film, theatre, opera and the visual arts. Her eclectic career includes performances with DV8 Physical Theatre, Rosas (Belgium) and Rambert Dance Company. Recent collaborations include working with Wendy Houstoun, Sonia Hughes, Deborah Light, Unfinished Business, Skye Reynolds, National Theatre Wales, Welsh National Opera, Hull Dance and Quarantine

Jo really immersed us in movement; her own joy of moving (whole heartedly and energetically) was contagious. Jo built energy in our bodies and throughout the group and facilitated a climate of listening, physical playfulness and openness to change.

When Jo set us simple movement based tasks, for example  ‘listening to a partners spine’, ‘dancing in partners, hands placed simply on shoulders’, or following our gaze to initiate movement. The tasks were explored with appetite, verve and sensitivity.

We also listened to the whole group dancing and our place in it,  the ensemble as an animal, improvising, listening, accelerating, quieting and resting

It felt by the end of the two days as if the group had been really stretched, challenged, had worked hard physically and got a lot of joy from moving and being together.

 

Above are some images of the 2ndday of the workshop when Jo was working with Contact Dance Company. Photography is by Ewen Macintyre.

 

 

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A two day exploratory workshop with Mark Storor

 

20180322-_DSC0344On March 21stand 22nd Contact Dance Company welcomed Mark Storor as our guest artist.

On day one, Mark Storor navigated the dancers through an enjoyable, intense and absorbing creative process of making self portraits. The act of making the portraits created a focussed atmosphere that released a feast of surprising images. We saw ourselves and each other in new ways. We talked about and shared our self portraits. Because the dancers were absorbed in the work and all the ideas and details were their own they were able to talk about their works confidently and in a lot of detail.

Day two was a movement based day. Moving away from creating as individuals and towards devising as a dynamic ensemble. Mark drew inspiration from the dancers creativity, sharing with the group the many stories, images and ideas that came to the fore when he watched us move. Moving, talking , imagining, bringing potential performances to life. Mark encouraged us to use props and texts, such as chairs, blindfolds, strands of cotton and lines of text from Shakespeare. The workshops were an intense experience that will stay with us and we will draw upon.