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Here There Everywhere

SiD is excited to announce the creation of an
entrancing new dance performance 
‘Here There Everywhere’

The new work will be made during an intensive rehearsal period in June and performed to the public later in the month at The Shrewsbury Food Festival and SiD’s own Midsummer Celebration.

Performed by SiD’s Contact Dance Company
‘Here There Everywhere’ will comprise of three ‘pop up’ dance performances made specifically for outdoor events and festivals.

The new dances will catch festival and event goers by surprise with energetic, poignant and playful dances, which literally pop up in unexpected places.

SiD has commissioned choreographer Siobhan Hayes and designer Heidi Luker to choreograph and design this wonderfully unique new work.

Within Here There Everywhere the dances will be delving into the question
‘What do we think we’re searching for?’
Power, Love, Escape, Freedom…
This inclusive and delightful mini-series will invite you to reflect on the question “What is your Utopia?”

The diverse and skilful cast comprises of Contact Dance Company member’s Mervyn Bradley, Beth Gardiner and
Anna Belyavin joined by guest dancers, Maiya Leeke and Chander van Daatselaar.

SiD is very excited to be making this new work and sharing it to a wide range of audiences, hopefully at events near you.

(images created by Gary Lindsay – Moore / Arron Fowler / Ray Jacobs

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Contact Dance Company perform Skirting Around The Edge

On Friday 24th September, Contact Dance Company performed a new duet as part of the FEAST Festival in Malvern. ‘Skirting Around The Edge’ performed by dancers Beth Gardiner and Anna Belyavin, is a lyrical exploration of connection and boundaries. The two dancers navigate the space, exchange glances and like so many of us during this time, experience being together after a long time apart.

The packed FEAST festival audience who were enjoying a sublime selection of poetry, music, performance art and physical comedy were entranced by the dance piece and the dancers. The audience were there with the dancers for every swing, turn, leap, touch and thanked them with rapturous applause at the end of the piece.

Skirting around the Edge, directed by SiD’s co-artistic director Rachel Liggitt was accompanied by the beguiling music track ‘Vardeldu’r by Signor Ros. Contact Dance Company continue to make dances which share the power and importance of human connection at a time when everyone needs it.

Shropshire Inclusive Dance are accepting bookings for this new work please contact directorsidance@gmail.com with enquiries.

Images by Ray Jacobs

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Launch of All-In, our inclusive youth dance programme for 12-19 year olds in Shropshire

We are thrilled to launch our new inclusive youth dance project ‘All-In’

All-In is a series of taster dance workshops in 2019 to build towards the exciting launch of our inclusive youth dance company in 2020. If you are a young person with or without disabilities in Shropshire aged 12-19 who is passionate about dance, come along to our workshops in Shrewsbury.

The sessions will include moving, creating, choreographing and sharing together. They will be led by experienced practitioners who are skilled in leading enjoyable and accessible dance sessions.

When: Wednesday 17th April, Tuesday 13th August, Monday 28th October 2019.

Time: 1:30-3:30pm

Where: The Gateway Education and Arts Centre, Shrewsbury

Cost: £3.50 per person

Each of these sessions will be unique so feel free to join us at one or all of them. Booking is required and places are limited.

To reserved your place, complete the booking form here

For more information contact Kim at Shropshire Inclusive Dance at officesidance@gmail.com or call 01743 234976

 

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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)

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Unknown Places – Performance at Wolverhampton Arena, October 10th 2018

‘Unknown Places’ Contact Dance Company’s most recent ensemble piece, choreographed by dance artist Joanna Young, made a welcome return to the stage at the Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton.

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Unknown Places – image Ewen Macintyre

This evocative and absorbing piece was performed alongside an improvised trio by Contact Dance Company titled ‘The details of the hands’. The piece was structured and inspired by Joanna Young and accompanied with sensitive and powerful live music by folk duet Deuair.

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Details of the hands – Image Ewen Macintyre

Shropshire Inclusive Dance’s co-director Rachel Liggitt has been in residence with ‘Dance Unity’ sharing some of the working methods in Contact Dance Company’s pieces and some of the ideas behind ‘Unknown Places’ The influence of the work became immediately apparent as Dance Unity took to the stage sharing a dance piece full of connection and elegance.

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Dance Unity – Image Ewen Macintyre

The final work to be performed was Contact Dance Company’s
‘Unknown Places’. The cast of 8 very individual dancers moved through shifts in mood & dynamics from subtle swaying and careful placing, to the creation of wild eddies of movement across a crowded dance floor. The piece demanded discipline and connection from the dancers, which was there for all to see.

‘A dancer moves slowly within a circle while delicate strands of lavender are precariously balanced on her. A male dancer moves and slides a large boulder through his arms, a ripple of bamboo poles balanced on dancers bodies provides a gentle rhythmic accompaniment’

 

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Unknown Places – Image Ewen Macintyre

The dance was accompanied by a subtle and dynamic soundscape by Jamie McCarthy.Contact Dance Company performed Joanna Young’s absorbing and finely placed work with commitment, focus and energy. Members of the audience present at the premiere of the work shared the following thoughts.

‘The new work was a wonderful piece of ensemble movement: 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’

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Unknown Places – Image by Ewen Macintyre

 

Unknown Places by Contact Dance Company is available for festivals and theatre venues.

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The details of the hands
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Unknown Places (2018)

 

 

 

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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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Growing Together with Aya Kobayashi

Contact Dance Company and friends were lucky to be the recipients of two days of workshops led by dance artist Aya Kobayashi on April 5th – 6th.

Aya began her training in Japan before enrolling at the Rambert School in London. She has performed with companies and choreographers that include Flexer & Sandiland, Rosemary Lee, Charlie Morrissey, Kerry Nicholls, Pete Shenton, Gecko and Lila Dance.

Aya has also presented her own work at Tate family festivals, the Sanriku International Festival in Japan, and regularly teaches for Independent Dance, Greenwich Dance, Brighton Dance Network, Oxford Collective and various universities.

Aya has choreographed touring works for Anjali and has supported guest choreographers including Maresa von Stockert, Amit Lahav, Luca Silvestrini, Lea Anderson and Gary Clarke.

We were delighted to be joined by dance artists from the West Midlands region and dancers from The Blue Room based at Bluecoat house in Liverpool.

Over the two days Aya led the participants into a deeper understanding of their own bodies leading them into new ways of moving.

Aya shared objects, pictures and films that helped develop a richness in movement dynamics and articulation.

Aya used props from sources as unlikely as a coathanger to give us a sense of width and weight, to water filled balloons to give us a sense of softness, to watching the elegant walk of a tiger.

The two days workshops culminated in the use of costume to enhance, explore, eschew, force and inspire different ways of moving in solo duet and group forms.

It has been a delight to welcome guest artists to lead workshops for us and regional colleagues, dancers and artists to participate with us. We would like to thank
‘The Gateway’ in Shrewsbury for hosting three of these workshops.

We hope to curate further guest workshops in the future.

Images from day two of the workshop are below. Photography by Ewen Macintyre.