Tuesday 16 April 2019

Extinction Rebellion, benefit and next performances

First things first:
the first day of EXTINCTION REBELLION !!!
I chatted to my husband recently and rediscovered that i am at heart an activist, (lots gets buried when you have 5 children), I am known to rant!
So we hope and pray for our future of this beautiful and wonderful planet and ecosystem we are a part of.

Back to Saturday night:
Big thank you to Miranda, Helen and Dhruv: Nordic Skiers who came to play for us - they are now back in the recording studio for two days.
Skye is also creating an EP.
Exciting times....
and a real privilege to hear them all. Live music what a joy!

It was lovely to hear the gentleness, range and humour of Nordic Skiers, their first gig!
and then to hear Skye who has performed a lot in the past year, is so at home on stage and is 'a force of nature,'
complimentary and contrasting singer songwriters.

Next

Thank you to Belinda for the photo
https://belindawhiting.co.uk/home.html
and Anna for poster design.
https://www.instagram.com/anna__sophronia/?hl=en

Off to Kestle Barton on Thursday to recce the space with Colin, hoping for good weather.


Blog i didn't finish and therefore post!.....from April 3rd


"We are arts and culture practitioners, and invite you to join us in Declaring a Climate and Ecological Emergency together, on April 3rd. In our Declaration, we pledge to work with communities in tackling this emergency, we call for Truth, Action and Justice, and we express the value of Arts and Culture in imagining and forging better ways of relating to each other and the living planet."
Last Friday the voting members of Shallal, voted to support Extinction Rebellions vision. We are preparing a declaration of emergency ( as suggested by Culture declares emergency) and believe with them that ....
"Culture gives space to articulate our place and survival in the web of life.
In studies of systemic interconnectedness, the energy and resilience of a system are where connections and links are the strongest; participation, diversity, plurality and variability the greatest.
Through its convening powers, culture brings people together across differences of generation, heritage, gender, class and working expertise to find commonality: all perspectives can be drawn on to create the future we want to live in. Celebratory social spaces allow us to to look backwards and forwards in time, where our collective knowledge, intuition and a sense of wonder at what is possible come together."

I had along conversation with my husband around politics ( my dislike of ) and he said you are really more an activist!
(Lightbulb moment and memories of activism in my 'youth.')
For me Shallal and inclusion is a form of activism, we create microcosms of how life could be, if: we acted to try to include and value everyone in the room, if we share our gifts and all do our best. If we work from where we are, not judged by external standards.

Tuesday 2 April 2019

Shallal Benefit

Skye has her second single out Boy following on from Breathe - highly recommended.
I feel so privileged to watch Skye, Anna, Annis and Zoe Osmond grow through Shallal and their continuing creative journeys.
Anna - Camberwell Art School in September, Fine Art Painting degree
Annis - waiting to decide where to go, has offers, recent work experience with                   Barbara Santi
Zoe - Falmouth Art School, Drawing degree first year

I sing in a small choir with: Miranda, on the right, in Nordic Skiers and Jeremy Annear - who kindly arranged for Booths the printers to print these for free for us...Many Thanks to Booths and Jeremy ( and Anna for the poster design)! Our choir practice has a very Shallal feel to it, lots of good humour, celebration and food involved as well as some effort at the creative work, again with good humour, more because they are kind to me - who can't hold my part or remember my note!!

Thank you to all who will make this possible and we are so pleased to be sharing any funds raised with https://falmouthandpenrynwelcome.org/about-us/

Skye-anna http://skyeannamusic.com/
Nordic Skiers https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClPta5YwRUwDb3ahIv0yxeQ
Jeremy Annear http://www.jeremyannear.com/
Booths the printers http://boothsprint.co.uk/

Good news that Colin and Debs are coming ( alternately ) to support in Shallal 2.
The new project Here and Now is cross fertilising the skills and dancers in Shallal, with George and a dancer or two from Shallal Dance Theatre coming to Shallal 2 soon as we work towards our next set of Embodied Space these are each so different as the venue space defines the show and we now have George so ( as originally envisioned ) with a section of  improvised music.

Thomas from Liskeard group will come along to sessions and join is for performances as much as possible, made possible by Henry Smith Trust funding as a trainee associate artist.

Thomas is working on poetry in his company sessions, wonderful to have Alice performing this week, so far joining him are: Alice, Janice and Lois. We hope to have a poetry theme to our next big project after Here and Now and so are pleased it may dovetail well with launching his group/company.

Feedback in Shallal Dance Theatre today was really helpful and we all felt deeply moved by Trebah and 'Sorrowful Song.'
Two new members trying out and fitting in well. Lots to do. Pep sadly away in May, but back for June and Embodied Space is designed to be whoever is "in the room."

It has taken 30 years to come up with the simple structure: only 3 instructions and 2 other add ons for performance, to give us the Embodied Space.
Is it: moving art, performance art, dance, theatre? whatever it is it works.
Someone commented it is like meditation on Thursday, i steer away from those descriptions, but it is authentic in the moment and i agreed witht the way she described it.
As always so impressed by peoples articulate definitions and i learn so much.
 Falmouth Art Gallery, 1.30pm
Saturday 4 May – Kestle Barton, 3pm
Friday 17 May Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Gallery4pm.
Friday 7 June - Minack Car Park,  daytime
check into www.shallal.org.uk for times, coming soon!
Free entrance - hoping for a donation at the end!