55 today and yesterday we celebrated with friends from many parts of your life, Shallal was a large part of it all.
"And i just want to share my immense gratitude for years of working with you and watching your intense creative drive!
Thank you for a such a rich creative life, full of fun and friendship."
It is always an honour and a privilege to be alongside people and Zoe and i have known each other for about 38 years, through lifes landmarks: births, marriages, death and all ...
her gifts and creative drive and connection were often at the forefront of what we did, especially in the early years.
Shallal has grown, it is bigger than any of us and we are so happy to see people thriving in these creative settings and on the way many of us forge strong friendships and relationships through the joy of creativity and spontaneous sharing.
Can't do justice to Zoes input but found these old photos many from our first Porthmeor Residency in St Ives and was moved to see Sally in them. Sally was an old friend of Zoe's who died this year. She was also full of joy and fun and an amazing artist, who never quite had the exposure she could have, every painting was a joyous celebration often of flowers and then chickens! And a photo with Trevor on his 70th birthday.
An old photo with Zoe and Phil Jacobs.
Both had love of photography/film - which continues.
Phil has recently donated a lighting rig to us- Many thanks.
In Shallal we believe in the continual provision of access to the creative arts, not just one off projects.
We see people flourish, and from increased confidence in their own creative process, it becomes a transferable skill and they often delve into other art forms.
We see how the playfulness in creativity and improvisation, can give access to joy and connection.
We support each other in the groups through hard times by being constant, an available supportive activity.
A positive distraction which allows self expression but focuses on the positive, life affirming nature of creativity and connection.
We can also practice, caring for each other, being supportive, finding our place in community.
Those who work with me know i dont 'do' much, i sit and 'watch' that is my doing,
and one of the pleasures and privileges in that, is seeing the care and connection that creativity can create in a room and which you can take with you into other areas of your life.
Thank you to everyone
And a big Thank you Zoe for being with us from the beginning and a catalyst to so much in Shallal and a good friend.
Well we have celebrated and mourned friends before in Shallal Dance Theatre.
Eileen, Phosphoresence in our show Mind the Gap,
Marjorie, 'Remembering Marjorie' June 2018
our poetry book to Helen Thompson, Eileen and Marjorie and now our dear Trevor.
Oh my, i have boxes of tissues at the ready.
Trevor died during the pandemic and we only could send 3 people to his funeral, no wake and we weren't meeting up, so now we are here.
Gathering today surrounded by flowers, friends, art, dance, song, an ode and cake to remembering someone whose words were sometimes limited and indistinct but whose personality and gift for friendship was huge and we all carry in our hearts.
For me Trevor represents so much history, so many others.
And a real loss.
So, Giles plans to come, we are so pleased, he and Trevor with their support worker Duane, were like 3 very cheeky musketeers they had fun and we all shared it! They made the journey from St Mawes to Newlyn for Shallal Dance Theatre every Friday. The door into the room at St Peters hall had a sense of 'theatrical entrance' and there was always a cheer and welcome when they came in! The humour of ( Trevor's) outfits, which we will again enjoy tonight as many of us dress up to remember him.
They came via the wonderful longstanding community group Friends and Dancing and so Friends and Dancing have made 2 dances to share as well this evening.
I'm off now to do last minute preparation and some sandwich making.
Thank you to Anna for her help and Leigh for today, to all the artists, performers and makers who have created and contributed and to helpers and supporters and Princess Pavilions staff and Falmouth Town Council for the venue and much more!
See you there!
and if not in person please join our live stream! or catch it later, we hope to keep it up on youtube.
There will be slide show uploaded after the event as well.
We look forward to being with you tomorrow on Live stream and then Zoom
So yesterday we went to the Court of Appeal. So many people came to support and the court room was full!
The judge said that they really understood the human element of the case - hurrah! Thank you so much everyone for coming.
Heidi gave a speech outside the court (she was too busy with ITV, and so missed her opportunity to speak in court, the life of an activist!)
And so now we wait........................we expect the judgement to be in October time, Please keep talking about the case, telling everyone you know. It is surprising how many people don't realise that there is this level of discrimination in our law.
"A much loved member of Cornish performance company Shallal Dance Theatre will be celebrated in style this week . Trevor's Tribute Tea Dance will be held at Princess Pavillion 6-8pm Friday 15th July. Trevor Hills was a longstanding and popular performer, loved by everyone and known for his unique dress sense.
Trevor died in 2021 during covid restrictions, so few company members were able to attend his funeral. A show for Trevor was a must, a piece to commemorate and celebrate the life of this very special man.
Trevor's wonderful personality brought warmth and gentleness to the room and his humour was infectious. A natural clown, his humour was visual and playful and he loved being silly. Occasionally Trevor could be seen in sensible sweatshirt and jogging bottoms, but usually he sported one of two distinctive outfits; his James Bond style suit, complete with bow tie, or full Scottish attire featuring hat, woollen socks and kilt with sporran.
The Trevor Hills Memorial Fund has been set up, with money donated being used to help with transport costs for those needing help to attend Shallal sessions. The company believes lack of transport should not be a barrier to access and attendance.
Shallal welcomes everyone to watch this special performance, featuring dance, music, song and poetry, then join in with a dance if desired! There will be a buffet spread and of course plenty of tea. Come 'dress to impress' in party frocks, snazzy shirts and hats. Smart suits and kilts most welcome!"
Ode to Trevor
written by Debs and Eddie on Friday lunchtime - we laughed and wept
It is a bitter sweet thing to be gathering the ideas and plans for Trevor's Tribute Tea Party, and it's bitter sweet to meet today with the joy of being together, creating and dancing, with the reality of the struggles and pain many people combat each day.
Faced with low numbers today ( written on 24 June) - a lot of illness around and builders at our venue, so some avoiding the noise - and the thought of rising fuel and transport costs, I'm concerned for our resilience. Although as i say that i also have great faith in love and adaptability and resilience, but not in many of the political, industrial, and business systems that should be caring for our ecosystem.
The loss also of physical contact with 4 of our dearly loved dancers who we haven't worked with for 2 years now since the pandemic, as they are in serious shielding households.
We miss them.
So Trevors tea party a lot of fun and some nice ideas and we are looking forward to it.
"I thought it was a different show, like I'd never seen before. I thought the acting was great and everyone was enjoying themselves" Mark ( who used to live with Trevor!:) at St Mawes
"I liked a lot. I liked that everyone was interacting and taking part. It was very moving and inspirational". Natasha
"I liked the animals!" Rob
"I liked the animals too! I liked the music." Kerry
we had a 'small is beautiful' audience
due to competing 'beach and barbecue' a Friday night 'heatwave ' before rain all weekend!
However we raised over £100 for our new project.
We had a wonderful range of audience, Elizabeth and Demelza had people to sign for, the access was needed, family, friends, those who knew us, those who don't, supporters from the church venue, Charlotte who wrote our NPO application and four people who want a group like Shallal in St Austell, so all good! 'Quality not quantity' and you only need 'to move' one person to make it worthwhile and apparently we moved a few!
So onward to dear Trevor's Tribute
Pleased to have Leigh Jacobs with us for an internship next month so his curational skills can help set up the space.
Also a big well done to Phoebe and Lou and all in the Underworld Project, it was really enjoyable to see the range of responses to their Bat and Seaweed themes...
"Toby demonstrated his invention this afternoon at the Underworld exhibition sharing. It's inspired by bat sound, echos and waves". Lou
photo soon hopefully
Pam reading her poem.
Kresen Kernow was a lovely venue for it.
This blog becomes less representative of much of Shallal and more of a slice, as what we do and deliver expands.
I'm loving going into Double Trees School and need to write it up our project on the website, it was our first session on Monday!
However covid still haunts and lurks, as two from that session now have it..it was a busy morning.
Loving our R&D 'Sound and Voice' with Holifield Day Centre.
Looking forward to Back Lane West planning for October residency, already have one artist keen to have space and time for own R&D, need to get Coats back in! could be a whole project of its own, keen to R&D installations ...devise Christmas Songs, develop Podcasts and more!
Meeting supporting Passmore Edwards projects with Dean and Hennie.
Oh and bumped into Josh at Old Redruth Library so looking forward to building on chats and contact Phoebe has had with him.
We are currently searching for storage for Shallal 'stuff' props, mats, art work, costumes and all sorts and so that also means Shallal grows up and leaves home more, as much is stored in my home and its getting clogged up, as we grow and need to care for it all.
more to remember ....and film
and Zoe's birthday Dance Delivery
such wonderful feedback of how surprised and pleased she was!
I've been trawling through trying to find a photo of Trevor, after making our newsletter, getting ready to be on half term holiday, winding down.
Shallal has expanded and we are embracing that at our next AGM where we hope to start to bring in the whole Shallal participating community as voting members ( at present the voting members are the people in Shallal Dance Theatre).
It's nostalgic trawling back through Facebook photographs, and i need to share some highlights
first the one i was searching for, which was hidden here on the blog in 2014, not on FB!, :
Trevor happy surrounded by beautiful women!
Then not much has changed...
Amused as I still work chaotically with lots of pieces of paper, although i do like a 'post it note' sometimes now! Still love process.
Onto the important externals...
Looking forward to Shallal Studios
Yesterday Anna updated our poster for 'A Call to Home' at St Austell to raise funds to provide:
and watch a Shallal Pop Up on stage at approx 11.15am
Hope to see you there!
The Trevors Tribute Tea Dance
Friday15 July 6-8pm
Princess Pavillions
Falmouth
Everyone welcome and some formal invitations coming soon (as a designer has time)
meanwhile...
such style!
the main thing you need to know is to "Dress to Impress"
We are busy across Shallal in Friends and Dancing, Express Yourself and Shallal Dance Theatre,
all groups Trevor attended for years. we are making, writing, singing, dancing, acting, reminiscing and collecting memories to create from, and looking forward to our first large social gathering with some flown in on Zoom and Film specially for the occasion which will, also have a lot of cake!
Hard to share/do justice to what's going on, all need their own post...
Last night in our zoom talk Anna's slide choice presented a slice of Shallal from 1985 till today via people, Zoe, Toby and Trevor to Residencies and cross art form, Embodied space ending up at 'Marks, movement and Conversations.'
(20 people on zoom talk ""Very inspiring... Thanks...I'd be wanting to get involved if I wasn't already.. 😁)
However this isn't the end as installations seem to be a really positive development for our collaborations and we realise we have 2 already on the boil or brewing, with Lisa Mortensen, Eddie and Anna and Peter Freeman and George and SDT, we would like to grow one with Janet's art work as well.
What an extraordinary pleasure when collaborations come off so beautifully, i was stunned by the curation and vision of Leigh Jacobs hanging the marks made in the 2 workshops. He transformed a seemingly small awkward sized space /gallery into a wonderful inviting intriguing installation which called you in and offered so much. I'll ask someone else to describe it and hope to document it this week.
An appreciative audience of approx 50 for our 2 pop up performances on Friday evening - thank you team! and Jonty Lees and everyone who supported it so warmly and worked hard to enable it.
Shallal Sketchbooks
Yesterday the Shallal Sketchbook zooms started again weekly, thanks to The Claire Milne Trust funding.
Voice and Movement' R&D at Holifield Farm Project
Yesterday afternoon i had the pleasure to go to Holifield Farm Project to start an R&D that has been brewing for years 'Voice and Movement', I'd love a Shallal style 'choir'.
The joy of familiar faces Liam and Emily - both had been in Shallal Dance Theatre years ago - Rupert i met as a toddler 25+ years ago! and Ian and some others I knew from centres i worked in many over 25 years ago!
Thank you to Sadie for supporting this and Anna now interning with us and Elle volunteering with us. We plan to do 8 free sessions. I feel able to do this due to the musical skills of Sadie and then Elle so they compensate for my lack but i'm enthusiastic and we made great sounds and had fun!
Ideas
In true Shallal style you talk about something and already people are suggesting more and developing it, Zoe and Eddie had 4 good ideas from the talk, and Janice and co in Liskeard are developing and playing with their own style mark making.
Thomas at Liskeard group
Someone in the audience was going to ask about the meaning of cross art form but after the talk said she now understood it in Shallal, which was good to know.
Time to prepare for the zoom sessions today and my weekly chat to our manager Chris whose calm at the centre of Shallal is really noticeable now, in so many of us being able to keep producing more and feeling well supported, thank you to the trustees and Ian as well and Charlotte. Chris has been super busy outside Shallal with setting up/co-ordinating responses to the needs in the Ukraine and the suffering people. https://planetradio.co.uk/pirate-fm/local/news/cornwall-group-offers-homes-for-refugees/
The global crisis asks more of all of us and i was thinking we could all aspire to tithe our time, ( many do already) 10 or 20% of our free time would make a real difference if we all did it and it could precipitate more positive change.
RSA As part of our UNBOXED: Collective Futures project we are inviting you to submit examples of collective participatory initiatives you're involved in. Together, we can show the power of collaboration between people from different backgrounds, perspectives and practices. I responded to this from Shallal
The joy of being connected and seeing old friends Tracy and Cath at Park View Centre, Helston where we are projected on to the wall and today our projectors arrive - they have been late in coming but - now we will have the capacity to project!
Looking forward to sharing the fabulous array of artistic expression and styles people have embraced in our Hands theme.
Now we are aiming to finish HANDS and move onto Colour - RED next week.
...
Friday
More Zoom as storm Eunice caused the cancellation of our Showcase and Sharing event...great to be together with zoom friends again and plans to create zoom films together.
A lot goes on behind then scenes new project funding Studios and Sketchbooks consolidating and developing all the time.
and a request to look forwards,
to imagine 10 years time
my writings went in this direction...
Good practice is throughout Shallal relationships the care and concern, politeness, positive communication and respect is maintained and role modelled within the inner organisation as well as the public facing.
Shallal has a fully inclusive (comms) throughout …..skilled BSL and Makaton and Audio description, captioning etc all inclusive communications readily available and is able to work well with people in these (often marginalised) communities
Shallal has a strong input ( outreach) and can work in all its groups with people with high level of support needs and has changing place in its studio/s, venues
Shallal has positive real relationships with other leading arts organisations which are also full accessible/inclusive and kind etc and continues to foster these
Shallal has/is survived/ing the global crisis we are entering and has been a leader/servant in new and positive ideas and ways of working - we can’t see into this, we just need to be prepared and watching reading the signs of the times
Shallal has a just equal/equity/ (highly skilled) and kind structure throughout.
With this in mind we have most if not all our groups sustained by ‘clean’ money and or our local communities - utopia! - Developed social prescribing parish councils local businesses communities model - from Imagine If
People working in Shallal have a reasonable wage and are not overly worried about their income, so they feel valued and can concentrate on the work. People work to their strengths and skills and are supported
We have accessible beautiful areas to work in outdoors, ie. outdoor studio performance space which are - a present wish for many people
Our ‘social’ venues are in the positive hearts of our communities.
People continue to see Shallal as part of their lives and there is a good succession development arts access throughout…it remains flexible and inviting and able to accommodate and help artists develop
It sustains it’s aesthetic standard and truly works across art forms and has music, voice, word, sculpture etc Art forms also available
There are good accessible platforms and opportunities for audience engagement,
Shallal continues to be responsive to the people and may have completely changed it’s purpose and role if necessary…
Shallal has modelled and shown the value of people and their contribution and has positively affected societies thinking - things such as downs syndrome late abortion, (genocide)
Shallal has made positive impact on people living in supported living, who now don’t have difficulty accessing Shallal …Trevor Hill fund
Shallal continues to be able to work with people as long as they wish to be involved.
Shallal is attractive to artists, educators and its way of working is seen as complimentary and has impacted the way the arts are delivered and viewed…Shallal continues to expand explore and develop arts practices
Shallal has a wonderful regenerative vision and impact - planet.
Shallal stays humble, rooted and not overly concerned with how others view them but answerable to our own ethos.
We still have fun, take our selves lightly and give and receive joy.
Shallal sustains and develops its symbiotic vibe!
Supportive friendships already happening continue and develop and people feel community support and its manifestation ie gig buddies…circles of support
How do people and families we know continue after parents /carers die etc
Shallal attracts and enables younger facilitators/artists who develop it in wonderful ways in keeping with its vision
Has delivered a residency /festival/event celebrating and thanking Wolfgang of Amici with Sapphire as his vision enabled Shallal
Shallal has engaged positively with training and education students to show /develop accessible models
We are not complacent or self congratulatory
Lou has added this to a bigger document and Shallal is much more than my thoughts and vision now, so hope to share that edited and refined sometime, it's gone to process with Jess.
and lots of interesting creative conversations, my favourites are Toilets* and Beavers..watch this space.
Date for Trevors Tea Dance on it's way!
from Zoe, ipad art! wonderful layers of colour.
* Toilets
Shallal are advocates for Changing Spaces and are deeply sad to know 2 local hubs who had their supportive plans to install one fail at the final point and sad to work at one vibrant developing space/venue which so far is disinterested in installing one! ...
we keep going...
any of could be disabled by accident or illness and need to use one, it's not for 'others' its for all of us!
Big Thank you to John Willis who raised £1400 for the Trevor Hill Memorial Fund by running the Oxford Half Marathon.
The fund will help people in supported living access Shallal sessions. Thank you to all who supported his fund raiser, we can already see the difference this fund is enabling. John remembers Trevor fondly over many years of being around Shallal shows especially Doorways at Godolphin House.
Fundraising is a constant conversation in charities and family are a constant conversation for many of us, so when two combine in a nice event and a good memory legacy it was a cause to celebrate. Four of our family went off to Oxford to support John.
John remembers Trevor more than i thought and this means so much, we all affect each other and Trevors legacy is special for many reasons that i can't articulate clearly enough in this short blog post.
We recently had an AGM and 3 'new' people to Shallal described in a heartfelt way what Shallal meant to them. They have come into Shallal via Shallal Sketchbooks and Picture Post and this shows how Shallal has 'grown up', it is bigger, wider and hopefully better than before. Still keeping it's family feel and credit was given to our trustees and especially to Nick Fripp for hosting the AGM so well. Our trustees have graciously steered us through the last few years really proving their supportive guiding roles. We are very grateful, the gratitude goes through out the organisation as everyone gives their best!
And it is remarkable the skills and vision that people bring, our new website is one of these and our new business plan is on it's way.
Check out the News section for more info on everything going on!
Good news from Manda Brookman that Kate Raworth, creator of Doughnut Economics, is using our film "Voices at the Table," so pleased!
"Kate contacted me this week as she wanted to show off Shallal doughnut youtube film so i sent it on to her as she wanted to use it at ... TEDx somewhere and she wanted to use that as an example...just wanted to let you know Kate's got it and she's talking about it! so power to your elbow Shallal you are ****** amazing!"
Off to Shallal Dance Theatre dress rehearsal, then a chat with Blair and Pete Freeman at Newlyn gallery re live steaming to Tretyakov Gallery Education department on 28 January, i think we need a translator!
lots of bids, applications and plans as well as second half of Back lane West and an online Christmas Party zoom! and Creative Journeys with Claire at the Studio Saturday mornings, advertising our Zoom sessions. many thanks to The Henry Smith Charity and looking at Time to Shine and RANK Foundation as Sapphire's time draws towards it's close, we've loved working with her ( and our planning continued projects ) and she has brought a lot to the role despite the difficulties of lockdown!
Awaiting 2 films and lots on, i want to post work from Foraging Nectar..its beginning to sound like a TO DO list..time to stop...
Last thought
A friend recently commented how he disliked blogs! ( oops here i am ) he is involved in something wonderful that we talked about ages ago when the film Elephant Queen came out, now they have huge education and outreach programmes as well as illustrated school books.
"completed more than 17 screenings of The Elephant Queen and reached over 6000 people in the first two weeks in schools and communities in southern Kenya. The screenings are part of our 8 month-long nationwide tour."
Access to a healthy environment, declared a human right by UN rights council
Activist links in them all.
Foraging Nectar is now up on YouTube
Thank you to Sapphire for her hard work is best said by Arinda:
"I have enjoyed the exhibition video so much. Sapphire did great work. My regards and gratitude to her. I love it."
I ended up doing a little side project, ( aided by feedback from Anna and Jo) to allow everyone to hear Jo L's recording in full...
Back to Film
Manda's spoken word for "Voices at the table"- is that the title?? i'm trying to decide as i write this and reply to Bobby who is finishing it this weekend.
We have ended up with 2 versions one with Makaton and one with BSL.
In conversation and our limited time frame we weren't able to explore or be more creative with the placing of these languages on screen and so have kept to their traditional placement lower right corner, but we want to continue this and so we need to develop stronger bonds and understanding.
Interestingly a friend who is a founder in https://falmouthandpenrynwelcome.org/wants training in Makaton to support conversations with young children who are learning English :)
This spoken word by Manda is the basis for the film.
"So the question is: what is Doughnut Economics?
Doughnut economics is a way of looking at economics in a way that is fit for the 21st Century.
Up to now, economics, which actually has nothing to do with numbers, is about really managing what we have and where we live – well that’s what economics actually means; but somehow the economics up to now has managed to leave out the planet in that thinking, and it’s also left out people who don’t have a fair share.
So right now economics is a pyramid, the few at the top have the most and everyone else at the bottom has the least. So instead of that pyramid, imagine a doughnut, the sort with the hole in the middle. The vision of doughnut economics is to have a sort of economics that leaves no one behind in the middle, in the hole, in the gap, making sure that everybody has the essentials of a life: enough food and water and housing, healthcare, good company, joy, laughter and culture.
But as we create those systems we need to make sure we don’t use more than we have the right to take. If one person takes too much, it risks someone else not having enough, and busting through that outer ring of the doughnut, the one where we start going into overdraft, in terms of the impact on the climate that’s how we cause a climate breakdown – where we make the oceans acidic, and full of plastic, we destroy our forests, we break down our living planet, which really isn’t the wisest thing we can do.
So in actual fact, all doughnut economics is, is about making sure we build economic systems that are fair, that make sure that everybody can shop and travel, and take a break, and have a future and have a present that means that everybody has a fair share on a healthy planet. That nobody has not enough, that nobody is in the hole in the middle, but what we have built doesn’t end up busting through those limits, the planetary limits, it’s a finite system. We can’t carry on taking more than the planet can sustain, we can’t carry on poisoning our rivers and burning down our forests and depleting our resources. We can’t do that, what we’re looking for is planetary and human health, where everyone has a fair share on a healthy planet, that’s what doughnut economics is. It’s an economics for everyone, and for the planet.
So if economics is about the management of what we have and where we are, not just about money,then doughnut economics is about everyone, and ensuring that human health and planetary health is a priority, it invites a new way of thinking where we join the dots between people and place, between food and culture, between well being and caring, between homes and community, where we prioritise human and planetary health and where we invite all those voices to the table, especially those who have never been invited before or who have been excluded. This is about all of us, for us all to listen to the diversity of views and to make an economic system that hears everyone."
Onto Back Lane West BLW ( our annual residency)
coming soon, the timetable filling with fabulous, crazy and interesting collaborations investigations. I so love process!
I made a decision in Shallal Dance Theatre SDT and then was unsure of the detail rolling it out so have put it under R&D BLW.
Showcasing & Sharing
more about that in another blog...
Sharing our timetable for SDT and knowing there is so much more going on in Shallal
Open improv performance approx 30 mins and 20 mins audience invitation to join in.
we hope to do these regularly/ monthly in the round
free/donation
please invite family and friends and artists/dancers
12 November
afternoon trip to Back Lane West Residency Redruth (run by Anna Willis and Megan Burridge for 2-15 Nov) to play 'dressing up' with costume ie. jackets, hats etc
26 November
2pm A Call to Home
St Peters Church Newlyn
donation
We had a good Artists meeting last week, just so good to be in touch, share practice and explorations especially the new world of Blended Delivery. Many thanks to Duchy Health Trust for supportive digital equipment.
Last not least remembering dear Trevor
and best wishes and thanks to John who is running the half marathon for his Memorial Fund tomorrow!
"Trevor is a shining creative soul. May his cheeky spirit continue to resonate in this wonder-filled world."
One more highlight: joy of reconnecting with Leigh Jacobs and being invited to have conversations re Shallal working with 3rd year Fine Art students at Falmouth for their campus gallery! Which links back to Artist meeting conversations and Liskeard group investigations with Janice re movement and tracing pathways etc.
Everything connects ( which echoes in Doughnut Economics and UN statement ) as Phil Jacobs, Leigh's younger brother, was drama facilitator in Shallal when we restarted, 2002/3 and I remember Leigh acting in The Ordinalia approx 20 yrs ago.
