Magical Christmas Cracker Variety Night

As advertised we will be there: with Zoe's new dance to Siobhan, Jacqui and Apex's song, and Eddie's version of Singing in the rain! with complete cast of 7! and a few umbrellas!
We look forward to it and hope you can come.

Zoe's poem

    

A poem written by Zoe in the Art session last time.

Posted for Roger Pinsent (composer) to read and see if it could be set to music, as i can't find another of hers - i need to keep looking - this one deserves to be read aloud and is remarkable for it's colour imagery, and linking visual sounds and images. I think it probably works better alone and will continue to look for Zoe's other poem someone else had started on and need to show Roger our poetry portfolio etc.

Many years ago Jamie Brown wrote am amazing poem Roger set to music.

                                                       summer  sun

    Rising sun shining round, yellow orange behind

                 Dark brown castle, sitting top of calm 

                     Water’s cave, warm is a Hot like  

                                   Sunny day 

                 Come out where cat’s purring gazey 

                  and girls playing furry fur warm 

                         cosy cats  round ? round 

                       running from Hanging sun

                          Drop  Drop  blue will be 

                          brown to peace yellow 

                               shining Bright

                          silver sun, cooling Red

             Sun up! Bright High Pearl is a Pearl cat 

                                   Dancing 

                    Where the sun speaking calling 

                                sticking boy’s 

                     Acting in the dark ages behind 

                        inside St Michael’s Mount 

                       very brown he in so bright

                     shining bright as sun set setting 

                              Drop! Drop sun 

                 Bollard holding hunting yellow 

                                      sun 

                     The Hot speak fire ball Birds 

                              flying catching 

                                      Red 

                                    Orange 

                               How coloured 

                            will show the sun 

                            Holding rising sun 

                              shining all day 

                                 midnight  call

                             mid Drift  rising sun 

by Zoe Wilton 

     14-10-11

Big Health Day

            There should be a better photo coming soon,courtesy of photographer in blue!
     But just to show we were there! represented by Zoe in the centre surrounded by Flava.
   It was another highly successful event. Flava came and joined in the workshop,
which had many familiar and new faces - a real joy as ever, and everyone very confident.

Hope rekindled to start something the future in Truro, as a lovely group of people from Launceston are keen to consider continuing. They can travel to Truro in 3/4hr so it's possible, and would be worth considering a monthly event..we shall see, need a good space and some positive partnerships.

The Big Health Day

                           Shallal are at the Big Health Day.

 Dance workshop at 10.30am with Jo Willis and Zoe Wilton.
 New Solo by Zoe at about 12.30pm.

The new solo is to a piece by Siobhan Purdy and Jacqui Callis, 
(originally created for the Variety Show at Princess Pavillions, Falmouth on 16th Nov.)

The song came out of work from Apex, which is really worth looking at  www.apexvoiceoutside.org.uk


Shallal were present last year at the Big Health Day ( Friends and Dancing performed) and it was a great event.


Flava are there this year and we had hoped to do collaborative performance with a few dancers, but time was against us, however we both hope this may happen in the future. www.flavauk.com

Kerry and Thursday's Art and Music

There is often wonderful news and progress to share and last Friday we celebrated how upright Kerry is now.

Kerry and Linda have worked really hard together in the warm ups in the main company. Kerry is dedicated in her commitment to dance and when Open House was running she was able to dance 3 times a week.

Linda and Kerry

 Kerry now works with everyone in the company with increased physical confidence, she and Sam are developing a powerful short duet. She takes risks and adds an amazing intensity, absorption and concentration to many pieces of performance. Kerry has her own story to tell and maybe one day she will put some of it on the blog.

Next...
last Thursday Candy came to The Penryn group to start exploring art with us, here are 2 of the many pieces produced, expressing the movement/colour rhythm etc. I am excited by it and looking forward to how it all progresses.

Tallulah's drawing

Carly's painting 

This Thursday we add an artist/musician to our exploratory collaborations. Jamie has worked with this group before and we hope to look at an old unfinished piece using rhythm and a wall, we shall see how it transposes to this new space as it was part of our playing against a wonderful big wall at the Z shed.

Carol and Jamie at Falmouth Art Gallery

Jamie has gone on to do wonderful collaborations with Stella Azzurra (www.stellaazzurra.org/) and Sarah Jarvis (www.keap.org.uk/performance-artists/sarah-jarvis-dancer) dance artists.

Jamie Mills is an interdisciplinary artist and musician. His visual work and largely improvised music is an exploration into internal/external dialogues surrounding a sense of place, landscape and experience (www.jamiemills.co.uk).

                                                               Friends and Dancing
though we had many people away this week - we often number 24 ! -
I had the camera with me and wanted to try and capture some moments from this group.
There is a strong core of people from the beginning of the group over a year ago and many new faces as well.
For many people it is one of the highlights of their week - I always look forward to it.


I was moved by some of the comments this week;
"It's a safe space."
"It's something to do I don't want to be stuck at home on my own, I want to get out to see people, make friends."


Two of the women are meeting today so one can show the other how to get to the Thursday group by bus, and then find it as it's up on Tremough Campus!


The group has raised money through it's Sponsored Dance to help it to keep going this term, and as ever we await funding!
While looking around this morning to see who funds positive social inclusion came across:  


"....the most convincing voices supporting the positive impacts of the projects come from the participants themselves who referred to gaining skills and increasing confidence through participation in arts projects."


Not just a treat: Arts and Social Inclusion        
A report to the Scottish Arts Council by Glasgow University
 www.scrsj.ac.uk/media/media_7761_en.pdf


It is unbelievably tiring to keep convincing people when the work has worked for over 20 years, when the need is there, when it's been shown to work, when you have to spend hours searching for money, when you could be doing the work and more: developing it, planting it in new areas, helping new people join in.
I end up concentrating more on images in this blog but, there is so much to say in support of the work. I'm not possibly the one to say it and have never wanted to shout about the work, feeling it speaks for itself and it's the artists voices that need to be heard and society is the richer for hearing all our voices.
 But I am upset, angry about how after all these years there are still so few places that enable positive inclusion, where people can go, feel safe, feel it's aimed for them but includes and attracts others who want to share and work with them, where there is a mutuality and respect, where they are often the most talented people there, not always on the receiving end but able to fully contribute at their level and give back.


How would you feel if most of your life you could only just follow what was going on? being said around you: exhausted, under confident, lonely? I definitely felt a small amount of that the other day when asked a maths question in a large group my mind went blank, I would have needed a lot of time, quiet support and slow explanations to cope, this was not available and I just left and cried! 
Many people with learning disabilities have developed a good front to protect their vulnerability. The language of gesture, (movement, dance - and music)  is a shared language which we all read, but  which many people with learning disabilities are more sophisticated and at home with than other people. This a shared and equal world and naturally calls forth the right support from others and enables decision making and choice. We no longer have huge institutions but we can still have lives with little choice or creativity or opportunity, or positive meeting places. 


PS
Part of my early career was spent at Budock Hospital and I still remember those I worked with there very fondly, every morning that I would walk in to the bottom corridor I would wish someone would blow it up! 
(www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/jul/05/longtermcare.guardiansocietysupplement2)
It is no longer there. 
Now what I wish is to see other things growing and flowering in the community. My children are growing up not having seen the oppression of big institutions but they need to see positive role models, so that can never happen again.

art again

Alan's work

This last week Alan returned looking really well from a summer at Holifield 

( www.holifieldfarmproject.co.uk/home ) and it was good to have him back with us and to see his art work.

Sam with wonderful line drawings

This week everyones work was their own voice, very exciting work, and Michael wrote his wonderful puns over a drawing of hands.

Zoe brought in her new camera and started filming rehearsals and outdoors. Film may help some of the company develop and remember improvisations into performance and we were excited at the possibility of using it regularly.

Michael with many circles

 It's a great joy to be able to take your children to work, and Colin brought Rowan for the morning last week! They did a small duet at the beginning and everyone enjoys his visits, they looked great colour co-ordinated! and if we can get the camera fixed would be good to film it on the beach. I'm searching for music for Skye, Marjorie and probably Zoe and this could project behind it..maybe....