shallal: Winter Mixture

Thursday evening 6pm!

Jo Lumber willingly changed from participant to volunteer within Shallal 2 after Jessie Webb left which enabled us to continue, she is now an associate artist and has written this review of our year for tomorrow.

(Many thanks to councillors Hanna Toms and Cathy Atherton who have last year and this year supported the dress rehearsal and performance through Community Chest Funds.
We are currently appealing for local support to continue to flourish next year.)

Winter Mixture & review
Shallal2 present a seasonal selection box entitled 'Winter Mixture'. We hope you enjoy our diverse range of music, chosen by company members. We are thrilled to be back in Falmouth Art Gallery after last Decembers' show 'Contrasts', which was inspired by the 'Porthmeor Past and Present' exhibition.

Falmouth based Shallal2 has been running for 3 years and is now an established performance group. We are an eclectic group of individuals, ranging in age from 0- '60 something', and every decade in between. We share a love of interesting music, exploration of movement, playing together, using our imaginations and creating work from themes. Everything we present is improvised, making every performance unique. Our shows have no specific narrative allowing you, the audience, to create your own if you wish!

It has been a busy 2015: In Spring we devised 'Dance On The Grass' which was performed one balmy eve at Gyllyngdune Gardens. Our audience enjoyed the setting as much as we did; what pleasure to perform in the fresh air, under blue skies, surrounded by vibrant flowers. We also took the show to Malpas Park for Truro's Playfest event... where it was more a case of 'Dance in the Drizzle' as we battled against the rain!

In July we joined the main company, Shallal Dance Theatre, for a week long residency at the AMATA Performance Centre. We thoroughly enjoyed immersing ourselves in our craft, and felt privileged to use the wonderful university facilities. The hard work and play resulted in an exhilarating Friday night show, in a superb, state of the art dance studio.

A highlight of the year was to perform 'Contrasts' again, this time at Porthmeor Studios, on the last day of the St Ives Festival. A chance meeting with artist Vicky Wiltshire and manager Chris Hibbert led to this late booking and we rose to the challenge. We revisited the piece after 9 months and had just 2 rehearsals. On arrival at Porthmeor we found the artists studio to be a true working space- with years of paint, plaster and debris scattered. There was much to do in order to prepare the floor for dance! The team cleared, swept, and vacuumed, freeing the space of staples and screws. Despite various events throughout the town we performed to a packed house, with many of the audience members new to our work. It was particularly poignant for us to share the show in the very space which inspired it. We received wonderful feedback and on a post-show high several of us took a dip in the sea as the September sun shone brightly.

And here we are again in our beloved Falmouth Art Gallery, a place which understands and embraces us. Thank you, everyone, for supporting us. Please join us after the show for some festive refreshments and a chat. See you again in 2016.

Jo Lumber, Shallal2 member.

PS.
You may notice a lack of leaping in this show; our wonderful Anna and Skye are busy with their college courses but work with us when able. We are so happy to have Zoe with us, who is also busy with sixth form commitments. As part of her course she recently hosted a delightful fundraising tea party at Falmouth School. Highly talented teenagers treated us to brilliant music and song, ranging from Einaudi to Arctic Monkeys! £125 was raised for Shallal2. Thanks to all involved.