Dance Festival, Friday 7th April, 3.00-4.00pm
Wheal Martyn Clay Museum
Shallal2
info for Wheal Martyn performance ‘Beautiful Dirt’
Shallal2 is community performance group
based in Falmouth, which started in 2012. The group consists of a diverse range
of people, of various ages and backgrounds, who all share a love of creative
movement, music and playfulness. All of our work is improvised, devised and
shaped, rather than choreographed. We often create work to specific themes and
have performed in both indoor and outdoor settings, including Falmouth Art
Gallery, Hoilfied Farm, Gyllingdune Gardens, Porthmeor Studios in St Ives and
AMATA at Falmouth University.
We are delighted to be commissioned for a
new site-specific piece of work to perform at Wheal Martyn. The group visited
the museum and outdoor location in the autumn, exploring the site for
inspiration and ideas. We were thrilled and excited as we discovered the beauty
of the landscape and the remnants of the working environment. We learned about
the process of the china clay industry and its uses, plus the history and
hardship of the Cornish workers.
We then set about exploring those themes
through movement and music. We have focussed on the machinery, the use of water
and heat, the natural landscape and china clay as an ingredient in many
different objects. Plus, we imagined the repetitive, physical work and the
plights of the men and women who made Wheal Martyn into a hugely successful
industry.
We present ‘Beautiful Dirt’, an abstract
interpretation of the beauty and toil of Wheal Martyn.
Jo Lumber March 2017
PRESS RELEASE
EVENT – Dance Festival, Friday 7th
April, 2017, 3.00-4.00pm
‘Beautiful
Dirt’ – Dance Project at Wheal Martyn
Wheal Martyn are delighted to be hosting an
Inclusive Dance Festival on Friday 7th April, from 3-4pm. Wheal Martyn may seem like an unlikely
location for a dance festival, but over the past few months the china clay
mining museum has been inspiring performers from around the county.
Shallal2 is a community performance group
based in Falmouth, which started in 2012. The group consists of a diverse range
of people, of various ages and backgrounds, who all share a love of creative
movement, music and playfulness. All of Shallal2’s work is improvised, devised
and shaped, rather than choreographed.
Jo Lumber, from Shallal2 said “we are
delighted to be commissioned for a new site-specific piece of work to perform
at Wheal Martyn. The group visited the museum and outdoor location in the
autumn, exploring the site for inspiration and ideas. We were thrilled and
excited as we discovered the beauty of the landscape and the remnants of the
working environment. We learned about the process of the china clay industry
and its uses, plus the history and hardship of the Cornish workers. We then set about exploring those themes
through movement and music. We have focussed on the machinery, the use of water
and heat, the natural landscape and china clay as an ingredient in many
different objects. Plus, we imagined the repetitive, physical work and the plights
of the men and women who made Wheal Martyn into a hugely successful industry.”
Shallal2 often create work to specific
themes and have performed in both indoor and outdoor settings, including
Falmouth Art Gallery, Hoilfied Farm, Gyllingdune Gardens, Porthmeor Studios in
St Ives and AMATA at Falmouth University. Wheal Martyn was a new site for the
group to explore, and the landscape of the china clay mines proved to be a
dramatic and inspiring setting. Jo
Willis, Creative Director, said “the museum experience and history of the clay
industry completely surpassed all our expectations - our participants are all
really keen to return to Wheal Martyn for the performance”.
Wheal Martyn have worked in partnership
with Shallal2 on this project, bringing a new and diverse audience to the
museum. This has been supported by
Pavilion Dance South West's Coinvestment Programme, the National Dance
Development Organisation for the South West of England. Pavilion Dance South West work
collaboratively with partners across the South West who share a commitment to
develop and sustain opportunities for people in the region to make, present,
watch and participate in dance. Arts
Council England have supported the project at Wheal Martyn through its
investment in museums in Cornwall as part of their Major Partner Museum
programme, being delivered by Cornwall Museums Partnership.
On Friday 7th April, Shallal2
will present ‘Beautiful Dirt’, an abstract interpretation of the beauty and
toil of Wheal Martyn. There will be other
performances from ‘Out There’, a small Liskeard-based inclusive dance group,
and from Falmouth University Foundation Arts and Dance students. The performance will commence at 3.00pm, and
is FREE of charge.
Information for Press:
Wheal Martyn contact is Gemma Martin gmartin@wheal-martyn.com
Tel: 01726 850362
Shallal
Tel: 07856 426150
email: admin@shallal.org.uk
Registered Charity No. 1166404
Tel: 07856 426150
email: admin@shallal.org.uk
Registered Charity No. 1166404
