A day and an evening! The Acorn Show, then Alex Heffes music....and more including birthdays & Christmas tree festival today!

One of the lovely things that can happen after Shallal shows is the rapport between audience and performers and the succeeding conversations, at the Acorn especially, our home territory, this can be a special treat!
Well done and thank you to everyone involved from backstage to fore.
Lots of good feedback and an unexpected donation for £500!

Kerry's shoulder wasn't healed enough to allow her to hang off ladders so Ben and Colin stood in for her,  lending comedy and chaos to this piece!

The stage is so small for the company that we didn't ask Skye and family to perform You Make Me live, however they may at AMATA. As you can see George moved upstairs to perform his music!

Last scene of Ladders and Footprints.
What is becoming of our local libraries? can they weather the change and become, cultural centres and can we fight to revision and maintain those wonderful spaces where anyone can go for shelter in a town. Truly inclusive, truly about community. The Big Issue ran some interesting articles on the changing faces of libraries some months ago.
Shallal Sketchbooks had a partnership, which sadly wasn't funded, within libraries, however  this time round in partnership with Falmouth Art Gallery it has been in Libraries in St Ives, Truro, Launceston and Falmouth, find out more on FB https://www.facebook.com/shallalsketchbooks/

Phase 3 of Cornish Doorways Project sees extracts from Ladders and Footprints visiting some Cornish Libraries and Shallal Sketchbooks and a small Doorways exhibition will go with them, along with our book, currently being complied by Victoria and George!

Finally the show!
We will film and photograph the performance at AMATA, this time round the Acorn and Terry ( Star's husband ) filmed it, so we hope to have some material.
A good audience and everyone enjoyed the rapport with an audience that builds in an indoor show. We have been working outside for a long time now.

I am struggling now with how to articulate what i want to do next where we want to go and how we want to develop the the work.
We have a good team. Our love of improvisation and really pushing it forwards seems to be core to  the next work.
Also there is potential to share our love of Passmore Edwards and his work in small ways so i'm off to research applications and write stuff!!!
Oh and then there is the Shallal Studios i still haven't shared on line so much of what the residency gave ....

A sideways conversation
is that my brother Mark and his wife Vicky eventually found an amazing composer, Alex Heffes, for their film. http://www.deeblestone.com/
I looked him up, http://alexheffes.com/ as was excited to know who it was, and we have been working with music from his improvisation album 'Face to Face' in Shallal 2 and Out There for 2 terms now! http://www.face-to-face-album.com/ Every time I play it people comment on it, it suits improvisational dance so well.

Mark on FB......
https://www.facebook.com/theelephantmovie/
Recording the score #alexheffes #theelephantmovie
For the past five months, Alex Heffes (The Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void, Roots, The Queen of Katwe’ ) has been composing the score. Yesterday, as we recorded in London, we heard it played by a live orchestra for the first time. 
It was everything we hoped for - at times inspiring, poignant, fun, and emotional. Thank you to everyone who brought it to life: Alex, the amazing musicians, technicians, and all the folk at AIR.

So from a film about the lives of elephants in Tsavo National Park, Kenya to community dance groups in Cornwall, (with 'Waltz under the stars' performed by Lois and Janice from Out There, to an audience of 20 at Vital Spark sharing at Liskerett Centre Liskeard, one winter evening,) we have been enjoying his music.
And Mark shared a photo on Facebook of the orchestra recording the music for the film last month and yesterday described the days in the studio.  All I can compare it to is Shallal working with Penzance Youth String Orchestra some years ago with Tim Boulton and that was exciting enough! http://pyso.org.uk/index.htm
We did a performance together at St John Hall Penzance 'Shallal with Strings'.

Anyway now I am really wandering off the point and initially came down to the early morning computer to write up my notes for our new applications, so back to work?!
Funding Strategy meeting on Tuesday!

More musings....
Last night was Minnie from Friends and Dancing's 30th Birthday. Happy Birthday Minnie, we first met about 11 years ago, before Minnie went away to college, she came to the then Open House group in Falmouth which i ran with Terri Stevens. After college Minnie returned to her own flat in Falmouth and is a regular participant in Friends and Dancing. Minnie also initiated the very successful social evenings/outings in Falmouth called Funky Friday.

Friends and Dancing Christmas Sharing is Wednesday 13 December 11.30am at the Dracaena Centre, Falmouth. These are usually excellent entertainment, highly recommended and free!

The group can lead onto Shallal 2, Miles has been in Shallal 2 for years now and David and Emily have just joined with Esme joining this Wednesday, ( Hannah hopes to come to when she can) more Birthday greetings to David and Esme for last week and
"Oh no more connections!"

last one.....
Yesterday we hung the decorations on Shallal 2's Christmas tree. Everyone loves Miles story board drawings of the Christmas Carol which is the theme for the trees this year,  and i used some beautiful cut outs from sweet boxes i had saved from David and Esme's wedding, to make small decorations!
Come and see it Grand Opening Today! or it's on for a while, 21,000 people visited the Christmas Tree Festival last winter!

Another birthday! Frazer's yesterday, we started the tree decorating in the light .....

.......and finished in the dark. An origami turkey?! will adorn the top this morning and it will light up tonight!