So many thanks to the whole team for this year... Shallal has grown to be so much more than this blog can give credit to, please check out Shallal Sketchbooks and Shallal Studio especially and the community groups, so many good creative things going on!
Most groups had their own end of term celebration for Christmas, Friends and Dancing had a wonderful Sharing.
Shallal Dance Theatre hosted the Shallal Zoom Christmas party with 34 people dropping in.
We ended the year with The Video Premiere of 'A Call to Home' on Shallal Arts Youtube at 7pm 23 December, do check it out.
Many thanks to Sapphire for filming, editing and compiling and to Sammy and others who helped on the day.
We will be sad to have Sapphire's role end on the 7 January we have so benefitted from and enjoyed working with her, we hope to keep connected and working together, plans bubbling along.
We are grateful for a few wonderful audience members on 10 Dec for Shallal Dance Theatre's second Showcasing and Sharing, with covid concerns heightened we didn't want to cancel but also wanted safe numbers, so all worked well. And we are now attracting the cross section of audience we had hoped for some years ago.
"A spellbinding garden of winter runes and blossoming light forms." - comments from a returning audience member who also has joined a community group.
I also heard second hand that a performer said it was "one of the best days" he had when commenting on our first Showcase.
Our next AGM is booked in as 2pm 20 May 2022.
A big thank you to everyone behind the scenes in Shallal for our increasing organisational improvements. We are growing and need to sustain all we do and everyone is in role and holding and supporting each other, it is lovely to see.
And the kindness, generousity and creativity of everyone involved in the groups and sessions continues to move, inspire and impress me.
Shallal 2 had a fun Christmas meet up some in the room and some on zoom! We are thoroughly enjoying being at our new venue.
Shallal Christmas tree, one of many at the Christmas Tree Festival at Princess Pavillions until 4 January
Until next year I leave you with a favourite memory to dance in the new year
Great first meeting with Charlotte and team, I learn a lot, i get catapulted into 2 parallel realities in such meetings/conversation of confidence and insecurity at the same time, not sure one ever gets used to it.
Confidence, in those you work with, in the vision and history etc
Insecurity, in ones own creative life endeavours etc
Thankfully dear John Miller said, "you never know if you can do it again", creativity is not owned, controlled, manufactured, it's a visitor, a gift, a small bird on the shoulder, a whisper in the ear, a glimpse of something on the periphery, you make the situation as inviting as possible and work and wait for it to come along, So when people talk about it as a given, you know it's not. We try to make friends with our own creative process sometimes, ranting, shouting, rushing....sometimes curling up empty and waiting... the great thing about Shallal is it's shared.
So heres to a creative solution for tomorrows Shallal 2 unexpected venue issue!
Here's to the fun of another of these...
i now remember what drove me here, to blog about the changes, subtlety and inclusion needed in our Covid times. Last week in Shallal Dance Theatre we reflected on the show A Call to Home and whether to do this Showcase and Sharing.
A smaller team are keen to go ahead with it and that makes it easier, as there will be less people performing so more covid safe..so trust the process..is what Shallal has taught me over all these years!
Another small reflection from that conversation was about space and environment, we need to have the 'vibe' to suit us, enable inclusion and welcome as fully as possible. Which interestingly came up in a chat with national Mencap this week, who have a legacy to spend on Cornwall..interesting.
I do love a legacy! Anyone want to add us to their will?
I feel my age, 58, creeping on, but intend/hope to work for years.
"Beautiful. Always feels like a window into heaven when I see you guys perform. Thank you."
"This was so inspiring! Thanks"
"Fantastic - Heart Warming - inspiring enjoyed every moment" - Richard and Jenny
"Lovely engaging performance. Well done to all - great afternoon." Linda
"As a performer I thought the audience was lovely" Toby Bridge
"Very moving uplifting show"
"Very nice lovely"
"Absolutely beautiful. Thank you all so much"
Messages:
"Really enjoyed the show it was very moving and a real pleasure to be there"
"What beautiful and interesting work"
Email:
"We loved the production again on Friday and it was interesting to see it in a different setting. St Peter’s Church has been adapted so well and keeps its grandeur whilst being a wonderful space for the community. I last went there in 1967 to a cousin’s wedding!!"
We hope to have the recording available on you tube at the end of next week.
We have postponed our Showcasing and Sharing to 10 December 2pm
Many thanks to everyone today especially those who helped with all the technical hitches, suffice to say a laptop failed and 3 mobile phones replaced it.
I'm always in awe of the generous supportive spirit that everyone brings.
Thank you for audience photos from Carolyn Streatfield via Demelza...
...a long time in coming, conceived in lockdown and weathering the difficulties of the pandemic times, this jewel of a film started with 4 voices ( artists) went down to 2-3 and then collected artists as it went along, and is well worth the wait!
I leave it to George to encapsulate it ( see below) and many thanks to everyone involved!
"This film is pure poetry.
With each viewing I feel it land somewhere new in my heart and body.
Filmed and edited in such rich detail. It’s message so touching.
This film soars beyond the sum of its separate elements; movement, landscape, drawing, painting, music, poetry…"
Like our recent film "Voices at the table" we send this film off into the world hoping it may touch many hands and hearts, or heads, hearts and hands.
"Cristian Galaz of Fundacion Victor Jara replied with many thanks for the link and said he has forwarded on to Amanda Jara, Victor’s daughter, to send to her Mum."
Snapshot Shallal
Bat song writing workshop with Eddie and co today at Back Lane West Residency
Shallal 2 are busily making Christmas tree decorations today as are Express Yourself for Falmouth Christmas Tree Festival this weekend
Krowji Open Studios this weekend - pop along and see what Shallal Studio gets up to.
Creative Journeys a new small group from Shallal Sketchbooks has started.
Lots of creative and necessary meetings behind the scenes...
Exploring links given by Elizabeth Tomos https://www.instagram.com/elizabeth_tomos/ - Welcome to Cornwall she has just started work at Falmouth Uni on Fine Art and lots to discuss, learn and share ...
i came across
some good guidelines:
Agreements for Multicultural Interactions at EBMC
Adapted from Visions Inc, “Guidelines for Productive Work Sessions” www.visions-inc.org
Try It On: Be willing to “try on” new ideas, or ways of doing things that might not be what you prefer or are familiar with.
Practice Self Focus: Attend to and speak about your own experiences and responses. Do not speak for a whole group or express assumptions about the experience of others.
Understand The Difference Between Intent & Impact: Try to understand and acknowledge impact. Denying the impact of something said by focusing on intent is often more destructive than the initial interaction.
Practice “Both / And”: When speaking, substitute “and” for “but”. This practice acknowledges and honors multiple realities.
Refrain From Blaming or Shaming Self & Others: Practice Giving Skillful Feedback.
Move Up / Move Back: Encourage full participation by all present. Take note of who is speaking and who is not. If you tend to speak often, consider “moving back” and vice versa.
Practice Mindful Listening: Try to avoid planning what you’ll say as you listen to others. Be willing to be surprised, to learn something new. Listen with your whole self.
Confidentiality: Take home learnings, but don’t identify anyone other than yourself, now or later. If you want to follow up with anyone regarding something they said in during a session, ask first and respect their wishes.
Right to Pass: You can say “I pass” if you don’t wish to speak.
Learn More at: https://eastbaymeditation.org/resources/diversity/
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."
Thanks to the vision of Phoebe and Lou, they have been having ( Cultivator funded) mentoring to write our Business plan with wonderful helpful and inspiring mentors:
Charlotte Bond https://uk.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-bond-a616791b8 https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/users/charlotte-bond
and Jess Prendergrast.https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jessica-prendergrast-b2719035
With our new manager Chris in place we are aware of what we still lack and our thrilled to be able to have a short term ( and hope and plan for it to continue) development manager, Charlotte joins us in December and we are so pleased to work with her as she has been a background support to us for many years, (offering advice and insights when i was struggling to understand structures and systems) and inviting Shallal to receive the wonders of Kneehighs Ramblers project so we could see amazing shows and have a great night out.
"Total Soul!" ...that response might give me permission/courage to write/interview people on 'soul'
"Thank you, thank you, thank you"
"Wonderful to be with you all"
"Quite Super - thank you"
"I thought it couldn't have gone better,"- George musician
As always my critical faculty has made notes but am very happy with it as an R&D, we had a good audience 15-16 and about 16 performers so good balance and not too many for covid safety and the space.
The audience used our traffic light system and there was room to distance.
As well as to participate and view it all.
I had the joy of sitting opposite half.the audience and seeing the joy and connection and responses to the performers.
Eddie Callis and Stuart Blackmore were the first artists into our Back Lane West residency this year. The first half 'PLAY' is co-ordinated by Falmouth Art Gallery/Cultural services interns Anna Willis & Megan Burridge supported by Shallal's creative director Jo Willis. Eddie and Stuart developed their Experimental music and were joined in the afternoon by dancers on Zoom. George Clement Peer joined them, thank you for the film! along with Kyle and Caroline Coleman. http://kylecoleman.co.uk/ You may recognise the song which was created for Foraging Nectar and can be heard on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4iQ_5aF9Z0&t=1446s Excited, as always, for the rest of this month long residency, new artists joining us and Shallal artists making new connections and collaborations from podcasts to coats! PLAY - the best way into creativity!
also the connection with Truro College where Lisa now teaches and alumni ( Megan and Anna )and Mark Dunford :)
Lisa also: worked with Eddie at Camborne College, made 'On the Line' with Shallal Dance Theatre while i was on maternity leave and and and ..we still haven't worked together enough so something maybe brewing from this session!
So the studio quietly filled with artists and the progressions are great to see: Anna first in Back Lane West as teenager and now on a zoom call for her forthcoming internship with https://www.ackroydandharvey.com/ Eddie has created commissioned music for 2 recent Shallal projects and is a paid artist facilitator on Underworld workshop https://shallal.org/people/eddie-callis
Then in come Eddie and Stuart, ( conversation, painting, music, editing, etc) Megan and Connie ( drawing on perspex for Gyllyngdune exhibition) and my zoom call with Katie for our Christmas designs meet up. Anna and Lisa move through space take photos etc!
Tape from the ceiling and a milieu of artists, together yet apart and combining at different cross overs! oh joy!
Might have to face writing a bid!
Coats Jo Lumber and Anna was postponed :( but the inspiration continues and Back Lane West is greater than just the wonderful white box studio, so coming soon hopefully in January as ...COATS!
Not sure Shallal Dance Theatre artists will make it in today but still the inspiration continues and UNDERWORLD WORKSHOPS with studio artists take over the next 2 weeks.
In the afternoon we had a fabulous conversation ending in plans and hopes for building from reclaimed materials an outdoor studio on some permaculture land.
becomes more diary like, a place to post links i want to return to and not loose,
Although more conceptual than how i like to work, i am very interested in this and so much to learn as i did from Anna Halprin and others, online articles/interviews etc
“The word theater just means that it’s visible. You can see it, because bodies are visible. And thoughts are not. And neither is speech. Bodies, and what they do — that’s highly visible.”
Check out “Arawana Hayashi - interview” from Presencing Institute on Vimeo.
The video is available for your viewing pleasure at https://vimeo.com/488047570
The nearest thing to Open Improv Performance, i have heard described, always there are people working on similar concepts, more heady than we are! but great to hear, collective awareness, doing something together practice, embodiment in space.
Manda working here now and this is good and clear, want to work in depth in Shallal on this:
She added: "These projects all send clear and strong messages about the urgency of the need for change, actually not by shouting but by being creative, emotional and considered."
Up next as part of Back Lane West outreach R&D....
with a chance to see this in a new setting....
Thank you to Anna Willis for poster design
and Good news that the Live Stream project to Tretyakov Moscow (although it's not achieved Creative Bridges funding still) has a go ahead from all involved so off we go 28th January!
Looking forward to it and thank you to the resilience and vision of all those involved.
I likened it recently to eating: you need to eat bread -basics to make it happen, if you can have a wedding cake - extra funding, "with bells and whistles", then great but as long as you can eat, lets do it! so always plan for bread know you can deliver and work, apply hope for cake, but art isn't just about funding... it's about community and sharing and working, creating together. We all want this to happen. We need to maintain those connections and grow relationships and sharing good practice.
What is it?
It's Embodied Space ES with light artist Pete Freeman and musician George Clement Peer and dancers Shallal Dance Theatre in the upper gallery at Newlyn Art Gallery,
live streaming to Tretyakov Gallery Education department in Moscow and others
Friday 28 January 5pm time tbc
with Q & A tbc
we successfully did ES at the same venue but smaller space in 2020 so this is an expanded version larger space and bigger international national audience.
Many thanks to all the wonderful artists and performers who made this happen, many of whom have to overcome unseen obstacles to create such wonderful work.
It's, as always, a privilege to work with you all..thank you and well done for pulling this all together is such a tight time line. And thank you to Feast for amplifying the voices of Cornish creative communities.
that wonderful time of year our Annual Back Lane West Residency.
These times are for R& D, play, new collaborations, new ideas.
November
PLAY - with Anna Willis and Megan Burrifield - currently interning with Falmouth Cultural Services, we are grateful for their ongoing support and the partnership this year.
2 Tuesday Anna & Megan, Sam While & George Clement Peer?
11.30-12.30 joining with Art Zoom to discuss and R&D online Art showcasing, especially for Shallal artists still 'sheltering'
3 Wednesday Eddie Callis & Stuart Blackmore revisiting their music and exploring it via Zoom with dancers 1.30-2.30pm
4 Thursday Anna & Jo Lumber and Coats! - lots of them
5 Friday Studio Marianna Lasalle - exploration in illustration
outreach R& D 'Showcasing & Sharing' Shallal Dance Theatre at St Peter's Church, Newlyn 2-3pm
6 Saturday Anna & Zoe Osmond ( Shallal2) collaboration exploring movement and marks
7 Sunday
8 Monday Marianna Lasalle - exploration in illustration
9 Tuesday Sam & George & ?
10 Wednesday Lisa Mortensen unknown in discussion- Eddie & Stuart
11 Thursday Studio Marianna Lasalle - exploration in illustration
outreach Passmore Podcasts R&D Anna & Jo Willis
12 Friday Dressing up Caps & Coats Shallal Dance Theatre
New venues, bring new opportunities and I wouldn't have forseen what moving Shallal Dance Theatre back to rehearse at St Peters Church Newlyn, (not the Hall which was our home for many many years, and is now sold,) would bring.
A wooden floor, vast high ceiling space, ideal for covid precautions as a minimal risk airy environment, with access would bring.
The first 2-3 weeks we settled in and created A Call to Home, then watching the improvising standard a thought was born, to do more, share more and the space is lovely, inviting and interesting, you can work in a near round, room for safely spaced audience and so...
Showcasing and Sharing is our new offer.
Showcasing - Open Improvisation spontaneous performance, Embodied Space ES style
and
Sharing - last time we did a an ES at Newlyn Art Gallery the audience wanted to try it and join in afterwards and they did, with joy! If we get tired? we can do 'chat to the performers' and a Questions & Answers Q&A time at the end.
The space has arches, depth, views through and a piano!! so the live music is wonderful
and we are Research & Developing R&D it
FridayNovember 5th 2-3pm.
An outreach Back Lane West Residency initiative, so much good comes from these research times.
Hope you can come along and join us entry free, donations encouraged
sthese will be shared between St Peters Church and Shallal and if over £100,
we will donate the extra to Penwith Welcomes Refugees
https://penwithwelcomesrefugees.org/news/
It feels a real coming of age and a really necessary part of the performers development to have a regular performance slot ( approx every month, if it works out) and a really interesting bridge between performance and participation and sharing the 'weird and wonderful' creative way which is Shallal, more often and openly with the wider community, all ages, all abilities, all giving their best, working without words ( although we just have another actor so that might change, Shallal changes with each artist who joins us) and in gesture with playfulness and as a person said play is serious work for children and spans so much...oops stopping now! before i ramble on we will leave that for another blog .....
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.
