Rehearsal at Falmouth, creative meetings and wonderful short film for competition

Site Dress Rehearsal for Ladders & Footprints
Friday was good weather, not too hot, not to cold - it's hard to plan for the Cornish climate.
2 performers missing but other wise everyone there and lots of friendly support, thank you Nigel and Zoe, and Jacob on sound, and Delpha for coming over to play.

At the end of the rehearsal Toby unveiled his wonderful painting to show us.....wow so pleased!....
It's hanging in the foyer and will have pride of place, centre 'foyer stage' on the 14th.

Also thank you to ( conscripted)  son Michael who hung the banners Tony Minnion created from art work responses to the buildings Passmore Edwards funded here and in London. He will also help next Monday when the exhibition in the community space on the stairs will be hung. So by the performance Passmore Edwards legacy will be celebrated by artwork throughout the foyer stairwell.
Also thank you to Michael for another poster and Nick for Easy read version - both below.

Well it was good to be there - it's been hard to imagine flights of stairs, open public spaces, pillars and entrances that we are using when in St Peter's hall,  this is our most logistically challenging show so far!
The main concerns went very smoothly: round the corner for access, up and down in the lift and flights of steps and stairs, to get to the next place on time.

Our shows are self created jigsaw puzzles!

Saturday morning saw me sitting under a tree in Penlee Park, Penzance meeting with dear Harry Theaker, as last time, his feedback is fantastically helpful, so there is one part not quite smoothed out yet but otherwise we are in the flow, and he liked it and appreciated the variety.
We would love to work together more and he would love to dance with us, so if we ever move into a world with a producer who maybe able to co-ordinate us to enable dreams to happen we may, and meanwhile we will look out for opportunities. (Harry is currently working on a project in Hull - City of Culture.) 

Speaking of which our behind the scenes team Barbara and Lou, executive producers on Doorways, are meeting with the creative team to dream and scheme and try to nail down some ideas next Tuesday and the trustees meet on the Thursday, so a big think tank, pooling of ideas happening, and at the end of every term the company and groups do the same.

A celebration and many thanks to Barbara for this beautiful film, inspired by Trevor and suggested by Debs - thank you.

Barbara has come in over the past few months to film and interview 

https://vimeo.com/222581309

Debs originally suggested we enter this competition 

http://www.pdsw.org.uk/news/news-and-opportunities/joie-de-vivre-short-dance-film-competition-2017/

- we originally were going to film Trevor and his part in Shallal but then extended the idea out to everyone ( over 50) as he was more unwell. We/I struggled with this, the over 50's emphasis,  as not compartmentalising is a strong ethos in Shallal - however i think Barbara has presented it very poetically and made a beautiful film.

Some of the best work in Shallal comes from other peoples ideas and i am often wary or sceptical and then we find a way through, and i am won over and so impressed! Everyone's contribution is what make the work so rich and accessible.

See you there!

Playtime ( this Friday ) and Showtime 14th July

Playtime and Showtime
Come along and contrast and compare, I would value your feedback.

Minack Theatre 
Friday 26 May 
Pop Ups through the day 11am-12.30pm then 1.30pm-3pm
and
Falmouth Library 
Friday 14th July 
Ladders and Footprints
1.30pm, 4pm and 6pm

I am often unsure which i prefer our spontaneous work or our shows, maybe its not really prefer, obviously i like both but which is more effective for audience, fun for artists, has most impact.
We applied for a local HFC residency to further our Pop Ups and Always New approach ( which we didn't get ) however now thanks to a generous unexpected offer from Zoe Curnow ( who i met at HFC, at a great networking evening, so all works out in the end) we are doing some of this exciting R&D, and with on site visitors 'audience', on Friday at The Minack Theatre ( not the most accessible space, but ok at the top).
https://www.minack.com/

So we have:
Structure, Stimulus, Suggestion - workshop approach
Structure, Freedom and Intent - open improvisation approach
On your own, with others or still ( and if you don't know what you're doing get off the stage!) directions for Open Improvisation approach - which is the basis of Pop Ups.

Last summer we went out bare minimum - i love it - surroundings, each other, audience ...and then what happens.....
However in our further R&D we want to look at: songs, music live or recorded travelling with performers, some words/sounds, how would these work,
so you may hear: rumblings, stirrings, melodies and song on Friday.

Do come along if you can, we'd love to meet you, we have time to work and chat!
and we'd like your feedback, we can do a pop up show in a few minutes just for you...with, what must be one of the best backdrops in the world...you can't compete with it but you can hope to compliment it.

https://www.minack.com/

Then not long now till our new Show Ladders and Footprints,
last tweeks and practicalities coming in, my memory poorer than usual, fortunately it's a group effort?!
I watch our children, that are now at college /university struggle with deadlines and the creative process and then i watch myself!
Nice feedback after rehearsal from Barbara Santi recently and the wonderful mixture which is Shallal responding with real appreciation to dear Passmore Edwards and all he did for us ( I"m Cornish).

New show, community groups and funding, Co-op voting and CPD card

Lots to chat about:
a period of feeling fallow, a personnel post show inertia after Shallal 2's successful Beautiful Dirt and waiting to kick into action for Shallal Dance Theatre next "Doorways' Show, which is now well out of my inertia with a working title "Ladders and Footprints."
Full on rehearsals and pulling the remaining strands into a co-ordinated whole.
The Doorways show rehearsals for Godolphin had me constantly wondering "how we could move easily on cobbles and off stage areas?", this show has me looking at the logistics of moving through 3-4 performance spaces, moving performers and audience up steps, through doorways, around pavements etc then props/ art work, dream sequence, live music, BSL translation and....

a little taster of Pep and Colin, yes they will be wearing these outfits at some point in the new show!!

We have Victoria organising our costumes and live music from Delpha as well as George and a lot of colourful 'views' inspired by Passmore Edwards life and legacy.
 Ladders and Footprints Shallal Dance Theatres new Doorways project show inspired by Passmore Edwards - the Cornish Philanthropist (and activist)
Friday 14 July, 1.30pm, 4pm & 6pm Falmouth Library.
free

Wonderful news of new funding for community groups from Clair Milne Trust.
Lovely visitors to "Out There" our Liskeard based new group this week were Hayley and Natty.
http://www.downssideup.com/p/about-me.html
https://uk.pinterest.com/downssideup/

We plan to start a new Open House group in Penzance in the autumn term, and to consolidate and develop Express Yourself/Friends and Dancing, Shallal 2, and Out There.
We are able to welcome Lois Taylor as associate artist with Out There.
http://loistaylor.co.uk/

How to vote for Shallal in the Co-op Community Fund

Shallal has been selected by Co-op as one of the charities they will support between now and October this year in the Penzance area.

Shallal applied to Co-op to raise funds for a new community dance group in Penzance.

So, between now and October, 1% of everything that people spend at Co-op goes towards the fund. But not all of that money will come to Shallal; there are three different charities that people can vote for, and the more people that vote for Shallal, the more of that fund Shallal will receive.

Here is Shallal’s profile page https://membership.coop.co.uk/causes/9395/. To become a member and vote for Shallal, visit www.coop.co.uk/membership – It costs £1 and takes 1 minute.

Shallal needs votes, so please tell people in the Penzance area about this and please become a member (if not already) and vote.

Many thanks from everyone at Shallal

Ladders and Footprints is moving on and we are really pleased to know Harry Theaker will view our dress rehearsal, his advice last time was spot on!
http://www.juncturedance.com/harry-theaker/

Michael will make us a poster hopefully, while he is also flat hunting in Edinburgh.

I'm really pleased to have been successfully awarded £250 for CPD dance card. I plan to use it to fund film and editing training with Barbara Santi. http://barbarasanti.co.uk/ There are often dances we wish to capture and small projects we hope to do to spread the reach of Shallal's work ... lots of ideas percolating- watch this space!

Beautiful Dirt performance ...."Exceeded expectations"

Well done to everyone in Shallal 2, Out There and the dance students from Falmouth uni, Bryony, Jade and Katy.
Thank you to all the families, supporters and friends who made it possible, and to Wheal Martyn, Jan, Gemma, Sue and team.
Thank you to our chairperson Hennie Boex and to all in the background.

"Exceeded  Expectations" is a nice thing to hear from Gemma after the show and to be invited to continue the relationship.
Jade, Bryony and Katy produced a strong and interesting dance piece complimented by the depth of Jack Clemo's poem interpreted by Out There, as a good introduction to Beautiful Dirt..well done to Jo Lumber for such exciting and helpful word pieces and to everyone for such insightful contributions from the wealth of images and site at Wheal Martyn.
Thanks to Anne Mackay who took the camera i thrust at her and photographed the dress rehearsal, you can see a selection of the photos now in an album on our Facebook page.

The performance piece was exceptional and far exceeded expectations for Wheal Martyn.  So much historical content was included through the dance, with poems and dialogue, so the story of Wheal Martyn was expressed in a truly unique way.  The variety of participants in the performance added tremendously, promoting inclusivity in such a visual and powerful way.  The audience were very appreciative of the work created and enjoyed the experience.

The project allowed for a cross art-form, site-specific installation, which is truly unique.  All parties would do it again and Wheal Martyn staff are inspired to continue inclusive arts based projects into the future.

In future years we hope to include dance and arts projects like this at Wheal Martyn.  It is hoped that the relationship with Shallal2 will continue to grow and we will see more developments from this.

https://www.wheal-martyn.com/2017/05/05/wheal-martyn-inspires-beautiful-dirt-inclusive-dance-project/

Out There first blog post

From Janice of  'Out There' the new Shallal Liskeard group....

I would like to share with you some of my
"Ramblings, Ravings and Reflections".....a sort of ongoing blog that isn't out there anywhere....just a sort of conceptualising of my ideas, it is a bit of background to my evolving visual art ideas at present and how I see it all connecting to Shallal's inspiring energy and innovative creative performances......I feel that Shallal has opened up a whole new doorway of creative expression...movement and gesture, body in space connecting to emotions.
But most of all collaborative creations!!Breaking down the barriers between art and life.
Looking for ward to more 'OUT THERE' stuff