WHAT'S NEW?
2006 was an incredibly exciting year - a year of many changes and new challenges.Most of the first three months of the year was taken up with the filming and post-production for the BBC3 sitcom "I'm With Stupid". This was filmed at an abandoned building near Bury and most of the time it was absolutely FREEZING! In spite of this, it was a very enjoyable and interesting experience and my thanks go to all the cast and crew.
Thanks to Arts Council funding and much help from the LEA, I was enabled to work with two Wirral Schools, leading dance workshops and ending up in both presenting their work at the Wirral Schools Dance Festival in June. A tremendous success!
9th July saw me back in Warrington at the annual "Disability Awareness Day", once again brilliantly organised by my very good friend, Phil Edwards, in spite of a major health setback. Thank you, Phil!
In between these major events, I have led workshops at Featherstone College, John Jamieson School Leeds,and Beaumont College, Lancaster, amongst others. I also ran a series of workshops at Robin Park, Wigan for a group of Duke of Edinburgh students.
My visit to Leicester for the "Communication Matters" Symposium went very well. My presentation about the practicalities of using a communication aid in filming was well-received. My thanks to all the organisers of the Symposium for giving me the chance to air my thoughts and for an extremely enjoyable event.
I am now reaching the climax of the series of dance sessions at a local school and having a wonderful time. As a part of this, one of the sessions has me choreographing a group of children in the swimming pool! A first for me and, I think, for Wirral Schools.
Sadly, the after-school Dance Club which I ran last term has had to come to a close. At present, I can see no financially-viable way forward to continue the club although the participants and their families were extremely disappointed. My thanks go to them for such an enjoyable series of sessions and to Arts Council England for enabling the club. Some of the fantastic drawings that Ben Small produced at the club are, at present, on display in St John's Precinct, Liverpool. They can be found on the Upper Mall, near the lifts and the Centre Manager's office. If you are in Liverpool, hurry down and see them - you won't be disappointed! But be quick - the display is only up for about three weeks.
I am now planning for six dance workshops in Oxfordshire schools, another one in the Lake District and the Communication matters Conference in Leicester.
While most of the work I undertake is really good and exciting, two jobs in September were exceptional. Friday, 14th September, saw me travel over to York for a conference on Transitions for teenagers with a disability. I spoke there and facilitated a workshop, then, in the afternoon, I ran a dance workshop. The participation from the delegates was brilliant and, all in all, an excellent day (apart from the journey home, but that's another story!). My thanks to Dr Pippa Murray for inviting me and for running the conference in such a relaxed way.
Wednesday 19th took me up to Levens CE School in Cumbria to run four dance workshops. What a fantastic day! The children were wonderful, so bright, so responsive and so creative and the staff participated fully and could not have been more helpful. A lovely school and a lovely day. I wish the new headteacher, Matt Foxwell, every success for the future. It's jobs like this that make my business so enjoyable and worthwhile.
The excitement continued between 1st and 11th October, with visits to six primary schools in the Oxfordshire area to run a series of dance workshops. This was a really enjoyable, if tiring, experience for me and I'd like to thank the Head Teachers, Staff and pupils at all of them for such a warm welcome and for working so hard. A special thanks to Claire Robinson at St Thomas More, Kidlington, who made my trip possible by encouraging the other schools to invite me. Claire is an amazing lady, with such energy! A copy of an article which the Oxford Mail published following my day at Kidlington can be viewed here at Oxford Mail Article (Opens with Microsoft Word).
2008 started off really well for me and I have been very busy, with visits to beautiful Hothorpe Hall in Leicestershire to work with members of Thera, Wellingborough to perform "This Chair" with Drake Music Project, Dance Workshops at Liverpool Hope and Tower View Day Centre in Darwen and a training day for MOWLL (Moving on with Learning and Living) in Liverpool.
I am now looking forward to a Dance Conference in Leicester and work in Banbury, Sheffield and Manchester.
I have now started work on a really exciting project with a group of young people from Manchester, who have decided to call themselves "DanceForce". The group will be performing a new dance piece called "United - City" as part of the "We Make Manchester" celebrations on Sunday 13th July 2008 at Urbis. The event is open to young people aged 13 - 18 and cel;ebrates the things that make Manchester special. DanceForce will also be leading visitors in dance workshops - come along and join in. The day looks set to be great fun! You can see some of the photos of DanceForce in rehearsals here.
P.S. Sunday at Urbis was a great success and I'm pleased to say that DanceForce was absolutely brilliant! My congratulations and thanks to Victoria, Kelly, Laura, Susan, Marcus and Raza, for all their hard work, creativity and committment.
ISAAC Story Writing Competition
(29th August 2008) I was delighted to learn recently that I was the winner in the over-17 age category (just!) of the ISAAC UK Story Writing Competition. All of the stories from communication aid users around the world can be seen on the ISAAC website. My story can be read here. My congratulations and Best Wishes go to the other UK winners - Sean Lucas and Beth Moulam. WELL DONE!My big hope for the forthcoming year is for the BBC to decide to produce a SECOND series of "I'm With Stupid". A DVD of Series 1 is due for release on 24th September (latest- it now seems that the release has been postponed for a while but you can still pre-order it) and can be pre-ordered from Amazon - just click on the link to the right. WATCH THIS SPACE!
As I felt that there were aspects of my Dance Workshops that I couldn't adequately cover on this site, I now have a NEW WEB SITE. Go visit!
