Unexploded Stories

Oska Bright Film Festival 2011

Mark — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:37:01 +0000

My friend Richard and I are having a film shown down in Brighton at the Oska Bright film festival. My other friend Danny also won an award from his film. We were invited to go. My lift came to pick me up at 9 o’clock time. We picked up someone else and we left for Brighton very excited, it was a long drive to get there!

We were heading for the Brighton Dome to the Oska Bright Film Festival. When we got there someone stamped our hands.
We were shown a number of films including documentaries that were very interesting.At around two o’clock we saw my friend Danny’s film which I enjoyed and then some more animation ones that were quite funny. My film ‘Streetwise’ that I choreographed and edited myself was shown near the end and it was great to see. I couldn’t believe that it was on in Brighton and I just love to see that film! I think everyone liked my film very much. There were other peoples’ eyes seeing my film, and I was very proud of it.

It was great to see others people’s films. The weather was very lovely down there and a tiny bit cold but I managed to take some photos of the pier and the seaside. We had a coffee on the pier then me and Richard went back to Oxford.

Thank you OFVM!

Keep Anjali Dancing Gala at Chipping Norton

Mark — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:26:34 +0000

My role for the Gala was as the MC. I was going on and off giving speeches for the show. I came on doing dance moves with a black golden stick. I said my first speech out loudly to get everyone’s attention. I did three speeches in total and I liked mostly the last one because I shared it with Daisy. It was fun to speak out and tell the audience about our campaign.

Ben and Ella, who go to Mini Anjali, were in Hannah Dempsey’s dance called the Divine Splashette . This dance had a bubble machine and a watering can and a bath tub it was quite watery getting a lot of people wet. It was a great piece I liked the movement and the interaction with the audience.

We has some fantastic guest artists; our friend Ric Sanders from Fairport Convention and Fred T Baker. They played music for the dancers and also played music by themselves. The music was wonderful. We had another guest, an Indian dancer, Anusha from Beeja Dance Company and she she did a solo to Ric and Fred’s music and also a duet with Francis Weir.
Our dance artist Aya and Jason Manito who is a dancer in the company did an improvised duet. Hannah and Daisy also performed their new duet The Reflection and everyone loved it. I really enjoyed it was a great and fun performance.

The Tree Of Light Project

Ruth — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:14:23 +0000

I was sitting in the Anjali office and Anjali’s Director Nicole Thomson came into the office and said to me, we have been asked to take part in a project called The Tree of Light Project and told me it was for the 2012 Olympics which I thought sounded exciting. But then Nicole asked me would you like to have a go organising the project for Anjali’s involvement. I very nicely explained to Nicole I am not quite sure what it would involve. She said that it would involve planning the rehearsals, going to meetings and lots of other things and don’t worry I will give you lots of help and you should get lots of experience out of it. I told Nicole I would love to do it and got very excited about it .I was also nervous and frightened as it seemed to be a big project.

At a later date I met a lady called Karen Draisey, who came to Banbury to the Anjali office .We introduced ourselves and she told me what her job involved; she comes from a company called CIAO! (Children International Arts Organisation). Karen is co- founder and artistic director of the company.

Now let me explain about The Tree of Light Project. The Tree of Light Project is the main project getting funding from the Legacy Trust that is happening in the South East of the UK for the Olympics and Para Olympics. There are four areas of the event that are called Hubs; these areas are Oxford, Reading, Henley and Winsor. The central focus of the performance will be monumental sculptured tree which will be lit by LED light technology and powered by rowers and cyclists. The people who will design the amazing tree are from Block 9, well done to them, but they haven’t told us what the main design will look like – hopefully they will let us know soon.

Also we are going to get involved with a very talented musician called Orlando Gough. The main choreographer of the project is called Charlie Morrissey he is a professional dancer who is choreographing all the dancers to perform under the tree in the summer. There is also a tree specialist who will be involved in the project. This project will bring lots of groups together to collaborate in one spectacular event.

After this was explained to me we had to draw up a plan of action. One of the first things I had to do was go to a meeting at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. I met all the main people who are organising the event who are Karen Draisey, Steward Collins (Tree of Light Artistic Director), Block 9 (the designers), Orlando Gough (musician), Colin Tudge (Journalist and Writer) , Gabriel Hemery (Chief Executive Sylva Foundation) and Electrical Pedals. All of them gave a little presentation about their work and how they would be involved in the project.

We were very very lucky because they opened the museum just for us and we had it to ourselves. It was closed to the public so we got to walk around having a look at all the amazing objects. People who worked in the Museum gave us a list of things in the museum made of trees to try and find. Some of them were easy to find and some of them were very hard. By the end of the meeting I had learnt a lot more about the project and trees so it made me feel a bit more confident but there was so much information it was quite difficult taking it all in.

Then I had to try and find 30 people to take part in the project. This meant emailing, making lots of phone calls asking people if they would like to take part in the project. This involved finding out what would be the best times for most people getting together to rehearse. Nicole then rang around different venues to find space for us to use to rehearse in. Eventually we managed to find a venue at Banbury School and The Mill Art Centre. I then had to contact parents and carers with the rehearsal dates, times and venue for the four rehearsals we are having at the moment. A lot of our rehearsals take place in the evening and weekends. We will be having more rehearsals at a later date.

On Wednesday the 16th of November the tree specialist Richard Mulvany came to the Anjali Office to meet Aya Kobayashi our Resident Dance Artist. Aya is going to do the choreography for the four sessions. They then went to Banbury School to see what space we could use and discuss their different ideas as to what they could do.

On the 28th of November Sergio Cruz, who is a filmmaker who has worked with Anjali before, will be coming to Banbury School. He will film what we have made to show the other people in the project and what we have been doing. On the 8th of December myself and Delia, who is a volunteer who is helping me, will go to Oxford and Cherwell Valley Collage in Oxford. The whole project team will be meeting, which includes me and people from the other hubs, and all the specialists. This will be an exciting time for all of us to share and presents all of our ideas.

We already have 8 more dates for rehearsals to organise for next year. These rehearsals will be run by the project choreographer, called Charlie Morrissey, and his team. We will make a piece which will be performed twice in Oxford as part of the 2012 celebrations. We might also perform at the South Bank in London.

This is lots of hard work but I am enjoying it very much. I have learnt a lot by doing it and I’m getting more confident. I am sure I will get very nervous and more excited as the time gets nearer.

Candoco Twentieth Anniversary

Anjali — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:12:29 +0000

Candoco is a legendary pioneering Company, being one of the first professional companies to feature dancers with disabilities at the heart of its work. Candoco is appearing at The South Bank in October to celebrate their Twentieth Anniversary and Anjali salutes one of our major inspirations! Information on their show follows. Catch it if you can.

Photo: Hugo Glendinning

Candoco Dance Company

Turning 20: Anniversary Bill

Friday 14- Saturday 15 October

Let Candoco Dance Company take you to the past, present and future to celebrate its 20th anniversary with three bold and unexpected commissions.

Experience music by Laurie Anderson and playful movement in a re-staging of the 1983 Set and Reset/ Reset between Trisha Brown Dance Company and Candoco. French choreographer Rachid Ouramdane reveals private portraits of present day life in an atmospheric and visually striking new commission. Matthias Sperling’s light-hearted solo is an intimate encounter showing what the future might hold.

These works celebrate different ways of making dances and build on Candoco’s rich experience as the company of disabled and non-disabled dancers.

‘An absolute joy – Candoco is in tremendous form.’ (Dancing Times)

Click here for more information.

See video of Candoco here and a preview of other dance at The South Bank here.

On the road in October & November

Mark — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:47:47 +0000

Daisy Garrett & Hannah Dempsey in Reflections

Hello. This is Daisy and Hannah. We’re blogging while Mark is away.

We are really looking forward to our shows this autumn and we hope that our fans in London will come and see us at Watermans on 26th October. We’re also performing at Thameside Theatre in Grays in Essex on 10th November.

We’re really looking forward to performing in ‘Fruit for Thought’ again. We made it for Resolution 2011 at The Place and we got some fantastic feedback afterwards. We’ve been busy rehearsing and it’s looking really good.

We have some new pieces in ‘Unexploded Stories’, Jason is making a new solo based on action films. He’s using some interesting props!

Daisy & Hannah with Ric Sanders in Reflections

Me and Hannah have a new duet called ‘The Reflection’. Aya has helped us with the choreography and it’s the most technically challenging piece we done. The piece was premiered at Chipping Norton Theatre last month and everyone was surprised at how good our dance technique is and they said it was a beautiful piece. We use some lights that hang down from the ceiling and the lighting is designed to look like moonlight on water.

WE hope that lots of people will come to see us – we can’t wait to show how brilliant we are!!

You can get more information on the show from our website.

Thanks to Judie Waldmann for taking these fantastic photos.

Rotary Club Fun Day

Ruth — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:31:24 +0000

Anjali Dance Company was invited to the Rotary Family Fun Day and Beer Festival. We were asked if we would like to do a stall and a performance in the main arena . The answer we gave them was yes we would love to do it to raise money for Anjali.

All the Anjali Staff members got there at 10:00am to set everything up ready before it opened at 12:00am
The parents and I managed to organise lots of wonderful and exciting things for people to do at our stall like:-

Cuddle Toy Tombola
Lucky dip
Cupcakes
Guess how many sweets in the jar
Guess the name of the bear

The dancers from the Mini and Young Classes came at 1:00pm to the Anjali stall. We got everybody ready into their costume and had their face painted too, they looked so funny like clowns. The piece we decided to use was a big hit in the Anjali Gala 2011 called Cirque du Salad. We had a quick rehearsal before they went on stage because it had been a long time since we had been through it. Here are the Dancers who performed on the day: Niamh Brown, Robert Cooke, Charlie Carr, Amy Hanson, Anna Read, Guy Summerfield, James Hamilton. You can see from the photos that I was in it as well to help out.

Nicole did a talk on the microphone about Anjali Dance Company and told them all about our stall as well. We were a bit worried that the Minis would start running around the field and we would have to run after them but they took their places on the field with no fuss and carried the props with them to the wings and did the Cirque du Salad piece very well. The dancers did so well and I am so proud of them. When we finished the audience loved it and were clapping like mad. So some of the dancers went round with the bucket to collect some money for Anjali and the audience were very generous.

It was such a fun day. Thank you so much for Adele Markham for organising some the Cuddly toy tombola, Cupcakes and Lucky dip. Thank you to Charlie and Family for organising the jar of sweets on the day. We raised £168 on the day which was brilliant.

Thank you to Neil Hanson for the photographs.

Banbury Town Mayor’s Charity Line Dance

Ruth — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:20:38 +0000

Ruth on stage with the YDC

I did a performance in Banbury Town Hall with my own piece called Destination with two other wonderful dancers, Grahan Shellard and Hannah Harrison.

The Mayor of Banbury invited us and some of the proceeds went to Anjali. I thought he was going to wear his robes with his gold medal but I was surprised to see him being the DJ in country style clothes!

I felt a bit nervous because I was hoping the dance piece was going to be brilliant. When we got started the audience seemed to love it and thought it was funny. When we finally finished there was massive applause, we did a bow and walked off stage.

The Mayor of Banbury told us he loved it and thought it was amazing.

Aylesbury Danceathon

Ruth — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:04:39 +0000

Anjali Dance Company did a Danceathon in Aylesbury Shopping Centre. All of the Anjali company dancers went as well as me, Nicole Thomson Artistic Director and Aya Kobayashi Resident Dance Artist. We went in 2 cars and we put all the props in to the trailer that we bought with us and if it wouldn’t fit in there we put it in the boot. Paul Ward who is in our Education Team also came with us.

When we finally reached our destination it was very difficult of find the car parking because it was in a loading bay under the centre. Eventually we found where to park and took everything out and took it upstairs to the shopping area. It took us a while to get things sorted because there was so many costumes and stuff.

Everybody had made their own dance pieces and they could make lots of decisions on music, costume and props. They could make a solo, a duet or even a group dance. It was initially up to them what they wanted to do. Paul did a funny solo to Lady Gaga and Hannah and Nick did a duet to a track from Chicago.

When I did my solo to Black and Gold by Sam Sparrow, I was very nervous because one had ever seen this this piece before. I wanted to make everybody look at me and they did! While I was dancing I love it and I was very pleased with myself on how well it went.

The people who were shopping really liked us and gave us money in our collection buckets. We also handed out some leaflets about Anjali. We were so pleased at how much we had made. Thank you to everyone who gave to Anjali Dance Company. We appreciate it very much.

June at Anjali

Mark — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 19:49:42 +0000

Sync South East Pitch! 15th June

Mark rehearsing 'Loves Me ...not'

Nicole and I went to Sync South East Pitch! at The Stables in Milton Keynes. It was for deaf and disabled artists and arts workers to show their work.

I started off the whole day with my speech. I talked about my experience as a dancer with Anjali and also about my job as Associate Director (Education). I also spoke about being a leader and inspiring other people. After that I performed my solo ‘ Loves me … not?’

I got fantastic feedback from people from the Arts Council and everyone loved my speech. They said it was the perfect thing to start the day. We met lots of interesting artists including a lady who was doing a painting of the day. She drew me dancing my piece.

Nicole and I spent quite alot of time talking to David Proud who plays Adam in Eastenders. We liked him a lot and he really loved my performance. I was also asked to do a dance for a disco demonstration by people from the Club in Oxford. A filmmaker interviewed me about leadership and what it means to me.

Thank you to all at Sync for inviting me.

Dance-a-thon News!

We did a Dance-a-thon at the Westgate Shopping Centre in Oxford on Monday 13 June. It was great fun to watch peoples’ reactions! I think they were very surprised to see what amazing dancers we are!

I’m glad that I thought of the idea!

May News From Mark

Mark — Sun, 29 May 2011 19:51:17 +0000

Mark and Daisy taking part in the Danceathon

Keep Anjali Dancing – Dance-a-thon

My idea for doing a Dance-a-thon was really successful. Everyone in Banbury shopping centre stopped and watched us and they really loved us. Now we all have a Just Giving page on our website so that people can sponsor us. People can see my page at www.justgiving/anjali/mark Me and Daisy were interviewed on BBC Radio Oxford and people can hear it on our website here.

Now we are thinking of some new ideas to raise money. We can’t do it all on our own and we need people to come up with ideas and to organise events to help raise money for Anjali.

Performance at Resolution at The Place

Hannah, Daisy, Nick & Mark in Fruit For Thought

We performed our new piece ‘Fruit for Thought’ at The Place in London. It was part of ‘Resolution.’ The theatre was full and the audience loved it. A dance critic and a writer said some really good things about the piece. We will be performing it again later this year.

We have also been working on our solos which will also be performed this year. My solo is now showing off my dance skills even more! I’ve renamed it ‘Loves Me Not’

Sync–SE ‘Pitch!’

I’m going to perform my solo and do a presentation at the Sync South East ‘Pitch!’ event’ event on 15 June. It will be held at The Stables in Milton Keynes. It’s all about disabled people showing what they do to and making contacts.

My Job

Me and Ruth are working together in the office and it all feels good and happy. I like working with Nicole and I’m learning alot about being a leader. We have an Education day coming up soon and we are planning it. I have just started to assist in Young and Mini Anjali on a Tuesday evening. It’s a really fun class.