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WHAT'S NEW?

2010

As we start 2010, I am waiting on a final cut of the two films that I am involved in. This coming Saturday, weather permitting, I will be filming a short dance piece to finish off "This Chair Is Not Me " with Andy Taylor Smith. UPDATE: The filming took place on Saturday (9th January) and I now eagerly await seeing the finished film.

Andy has now created a poster for "This Chair Is Not Me". Hope you like it!

Poster for This Chair Is Not Me

Can I encourage visitors to this site to join my FORUM and participate in the discussions on Dance and Communication Issues?

I have set up a facebook group and an online petition to the BBC to campaign to bring back "I'm With Stupid". If you would like to support this, please click on the link below to visit the petition and sign up.

GoPetition

2009

2009 got off to a brilliant start!

I spent four days over a two-week period at St Giles' School in Croydon working in collaboration with David Stevens and Simon Desorgher as part of an Eye Music  Project. The project culminated in the production of a CD of music which the young people had created using David's computer software and sensors and in a final performance. St Giles' is an excellent school and my thanks go to the Head, all the staff and the children for all their help and co-operation.

Immediately after that, I was off again, this time to Holly Bank Trust in Mirfield, West Yorkshire. This was to run a series of dance workshops, on the theme of Chinese New Year and, also, to lead some disability awareness training. The week was a tremendous success and it was a great pleasure to work with Stewart Geddes and Kirsty Soanes.

June and July were really hectic, seeing me travel to Ulverston, Preston, Manchester, Barnsley, Wakefield, Rotherham, Devon and Sutton.

In all of this, I guess the highlight for me was having the opportunity to dance in Colourscape at Sutton, Surrey, with the highly-talented acrobat and performer, Michèle Lainé. Below are some photos of the day.

Dancing with Michèle Lainé In Colourscape, Sutton

August and September continued with me being really busy. I have been involved in the making of no less than three short films!

  1. I have been working with the Callup Group in Liverpool to help them produce a short DVD, showing the work they do as a self-help group. UPDATE: Mike Wight, the film maker, has done a brilliant job of the edit and the film is just about ready.
  2. A filmaker called Andy Taylor Smith is making a cinema "short" about a pivotal time in my life.
  3. Arts Council fundedThanks to an Arts Council award, I am in the process of making a dance film, featuring myself and Laura Haughey as two dancers. The dramaturg for this piece is Bill Hopkinson. I intend to show this film at film festivals next year and then, eventually, to put it up on YouTube.

I have, at the same time, worked with Eye Music/Colourscape in St Ann's School, Morden and performed in Colourscape on Clapham Common (once again working with the fabulous Michèle Lainé), visited the Communication Matters Symposium and run dance workshops at Millwood School in Bury. Phew!

This weekend (Friday 13th - Sunday 15th November) sees me join 1Voice in Blackpool. I am looking forward to renewing a lot of old friendships and making some new ones. UPDATE: The weekend was a tremendous success. My thanks and congratulations to all those involved in the organisation of the event.

2008

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 celebrates 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 commitment. To view a short video of their piece, go to my  Video page.

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!

Continued: It was a tremendous thrill to attend the Story Reading Reception at Downing Street recently and to receive my certificate as the UK adult winner. It was brilliant, too, to renew many old acquaintances. Huge thanks to Liz Moulam and Patrick Poon from Communication Matters, who had worked so hard to make sure the evening was such a huge success.

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!

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