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NEWSFLASH!

"This Chair Is Not Me" wins major award at Silver docs Festival! See here for full details.

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!

14th February saw me travel to Leicester for a Cast and Crew screening of "This Chair Is Not Me". Andy has done a brilliant job with the movie and has already received much critical acclaim for it. Next stop - a full-length feature film?

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.

I am getting very excited as the Dance/Drama film that I have made with Laura Haughey nears completion and I am busy with making plans for its premiere. Later on, I plan to show at Film Festivals around the country and I will post up details when they become available as to where the film can be seen.

Scenes in a Mirror

My new dance/drama film, "Scenes in a Mirror", premiered at FACT in Liverpool City Centre on Monday evening, 12th April. The event was a great success and, as a direct result, I have been offered the opportunity to submit the film for inclusion in the Wirral International Film Festival and "Documenta Film Fest" in Sezza, Italy later in the year.

Huge thanks go to the Arts Council for funding this project, to Bill Hopkinson for directing the whole project, to Laura Haughey, my wonderful co-star, to Matt Gray for a marvelous editing job, to Rob Julian for the original score and to FACT for giving me the opportunity to screen the film. Also to Edge Hill University who supported the project and provided the venue, equipment and Bill's time without charge.

I am now in the process of submitting the film to a number of Film Festivals and hoping that some of them will be accepted. In the meantime, you can find out more about the film and see a short clip at my IMDb Title page - here. I also have some screenshots from the film on my Project Album Page

Fantastic news!

"This Chair Is Not Me" will be receiving it's world premiere at the AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Festival in Washington, USA as part of their "Official Selection". Silverdocs has been hailed as the "pre-eminent documentary festival in the US", and runs June 21-27. Congratulations to Andy Taylor Smith and all of the production team for an amazing achievement. You can see the Title Page for the film on IMDb here.

Even More Fantastic News!!

"This Chair Is Not Me" went on to win a major award at the Silverdocs Festival! The quote below is from their website:

" The Sterling Award for Best Short Film was given to THIS CHAIR IS NOT ME directed by Andy Taylor Smith, which documents Alan Martin, whose cerebral palsy confines him to a wheelchair and inhibits his speech, but he refuses to limit himself. When he gains access to technology that enables him to find a voice, his life is transformed. Utilizing stunning visual vocabulary and subtle re-enactment, the film presents a cinematic experience as unique as the subject himself.
The jury noted: "The film we are honoring strikes a perfect balance of substance and style. By mimicking the subject's refusal to limit himself, the filmmaker pushes the boundaries of traditional storytelling techniques. Using an innovative visual language and complex narrative structure, it allows viewers an opportunity to experience the world through the subject's unique point of view."

Huge Congratulations to Andy and all the team responsible for the making of the film. What's next - a full-length feature film??

And fresh breaking news (26th July 2010) - This Chair Is Not Me received an Honourable Mention at the 2010 Los Angeles International Film Festival. Possible screening dates to follow.

Music Workshops

As mentioned elsewhere on this site, I am now able to offer Music Workshops, either as standalone sessions or in conjunction with a Dance Workshop. For mor information, go to my Music Workshops Page. To read more about the Skoog, visit their website at http://www.skoogmusic.com/.

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. You can see some photos of the day on my Dance Performance Page.

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

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.
A filmmaker called Andy Taylor Smith is making a cinema "short" about a pivotal time in my life.
Thanks 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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