Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company, Shrewsbury, Shropshire

TAKE; a dance in the park and Sugar hit the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Center Washington D.C. as part of the VSA festival.

TAKE had to be re-rehearsed off the lovely dome rig so the dancers could work directly from the (rather high) ceiling.  It was exciting for us staff left behind to watch it live on the Kennedy Center website and feel a part of it all - for those who missed it you can view both pieces on their archive footage.

You can also view comments and photos from the dancers on the blue eyed soul blog, and lovely feedback from D.C. resident Marcia Newbert on her blog and twitter account.  TAKE dancer Jess Allen was busy tweeting too.  We’re always interest in what our audiences think, so follow us @BESdance and let us know!

Next stop is Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on 28th June as part of the Unity Festival - hope you can make it!

We’ve posted some of our archive dance for screen work up on the Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company You Tube profile.  It’s great to have some of this history available to view.  We’ll be delivering more dance for screen this year as part of our LIKE Youth Dance programme in Shropshire and Telford. 

Make a cup of tea and take a look!

Following on from the Company’s work in Hong King last December, we have been invited to lead workshops at the Guangdong Dance Festival and to meet with British Council and dance organisations in Shanghai as well as a reunion meeting with Symbiotic Dance in Hong Kong at the end of July. The project is funded through a British Council Connection through Culture award and aims to explore future dance possibilities between Blue Eyed Soul and our counterparts in China and Hong Kong.

Staff are engrossed in preparation for the performances in Washington and Cardiff.

We are really looking forward to working with Rose, Jess and Eleni again on TAKE; a Dance in The Park, it needs reworking without the rig and ready for an ‘end on’ performance in a theatre space. Aldous Everard is rigging for us and Arnim Friess will create a lighting plan. We’ve fixed up a rehearsal space in a farm barn (available now the lambs have been moved out) and plan to have final technical rehearsals In the Walker Theatre at Theatre Severn.

Sally has been recording some thoughts and memories in preparation for devising and rehearsals of ‘Sugar’ a 3 minute piece originally commissioned by Greenwich and Docklands Festival for Liberty Festival last year, which is now to be extended into a 15 minute piece.

Please send us your empty sugar bags to fill with sand to counterweight Sally in her wheelchair!

It’s been a busy week for Artistic Director Rachel Freeman delivering aerial residencies with Ashcraig and Smithycroft schools in Glasgow.  She was joined by Claire Cunningham and Holly Jones.  Take a look at our blog for some comments and video clips.

Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company is delivering a  Like Youth Dance - a two year programme of local out of school dance activity for disabled and non-disabled people aged 5-18.

We are looking for a logo to represent our three different age groups:

• 5 – 8 yrs
• 8 – 12 yrs
• 13 – 18 yrs

Can you come up with something fun and snappy?  The winning designs will get a t-shirt with their logo on – and see it splashed on our publicity!

Send in your design for any of these age groups by Friday 18th December 2009. 

The design should be based around the words Like Youth Dance and can be drawn on paper, or in a digital format to put on a disk or email to us. 

Don’t forget to include: your name, contact number and address so we can get back in touch with you!

See Like Youth Dance for further information

Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company are returning to The Centre for Community Cultural Development in Hong Kong to deliver a programme of inclusive dance for disabled and non-disabled people of all ages.

The programme encompasses a performance project with video projection and professional development opportunities for local artists. 

The project is titled Wander; a human landscape, and draws upon the personal and shared experiences of participants, creating a landscape of their lives with their bodies. 

It will culminate in two performances at the Jockey Club ‘Black Box’ Theatre on the 18th and 19th December 09.

We hope that participants will contribute to our blog.  Watch this space…

We’ve now got 3 videos on our YouTube account. Where the Wind Blows and Take; a dance in the park which are available for bookings, and a clip from Be-Longing at Theatre Severn.  Take a look. 

We’re hoping to put some of our back catalogue of dance for screen on there in the future.

We’ve now got a video clip available to view of our touring children’s performance and workshops package Where The Wind Blows.

Take a look at our YouTube account to get a glimpse of this delightful piece for disabled and non-disabled children aged 4-8. It’s available for touring in schools 2009-10

Click here for an information pack for teachers

Our inclusive adult dance classes ‘Contact’ are delivered this Autumn by Miriam Keye and Outreach Worker Sally Edwards under the theme of ‘Introductions’, with a short performance at our AGM.

Who are you when you dance? What brought you to dance?
What does it feel like when you dance? A chance to celebrate your own unique relationship with dance.

All rehearsals will take place at DASh, Unit 4 Hartley Business Centre, Shrewsbury.

For more information contact Sally Edwards on 01743 210830 or download our booking form