Creative Learning

A look back at Get Creative Festival 2019

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Sadler’s Wells was proud to be among the arts organisations and community groups hosting over 1600 events across the country as part of the Get Creative festival – the UK’s biggest celebration of have-a-go creativity.

From  11 to 19 May, the annual festival shone a light on all the innovative and inspiring cultural activity occurring nationwide and highlighted the central role creativity plays in our lives. Taking part in the initiative for the fifth consecutive year, Sadler’s Wells hosted two free dance workshops: one for over-60s and another for 2 to 4-year-olds and their carers.

We take a look back at the creative festivities through the eyes of our inspiring workshop attendees, and ask how dance has helped them to explore and embrace their creativity.

 Boglaka
“Dancing is just something she embraces. The key thing about the workshop was that it helped her stay focused in a creative way.”
Kathy
“I used to do a lot of dance years ago and I missed it so bad it was like a physical ache. I feel like the class has enabled me to free myself up again. It’s wonderful.”
Anne
“It’s helped me be less self-conscious about dancing and looking silly. As other people get into it, you follow them, and you become aware of the music together.”
Jennifer
“It’s been fun, enjoyable and inspiring!”
Daniel
“It’s given me a greater insight into the creative relationship between the choreographer and the people she’s working with.”
Marea
“I was out of my comfort zone, but I managed to get into my body and feel really relaxed – it’s made a massive improvement to my day.”
Diana
“We really enjoyed the range of activities and the fact that it was a wider creative movement workshop that tied into a theme as well, which is really nice.”

Images throughout: Sarah Vaughan-Jones

New community engagement scheme offers Islington residents dance for £3

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Creative innovation and collaboration are at the heart of Sadler’s Wells. chaussures timberland Alongside nurturing creative talent and bringing new and bold dance work on our stage, we are committed to providing accessible routes to our programme and strive to engage with people who would not otherwise come to our venues or participate in dance. nike air max 2017 pas cher As part of this commitment, in November we launched Get into Dance – a new community engagement scheme designed to reach residents in low-income households in Islington, the north London borough Sadler’s Wells is located in. https://www.fjallravenkankensale.de/ Working in collaboration with 20 partner organisations and charities that support local residents, Get into Dance aims to welcome new audiences by offering more than 3,300 tickets to an exciting range of performances for just £3 through referrals via our partners. ugg bottes Fiona Ross, Director of Community and Engagement described why the launch of scheme is so important on London Live. Through the scheme we also aim to: – Highlight employment opportunities at Sadler’s Wells and The Peacock; – Invite local residents to career open days, rehearsals, backstage tours and events; – Encourage residents to join participation projects and take part in community productions.

Legacy funding keeps Lord of the Flies’ young performers dancing

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During the Easter holidays, the young cast who performed in Matthew Bourne’s Lord of the Flies in October 2014 participated in a skills workshop led by dance company ZooNation as part of the production’s legacy programme. The 22-strong cast, aged 11 to 22, were selected from 950 boys and young men from across the capital to perform alongside professional dancers from New Adventures in Matthew Bourne’s acclaimed show last year.

Thanks to legacy funding from New Adventures, Sadler’s Wells has been able to continue working with these young dancers. A year-long programme has been designed to extend the group’s knowledge and experience of dance through access to professional artists, skills workshops and performance visits.

Mentored by dance ambassadors Sam Cook and Shaun Dillon, the young dancers have so far learnt how to move like Edward Scissorhands in a workshop led by New Adventures in December; been gripped by BalletBoyz and their performance of Young Men at Sadler’s Wells in January and witnessed acrobatics in Cirkopolis at The Peacock in February.

Next up is a weekend focused on dance company Rambert. On Saturday 16 May, the group will attend a matinee performance of the company’s triple bill Dark Arteries/ Frames/ Four Elements. They will take part in a pre-show talk with Rambert’s Artistic Director Mark Baldwin, Music Director Paul Hoskins and composer Gavin Higgins, as well as a post-show Q&A session led by Liam Mower, company dancer and rehearsal director. On Sunday 17 May, the young dancers will visit Rambert’s studios in central London, where they will be given a tour of the building and take part in a three-hour workshop led by former company dancer Eryck Brahmania.

 

Photo: the young cast of Matthew Bourne’s Lord of the Flies in rehearsal in 2014.

Pupils take to the Sadler’s Wells’ stage in national dance project

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Pupils from four London schools celebrated the end of a national dance project this week with a special performance for friends and family at Sadler’s Wells.

Sadler’s Wells worked with pupils aged 11 to 16 from Petchey Academy, Central Foundation Boys’ School, Gladesmore Community School and Holloway School as part of DanceQuest, a project funded by The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts delivered in partnership with Wayne McGregor | Random Dance.

Over the last seven weeks, the pupils attended dance performances on Sadler’s Wells’ main stage and at The Peacock theatre, participated in seven contemporary workshops delivered by Wayne McGregor | Random Dance artists and started to build their Bronze Arts Award portfolios, which will lead to accreditation.

This week, the four participating schools were invited to Sadler’s Wells for the final Celebration Day. The 71 pupils had the opportunity to take part in a hip hop workshop led by an artist from ZooNation Dance Company, hear an Insight Talk to find out more about the theatre and meet and interview professional artists. The event culminated with an exciting performance of their dance pieces for friends and family in the Lilian Baylis Studio.

Photo: Gladesmore Community School at DanceQuest 2015, by Foteini Christofilopoulou

=dance marks first birthday

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This month, Sadler’s Wells marks the culmination of the inaugural year of =dance, its programme celebrating work by deaf and disabled artists and inclusive companies. On 21 March, it will present a performance of Equation, a mixed bill including highlights from featured companies and artists, followed by a talk discussing the impact the series has had so far on the dance sector.

Find out more and book tickets here

Photo: Andrea Testoni