SO, you want to support Rubicon…….well this is how you go about it……and how you can see the results…..
community
Sam Kelland’s Final Apprenticeship Report
Please find below extracts from Sam Kelland’s final report on her apprenticeship – an initiative co-ordinated by The Wales Wide Training Programme, Rubicon Dance and Artis Community, and funded by Arts Council Wales.
My journey with Artis Community began in July 2015 when I was given volunteering opportunities as well as chances to train with members of the dance team. This was an excellent opportunity for me to meet the organisation and to see the types of people I may be working with in my post.
This eleven-month apprenticeship came with different responsibilities each term and was tailor made to my individual interests and needs. This timescale was beneficial for me as my role increased in responsibility as the apprenticeship developed which meant I was able to progress steadily throughout each term.
My apprenticeship has given me the opportunity to work with a diversity of different people with vast range in movement ability. I have worked with children, youth and adults with physical and mental disabilities, elderly people with dementia, participants in the pathway dance provision ages 4-21, students in a dance in educational setting, hard to reach groups and people in deprived areas.
Working with such a diversity of different groups and highly skilled dance leader has given me a range of different tools that I can reflect upon. These tools have given me the opportunity to choose how I want to deliver and develop warm ups, dance phrases, creative tasks, structure session and choreograph dance pieces.
I’ve faced many different challenges during my time as a dance apprentice with Artis Community which has allowed me to develop and progress in my career path. One of the biggest challenges during my time as a dance apprentice was being open to improvised thinking and allowing myself to stray from plans. I have learnt how to deal with unpredictability in context to each group and not to panic if things begin to sway away from what I had planned for the session.
At no time in my apprenticeship did I feel unable to manage the amounts of responsibility I was given each term. This was down to the tailor made programme I had discussed and developed with the dance team and the strategic stages of the apprenticeship programme.
My time with Artis Community has resulted in me being offered further work on completion of my apprenticeship with established groups that I have been working with as well as the opportunity to develop potential sessions in my interest areas as mentioned previously.
Well done on the completion of your apprenticeship. Many thanks to all involved in the co-ordination and running of this programme. Sam, we look forward to working with you in the future.
CPD At Rubicon 2016
For the first time, Rubicon ran a three day CPD intensive designed to share skills, gain insight, and network with sector leaders in the fields of Dance for Foundation Phase Children, Hard to Reach Groups, and Dance for Dementia Patients.
It was a really interesting three days with completely different subjects and workshop leaders which seemed to work really well whatever your level of experience. There was new information/methods and ideas and also things we had all done many times but good to have a re fresh with a slightly different approach.
We had about 7-8 organsations and companies attend and several freelance dance leaders so a great mix and people had travelled from west and mid Wales to more local to the south which was great! Community dance organisations linked to the Wales Wide Training Programme really supported the training programme so thank you to thoe people. Many thanks to the freelance leaders who came – I really hope the CPD was affordable for you (we were piloting this with no additional funding).
If you haven’t already given me your feedback could you please do so by e mail – a few lines is absolutely perfect so I can pass feedback on to Anna Daly, Paul Bayes Kitcher and Nicola Jacobson. I may use some of the feedback/quotes on Rubicon’s website or social media – please let me know if you would rather I didn’t use yours. If you could get the feeback to me by Wednesday August 3rd that would be wonderful….thank you!
Best wishes and once again thank you for supporting our Rubicon CPD training programme. We are hoping to do it again next year so if you have any ideas please let me know!
tracey@rubicondance.co.uk
Louise Lloyd Apprenticeship Report
Jobs Growth Wales Funded Rubicon Dance Apprenticeship – Final Report
November 30 2015 – May 27 2016
Please find below extracts from Louise’s report on her apprenticeship:
With the support from Jobs Growth Wales I was able to start my six-month apprenticeship with Rubicon Dance at the end of November 2015. The time scale of six months was perfectly suited to my programme of development as I had previously completed the three-month Paul Hamlyn Funded Professional Placement with Rubicon Dance and Ballet Cymru earlier that year. This had given me the necessary experience of having shadowed community dance leaders in order to take the next step in my training.
Over the six months I have worked with very young children, both with and without learning and physical disabilities, sessions in primary schools, nurseries, adult and toddler sessions and intergenerational family sessions.
I have worked with adults with a vast range of ability throughout my apprenticeship training. The sessions have included dance for those aged 60+, adults with learning and physical disabilities, elderly people in day centre settings, adults undergoing stroke rehabilitation, and adults with dementia in a care home setting.
As well as having had Welsh Language training and gained my First Aid at Work certification whilst being an apprentice, I will be attending three CPD training programmes at Rubicon in July. The training days will be comprised of Foundation Phase Dance Day led by Anna Daly, Working with Challenging and Hard to Reach Groups led by Paul Kitcher, and Dance in Dementia Care led by Nicola Jacobson.
Throughout my apprenticeship I have received constant mentoring and weekly meetings with Tracey to discuss feedback, the problems faced within sessions, and how both the dance leaders and I had overcome these obstacles. The support structure set up within all aspects of my work with Rubicon was very nurturing and enabled me to really develop my skills and take advantage of my strengths when leading.
I am very grateful to Jobs Growth Wales for funding my apprenticeship and giving me such a brilliant opportunity. I am also thankful to the entire team at Rubicon Dance for all the time, wisdom and support they have given me and continue to share with me.
We are so pleased and proud that Louise has had a rewarding experience. Many thanks to all involved, and especially Jobs Growth Wales for their funding. For more information on training and apprenticeships, please contact Tracey at Rubicon Dance – 02920 491477 tracey@rubicondance.co.uk
A Report – Vocational Training Assistant
Please find enclosed extracts from Luke Bafico’s report on his time at Rubicon:
I got involved in British Dance Edition (BDE) 2016, a massive event on the national dance calendar, which hit Wales in mid-march and brought a diverse programme of quality British dance to Cardiff and Newport. Through participating in the event I was able to see what is relevant and current in the contemporary dance scene, which had a hand in shaping my thinking on what kind of an artist I aspire to be and what types of work I am interested in pursuing.
It is always an honour being an advocate for Rubicon and the full-time course and I especially enjoyed our sessions with the Fusion and conFusion groups, from which we had a very positive and engaging reaction from the participants. What a great group of people they are and it was truly a joy getting the chance to work with them on this level.
I have been keeping my training up and continuing with technique classes and fitness sessions which needless to say are important to keep the body fit and in shape so I can be fully prepared for external opportunities. I have also been able to get in the studio by myself and have some solo creative sessions. Mainly, I have been discovering new ways of moving and how music can inform the body.
Another highlight from the past three months was attending Rubicon’s 40th Anniversary lunch with guest of honour Sir Matthew Bourne, where again I was able to act as a spokesperson and representative for Rubicon Dance and further understand the ideals and principles of the community dance industry’s working environment. This was honestly a fantastic afternoon of being able to celebrate everything that is good about Rubicon and I can easily say what a success the event was. It was one of those experiences that made me realise how lucky I am to have Rubicon in my life and how much it has helped me career-wise and how proud I am to be part of such a special organisation.
To sum up, I cannot say how grateful I am that the past six months have happened and how thankful I am for the opportunities that arose within my time as the Vocational Training Assistant.
Many thanks to Luke for all his work. We wish you the best in your future endeavours.
Wales Wide Training Bursary 2016
Please find below some extracts from Catrin Wilson’s report following the award of her Bursary earlier in the year….
The Oxford Dictionary defines inspiration as:
“The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative”.
Lisa Dowler and her Small Things Dance Collective, in particular her ‘From Where You Are’ Dance and Health project, centred at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust was my inspiration for applying for this bursary.
From speaking with Lisa it has been realised that actually nor did she before the work on Alder Hey however, she had worked with children. She reminded me that everyday I work with a variety of different groups, all at different levels of ability and needs and in a variety of spaces which all provide good training for working in hospitals.
Furthermore, Lisa has helped me to recognise my confidence in inspiring people to move, in shifting moods and yes experience of working in hospitals is beneficial and more so for myself however; I am fully equipped with the transferable skills to be adaptable in this type of setting.
Having one to one meeting with Lisa was brilliant, inspiring and confidence building however, it would not have been possible but for the initial Wales Wide Training Day.
Many Thanks to all. Diolch yn fawr iawn.
Artis Community Apprenticeship
A selected extract from Sam Kelland’s second term at Artis Community Apprentice:
The second term of my apprenticeship has allowed me to experience new groups and new responsibilities. My role for this term was to assist, participants, collaborate, observe and lead sections of different community dance workshops around RCT. The quantity of the session I would lead would depend on my relationship with the group, my readiness to take on more responsibility and discussions with mentors and dance leaders.
I have thoroughly enjoyed working alongside Lizzie Davies and the True Colours groups. During my time with them I have gained and learnt so much. I had the opportunity to lead warm up sessions and choreographed group sections of the dance pieces. I have had the opportunity to work with props, film and music. The highlight of working with these groups were the sharings that were held at the end of term. The progression of both groups during the term were visible and the end results were beautiful.
Insync is an inclusive dance workshop for participants ages 11+. The session concentrates on both contemporary technique and creative dance. The biggest challenge for me during this session was knowing how difficult to set exercises. I was unsure of how to approach contemporary material for an inclusive group and didn’t want members to find it too difficult or too simple. At the same time I wanted to push participants in order for them to improve technically as well as creatively. I had endless discussions about this with Sarah Rogers who was leading the session.
Working with such a diversity of different groups and highly skilled dance leader has given me a range of different tools that I can reflect upon. These tools have given me the option to choose how I want to develop and deliver warm ups, dance phrases, creative tasks, structure session and choreograph dance pieces. This opportunity has enabled me to experience hands on what it is like to work in the community dance sector. I have learnt from mistakes and have had many an ‘on the spot’ moments which I have learnt to deal with confidence. None of which would have been possible without the encouragement and guidance of such a supportive team.
For further information on placements and apprenticeships, please call Tracey Brown at Rubicon 02920 491477.
Apprenticeship Report 2016
Louise Lloyd
Jobs Growth Wales funded Community Dance Apprenticeship with Rubicon Dance
Term 1 Evaluation: November 30th 2015 – March 25th 2016
What follows is an extract from Louise’s report:
I began my apprenticeship with Rubicon Dance on the 30th November 2015. The flexibility offered in the start date was hugely beneficial to me as it allowed me to complete the work I was doing with Artis Community as a Dance Support Worker before starting my apprenticeship. This then enabled me to devote full days to sessions with Rubicon.
Prior to the commencement of my apprenticeship I met with my mentor, Tracey Brown, to discuss the background of the apprenticeship scheme offered by Rubicon Dance and the future plan for the programme. We also looked at how this has lead to the Wales Wide Training Programme for apprentices in other community dance organisations across Wales.
Having workshadowed many of the dance leaders before, it was good for me to see them with new groups that I hadn’t been previously worked with to see how they use different approaches tailored to each session. I also began working with some dance leaders whom I had never work shadowed and it was very interesting to see additional methods and styles of managing a group.
Weekly mentoring sessions have really allowed me to reflect on and analyse my findings from the week’s sessions in a safe, supportive and informal setting. I meet Tracey for at least one hour every week as well as having regular conversations and e mail contact regularly and this is when we discuss feedback, my progress and how each session I am involved with was set up and is managed. It became very clear that constant communication with venue and organisation personnel, as well as selecting the appropriate dance leader for the session, were essential to the continued success of weekly sessions.
The apprenticeship with Rubicon Dance has given me a unique opportunity to develop my skills as a dance leader within a positively challenging yet very supportive environment. It has given me the chance to understand where my strengths and interests lie within the community dance sector and gain invaluable experience with a diverse range of groups.
Louise, it’s a pleasure having you around – we wish you continued success….
Rubicon Dance – April 5th 2016
Ken Skates Visit 4th Feb 2016
On Thursday 4th February 2016, Ken Skates the Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism visited Rubicon Dance, as a celebration of Rubicon’s 40th Birthday.
This visit celebrated the variety of work Rubicon provides to the communities of Cardiff and Newport, the range of participants Rubicon engage with and the work they have continued to provide for these communities over 40 years.
During the visit Ken Skates was able to watch sessions that regularly run at the Rubicon Dance centre; this included a High Support session that takes place at the centre every week. Following this, Ken Skates was introduced to the students on the full-time course who demonstrated pieces created and performed as a result of the full-time course including a contemporary solo, a group piece and some new work – Tango and Jive that they are currently working on during classes.
A variety of members from the communities that Rubicon works with also attended the event/ visit to provide personal stories and share their experiences that Rubicon has allowed them to gain. Community members and representatives from two schools, Moorland Primary and Adamsdown Primary, Llanrumney Ladies and Adamsdown Elderly all attended the visit to meet Ken Skates, and also to provide him with an insight into what Rubicon has allowed them to achieve.
Alongside the community members that Rubicon work with a variety of members including Jenny Rathbone, University of South Wales, WEA Cymru, Adamsdown Day Centre, Children’s Hospital for Wales and Marion Straker Rubicon’s Chair also attended to appreciate and value the work Rubicon has achieved both past and present.
The visit was themed around Rubicon’s 40th Birthday – the building was decorated with balloons and banners and a “Happy 40th Birthday Rubicon” birthday cake providing the visit with a sense of pride, achievement and celebration.
Sue Reardon (Cardiff and Vale UHB – Child Health) attended the event and said
“Many thanks for inviting me. It was so nice to see all the fantastic work Rubicon are doing, I felt very humbled and quite emotional. I really enjoyed my morning with you and everybody was so nice and very welcoming. Keep up the wonderful work you are all doing!”
During the visit Ken Skates showed his appreciation towards Rubicon Dance and how he values the work that Rubicon do within the Cardiff and Newport communities commenting “When we wrote our remit letter, this is exactly the type of organisation we’d like to fund.”
The History of Community Dance in the UK A talk by Tamara McLorg Transcription: Annette Huber, Hamburg
Vortrag von Tamara McLorg beim Laboratorium
CAN DO CAN DANCE
28. August 2006, Ganztagsschule St. Pauli, Hamburg
I’m now going to talk a little bit about the history of Community Dance in the UK, and hopefully, you can ask us some questions. I will keep it quite brief, not too many details, and not to be too academic. Just before I start to talk about the history of Community Dance, I would like to give you a little brief history of Contemporary Dance in the UK, because it is still quite new for us as well.
It was really only in the early 1960s that this concept of contemporary dance arrived. We had Hilde Holger, Laban, as you’ve heard already throughout this conference, and then in the late ’60s, we had a company called Ballet Rambert that was originally started by Marie Rambert, who was a Polish artist and dancer. And in the middle of the late ’60s, they changed from a ballet company into what was called a “modern” company.
Approximately around the same time, we had someone called Robin Howard, who had seen Martha Graham performing when she came to London, he thought her work was absolutely extraordinary, and decided that he wanted to support the idea of contemporary dance in the UK and to introduce her technique and concpets. So, together with Martha Graham, a plan was conceived.
Robin – who was a very very very rich man, he was a Lord, actually! – sent dancers to the USA, to train in the Martha Graham technique. Then they came back as teachers and performers. Also, Martha Graham arranged for some of her dancers to come to the UK. In 1969 the first school and building officially concentrating on Contemporary Dance was born.
This building was named The Place and housed The London School of Contemporary Dance. Before that date they did have a little studio in the back of Oxford Street. One of the things that came out of the London School of Contemporary Dance and the philosophy of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre was the educational work. So, in collaboration with Robert Cohan, who was the Artistic Director of The London Contemporary Dance Theatre, and Mr. Howard, the concept of developing the idea of lecture-demonstration groups was planned and initiated to go out into educational establishments, to introduce and educate people the Graham technique – contemporary dance according to the Gospel of Martha Graham! I was one of those students in those early days and I went to the Place in 1969 – I was very young! – and as a student, we were also initiated into that role of working and philosophy. In those days, it wasn’t called Community Dance.
It was about going out and working with people. It didn’t have a title or I personally was no aware of any titles. The concept, in the sense that we now know, wasn’t there. But even in 1972, as I said yesterday, I was working with young children. In the mid 70’s The Arts Council of Great Britain needed to create audience for the contemporary dance movement. Following the funding policies many of the students from the London School of Contemporary Dance, Laban and the Rambert School and other dance institutions started to go out into the regions creating small companies.
Some of the main companies that existed and did very good work were Emma Dance Company in the East Midlands, Cycles in the West Midlands, the English Dance Theatre up in Darlington, in the North of England, East Anglia Dance Theatre, and Spiral in Liverpool… we also had the Welsh Dance Theatre that was based in Cardiff and Basic Space that was based up in Edinburgh, Scotland. But what all these companies had in common was that they did educational work. The orginal idea of the educational work was to actually build audiences. They didn’t have that concept of “Oh, the community want to perform!” – it was: “We want everybody to come and see us performing!”
So the question was: How do we bring the audiences in, so we’re not just four to five people, a sheep and a dog? [giggles in audience]. How do we perform to more people? Go out, do workshops with them, explain the work, and then hopefully, they would come to see our wonderful and extraordinary performances. Unfortunately, what happened was: We began to discover that they weren’t particularly interested in seeing us they wanted to do it themselves! So the participants actually also wanted to be dancers. For instance, I was a dancer with the Emma Dance Company, and we had a rota.
Every Monday night, we would go to the main towns around the East Midland, and teach classes. And then we began to do more creative work with them. But we still weren’t into that place where we invited them to perform with us. It was like: “Come and see us! Come and see us!” Bit by bit, we began to realize that, actually, these people wanted to dance. Adults, who had been dying to, since they were little children… who said “I wanted to dance but my parents wouldn’t let me!”… and suddenly, they had the opportunity to dance, there was a place that this could happen. In the late ’70s, also at the same time… so, in the early ’70s we had these companies in the regions, which were fantastic, because they were all repertoire companies – I’m slightly going off-kilter here! – but it was fantastic because it was a strong breeding ground for young choreographers like myself, like Mr. Maldoom, to actually learn our craft and skills. We went from company to company to company, working, creating, choreographying. Now, the trend tends to be that the choreographer has a their own company and just develop their on their work, style and ideas. In the late ’70s, we had the initiation of Youth Dance festivals.
The first one was held in Birmingham with the philosophy of bringing young people together who had an interest in dance from all over the UK. I’d just like to mention two extraordinary people from that time within our history with whom I came into contact and found inspiring. The first is Marie McClusky who had the vision of supporting artists. And till today she’s still doing supporting artists. She’s an extraordinary woman, lives in Swindon, and is Director of Swindon Dance, one of the National Dance Agencies. Another extraordinary woman was Nadine Senoir, who was a teacher with the educational system, and taught at Harehills Middle School in Leeds.
To see her youth group was something so extraordinary! She would just ask any professional dancer that was in the area to come and work with her pupils. Both of them have supported young dancers and choreographers from their area, whom have become extraordinary dancers and choreographers and have contributed to the profession – Although that’s not the reason why we do Community Dance… Those two women were quite amazing! In 1976 the first Community Dance posts were appointed in Cardiff, Molly Kenny, Swindon, Marie McClusky and Cheshire, Veronica Lewis. Slowly, the first two Animateurs became employed in the UK.
Royston Maldoom, with the Fife Community Movement was appointed in 1980. These appointments were very, very important, because it changed completely how we began to view what we were doing in the community. Unfortunately, we began to lose regional companies. In their place, we had Dance Animateurs. In hindsight I feel this was a shame and a loss. The Dance Animateur, however, began to view the concept of working with the community from a different perspective and would bring in the professional artists and companies that were appropriate for their community. I was very involved with the Fife Movement in Scotland and it was interesting for me to see how Royston worked in the very early days. He went in as a choreographer and the movement was extraordinary: it just spread throughout Scotland! Now the whole movement, the Dance Animateur, has developed, and is now the largest industry in dance in the UK – of people being employed in dance. I’d like to mention someone else, someone called Wolfgang Stange, who is actually German, and was a student at the London School of Contemporary Dance but who also worked with Hilde Holger. He started teaching integrated classes in 1974.
This was very, very new. If any of you ever get the opportunity to hear Wolfgang speak, please go! He is an inspiring man. In 1980 he set up the first integrated company called Amici. The National Youth festivals carried on until about the beginning of the ’80s and then slowly died out. But in 1986, Royston and I collaborated and we set up the first Scottish Youth Dance festival which was the first festival in the UK that was integrated for dancers who were abled or non-abled dancers and also people with learning challenges. It was a very successful festival that still carries on today but in a completely different format. In 1986, the Foundation of Community Dance was established, and I think this is what may interest you the most, because I think this is something that would be worth thinking about and contemplating. To quote from some of their literature: “It is the industry-led body for Community Dance, working for the development of dance for all. It is at the centre of the national network of Community Dance.
The Foundation of Community Dance represents the diversity of dance in the UK. Established in 1986, by dance artists, to raise the profile and be the national voice for Community Dance, we work for the development of dance for all. We campaign, take action, and represent the concerns, interests and practice of Community Dance at all levels, acting as a catalyst for the development of partnerships between practicioners, funders and communities.” They also have a magazine I’ve brought some, if anybody wants to have a look at them – called “Animated”. It is a quarterly magazine and it is written by the practicioners. So every three or four months, you get the magazine if you join the Foundation of Community Dance. It only costs £ 20 a year, and I think £ 15 if you are a student, and you get lots of information of what is happening. They also have a web site, http://www.communitydance.org.uk .
The Foundation gives information about funding. They also give information on health and safety, the Disability Discrimination Act (I don’t know if you have one in Germany, but I have a copy here); the Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure (anybody working with young people in the UK these days has to go through this), and Public Liability insurance, pay issues… so, you can contact them and have all this information and advice passed to you. They are a voice for Community Dance workers for anybody working in the community. They keep you totally up to date with what is happening. They also look after an organisation called “potential” which is a foundation dedicated to dance and disabled people.
Also, if you are a member, every month they will e-mail you all jobs that are available, or even if somebody is looking for a teacher for a Saturday morning. This happened through networking and through artists and community workers getting together and having a powerful voice. They also lobby for this area of work politically and with the government. Community Dance has also now entered the academic world.
You can now actually take degrees and come out with a degree of Community Dance. Laban has a very good degree, and so does Middlesex University. We have a Bachelor of Arts degree: Young dancers can come and they can specialize in Community Dance. We don’t have many students taking this option because young dancers want to dance! What’s the community? But at Middlesex all students in their first year have to take a module that is called Community Dance. This is to give the student an awareness and knowledge of this area of work. In the second year, we look at the craft, skills and philosophy of choreographing within a Community Dance context. And in the third year, they actually go out into the community. For instance, we might do a project where we would go into a primary school where we do a performance, and we maybe take issues, for instance, issues at the moment are nutrition and health.
So the piece would be based on that work in the school and then the students do workshops with the young people. Or we go into homes for the elderly and we make work and then we go in and they meet the elderly. This is quite difficult, very often very difficult for our students, because our society… I don’t know what it’s like here in Germany…but in our society, older and frail people are very often locked away in homes. “Oh, they’re old. Put them in a home, shut the door and forget about them!” And I found that many of our students are frightened to meet older people, which I think is so sad.
Once they get in, they realize there’s nothing to be frightened about. So I think maybe our society needs to look at how we are working with older people, how we relate to them, and I think there could be more generational work, with young people and older people. Senior citizens have so much to offer and on the other hand, the older people love being with younger people! The other area that I find interesting from an academic point of view is that, also, we are educating new writers. That is the topic that came up a little bit yesterday. We are educating the new writers to look at different aesthetics.
How are we looking at dance? So maybe, we’ll have writers that can go and review a community project and feel they are capable of writing about it with knowledge. Or they can go and watch a culturally diverse programme and write about it with knowledge and with the history of it. That area I think is really exciting and I hope we’ll develop this more academically. What most young dancers don’t realize (in the UK, anyway), is that at some point, they will be doing community work. They will be doing it! End of story! They will be teaching at some point. They will end up working with an older group. They will end up working with sick children. So to have that knowledge is so important. There is a debate going on at present, and I have the magazine here,: “Should we change the title of Community Dance, and call it something else?” It’s not been resolved, but the magazine is here with different people’s opinions and ideas. it will be quite interesting to see what the final outcome will be. But that’s where we are at the moment in the UK, having that debate: “Should it be Community Dance or should it not?”
For me, personally, I think the things that are really important are: quality. If we are working with people in the community, we have to take them the best, not second best. If we are choreographing, it has to be the best. And I think: If you are a community worker, you have to know your limitations. You have to know what you are good at and, maybe, what you are not so good at, and bring in the people that can take over the bits that you are not so good at. You must and I really believe this you have to give the community the best of the best. Dance is happening in all sorts of venues with the community site specific.
For instance: I did a project on a motorway – never again! – with 170 people. It can happen in a church, it can happen in hospitals, it can happen in schools, in swimming pools… it doesn’t have to be in the theatre. Like today, the wonderful video we saw of the football: it can happen anywhere. The only thing that stops you is your own vision. I feel it’s quite important to look at dance – I don’t know what it is like here, but we tend to look at dance in a linear way [indicates vertical, top-to bottom positions]: Here is the ballet, the élite, the best, the wonderful and where the funding goes; then we sort of seem to have the middle venues, middle-scale dance companies; then we have the smaller companies; and then, somewhere here at the bottom, we have Community Dance. And I think if we think of it in that way, we will always be in this place! So I think it would be quite good if we started thinking of it in this way [indicates horizontal positions]: Here we have ballet and here we have middle scale, here we have Community Dance we are all on the same line! We are all doing work, we are all doing dance, we are all in the dance community but just maybe decided to do it in a slightly different way. It would be lovely if we can get rid of the élitism.
The other thing again, this is my own personal opinion I think it would be wonderful for me, and I think we will achieve something, when we got rid of the labels. That we’re not saying: “I’m working with someone with disabilities” or “I’m working with a group of immigrants” or “I’m working with…”. No! – “I’m working with a group of people!” Because as long as we have those labels, we are still categorizing. I would like to take away those labels. We are all human beings, we all love, we all cry, we all get angry, we all hate, we all want to have a bit of sex sometimes and I think if we would get rid of those labels… and just really one last thing I just wanted to tell you: When I was much younger, my mother we were in a park she picked up a little acorn. She picked up the acorn, she put it in my hand and she said: “Remember – one small thought or vision can grow into something large and amazing and last for a very very long time!” And I think in a way you are in that place. That you are very lucky that if you want to, now, take forward the idea of Community Dance, is to take that vision and you can make it grow here in a really positive way. Thank you!
rubicon dance 