Telling Tales
Since 2005, Lakeside Arts Centre at the University of Nottingham, Spark Children’s Arts Festival in Leicester and Déda in Derby, have worked together under the collective title of East Midlands Children’s Theatre Consortium to bring high quality dance and dance theatre for children and family audiences to the East Midlands. In that first year, they introduced the work of Enrique Cabrera (Aracaladanza) and Hélène Blackburn (Cas Public) to their respective festival audiences, and the response was so positive that they began to think about how the could influence the creation of more dance for children in the United Kingdom.
With financial assistance from the Arts Council of England, the Consortium set up a project which involved 6 dancers from the East Midlands working closely with Enrique Cabrera and Hélène Blackburn to develop their dance skills and their ideas about making dance for children. At the end of this project which involved intensive residencies with both choreographers and a period shadowing the work of Aracaladanza in their Madrid-based studio, there were 3 duets created which were tested on audiences in Derby, Leicester and Nottingham. The response from audiences was terrific, and in 2008 the three duets were worked up to production level and toured with one new piece created for all 6 dancers to regional venues across the East Midlands under the title of Telling Tales.
In 2010, the Arts Council of England funded a national tour of Telling Tales during which the dancers travelled from St Andrews to Poole, and from Ipswich to Swansea. During their tour they kept a blog of their experiences and progress.
READ TELLING TALES NATIONAL TOUR BLOG
Production Shots
'The Hare and The Tortoise'
Choreographer Helene Blackburn, Dancers: Isabelle Cressy and Ezekiel Oliveira
'It's Mine'
Choreographer Enrique Cabrera
Dancers: Laura Wheatley and David Ogle
'The Golden Goose'
Choreographer Helene Blackburn
Dancers: Amy Butler and Keir Patrick
'Sea of Clothes'
Choreographer Enrique Cabrera
Dancers: The Company
Telling Tales Toured the Following Venues in 2010
ARC
Stockton Arts Centre
The Lowry
Deda
The Electric Theatre
Newbury Corn Exchange
Jerwood DanceHouse
The Civic
The Byre Theatre
Howden Park Centre
Livingstone
Thursday 11 March 11am
01506 777666
www.howdenparkcentre.co.uk
Macrobert
Laban
Pavilion Theatre
The Carriageworks
Lakeside Arts Centre
Lighthouse
The Point
The Egg Theatre
Epsom Playhouse
Norden Farm Centre for the Arts
South Street Arts Centre
The Telling Tales programme and linked Aracaladanza performances have been made possible with funding from Three Cities Create and Connect, European Regional Development Fund and Arts Council England East Midlands.
