NEWS UPDATE AND DAILY BLOG
This page will feature information about the Telling Tales tour which will be updated on a daily basis to keep you up to speed with the latest news from the tour. A new photograph will be uploaded every day to show the progress of the show along with a blog from one of the dancers or the creative team.
Click here to view the full Telling Tales stories and Education Follow - Up Activities.
Telling Tales Update Saturday 31 May
Activities reached a new peak today with final costume fittings under the watchful eye of Kay Wilton our wonderful costumier, and a first dress run of all four Telling Tales pieces. Lighting Designer Guy Hoare returned today to discuss designs with Enrique Cabrera, whose new fourth piece for the all 6 dancers - Sea of Clothes - was completed prior to him leaving this afternoon to return to Madrid. Enrique has been in residence with us for the last two weeks, refining Lucy and Ian's duet and then working with the entire Telling Tales team on a brand new piece which gives us a fabulous finale to the show.
The Hare and The Tortoise by Sarah Hedge and Oksanah Tyminska, Choreographic Director Hélène Blackburn
TELLING TALES UPDATE sUNDAY 1 JUNE
Sunday 1 June sees another dress run with Guy finalising the lighting and Paul Southern, our Production Manager, making final arrangements for the tour. He'll be joined today by Becci Hubbard who's going to tour with the company as Assistant Stage Manager with special responsibility for costume (and all those feathers ...) . The dancers have Monday off, but not the Production Team who'll be loading up the van, and the the 21-date tour begins with a week of performances in Leicester as part of the Spark Children's Arts Festival.
It’s Mine by Ian Dolan and Lucy Killingley, Choreographic Director Enrique Cabrera
Click on the image above to download a larger version.
TELLING TALES UPDATE MONDAY 2 JUNE
After the dancers have worked their socks off for the last few weeks, they have had a well deserved break today! Today has been a mad rush to pack all our equipment into our van, paint the chairs for the show (I am now covered in red paint!) and wash some very smelly costumes in preparation for the tour which starts tomorrow. We will be performing at Mellor Community Primary School in Leicester-stay posted to find out how it went! Over the next few weeks we shall be posting photos, feedback and details of upcoming dates of the tour.
Fingers crossed for tomorrow!
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
The Golden Goose by Alice Cade and Amy Butler, Choreographic Director Hélène Blackburn
Sea of Clothes by Sarah Hedge, Oksana Tyminska, Ian Dolan, Lucy Killingley, Alice Cade and Amy Butler, Choreographic Director Enrique Cabrera
Click on the image above to download a larger version.
TELLING TALES UPDATE TUESDAY 3 JUNE
FIRST STOP!Well the tour has gotten underway! Today was our first tour date at Mellor Community Primary School. The day may have gotten off to a rather miserable and wet start but we didn’t let it dampen our spirits! After a very early start we arrived at the school at about 8:00am and transformed the school hall into our performance space with the help of a dance floor, stage lights and a lot of gaffa tape! The performance went fantastically well-one of the dancers commented that she couldn’t stop smiling throughout the final dance as she was enjoying it so much! From the audience’s applause and comments such as ‘that was wicked!’ it is safe to say it was very well received. Further comments and feedback from the school will be arriving shortly. We would just like to say a big thankyou to the school for being so welcoming and to the children for being such a well behaved and enthusiastic audience!
Tomorrow we will be at Rolleston Primary School. Hopefully the show and workshops will run as smoothly as today!
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
Paul and Julian unload the van.
TELLING TALES UPDATE WEDNESDAY 4 JUNE
Today got off to a bright and sunny start! We arrived at Rolleston Primary School at about 8:00am. Despite setting up in the wrong space and putting the dance floor down upside-down we managed to setup in a surprisingly short time.
The dancers warm up before the show
By all accounts the performance went well. The children were very giggly, excitable, inquisitive and welcoming. Unlike yesterday we held a question and answer session after for the children to ask questions and comment on the performance, which was a great chance for us to get some immediate responses from the audience and to encourage them to get involved in dancing.
Question and answer session held after the performance.
Comments included…
‘I thought it was really groovy - I like your style’
‘I liked all of it’
‘My favourite part was the last part because the stories were told in a new way’
‘Can you come back??’
We had to get out of the space as quickly as possible, which we managed to do thanks to some expert helpers from year 6.Thank you to everyone at the school for being so welcoming and enthusiastic!
We’re off to Loughborough tomorrow to Outwoods Edge Primary School.
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
TELLING TALES UPDATE THURSDAY 5 JUNE
Another bright and sunny start to the day! We had an extra half an hour in bed this morning as we were in school not so far away- Outwoods Edge Primary School in Loughborough. Everyone was very tired this morning-the early starts are obviously taking their toll! We arrived at the school and unloaded the van whilst the dancers warmed up outside in the sunshine.
The dancers warm up in the glorious sunshine
The dancers rehearse the show
After setting up the lights and blacking out the school hall windows we then looked up and realised there was a huge skylight letting all the bright sunshine in! So unfortunately the lighting was not as effective as we would have liked.
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The fourth performance Sea of Clothes
The children were an extremely polite and well behaved audience, who had lots of questions for the dancers afterwards…
‘How long have you been dancing for?’
‘How long does it take you to practice?’
‘Why is there only one boy?!’
Although many of the children did dancing they had never had a dance piece come to their school, so it was nice to see them enjoying the show! Thank you to the children for being so well behaved and to the school for being so welcoming.
Tomorrow we are at Manorfield CE PrimarySchool in Leicester.
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
TELLING TALES UPDATE FRIDAY 6 JUNE
Another day another school! Today we were at Manor Field Primary School in Leicester.
The get-in went smoothly today-we found a new technique to lay the dance floor to avoid lumps and bumps. The dancers did an extensive warm-up whilst myself, Paul and Julian sat and ate Mars bars! I think we had the right idea.
Amy and Alice
The performance went as well as usual. The children particularly enjoyed the part where the bag mysteriously starts moving by itself. I overheard comments such as… ‘It’s alive!!’, ‘It’s a monster!!’.
The fourth performance Sea of Clothes
The question and answer session bought up the usual questions…
‘How often do you practice?’
‘Do you enjoy it?’
….and some more unusual ones…
‘Are you all in the same family??’
The usual battle between us doing the get-out and the dinner ladies wanting to set up for lunch meant that we got out as quickly as possible. Thank you to all the children who helped me to put all the feathers back in the bag! Thank you to everyone at the school for having us and being so friendly.
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
The Hare and The Tortoise by Sarah Hedge and Oksana Tyminska, Choreographic Director Hélène Blackburn
TELLING TALES UPDATE SATURDAY 7 JUNE
After four relatively easy and smooth running days of the tour today was an unusually stressful day! Heavy rain, getting lost, not having enough space for the dance floor, leaving a prop at the school yesterday, lemons exploding on stage and just general tiredness from the busy week we’ve had! Despite the chaos the performance went really well and the children enjoyed it which is the important thing! Day off tomorrow then we arrive at Lakeside on Monday in order to set up for the performances on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
The Golden Goose by Alice Cade and Amy Butler, Choreographic Director Hélène Blackburn
TELLING TALES UPDATE MONDAY 9 JUNE
Today we returned to Lakeside, where we had been rehearsing the piece, to set up for the performances this week. The emphasis today was on the technical side of things. Although technical rehearsals inevitably take a long time and involve a lot of waiting around-(although I managed to squeeze in a few hours sunbathing so I didn’t mind!)-the results were worth it.
The Golden Goose by Alice Cade and Amy Butler, Choreographic Director Hélène Blackburn
The piece has been transformed from the scaled-down version thatwe have been touring schools with to a slick and professional piece ready for a paying audience! After rehearsing all the pieces individually we managed to do a full run through which went very well. Tomorrow will be a very long day- a dress rehearsal and two shows to do…and probably lots of washing…
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
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It’s Mine by Ian Dolan and Lucy Killingley, Choreographic Director Enrique Cabrera
TELLING TALES UPDATE TUESDAY10 JUNE
Today we had a dress rehearsal and two performances at Lakeside - a busy day! Now that we have done the show so many times however we have become experts at setting the performances up and clearing away in a short space of time! Although one of the dancers had a nasty fall in the dress run, everything else went fairly smoothly. We had four schools in to see the show in the afternoon, and then had a public audience in the evening. After the show we celebrated the opening night at Lakeside with wine and nibbles, and had a lovely thank you speech from Shona Powell. Tomorrow we all get a lie in! Now we all know what we’re doing we only have to come in for our 2:00pm and 6:00pm shows. Hopefully no more injuries tomorrow!
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
Sea of Clothes by Sarah Hedge, Oksana Tyminska, Ian Dolan, Lucy Killingley, Alice Cade and Amy Butler, Choreographic Director Enrique Cabrera
TELLING TALES UPDATE WEDNESDAY 11 JUNE
A fairly easy day today! We had a show for the schools at 2pm and a public show at 6pm again. The dancers held a question and answer session again after the performances. It’s nice to hear immediate responses from the children - who were as inquisitive and enthusiastic about the performance as ever!
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Amy and Alice
I forgot to mention at the start of the week that we have been joined by Jason who is on work experience from L.I.P.A. for these two weeks of the tour - another pair of hands to clear up that never ending pile of feathers is always useful! Tomorrow we’ll be doing some filming in the day and then our last performance at Lakeside at 6pm.
Jason battles with the feather at the end of the show.
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
TELLING TALES UPDATE THURSDAY 12 JUNE
Today was mostly spent filming the show. Although the show had been filmed from an audience’s point of view, we needed close ups of the dancers, so had to film sections from the performance. This was a long day for the dancers, lots of waiting around and stopping and starting. In the evening we had the final performance at Lakeside, which went well. After the performance we had to load up the van again in preparation for the next venue of the tour. Tomorrow we are at South Holland Arts Centre in Spalding. Lets hope we haven’t forgotten anything!
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
TELLING TALES UPDATE FRIDAY 13 JUNE
Although today is meant to bring bad luck our day on the whole was rather successful. After an early start we managed to navigate ourselves to Spalding without getting too badly lost…although we might have taken a few wrong turnings along the way!
The venue was a really old-school theatre venue-red seats, raised stage and red curtains! After being in the same venue all week it was nice to move on somewhere else.
Auditorium
After the dancers had an intensive warm-up followed by a very energetic game of tig, whilst me Jason and Paul went to eat in a café, we were set for the first performance. The children were very quiet throughout but in the question and answer session were very loud and enthusiastic! We had a couple of hours break in between the first and second performance so we went shopping! The second performance went just as well. Unfortunately Oksana, one of the dancers, had injured her ankle so was unable to perform in the final piece. However we have a four day break until we are on the road again to Lincoln Drill Hall on Tuesday, so hopefully the dancers will get a good rest and will be fighting fit for the rest of the tour!
Loading the van up ready for the trip back to Nottingham
After packing the van we travelled back to Nottingham…via Newark thanks to Jason’s directions! It’s been a good but tiring week-I think we will all be glad of the long weekend ahead of us.
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
TELLING TALES UPDATE tuesDAY 17 JUNE
After a four day break today we were back on the road to Lincoln Drill Hall. I don’t think we were all quite with it in the van-we drove past Jason when we were supposed to be picking him up and then got lost on the one-way system in Lincoln!
This was the first full get in that we have done for a while as we used our own lights and dance floor. This break has obviously affected our memories as we laid the dance floor completely wrong and had to start again labelling it up from scratch!
We only had one show today which we had a full enthusiastic and loud audience for! Lots of laughter from the audience, who got involved by clapping along to the music. Thanks to everyone at Lincoln Drill Hall who assisted the get out.
After packing up the van we drove back to Lakeside just to unpack it all again! Now we have a really long break. Our next performance isn’t until Friday 28th June where we will be performing at Benefield Village Hall in Peterborough.
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
TELLING TALES UPDATE FRIDAY 27 JUNE
After a ten day break we were back on the road to Benefield Village Hall. A rather stressful day all in all! After a late start we hit the road…and managed to navigate ourselves about thirty miles in the wrong direction! After some panicked map reading we managed to navigate ourselves to the tiny village of Benefield about an hour late! The village hall was the smallest venue that we have performed in-only four metres wide when we are used to nine metres wide! Despite the stressful race against time to get there and get set up, the show went well. Because of the small space it was an intimate performance, which was a nice change from the larger venues that we have been playing.
The children really seemed to enjoy it-not many professional touring companies would go to such a remote place so it was a good opportunity for them to see some theatre! A very tiring day-hopefully tomorrow will run a bit smoother!
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
TELLING TALES UPDATE SATURDAY 28 JUNE
An early start this morning as we had to be at The Castle in Wellingborough for 8am-on a Saturday! Thankfully we actually managed to get there early! Today was the quickest get-in so far thanks to the help of the staff at The Castle. Unlike yesterday when we were working until the last minute, we managed to get set up with two hours to spare until the first performance, so the dancers did some relaxing yoga! The children really enjoyed the show and were very enthusiastic!
Today was my last day working on the tour so lots of goodbyes to say. I would just like to say thank you to everyone I’ve met along the way and all the fantastic people I’ve been working with over the last few weeks! I’ve had a really good time…although I must say I shall behappy not to have to do any of the dancer’s washing anymore!!
- Becci Hubbard, Assistant Stage Manager, Telling Tales
TELLING TALES...THE STORY SO FAR
Telling Tales is the result of a project driven by a partnership between Stephen Munn of Derby Dance, Ellen Bianchini of The Spark Children’s Arts Festival in Leicester and Shona Powell of Lakeside Arts Centre, University of Nottingham. Now working under the banner of the East Midlands Children’s Theatre Consortium, the partners began to bring international dance theatre for children and families to regional audiences through a joint festival programme in 2005.
The Telling Tales project came about eighteen months ago when the Consortium - motivated by the lack of dance theatre for young audiences in the United Kingdom - created a unique opportunity for six East Midlands dancers to work alongside two
acclaimed international choreographers who specialise in making work for children and families - Enrique Cabrera of Aracaladanza (Madrid) and Hélène Blackburn of Cas Public (Montréal).
Following a two-week residency with Aracaladanza in their Madrid Studio in January 2007, intensive choreographic labs with the two choreographers in April and May 2007 and with ongoing professional training and support from Claire Cunningham,
three new duets were created. These duets were shown as works in progress at three schools in Derby, Leicester and Nottingham.
Encouraged by the positive audience response to the duets, and the feeling that the work deserved further development and exposure, the Consortium made a further application for funding to take the three duets into production. In May 2008, Hélène and Enrique returned to the UK to refine their duets, and develop a fourth piece involving all six dancers prior to an East Midlands tour in summer 2008.
In 2007 the project was made possible with funding from Three Cities Create and Connect, European Regional Development Fund, and Arts Council England. Production development and touring in 2008 has been supported by Arts Council England, University of Nottingham and Lakeside Arts Centre.
The four pieces which feature in Telling Tales are:
The Hare and The Tortoise by Sarah Hedge and Oksana Tyminska, Choreographic Director Hélène Blackburn
It’s Mine by Ian Dolan and Lucy Killingley, Choreographic Director Enrique Cabrera
The Golden Goose by Alice Cade and Amy Butler, Choreographic Director Hélène Blackburn
Sea of Clothes by Sarah Hedge, Oksana Tyminska, Ian Dolan, Lucy Killingley, Alice Cade and Amy Butler, Choreographic Director Enrique Cabrera
Running time 40 minutes without an interval
Production Team
Choreography - Hélène Blackburn & Enrique Cabrera
Costume Design - Kay Wilton
Lighting Design - Guy Hoare
Rehearsal Directors - Claire Cunningham & Jose Agudo
Production Manager - Paul Southern
Project Coordinator - Lucia Hogg, Spiel Producing
Producer - East Midlands Children’s Theatre Consortium
Tour Dates:
7 June 2pm
HAMILTON LIBRARY, LEICESTER
0116 2212790
www.sparkfestival.co.uk
The company will be back at Lakeside Arts Centre for the International Children's Theatre and Dance Festival between 10 and 12 June inclusive at 6pm. If you don't already have tickets, then pick up the phone 0115 8467777, or book on line at www.lakesidearts.org.uk This promises to be a very special show.
13 June 1.30pm & 5.30pm
SOUTH HOLLAND ARTS CENTRE, SPALDING
01775 764777
www.southhollandcentre.co.uk
17 June 1.30pm
LINCOLN DRILL HALL
01522 873894
www.linolndrillhall.com
27 June 4pm
BENEFIELD VILLAGE HALL, NORTHAMPTON
01832 205314/01832 205289
www.northantstouringarts.co.uk
28 June 11am & 2pm
THE CASTLE, WELLINGBOROUGH
01933 270007
www.thecastle.org.uk
7 July 10.30am & 2pm
DERBY DANCE
01332 370911
www.derbydance.co.uk
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