September took an unexpected turn with a trip to Malawi to teach aerial to a group of trainees working for the charity Anno's Africa. It came about through a conversation with my friend and colleague Kate Jones of Cimera- a welsh community circus company who I have worked with many times. Kate was hugely supportive in the creation of my new show Howl this year, working officially as Welsh language support and costume designer/maker. Anyway, at some point it came up that some of Cimera were returning to Malawi to teach circus and costume making with Anno's Africa- a charity providing arts activities to underpriveledged children in Africa, and Kate invited me along too.
We were based in Mzuzu, in the north of Malawi, myself and Daisy Williams taught aerial to a group of trainees from the Malawi team, in an aerial intensive that took place in a tobacco auction house (it wasn't tobacco season at the time) and joined Kate, Alex, Lia, Bea and Andrew teaching stilts, juggling, slack line, hula hooping, unicycling, diablo and devilstick in the schools in Mzuzu. As well as costume and film making to some of the Malawian team- Emmanuel, James, Bilton and Hassan who work year round teaching drama, dance, song, circus and art.
The aerial trainees- Alinafe, Blessing, Foster, Mercy and Hassan took to aerial like ducks to water and worked incredibly hard to learn silks, trapeze, rope and hoop in the short time that we had. The project culminated in a celebration that involve children from Chipotula school showing off their ground based circus skills, the aerial trainees doing short aerial performances and Hassan and Mercy stilt walking in beautiful costumes made by Bilton and Kate, at Macondo camp, with the hope of attracting interest and investment in the project. It was a beautiful day and a great way to celebrate the end of our visit, The team gained many skills to pass on in the workshops and training they do in schools around Mzuzu. The hope is that they continue to work on their skills and eventually a circus centre will be opened in Malawi.
It was a wonderful and eye opening experience for me, and the positivity, willingness and commitment of the trainees and children really was humbling. I hope to get the opportunity to return to carry on teaching before too long. It was also a great priveledge to visit Malawi and to be immersed in a different culture even for a short time.
You can check out the work of Anno's Africa here: http://www.annosafrica.org.uk/
Howl! Performances have been going well with the show bedding in nicely. We have some more dates coming up before summer comes to an end. If you haven't seen it yet then come along.
Mae perfformiadau wedi bod yn mynd yn dda, a dwi'n mwynhau gwneud y sioe. Mae gennym fwy o ddyddiadau yn ddod i fyny cyn i'r haf ddod i ben. Os nad ydach i weld eto, dewch draw.
Eisteddfod Genedlaithol Cymru 10 & 11 Aug/Awst https://eisteddfod.wales/programme
Awen Trust, Bryngarw Country Park 30 Aug/Awst https://www.bryngarwcountrypark.co.uk/whats-on/
Span Arts, Scolton Park 31 Aug/Awst https://span-arts.org.uk/whats-on/
Commissioned by Wales Outdoor Arts Consortium.
I'm super excited to finally announce (long overdue!) that I have been commissioned to make a show in Wales this year.
Howl! is a magical tale of a wild were-wolf woman. A narrative aerial theatre show performed in Welsh.Written by me, Directed by Gwen Thompson. Original musical score by Daniel Rhys Lawrence with Welsh support and costume design by Kate Jones.
Commissioned by Wales Outdoor Arts Consortium.
Rehearsed in my Mum's field.
We have loads of performance dates throughout Wales this summer, posts coming soon!
Rwy'n hynod gyffrous i gyhoeddi o'r diwedd fy mod wedi cael fynghomisiynu i wneud sioe yng Nghymru eleni. Mae Howl! yn stori hudolus am blaidd-ddynes wyllt. Sioe theatr awyrol naratif yn cael ei pherfformio yn Gymraeg. Ysgifennwyd gennyf fi, cyfarwyddwyd gan Gwen Thompson. Sgor gerddoral wreiddiolgan Daniel Rhys Lawrence, gyda chefnogaeth Gymreig a chynllun gwisgoedd gan Kate Jones. Comosiynwyd gan Gonsortiwm Celfyddydau Awyr Agored Cymru. Wedi Ymarfer yng cae fy Mam. Mae gennym ni lwyth a ddyddiadau perfformio dros Cymru yr haf yma.
2022 saw a return to the full run of Christmas shows for Incandescence Circus after the disruption of the pandemic. I was lucky to again be a part of the huge team of performers. I returned to one of my favourite venues too, Manchester Central, for Morrocan Fire Nights. The evening, put on by Vivid Experience, is a high quality Christmas event, featuring a drinks reception, dinner, circus entertainment, casino, fairground rides and of course a packed dance floor.
Incandescence Circus shows are always big scale, spectacular, high skill level and feature gorgeous costumes, and this show was no exception. I was lucky to be the focal point of the first act, hidden inside the skirt of a giant sun puppet, on my rope. I was dramatically revealed when the skirt dropped before being lifted high on the winch to carry on my choreography, framed by two fellow performers - Lyn Routeledge and Maddie McGowan on silks and a team of dancers.
Act two featured triples trapeze, although due to various illnesses circulating in the cast there were a few nights when I had to dust off my solo trapeze act and fill in!! Although it was pretty nerve racking to have to suddenly perform for two and a half thousand people, I thourghly enjoyed the challenge. However, one person on a trapeze can never be as spectacular as three, so I was relieved when the normal cast of this act were back in the show.
Act three was very much the grand finale, featuring the spectacular Wheel of Death, performed by the courageous and very talented duo, Vitale Ermia and Ronaldo. Both from traditional circus families they have been performing since they were young and have a natural fearlessness and showmanship that can only be admired. The audience were always stunned by the daring and beauty of this act that culminated in fireworks being set off while the wheel was still spinning.
It was a fun December, and lovely to be back in the groove of a long performance contract after the strangeness of the last few years.
A sudden realisation dawned on me the other day, that these last two years, I've been in a very succesful touring show, and hadn't yet written about it on my website. So, here I am writing about The Swings by All or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre. Conceive pre-covid, the show then had ot be adapted to comply with the ever-changing restrictions. Despite this, it has been a roaring success. The show is a light hearted aerial performance with a sound installation and then the opportunity for the public to have a go on the swings.
As you may have guessed, the show centres around a swing set, much like you would find in a playground, except our swing set is a giant one, and the swings are suspended on very long trapeze ropes, rather than chains. The two performers start very high up at the top of the ropes, descend before playing around on the swings in a set that builds up to a very big swinging section at the end, with trapeze tricks being performed on the apparatus.
"Swings" is now being prepared for its 3rd season of performances, having toured Scotland extensively in the summer of 2021 and England and Scotland last summer. We are hoping to take it abroad before the year is out. The success of the show is a credit to Jennifer Patterson, the mastermind behind All or Nothing and the show. Long may it continue!
The Cabaret of Misfits was a real treat this autumn, it really filled me with joy. Curated by Combine to Create artist, Rachael Macintyre as part of the Findhorn Bay Arts festival, it was my second opportunity to perform in my new home in teh North East of Scotland. The theme of the cabaret was LGBTQ and queerness in circus, and for me the perfect excuse to create an act based on Barbette. Barbette was a cross dressing trapeze and tighwire performer to rose to great fame in the 1920's and 30's and I came across them while researching my show Mirrors & Ribbons. Known to be both exquisitely feminine and in turn reveal themselves to be a macho man, Barbette was much admired.
The biggest problem I had in creating the act was deciding which way to play it- as a woman dressing as a man or vice versa, having it tried numerous versions, I settled on playing high-status feminine, becoming more uncomfotable with my idenitity and then transforming into a man mid-act. Of course I added some extra drama, some of my favourite rope tricks and a healthy dose of the ridiculous and in the end was really pleased with the result.
The cabaret was a tour de force, stuffed full of high quality scottish circus acts, and the audience in the Universal Hall were as lively and lovely as ever. They were treated to hair hanging, aerial chains, contortion, silks, trapeze, sword swallowing, hula hoops and of course rope. The whole night was a roaring success, and I was lucky enough to be in the headline slot, the act couldn't have gone any better or recieved a better reception. It was an absolute pleasure to perform, I hope an opportunity comes up soon to play Barbaretta again.
Credit for the night goes mostly to Racheal Mcintyre, Findhorn Bay Arts Festival, Ruariadh Milne and Emma Robbie for pulling it all together.
All or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre and National Theatre Scotland
Autumn came around fast this year, and it saw me heading to Glasgow for the first of two community engagement projects for All or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre. Like Flying is a brilliant project in collaboration with National Theatre Scotland that takes place in an academy or school. We headed first to Belahouston Academy, where the drama students were taught some aerial skills- harness dance, cocoon and aerial hoop and then created a brilliant promenade show around the school, with the students taking part in all the roles of the show. The project then went to Ardrossan and will happen again in Glasgow and Aberdeen in 2023. My role was as a rigger.
https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/events/like-flying-2022
It was lovely to spend more time performing in Wales this summer, and to be working again with some of the team from Dadeni at the Eisteddfod (see previous post). Greenman is a lovely festival in a beautiful location close to the Brecon Beacons. The festival has a laid-back vibe and is great for families, which isn't to say that it doesn't also feature some really great music and of course, circus, theatre and dance.
The Back of Beyond stage is an outdoor stage that features a rolling programme of performances and an evening show organised by producer Zoe Munn, who is hugely supportive of Welsh talent, and features performances made by recipients of the Four Nations Bursary, which supports new outdoor work. This year I joined fellow Dadeni performer Ellis Grover in a double bill of circus. Ellis performed his chair and bottle balancing act, which really has to be seen to be believed, and I performed "Phoenix Rising" my bird aerial act- a exploration of bird-like movement on a rope to a sound track of birdsong.
It was really fun performing there and joining the other acts, and of course the bonus of perofrming at a festival is that you get to enjoy the rest of the festival! Roll on Greenman 2023.
It was so lovely to do my first performance in my new locality earlier this year, at the Highland Bagpipe Championships. I also felt like I'd definitley been accepted by Scotland! For you non-Scots there is a longstanding tradition of Bagpipe bands in Scotland and there are gatherings where bands compete. The bands consist of a number of bagpipers and drummers and they create and amazing sound and spectacle.
I was there with Moray Flying Circus to provide some light relief from the competitions by doing walkabout, aerial shows and circus workshops.
The day dawned fair and we had a great time on the walkabout sets with those who had already competed and their supporters in a relaxed and generally buoyant mood. The shows went well, with Ruaraidh starting with a dance trapeze solo, followed by my rope act and then Emma and Rachael doing doubles hoop. Our second show coincided with a break in the competitions so we persuaded a couple of young pipers to play along with our show.
All in all a lovely day!
This year I was drawn to a small festival organised by the Landworkers Alliance- The Land Skills Fair. It is a festival that focuses on land, food and climate justice. It is a medly of workshops, talks, music, performances and networking. Going there to perform combines my work life and my hobbies and passions.
So, along with Daisy Black of Gossamer Thread Circus we created bespoke aerial and spoken word performances on the themes of nature connection, climate, seasons, ecology and folklore. Writing and creating the piece was a very enjoyable creative endeaver, and I was keen to see how it was received by the audience. Daisy used some material from a film project she made during lockdown, adapting a part of it for live performance, as part of a larger project to be realised in 2023.
Both rope performances, they sat together beautifully and our short shows were well received by the very lovely audiences. It was, as ever a challenge to perform outside- we were rained off on Friday, but the weather held for Saturday and Sunday.
One of the things I do sometimes, is deliver text live while doing aerial, which can be a challenge for numerous reasons. On this occaision, because of being outside at a festival with background noise, I used a headset radio microphone, which of course brings its own problems, not least, where put and how to secure the battery pack and how to keep the headset on your head whilst going upside down and moving dynamically! In this case the wind also presented a challenge, as, the higher up you are, the windier it is, and the microphone was picking up the wind noise, which was a little distracting.
Despite this, the shows went well, we had fun and received good feedback on the performances. We are hoping to develop this into a full show to tour next year, and bring in Daisy's existing dream for the larger project- watch this space.