News
JULY 2011 UPDATES
CALLING ALL COMMUNITY PERFORMERS!
Barrowland Ballet are currently looking for community performers to participate in our Edinburgh Festival Fringe performances for A conversation with carmel. performances are from 19th - 28th august at 2.15pm at st george's west. no previous dance experience is required just an enthusiasm to get involved. Rehearsals will take place on 15th and 16th august at the studio below (26 bread street) from 1pm to 5pm.
don't miss this unique opportunity to perform in a professional production during the world's largest arts festival!!
for further information email susannah@voxmotus.co.uk
"being a part of a conversation with carmel was not only amazing but also emotional and full of energy" community cast member
Get Set GlasGOw - MERCHANT CITY FESTIVAL
Get Set GlasGOw, the participative site-specific dance performance project for London 2012 Olympic 'Open Weekend', on 23rd July in Glasgow, marks one year to go until the London Olympics.
Get Set Glasgow is going to be an exhilarating experience with dances inspired by the dynamics, movement and drama of Olympic sports,choreographed by Natasha Gilmore and with live music from Shooglenifty, costumes by Jennie Loof and an ensemble cast of community performers.
This is a free event
NATASHA GILMORE TO CREATE MASS PARTICIPATION DANCE PIECE FOR T IN THE PARK'S MAIN STAGE
Next month’s T in the Park audience will be getting ‘active’ onsite as they are invited to take part in the T-Dance. The dance routine which will take place at 3pm on the festival’s Main Stage on Sunday July 10 – the final day of the festival, and when ticket-holders could well do with a bit of exercise. The 80’s retro-style mass participation dance routine is part of the year of Active Scotland event programme, supported by EventScotland.
The dance routine hosted by two dancers live on stage, will guide the Main Stage crowd through the dance moves. The routine, specifically devised for the festival’s 85,000 daily audience, will also be shown by way of the main stage jumbotron screens so the audience can familiarise themselves with the sequences in advance.
Paul Bush OBE, EventScotland chief operating officer, said: “It’s fantastic to see T in the Park, one of Scotland’s biggest events, embracing the values of the year of Active Scotland by promoting the benefits of an energetic and healthy lifestyle. “The T-Dance is a unique and spontaneous way to encourage and inspire festival-goers, and the people of Scotland and its visitors to get active. T in the Park is a fantastic example of why Scotland is the perfect stage for the biggest and best active events.” The T-Dance will be set to 80’s hip-hop floor filler Push It by Salt-N-Pepa. The routine is choreographed by Barrowland Ballet’s Natasha Gilmore who has danced and devised for The Institute of Crazy Dancing and BBC’s The Big Dance Class, has choreographed music videos for Basement Jaxx and is a former Artist in Residence at Dance House, Glasgow. The dancers who will lead on stage are Vince Virr (of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake) and Jade Adamson (of Barrowland Ballet). Choreographer Natasha Gilmore explained: "T in the Park's crowd is renowned the world over so who better to participate in a huge dance routine with us before Blondie perform on the Main Stage. “We will be showing some of the key movements from the dance on the Main Stage screens over the weekend so we're anticipating some great moves and grooves from the crowd at 3pm on the Sunday."
JUNE 2011 UPDATES
BARROWLAND BALLET TO FEATURE WITH MARYHILL INTEGRATION NETWORK IN NEW BBC ALBA SERIES
" SCOTLAND IS DANCING - LOCAL DANCE GROUP TO STAR IN NEW TELEVISION DANCE SERIES BBC ALBA – starts Monday 13 June at 10pm
Talent, tears, triumph and DANCE! Over the course of this vibrant and highly energetic television series, viewers will follow six different dance groups from around Scotland through the highs and lows of rehearsals, competitions and performances.
Dannsa travels to the sixth and final group taking part in the series, the Maryhill Integration Network in Glasgow, home to a very different Scottish dance group. The group helps integrate asylum seekers from difficult backgrounds into a new way of life, using the language of dance. For the dancers, the group is a way to get to know each other, to make new friends as they try to integrate into a new society whilst building bridges between communities.
Dannsa, produced for BBC ALBA by mneTV and presented by dance enthusiasts Anne Morrison and Kevin Walker, is a new eleven part series which captures the variety, diversity, and incredible talent of Scotland today. The six different dance companies to introduce the Heavy Smokers, a street-dancing crew from Livingston; the teenage girls of the Fusion dance class in Aberdeen; the Ballet West school in Taynuilt, Oban; the aspiring hopefuls from The Space at the School of Contemporary Dance in Dundee; the over sixties at Dance Base in Edinburgh; and the Maryhill Integration Network in Glasgow.
Throughout the series we will meet some of the dancers who share their life challenges and inspirations for dance as well as their aspirations whether it is the road to the professional dance world or a weekly hobby.
Episode seven takes a closer look at the dancers and creators of the Maryhill Integration Network. The group perform a very moving piece at the Glasgow Theatre Royal, using dance to illustrate the difficulties refugees face when leaving their family and homes behind to seek asylum in a strange country.
Remzije Sherifi (Rema), from Kosovo, is co-ordinator of the Maryhill Integration Network: “I wrote both poems, so when I heard the performance tonight, it was like someone was telling something new to me, something that was breaking my heart, this is how people express themselves in an organic way, and I try to do it myself, in writing, to pass through to the audience what I feel, but to encourage people to understand why people have to leave their counties, with a lot of pain and struggle, it’s looking to the future.”
Fellow dancer Anna, a refugee from Iran, commented: “The Government, after the Iranian revolution, took everything from my family. I had a bad experience. Sometimes when I’m thinking, yeah I’m sad but dance is a good way, an easier way. You can dance and you can tell the story and people are watching you and thinking. Sometimes the small things change you really, really big.”
All groups along with their teachers and choreographers face the challenge of putting a special dance piece together for a show which will see the six groups showcasing their talents on the same stage for one night only. This end of series performance special at the Tramway Theatre in Glasgow will not only see the groups performing their own dance pieces but, renowned Scottish contemporary choreographer Mr Andy Howitt, will have the demanding task of incorporating all six groups for the grand finale.
With six groups, six different dance styles, one live dance show, Dannsa presents an exciting and unique series offering viewers a snapshot of dance and illustrates that as a nation, Scotland is dancing.
The first ten half hour programmes follow inspirational characters from the diverse dance groups reflecting the passion and commitment embodied by dancers throughout the country. The spectacular live show from the Tramway will be shown in its entirety as part of the 90 minute series finale.
Dannsa commences on BBC ALBA on Monday 13th June at 10pm and each consecutive Monday thereafter. Every household in Scotland will be able to enjoy the series as BBC ALBA will be available on Freeview channel 8 from 8th June. The channel was also recently made available on Virgin Media’s cable channel 188 and is also available on Sky channel 168 and Freesat 110".
APRIL 2011 UPDATES
Rehearsals for A Conversation with Carmel are almost finished and everyone is feeling very excited about the premier on May 11th at Platform, Glasgow.
Following an informal sharing at the Work Room, Tramway, last week, final preparations are being made for our upcoming tour. Dancer, Jade Adamson gives an exclusive glimpse of her week rehearsing with the cast:
"Itʼs been a busy and exciting week of rehearsals for the cast and production team on CwC. Production Manager Anne Paige started on Monday and has been working hard coordinating all things practical and logistical and making arrangements for the tour. Filmmaker Rachel Davies joined us in the studio this week and for the first time the cast and film footage shared the performance space - revealing the verbatim element of the show and adding voice to the visual and physical. The projections are looking great on the various surfaces of the set as each interviewee shares a personal thought with us. We had our first sharing of the work in progress on Thursday - it was a busy day with the whole team in the studio, editing and making preparations. It was a good opportunity to get some feedback and a chance for the community cast to see the show and gauge how their roles will fit into the context of the whole piece. We have one more week of rehearsing, developing, and polishing material before production week and technical rehearsals commence. Next addition....lights!!"
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
For full tour schedule, go our productions page
MARCH 2011 UPDATES
FILMING FOR A CONVERSATION WITH CARMEL
Barrowland Ballet are thrilled to have recently worked with film maker Rachel Davies to film material for A Conversation with Carmel, involving East London Dance Leap of Faith performers. Following the response to an article in the Evening Times, we undertook another week of filming in Glasgow and are very excited about all the rich work we were able to capture.
A CONVERSATION WITH CARMEL AT THE WORK ROOM, GLASGOW
The company are delighted to have been given the opportunity to devise the new production at The Work Room before we move into Platform, Easterhouse for the preview and premier on 11th May.
We are also delighted to announce such an exciting cast: Matthew Hawkins, Diana Payne Myers, Jade Adamson, Vince Virr, Natasha and her son Otis and our talented Community cast.
See our Productions page for tour information
Image: Jannica Honey
FEBRUARY 2011 UPDATES
BBC ALBA DOCUMENTARY
Barrowland Ballet are delighted to be featured on this documentary about dance in Scotland. The 10 part series follows Barrowland ballet's work with Maryhill integration Network and their new production 'Here I am' will be performed at Tramway Saturday 19th Feb.
To see a trailer for the documentary 'Dannsa' see:
www.mnetv.tv/entertainment
AUGUST 2010 UPDATES
HERALD ANGEL AWARD FOR SONGBIRD
The Songbird Conceived and Directed by Katrina Caldwell, Composed by David Paul Jones and Choreographed by Natasha Gilmore wins a Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Performed in the Botanic Gardens as part of the Made in Scotland showcase, this moving piece is a tone poem about beauty and loss. Natasha was delighted to work with such a wonderfully creative team and receive an award.
MAY 2010 Updates
NEW NAME
We are proud to announce, Gilmore Productions have changed its name to Barrowland Ballet, its official. We hope you like it!? It took a lot of time and consideration to embark on a name change, but the time is right. The company is now a registered charity and limited company, as it grows and develops we hope this name will personifies who we are and who we strive to become. We hope it portrays our sense of identity; we feel strongly about our sense of belonging to Glasgow and in particular the east end. We aim to create a brand that explain why as a dance theatre company we ironically choose to use the word Ballet even though we are not a classic ballet company. It should demonstrate our comic sense. So we will use our new tag line ‘Classical it ain’t’ and continue to use DANCE – THEATRE – MUSIC –FILM in our branding.
We now have our new web address: www.barrowlandballet.co.uk
New e-mails: laura@barrowlandballet.co.uk and natasha@barrowlandballet.co.uk
Become a fan, tell us what you think on our new facebook page: Barrowland Ballet
Follow us now and tell us what yout think on our new twitter account: BarrowlandB
Our design for our new logo and brand identity is being created by our designer as we speak and we hope to unveil this in the very near future.
WORK ON OFFER
Education programme
Exploring & Loving Others Cultures programme
Bridgeton Regeneration Project with
Clyde Gateway
Dancing StAGE
Older People’s dance companies from East London Dance, Sadlers Wells, Montage Theatre Company and the Recycled Teenagers.
Older people’s Groups and clubs (e.g. walking clubs and cultural groups)
Older people’s in day care and residential settings.
We Dance, wee groove -
Stillmotion in association with Starcatchers
We Dance, wee groove is a highly theatrical interactive dance extravaganza for children aged 0 - 4 and their grown – ups which is choreographed by
Natasha Gilmore. Dancers will help you to get physical and explore the dance floor with your trendy tots. We Dance, wee groove is all about using your imagination, joining in and having fun. Colourful, ambient lighting and moving images create a multi-sensory experience to keep you and your little ones on your toes.
“a tremendous way for the very young to engage with music, movement and the sheer joy of just grooving to a beat” The Herald
Following the tremendous success at Imaginate Children’s Festival a Scotland wide tour is about to start. Check out the dates at:
Bright Black
‘Natasha Gilmore's subtle choreography weaves sensuously through the text, adding meaning, physical danger and true tenderness at every turn of the story.’ Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman
For Tour Dates see: www.voxmotus.co.uk
The Songbird
For Tour Dates see: www.giantproductions.org
PAST NEWS
Go Dance 10
The 4th collaboration between Gilmore Productions and Maryhill Integration Network will be performed at Glasgow City Chambers as part of the Ethnic Minority Youth Awards and again as part of Go Dance at the Theatre Royal on 27th January 2010. The piece was created and is performed by professional dancers and musicians alongside an international cast of asylum seekers and refugees, children and local residents from Glasgow. Using songs, music, original poetry and dance they explored the question of when and if your second home becomes your first.
One up one down spring tour dates 2010
One Up One Down production information
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Date & Time |
Venue |
Phone |
Website |
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Sat 20 February 7.30pm |
Catstrand, New Galloway |
01644 420374 |
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Wed 24 February 7.30pm |
Platform, Glasgow |
0141 276 9696 |
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Thurs 25 February 7.30pm |
FTH, Falkirk |
01324 506850 |
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Sat 27 February 7.30pm |
Woodend Barn, Banchory |
01330 825431 |
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Thurs 4 March 7.30pm |
ARC, Stockton on Tees |
01642 525199 |
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Sat 6 March 7.30pm |
Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh |
0131 665 2240 |
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Fri 12 March 7.30pm |
Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Maidenhead |
01628 788997 |
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Sat 13 March 8.00pm |
Prema, Gloucestershire |
01453 860703 |
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Fri 19 March 7.30pm |
Macphail Theatre, Ullapool |
01854 613336 |
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Sat 20 March 7.30pm |
Universal Hall, Findhorn |
01309 690110 |
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Thurs 25 March 7.30pm |
Rich Mix, London |
020 7613 7498 |
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Thurs 15 April 7.30pm |
Eastwood Park Theatre, Giffnock |
0141 577 4970 |
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Saturday 17 April 7.30pm |
Eastgate Theatre and Arts Centre, Peebles |
01721 725 777 |
New Company Manager
Gilmore Productions are delighted to welcome their new Company Manager Laura Duncan, an extremely experienced arts manager. We are delighted to be working with her. Please note her contact details are: laura@gilmoreproductions.co.uk
Tel: 07739226674
Bright Black
Natasha Gilmore has been working with Vox Motus on their new production, Bright Black, a visual treat that takes you on a macabre journey into the shadowy recesses of love, life and death.
‘Natasha Gilmore's subtle choreography weaves sensuously through the text, adding meaning, physical danger and true tenderness at every turn of the story.’ The Scotsman
For tour dates see: www.voxmotus.co.uk
The Songbird
Natasha Gilmore is currently working on this new production by Giant conceived and directed by Katrina Caldwell and composed by David Paul Jones. This production is an innovative development in music theatre for children aged 8+ and their families. Songbird will be touring throughout Scotland from the 19th of October.
For tour dates see: www.giantproductions.org
Home, Second Home?
During Black History Month on Tuesday 27 October at 8pm Home, Second Home? the 4th collaboration between Gilmore Productions and Maryhill Integration Network will be performed at Centre of Contemporary Art, Glasgow. The piece was created and is performed by professional dancers and musicians alongside an international cast of asylum seekers and refugees, children and local residents from Glasgow. Using songs, music, original poetry and dance they explore the question of when and if your second home becomes your first. This will be performed alongside an extract from One Up One Down.
To book tickets phone 0141 352 4900 or visit www.cca-glasgow.com
SHINE, inspired by the Olympics and Paralympics
Natasha Gilmore is working with East London Dance on creating a dance piece for the opening ceremony of the Newham Festival of Culture, Arts and Sport 2009 on Tuesday 30 June. The dance piece will be inspired by the Olympic and Paralympics disciplines and will involve 90 primary school children from across the Newham borough.
The piece will be performed as part of the Opening Ceremony, which is a one day celebration of sports and the arts and includes dance, music and a parade. Under Natasha’s artistic direction a team of six dancers will lead choreographic residencies in primary schools in the week prior to the ceremony.
One Up One Down
Gilmore Productions latest show will be previewing at the Platform, Easterhouse, on Friday 7 August at 4pm.
Women under pressure from our high-achieving, must-have consumer culture.
Characters clash as, caught up in their quest for perfection, they sway between reluctant adoration and bitter condemnation of one another. Comic dance theatre, poetry and song deliver this poignant commentary.
Gilmore reunites with Scottish composer, Quee MacArthur of the band Shooglenifty, and introduces Zimbabwean performance poet Tawona Sitolé alongside dance artists Jade Adamson, Tara Hodgson and Charly Jarvis.
You can book tickets for this preview by calling the Box Office on 0141 2769696 or visiting www.platform-online.co.uk.
After its preview One Up One Down will be premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it runs from 16 – 31 August (no show on Monday 24) at 12.25pm. at The Zoo, Venue 124, 140 The Pleasance. Tickets cost £8 £6 conc and are available from the Fringe Box Office or direct from The Zoo on 0131 662 6892.
Please see productions for more information.
My Home? – Refugee Week
During National Refugee week Gilmore Productions premiered a new work with Maryhill Integration Network, My Home? their fourth collaboration. The piece was created and performed by a combination of professional dancers and musicians alongside an international cast of asylum seekers and refugees, primary children and local residents from Glasgow. Using songs, music, original poetry and dance they explored the question of when and if your second home becomes your first. Performed at The Tron on Thursday
New Company Manager
Gilmore Productions is delighted to announce they have a new company manager, Belinda McElhinney. After a too long career in the IT industry Belinda retrained in physical theatre at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Besides her background in devised theatre Belinda also brings with her years of venue experience, having previously worked at Norden Farm Centre of the Arts in England. Belinda is thrilled to be working with Gilmore Production and is looking forward to working on their latest production One Up One Down.
