One Night Only by Foot in Hand. Photo: Tim Cross
A new set of dance workshops creating a space for disabled and non-disabled dancers to network and collaborate together in movement are being launched at DanceXchange.
Green Coffee workshops will run quarterly on four Sundays – with the first one being held on 29 November 2009. They will be facilitated by Louise Katerega – creative director of dance company Foot in Hand and founder of The Green Coffee Group – a practical thinktank which aims to provide a pool of expertise for those working in disabled dance. Miss Katerega said:
“There’s no training of how to teach disabled dance, and dance for disabled people. Those of us used to working in disabled dance do not need a lesson every week, but it’s great to meet other people working in the some area.”
With foundations in contemporary dance, a range of dance styles and disciplines are brough to sessions which vary each time. It is a place for dance professionals and experience disabled dancers to come together and break boundaries in what is already being done in dance technique, choreography and new creative work. The workshops are not planned, allowing dancers to bounce ideas off each other.
“It is an open dialogue between disabled and non-disabled dancers,” said Louise. “If you throw a group of interesting people into the same space, it just happens. You don’t need to plan it all out.”
Louise is a trained life coach but has rich experience working with dance professionals and experience disabled dancers – after running the workshops in East London which have been highly successful. One workshop, for example, looked at how to translate a Cunningham exercise for wheelchair users. She said creating The Green Coffee Group was partly a response to people saying they needed something where they could go in and experience and discuss together.
The workhops are all free and will take place between 1pm and 5pm on Sunday 29 November 2009, Sunday 7 February 2010, Sunday 16 May 2010, Sunday 12 September 2010. They are the only Green Coffe workshops taking in the UK after sessions in London finished earlier this year.
Project manager for access and inclusion at DanceXchange, Kate DeRight, said:
“DanceXchange is really pleased to be able to host this opportunity. It gves people interested in this kind of work a chance to further their own interests in developing their own practises and means if we have a great pool of talent in this area for the future.”
Often you need an invite to attend Green Coffee sessions, but on these workshops you can book a place by calling Louise on 07971 441 749. You can also find out more information by reading The Green Coffee Manifesto.
According to Foot in Hand’s manifesto, the workshops are called ‘Green Coffee’ because this the first stage of the coffee bean before it can be prepared for roasting – needed nurturing to reach its full potential. Foot in Hand also showcased some of the work from sessions in the Midlands area – heralding standing ovations on the one-night performance.
