Last week, our students were lucky enough to be involved in some research and development for a future performance to be performed in Helston. The project director Kyra Norman Tonks is a local Dance practitioner and teacher who has drawn together a team of  highly skilled experts in dance , sound design, costume design and film making. Their project aims to create a performance piece which is uniquely tied to the Lizard area, it’s geography, physical spaces, natural resources and soundscapes. 

Students from all years were offered the opportunity to take part in a couple of workshops with some of those experts who were keen to explore some of their ideas with young people from the LIzard to see if they could bring any new thoughts and inventions to the areas of exploration.

The first workshop was with Shirley Pegna, a sound artist. She brought with her some of the equipment she has used to listen to the natural ambient sounds of  various locations. Students really enjoyed probing into the cracks between the paving slabs and walls to hear the sounds the very fabric of the school made. In the final piece there are plans for her to be mixing her found sounds live.

Next there was a workshop in dance and costume design. Producer Liz Howell talked the students through some of the approaches to designing for dance, pointing out the need for freedom of movement as well as striking designs that compliment the creative intentions of the piece. They shared with us some close up images of the local granite which had a surprising array of colours from purple to saffron yellow. Old recycled tents provided the materials for some experimenting and it was interesting to note that the colours of many tents echo the colour palette of the local granite.

The dancers worked with 2 practitioners, Winona Guy and ex Mullion student Talia Sealey. Talia recently graduated from London Contemporary Dance School, a dance conservatoire, and is now working freelance in Cornwall. It was great to have her back in school working with our students. Additionally, it was wonderful for our students to see that an ex-student had pursued her interests and abilities in Dance through college and university, now able to return to Cornwall as a professional dancer.

The company now moves forward towards a 3 week intensive period of developing the work to it’s final form. 

The piece is due to be performed in Helston on Saturday November 18th, 2pm (relaxed performance) and 7pm at Epworth Hall, Coineage Street, Helston.

Tickets are free but require booking via Eventbright. All student participants have been offered a ticket to the 2pm Show.

Follow link for tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/deep-time-moving-performance-2pm-tickets-728269001187?aff=erelexpmlt

For more information visit their website at Deep Time Moving