Cake

October 30th, 2017

A well-deserved get-together to celebrate the success of our three shows. What a response we got, both from the audience and not to mention our five-star review from The Reviews Hub’s Lauren Humphrey. So glad we took the risk we did, it is always a risk making work for the public performance arena, and it is a particular risk when you are profiling the work of dancers in their 80’s and 90’s, and we took a gamble framing the work as professional and not as participatory or socially engaged. It was indeed professional and questioned who and what we value as dance and as dancers. It questioned form as well as content, allowing audiences a deeper intimacy and connection with the dancers and their work, and even the usually dreaded audience participation was a rousing success!

The performances revealed also that, yes, older dancers and dancers living with dementia can indeed be authors, agents and creators of performance. And of course, the women themselves were amazed at the response and reception from the audience. People were not only interested they were also moved and filled with delight and energy. We celebrated well – with cake, made by June’s son’s partner, Cheryl, sporting sugar-icing pink ballet shoes! – Janice Parker