Sue Blackwell is a Trustee at DanceSyndrome and co-founded the charity with her daughter Jen in 2009. The charity was started because Jen, who happens to have Down’s syndrome, was unable to find suitable dance training for a person with a learning disability and many other people were in the same situation. Sue has been there every step of the way as DanceSyndrome has developed and grown and she is incredibly proud of what the charity has achieved in recent years.
Sue wrote the following feedback in response to the premier performance of DanceSyndrome’s Orbit show on Friday 18th November:
“Last Friday was yet another step along an increasingly and ever broadening road leading to our rosy future when the world begins to understand the enormity of this purposeful journey.
“I have seen DanceSyndrome perform many times, but on each and every occasion I am in endless admiration for the enormous progress made since the previous performance. Every single dancer is incredibly committed and works so, so diligently to create the interwoven, mind blowing art which they are making their own.
(Images: Left -Dancers perform the piece “Passing Through #2”; Right – Dancers perform the piece “Ordinary Curve”)
“The dancers’ focus is almost palpable and has the audience entranced, probably wishing, like me that the trancelike state would just continue, continue, continue – it pulls the audience in, making them a part of the whole and pushing any other concerns in our personal lives to the back of our consciousness, making us totally engaged and absorbed in the present.
“‘Thank you’ cannot do justice to my sentiments, but none the less thank you from the bottom of my heart to Sophie (DanceSyndrome’s Lead Artist) and the dancers. They are creating magic, a magic which the world needs to recognise, embrace, celebrate and support. I hope that the dancers are aware of the incredible impact that they are having and the respect that we feel for each and every one of them.”
If you would like to witness the power of Orbit for yourself, there are more shows taking place in January and February. More information can be found in the News section of our website.
