DanceSyndrome presents
‘Orbit’
14th & 15th August
At 11:30am (ends 12:15pm)
£7 (Concessions £5)
theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall, Grand Theatre (Venue 53), Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9DW
For press enquiries, please contact Sophie Tickle at leadartist@dancesyndrome.co.uk
We’re all in same boat; all pushing against the tide; and all striving to find our place in the world.
Through site-specific dance and live performance, inclusive company, DanceSyndrome, explore individualism; self-reflection; seeking connections; and moving through life.
An original piece, choreographed by the company in collaboration with professional choreographer Aya Kobayshi and lead artist Sophie Tickle, Orbit marks DanceSyndrome’s debut at the Edinburgh Fringe. With its unique blend of honesty, intimacy and integrity, Orbit evokes reflection and invites audiences to consider their own path through life.
DanceSyndrome is a multi-award winning inclusive dance charity based in Lancashire with a special focus on including people with learning disabilities. The charity delivers inclusive dance workshops and dance leadership training as well as inspiring performances that demonstrate a focus on ability rather than disability.
Orbit was developed as part of an Arts Council England funded project in late 2016. The project was a new approach for DanceSyndrome, allowing the dance company to develop some extremely creative new dance pieces which were then performed at venues throughout North West England. The audience response to the shows was so impressive that the team decided that they wanted to take the piece to bigger platforms and share their “Dancer led, disability inspired” ethos with a wider audience.
DanceSyndrome Managing Director Dawn Vickers said “Performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is such an exciting opportunity for DanceSyndrome! Our team of dancers have worked incredibly hard and overcome many personal barriers to produce Orbit and we are incredibly proud of this piece. We can’t wait to see how audiences at the Fringe respond to the performance.”
Tickets for the shows are available via the venue Box Office on 0131 510 2384 or via www.edfringe.com
DanceSyndrome is appealing to our supporters to help us with fundraising to enable us to take our dancers to Edinburgh. Please visit our Just Giving page for more information.
A team of staff members from Manchester commercial law firm Kuits has signed up to run the Great Manchester Run to support DanceSyndrome.
In 2017, DanceSyndrome hope to raise £10,000 to enable them to take their team of dancers to perform their latest performance piece “Orbit” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The charity decided to get a team of fundraisers together to run the Great Manchester Run and Kuits generously offered a team of 14 of their staff and £1,000 to get the fundraising started!
Kuits is a leading commercial law firm based in Manchester city centre. They provide legal and commercial advice to businesses, their owners and high-net-worth individuals, promoting the growth and success of the North West.
Graham Wood, a Partner at Kuits, who has been a Trustee at DanceSyndrome since 2010, said: “As a Manchester firm, we encourage our people to play an active role in supporting the local community, using their skills and experiences to help others and fundraise for charity. Putting a team together means we can get fit and have fun, all while raising much-needed funds for a brilliant cause.”
DanceSyndrome Managing Director Dawn Vickers said: “We are incredibly grateful for the support that Kuits have shown us. DanceSyndrome is a small, local charity and so all fundraising efforts have a significant impact for us. It is really important to us this year that we give our dancers an opportunity to become more visible, to show the world that dancers with and without disabilities can work together to create beautiful, inspiring art. The funds raised through the Great Manchester Run will allow us to do that and to showcase DanceSyndrome on an international level at the Edinburgh Fringe!”
If you would like to support the Kuits team, you can donate online via https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Kuits-Solicitors2 or alternatively you can visit www.dancesyndrome.co.uk/fundraising for more ways to donate.
Sarah Calderbank is the Project Coordinator for DanceSyndrome’s Spirit of 2012 funded project. She has been involved with the charity since 2014, initially as a volunteer before being employed in 2015. Sarah’s role involves promoting the charity and recruiting people to our workshops and training courses, as well as organising and attending performance at events. Here she writes about the importance of “Micro-volunteering” for small charities.
Saturday 15th April was International Micro-volunteering Day. Despite it’s long and rather uninspiring name, when I discovered that #MicroDay was a real thing I actually got a bit excited! It was that feeling that you get when someone else loves your favourite song or when you get talking to someone who has read the book you are reading; I was excited to discover that not only does another person understand the importance of micro-volunteering, but it is so well celebrated that it has it’s own date on the calendar!
For those not familiar with the concept, micro-volunteering is carrying out small, quick and easy tasks for a charity that benefits the charity’s cause. These little tasks can be done from home, from your office or while you’re on public transport, essentially whenever you have a spare minute. They are simple things like sharing posts on social media, forwarding emails about the charity or talking about the good work a charity does with colleagues, friends or the person sat next to you on a train! If you want more info and some useful links, the Guardian wrote a really useful article.
As someone who works for a small local charity, I find these little acts incredibly valuable. One of the biggest challenges charities like DanceSyndrome face is getting the word out about what we do. I meet people all the time who say to me “What an amazing charity DanceSyndrome is…I can’t believe I haven’t heard of you before!” As a team we work incredibly hard on telling people about what we do; we go to many events and conferences, we attend networking sessions, we send out newsletters, we have a presence on no less than 7 different social media channels, the list is long, but we only have limited time and we can’t reach everyone, even in the relatively small area that we work in.
This is where micro-volunteering comes in. You might think it is insignificant to share a Facebook post or retweet on twitter, but that small act potentially offers us a new audience who haven’t heard of us before. Any one of your social media contacts might, unbeknown to you, be looking for a dance workshop, thinking about organising a fundraising event or simply be inspired to see that people with learning disabilities are out there challenging perceptions and encouraging others to follow their dreams.
Your act of sharing a Facebook post could put us in touch with someone whose business is looking for a charity of the year to support or could inspire someone to make a small donation to our annual appeal. Clicking “interested” on a Facebook event could attract many more people to attend our events. Social media works very much like a snowball rolling downhill, the more people show an interest and interact with us, the greater our following becomes and the eaiser it is for us to get the word out about what we do. This is why if you see DanceSyndrome at an event I will more than likely be running round taking photos and videos rather than joining in with the dancing – sharing those images has a great impact for us and is the perfect way of demonstrating what we do. Plus, I have two left feet!
There is another reason to get involved too. Micro-volunteering doesn’t just benefit the charity. My own role with DanceSyndrome started as a result of micro-volunteering; sharing Facebook posts led to volunteering to design flyers, which lead to me being recruited as Business Development and Administration Executive – not just paid employment, but a fulfilling role that I genuinely love to do and take great pride in! Many of our volunteers have gone on to paid employment directly related to their volunteering, either with DanceSyndrome or with other organisations. Of course, DanceSyndrome as a charity thrives when people volunteer, whether as a fundraising event organiser, as a runner in a charity race, as a photographer, a videographer, a workshop helper or a micro-volunteer who does the little bits that they can. All of these acts help the charity to grow and progress and become more well known. Volunteers enable us to help people to follow their dreams, make friends, become more visible citizens and to lead healthy, active and worthwhile lives.
I guess what I am trying to say is never underestimate the impact of small acts of volunteering, they are fundamental to the bigger picture for a charity like DanceSyndrome!
If you would like to know more about how you can help DanceSyndrome please visit: https://dancesyndrome.co.uk/become-a-volunteer/
If you would like to follow us on social media and help us to share our stories you can find us on the following sites:
AFTER ten years of rejection, the dreams of a dance leader with Down’s Syndrome are coming true.
Not only has Jen Blackwell just stared in a short film about her journey with dance that premiered at HOME Manchester but she is now set to take her dance troupe to Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.
The 35-year-old has been dancing since she could walk but in adulthood her and her family found it difficult to find opportunities for her to train and work in dance.
They spent 10 years knocking on doors and being rejected – so decided to take matters into their own hands and set up a community dance project in 2009 – which saw the birth of DanceSyndrome – now an award winning charity.
Eight years later, DanceSyndrome is going from strength to strength, with workshops across Lancashire and Greater Manchester and Jen’s dreams of being a dancer and dance leader are a reality.
The short film starring Jen, Superabled, by filmmaker Natalie Kennedy was shown to a packed audience at HOME before the main feature Down and Out – about brotherhood, independence and disability.
After the films, DanceSyndrome performed at the aftershow party to a crowded room and got everyone up dancing.
Jen, who won Inspirational Women of the Year award in 2015 at the Enterprise Vision Awards, said: “It was amazing to be at HOME with my friends and family, my dreams are coming true, and I am looking forward to Edinburgh Fringe festival. Dancing is my life.”
Filmmaker Natalie said prior to this work, she had never worked with anybody with Down’s Syndrome but it has now sparked a passion in her to show that having a disability should not be a barrier to what you want to achieve in life.
She added: “I was nervous about starting the work at first but DanceSyndrome are like my other family now. I absolutely love working with them, what they do is very powerful. I am not normally a get up and dance person – but DanceSyndrome makes me want to move.”
Jen, along with the rest of DanceSyndrome are now preparing for Edinburgh Fringe Festival with rehearsals and fundraising activities.
Jen’s parents Sue and Malcolm Blackwell, who have always supported their daughter to realise her dreams, said they found watching Jen at HOME ‘surreal’ but are very proud of her achievements.
Sue added: “The opportunities for DanceSyndrome that are coming up are all very exciting. They are all truly ready for bigger stages. They all want to show people who they are and what they can do – saying yes, we may have a disability, but we are dancers.”
Patron of DanceSyndrome and MEP for the North West Julie Ward also attended the premiere.
She added: “I have watched Jen’s journey and development of DanceSyndrome for four years and I am really proud to be a part of it. Everyone at DanceSyndrome is fantastic, they show that as humans we are differently abled – and it is an enrichment to society.”
If you would like to support DanceSyndrome on their journey to Edinburgh Fringe Festival go to www.dancesyndrome.co.uk/fundraising or text donate DANS10 £5 to 70070.
DanceSyndrome Founder Jen Blackwell was featured in You Magazine on 2nd April.
You can view the article “I want to get everyone dancing” as featured in the magazine here:
You can also view the article on the Daily Mail website.
Jen Blackwell and Becky Rich are the best of friends. They share a passion for dance and spend many hours enjoying each other’s company. But they are not just the best of friends, they are a force for good, challenging perceptions and trying to make the world a better place, using dance as their weapon of choice!
Jen and Becky were brought together through inclusive dance charity DanceSyndrome. The charity was founded by Jen and her mum Sue Blackwell in 2009 after 10 years of unsuccessfully searching for suitable training to enable Jen to become a community Dance Leader. Jen, who happens to have Down’s syndrome, had a attended mainstream school but could not find mainstream dance training that could accommodate a person with a learning disability. During the search for training, Jen and Sue had met many other people with disabilities in similar situations and they were inspired to do something to make the world of community dance more accessible.
In 2010 Jen advertised for dancers and got over 100 enquiries! She selected 14 dancers to work with, half of whom had learning disabilities. Together they have grown into a dedicated, inclusive group of learning-disabled Dance Leaders and performers.
If you ask Jen why she started DanceSyndrome, the answer is simple “I live for dance, it’s my passion and my life. I have a right to a life of my choosing. My future lies in dance. I’ve always wanted to share my passion for dance with others and to get everybody dancing.”
Essentially, that is what DanceSyndrome does; in addition to performing on stage at events and conferences, the charity now provides five community workshops that are all fully inclusive, allowing anyone, regardless of age, race, gender or disability, to come along and join in at a pace that suits them in a supportive environment. The workshops are designed and co-led by a learning-disabled Dance Leader and a supporting Dance Artist and many participants have described it as inspirational to see a dance activity that is led by a person with a disability.
It was at one of these weekly workshops that Becky started her journey with DanceSyndrome in 2014. She loved the sessions so much she went on to complete DanceSyndrome’s unique ‘Dance by Example’ leadership training course, which gives people with and without disabilities the skills to lead community dance workshops. Becky’s confidence grew enormously thanks to the training. This increase in confidence, combined with her improved dancing and leadership skills, enabled Becky to independently take on the role of Dance Leader at a local day centre, separate from DanceSyndrome. She now runs her own dance class there every Friday and takes part in many additional activities for DanceSyndrome.
Jen and Becky have recently worked together on a number of different projects and they are both truly following their dreams of having successful careers in dance. Along with 12 other dancers they have helped to choreograph and perform DanceSyndrome’s new performance piece “Orbit” which is an hour long celebration of the dancers’ connections to nature and the universe. The recent performances of the piece got such a good audience response that the charity has decide to fundraise to take the show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2017.
Jen and Becky have also recently embarked on a new project together to deliver inclusive dance in care homes for the elderly, which is a great opportunity for them to share their love of dance with the older generation. The Regional Manager of the care homes said she had never seen such a response to any of the activities they held every week and that some of the residents who never usually moved had clapped along and even got out of their chairs! One resident told Jen that she’d been in the care home for over 12 months and that it was the best activity she’d ever seen.
Jen often says “I am changing people’s lives through dance”, and she is 100% correct! Research with participants in DanceSyndrome workshops showed that they report many improvements in their lives after a workshop, including feeling physically fitter, having improved mental health, feeling that they have a better social life, having a sense of belonging and being included, being more able to communicate and ultimately just feeling happier. They are also inspired to see someone with a disability succeeding in living a life of their choosing.
But it goes deeper than that. Jen and Becky have a true, heartfelt friendship. They share their passion for dance and have shared aspirations and it has given them a genuine connection to each other that they would never have found if not for DanceSyndrome.
As Jen’s mum, Sue, explains “Up until Jen was 28 she thought she had friends because she interacted with people so she assumed she had friends, but what she had was acquaintances. She had never experienced what friendship was all about. She had nobody who valued her for who she was and wanted to be around her for who she was. She only started to enjoy the joy of friendship when DanceSyndrome got going.”
In the last two years, DanceSyndrome has gone from strength to strength. Jen won Inspirational Woman of the Year at the 2015 EVA Awards. The Dance Leader team won the Sporting Choice Award at the 2016 Learning Disability and Autism Awards. Becky won Volunteer of the Year at the 2016 Lancashire County Council Pride Awards. Significant funding has come in to the charity from Spirit of 2012, Natwest Skills and Opportunities Fund, Arts Council England and many other local funding bodies. All of this is vital to the future success of the charity from a business point of view, but if you ask Jen and Becky what the is the most important thing to come from DanceSyndrome’s work, there is no doubt they will tell you that it is their wonderful friendship!
If you would like to know more about the life-changing work that DanceSyndrome does, you can visit www.dancesyndrome.co.uk or email info@dancesyndrome.co.uk
DanceSyndrome Dance Leader David Corr departed for Austria on 14th March to take part in the Special Olympics World Winter Games. David is representing Great Britain in the Alpine Skiing event at the games, which commence with a spectacular opening ceremony on 18th March.
The Special Olympics World Winter Games is one of the biggest events in the movement’s global calendar and is held every four years. David, from Chorley, is 19 now and has been part of the Special Olympics GB family since joining the Rossendale Special Olympics Ski club when he was 13.
Alpine skiing is one of the top Special Olympics sports. It is a demanding sport, and athletes need to be in good physical condition to compete successfully and safely. This hasn’t been a problem for David, who has risen to the challenge!
David says “The Special Olympics has shown me that I can do well. Before I would ski and race but always failed to achieve any success. Now it has shown me that I can do well and it has encouraged me to try even harder. It really has changed my outlook. I have also met people who have become my friends who are like me.
“I would like to challenge myself against other athletes of the highest standard from around the World who have similar capabilities.”
David joined DanceSyndrome in 2015. He attended the Dance by Example training course to enable him to become an inclusive dance leader. He was then asked if he wanted to join the core group of dancers to learn and perform dances. He loves to perform and within a few weeks of joining the group he was on stage at the Lowry Theatre and he performed an amazing trio piece as part of the company’s recent “Orbit” tour.
DanceSyndrome Managing Director Dawn Vickers said “We are so proud of David and his achievements! He is such a happy and enthusiastic person who embraces life to the full and we feel so lucky to have him on our team. We wish him the best of luck in Austria and hope he has the time of his life out there!”
David is a popular member of the DanceSyndrome team and has made lots of friends in the group. Everyone at DanceSyndrome wishes David all the best in Austria and look forward to hearing how he gets on. We are sure he will be coming home with a medal!
You can read more about David in his case study on our website.
EDIT: On 23rd March David won the Gold medal! Well done David! http://www.pendleskiclub.org/pendles-david-corr-wins-gold
DanceSyndrome’s inspiring work was recognised at the Red Rose Awards, where the charity was chosen as the winner of this year’s Not-For-Profit Award.
The awards, which took place on Thursday 9th March at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, exist to celebrate excellence in business in the Lancashire area and are organised by Lancashire Business View magazine.
DanceSyndrome was nominated for the Not-For-Profit Award and members of the team were interviewed by the judging panel in early February. The award was designed to celebrate not-for-profit public and private sector organisations that demonstrate support and development of their workforce including commitment to skills, flexible working, team building and sharing successes.
The DanceSyndrome team were delighted to attend the Awards night, where a total of 25 awards were presented on the night, to all types of businesses, from retail, to skills and training, to property, and everything in between! The team was absolutely thrilled when they were announced as the winners of their award!
The judges’ comments, which were read out on the night, stated “DanceSyndrome is a truly inspirational and passionate business which is changing lives. They can clearly be seen going the extra mile and, with franchise aspirations, this business model could change many more lives for the future.”
DanceSyndrome Managing Director Dawn Vickers said “We are so proud to be chosen as winners of the Not-For-Profit Award! The other organisations who were nominated all do really valuable and important work, so we feel truly honoured to be chosen as the winner! It is a real privilege for DanceSyndrome to be recognised in the company of so many excellent organisations from across the county. We hope to be able to build on this success and enable even more people to join us and be inspired to follow their dreams, whether that is in dance or other areas.”
The award win got a great response on Twitter – check out our Twitter page!
If you would like more information about any of DanceSyndrome’s activities, please contact the team via email at info@dancesyndrome.co.uk
Sue Blackwell, DanceSyndrome Co-Founder and Trustee, helped set up the charity with her daughter Jen, who happens to have Down’s syndrome. Jen was unable to find suitable training to help her pursue her dream of a career in community dance, so DanceSyndrome was developed to help Jen and others like her who didn’t want their disabilities to stop them from following their dreams.
Here Sue writes, whilst on holiday in Ragusa, Sicily, about how her life has changed now that Jen is more independent and how they have both realised the value of having good friends to support them along the way.
“How unbelievable. Here I sit in paradise with no responsibilities, other than to myself. It is so unreal. I feel as if I should pinch myself every morning to check that it’s not some kind of dream that is about to be shattered. But no. I’m aware of the comings and goings of others but they don’t have a clue what I’m up to unless they put themselves out to come and see me. Perfect.
The mix of people in Ragusa is wonderful. People from all walks of life with every socio-economic demographic represented and it makes for great socialising! I’ve never been part of anything remotely like it. I am so unbelievably privileged not only to be here supported and welcomed by a lovely community, but most of all to be able to be free and be my own person. That’s what’s so incredible. Jen really doesn’t want me cramping her style and getting in the way. I’ll probably ask awkward questions and have unreasonable expectations!
I stopped being Jen’s main carer only 4 years ago. In that time she’s blossomed into a person in her own right though I certainly recognise that there will always be crunch points, times when she falls off her tightrope and we need to get creative to arrest her fall into the abyss. She continues to be her own worst enemy in many respects, but with the right mix of people in her life, it’s been shown without doubt that she can thrive, be her own person, live life as an independent person (perceived), be respected and valued for who she is, use her talents and assets in a way that is setting the world alight, she has real friends who will stand by her when the chips are down and fathom a way through, but most importantly, she’s happier and more fulfilled than she’s ever been. How many parents with offspring with learning disabilities can say that? And how fantastic! Long may it last!!
My closest friends have played their parts in being there for Jen, in supporting her on her journey, and being there for me. Without their support I would not have had shoulders to cry on, and I’ve certainly needed those. They’ve seen a lot of the grief and the trauma probably much too close up and personal, and I am indebted to them for putting up with that. At those times when there was no clarity, no path to tread, and seemingly no one remotely interested in helping I felt so helpless. On many an occasion I’ve had no idea which way to turn or what to do for best. Cups of tea help, but mostly time to speak freely without fear of retribution. That’s what makes a real friend. I owe them so much, much more than they will ever know. The joy of friendship is unquantifiable. I only hope that one day I can repay them, even if only half as much. They are a rock for me, a rock I will treasure for ever. I must say “Thank you from the bottom of my heart”.”
Jen herself spoke recently at an event in City Hall, London, about how DanceSyndrome has changed her life, giving her a voice to be heard, making her feel valued and respected and enabling her to form true friendships for the first time in her life.
Social inclusion and building relationships is a vital outcome of the work that DanceSyndrome does. If you would like to get involved with our work, we are always looking for more volunteers and you can find out more on the Become a Volunteer page of our website.
We also need donations to help us to continue to provide workshops, training and outreach work in Lancashire and other parts of the UK. All donations make a difference to small charities and we are grateful for all your support! There are many ways to donate. You can donate via Just Giving, Local Giving, Paypal or by text – Text “DANS10 £5” (or the amount of your choice) to 70070
DanceSyndrome is taking its latest performance piece “Orbit” to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival!
DanceSyndrome will be performing “Orbit” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th August at The Space at Surgeons Hall.
Orbit was produced in 2016 as part of an Arts Council funded project. DanceSyndrome’s dancers worked with respected choreographer Aya Kobayashi and inclusive practitioner Rachel Liggitt to develop a stunning collection of creative group performances, duets and solo pieces, all inspired by the dancers’ relationships with nature and the solar system. The audience feedback from performances in early 2017 was incredibly positive and encouraged the charity to look for bigger performance opportunities, such as the Edinburgh Fringe.
Wow the Premier performance of #Orbit by @DanceSyndrome tonight was totally magic! next performance details https://t.co/5SGZUS74hB
— Jane Fox (@Fired4u) November 18, 2016
https://twitter.com/DIsabilityNW/status/799720794335092736
This was absolutely brilliant. Well done @SophieTickle_ and @DanceSyndrome . One to follow @wheelchairdancr and @GlosDance https://t.co/gDmDAxOUMR
— Jeff Fletcher (@Jefflet) February 3, 2017
Utterly moved by the performance by these guys. The world needs examples of inclusion & respect more than ever https://t.co/79U4CXbBPK
— Grace Dyke (@grace0103) February 6, 2017
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the largest arts festival in the world and takes place every August for three weeks. The festival caters for everyone, from big name entertainers to emerging performers, and covers all sorts of art forms such as theatre, comedy, children’s shows, dance, physical theatre, musicals, operas, all genres of music, exhibitions, street performers and events.
A performance at such a well respected and well attended event is a great opportunity for DanceSyndrome. Performance is a vital way for the dancers to communicate key messages about inclusion, teamwork and achievement, as well as challenging audience perceptions about people with learning disabilities.
DanceSyndrome Managing Director, Dawn Vickers, said “We have been overwhelmed by the success of our Orbit project and we are so proud of what our dancers have achieved with this amazing performance piece! We are absolutely thrilled at the prospect of taking the show to the Edinburgh Fringe and we really hope that this new audience will be surprised and delighted at the passion, energy and ability of this incredible group of dancers who have overcome many personal barriers to achieve their potential.”
To enable the dancers to make the trip to Edinburgh, DanceSyndrome need your help with our 2017 fundraising appeal. If you have any great ideas for fundraising and would like to get involved, please contact the DanceSyndrome team on 07597 942494, email info@dancesyndrome.co.uk or via the fundraising page on our website. Anyone who wants to donate to the campaign can donate via Just Giving.
We also have a range of sponsorship opportunities available to businesses who want to support us. If you are interested in helping DanceSyndrome, please get in touch via info@dancesyndrome.co.uk
Watch this space for information about purchasing tickets for the shows!
Here is a taste of one of the performance pieces that makes Orbit so special:
