Opportunity – Integrated Workshops at Theatre Tropicana with Extraordinary Bodies
The pioneering integrated circus company, Extraordinary Bodies, in partnership with Theatre Orchard, will be running free inclusive workshops in Weston Super Mare. The workshops will explore circus and physical theatre skills for disabled and non-disabled members of the local community. Extraordinary Bodies will be in residency in Weston Super Mare from the 16th – 18 October 2017.
The pioneering and inclusive circus company, Extraordinary Bodies, are travelling to 10 different locations across the UK and Ireland, in search of stories of life, value and society in 2017. They will be in residency with Theatre Orchard in Weston Super Mare, holding free workshops to play, experiment, share stories and learn circus and performance skills.
By posing the question ‘What Am I Worth?’ Extraordinary Bodies want to understand what people think about their value in society, and how they would like their own worth to be recognised. The stories, ideas and contributions from the Creative Explorations will be used as material for the making of an exciting new show for 2018. It will be a joyful, radical, bold, accessible performance. They will tell the stories of people developing their own worth in a culture that devalues them. The show will include live music, integrated BSL interpretation and audio description, and will play to audiences of up to 1000 people. It will be performed in the outdoors, from summer 2018, by an exceptional cast of disabled and non-disabled circus, theatre and music artists.
This project is funded by Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence.
Extraordinary Bodies are a contemporary circus company made up equally of D/deaf, disabled and non-disabled performers, musicians, writers and creatives. They make work in which the diverse makeup of society is represented onstage, backstage and in the audience. They work with communities to make shows because they believe that they can have the largest impact by showing the world as it really is.
See their website for more information on Extraordinary Bodies
Please contact Becky on info@westonsupermum.com to enrol on workshop
“Extraordinary Bodies will be a game-changer for circus in this country and we are delighted to support it. It puts the creative case for diversity front and centre of great art – exactly where it should be.”
Alison Clark, National Director, Combined Arts & Programme Lead, Ambition for Excellence, Arts Council England
“We collectively make a response, united, stronger, defiant, loud & proud, with real shared & lived values based on our experiences together, we celebrate inclusively, equally and ultimately that it brings real change in our divided society that continues to build disabling barriers, discriminates and oppresses difference… It’s time to knock these barriers down with louder songs, bigger performances, humour, fun, energy and genuine passion to go along a shared journey where we are all valued as human beings with all rights respected and alive!”
John Kelly, Extraordinary Bodies performer and musician
“We’re delighted to welcome EB to Weston, at a time when we are beginning to present professional circus based work in the town. We are committed to ensuring that the work we present is accessible to anyone and everyone and this residency enables us to put that principle into practice in high-flying form! It promises to be an inspiring few days.”
Fiona Matthews, Executive Producer, The Theatre Orchard
