SHOWS PERFORMED 2005
The year 2005 was a very busy one, with the most shows being performed to date. This was due mainly to a grant from The Lottery fund “Awards for All”. The grant enabled us to teach more new people and put on more community shows. The certificate was presented to the group at Swiss Cottage by Glenda Jackson. Glenda, who was a world famous actor and is now a member of parliament, holds a surgery at the centre. She kindly agreed to attend one of our informal meetings. The grant was for one year only and now we have to fund ourselves.
In February a few members dance at the Earlsfield Baptist Church dancing Spanish and Latin dances.
In May we booked a spot at the Cockpit Theatre near Paddington. It is a small community theatre with professional lighting. They run a scheme called Theatre in the Pound”, your group pays £10 to perform and the audience pay £1 to see all the performances. Many groups use it as a way of trying out new work. It is also a good opportunity for everyone to experience a theatre setting.
In June we did two shows. The first at The Kings Cross Refugee Centre, where we performed Mexican dances. The second at St Mary’s Church in Islington, where we performed Spanish and Mexican. Elsa performed dances from the Caribbean.
July was to be a busy month. A show booked on July 7th for Lee Samuel House in South London had to be cancelled due to the unfortunate bombings in London. The transport system was in total chaos. The show at The Immanuel School was more successful when a small group attended. Everyone took part in the annual Swiss Cottage Community show. This was held outside near the Hampstead Theatre. We danced Spanish and Mexican dances. There were other groups taking part, including the South African Group – Proteas.
In August we had a good show at the Coin Street Festival. This takes place every year along the banks of the River Thames. This is the first time our group has taken part. The weather was very warm and there were crowds of people. We danced on the international stage with many other groups. There were many other activities going on. These included street theatre, Thai Chi workshops for older people, bands, and a lindy hop stage.
In September there were a series of four performances and workshops in different libraries south of the river. These included South Lambert, Clapham, Streatham and Bromley.
October once again brought us the Dance around the World Festival. We performed out Spanish programme and watched other groups. There was a good mixture of styles this year over the two-day period. Jacqui taught the Iberian workshop, which was well attended and Elsa the South African.
In November we decided to do an open workshop and free show for the public. This was held on National Lottery day on November 5th. We organised this to mark our lottery grant for this year. The group provided food, Swiss Cottage Centre let us use the large hall for free for this occasion only. The lottery organiser provided us with bunting, balloons, T-shirts and small gifts to give to the children who attended. It was a fun day.
In December we froze at The Frost Fair. Five brave people danced outside along the River Thames outside the Tate Modern. We wore our thick Portuguese costumes for the first set of dances, but as the temperature did not go above –2 it was still very cold. Despite this, there were still a lot of people there and the show went well. The children queued to go on the ice slide and watched the giant penguins.
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