StopGAP's UK Tour and performance at Southbank

Since Japan, StopGAP has embarked on a whirlwind tour that has seen many Travelodges alongside many motorways and many early morning trips to Little Chef or Sainsbury’s Cafe.

With at least once performance a week Portfolio Collections never ceased to amaze and inspire new audiences. The dancers faced challenges at every venue, of different shapes and sizes, and worked tremendously to fit a class, spacing, dress rehearsals and the performance all in one day. The performances have been well received so far, attended by numerous important people who work in dance!

Performance in Selby saw the greatest challenge though! Laura had to go into hospital the day before the performance… so Lucy masterfully pulled together a new show with the remaining four dancers. It was a hit, and it wasn’t even noticeable that they had pulled together this performance in less than a day! All the dancers worked to their maximum to relearn old material and adjust the current material to still work without Laura. Fortunately she was released and well, just in time for a visit by a choreographer that will be working with StopGAP in the winter… More on this to follow!

Smack bang in the middle of the tour, we also had Dave Toole come in to rehearse with StopGAP in the lead up to their outdoor performance of Tracking at Southbank. This happened on Bank Holiday Monday 25th May (sorry people, we didn’t quite get around to tell you about this performance, but there will be more performances of Tracking in the future!) At the Southbank, the dancers and technicians looked to the skies faces twitching nervously as it looked as though any moment the clouds would break and rain would fall, pushing the performance indoors instead. The forecast had stated that lightening would strike, but as the hour of the performance approached the clouds had moved out leaving the dazzling blue skies, and the only thing to strike the ground was the sun as it brought a new concern that the dancers would faint from the heat! But in true StopGAP style the performance pulled in large crowds that watched with delight as the dancers warmed their hearts with their energy and highly spirited theatrical dancing. They braved the heat, and came away victors along with our wonderful learning-disabled participants, as the audience roared with applause. Walking away from the performance space StopGAP were streaming in sweat, hair plastered to their faces, and make up running as the heat took its toll. But a quick splash of water and they returned to greet members of the audience with grace and no sign that their energy had been exhausted.

Next up is Portfolio Collections in Cardiff, and another performance of Tracking in Greenwich, in which StopGAP will be performing with an exciting new set!

Power Rangers in Japan - by Chris Pavia (comments by Denise Woods)

I thought Japan was enjoyable and that the sites and the cities were incredible. I took loads of photos in Japan and I really enjoyed the St Patricks Day Parade and all the other nationalities taking pat. I wanted to wear my green jumper to celebrate too especially as Ireland won the Rugby as well. (We found a big parade in Tokyo for Paddy's day with live music, people dressed and painted green and the whole Irish, English and American community including their pets out! - D).

I did enjoy the first performance of the night and wow the theatre was massive. the audience were incredible too (We started in Fukuoka - a modern city across a range of canals - like blade runner film -D).

Tokyo reminds me of New York (The main crossroads was full of thousands of people all crossing the road at the same time and we nearly lost Chris and Donna - screaming their name until we found them! - D). The stores and shops were massive and every building had decorative neon lights.

Toyama was my favourite place because for breakfast I had a american waffles with maple syrup. I thought it tasted glorious and something special (the rest of the trip we kept Chris alive on imported Weetabix!- D).

I did like working with the students in the educational workshops and also liked the showing of the piece that had the young people throwing bottles of water and spilling the water everywhere (This was a great piece made for young children by Japanese Choreographer Takuji Ito -D). It was really inspiring to me because of the young children's creativity and it was incredible to see their potential.

The favourite thing I bought was a Mast rider weapon device (from Power Rangers the children's TV show -D) . The voice changer was brilliant but it only had weapons sounds and did not morph me into a power ranger which I would have liked!

(It turns out StopGAP's own Sho Shibata was in the original cast of Power Rangers as a baddie prince - he even had his own henchmen!!!! and Sho had celebrity status while we were in Japan!!!- D)

Lycra, Cherry Blossom and Japan - by Jaqui Johnston

StopGap’s trip to Japan has unearthed a world of new experiences that we will all be bringing home with us in March. I can only speak of my own experiences but I hope that through what I say I can do some justice to all of our adventures!

The adventure I experienced began when we touched down in Japan on Feburary 22rd after a 13hour long flight through the night. From touch down in Tokyo we journeyed our way further south past the phenomenal peaks of Mt. Fuji to one of the lower islands, Fukuoka.
From above it seemed a land of lego, but in amongst the buildings that towered above us we saw more of the beauty that Fukuoka held, starting with its long winding rivers to the people there that we met.

Team StopGap, when they all finally came together for the first time (half of the group coming from Beppu, and then Donna our technician joining us a couple of days later) consisted of no more than 10 members: 5 dancers, Lucy, Laura, Sophie, Chris, and David. 3 Management staff, Vicki, Denise and Sho, 1 Technician, Donna, and myself (another new addition to the company as a support worker for Laura).

As soon as we arrived in Fukuoka preparations began for a performance that was to be held at the end of the week, and also a week-long workshop that was to be delivered, both in Ohashi. StopGap’s largest team-teaching group went on to deliver fantastic workshops to eager participants, approximately 32 members. We were greeted with big smiling and open faces. The participants themselves were a group of mixed disabled and non-disabled, some who have danced before, some had never, some as young as 19 to as old as 64. But the extent to which they all got stuck in fully and with more enthusiasm than I had encountered before was warming to see.

Of course here we encountered our first problem... Language!
Sho being Japanese himself and knowing the company better than anyone and how StopGap like to deliver their workshops became the translator; an incredibly difficult and tiring task, which took many tries to get right, (StopGap like to talk a lot... Much to Sho’s despair when he has to remember everything!) However despite this main barrier he did an astounding job for which everyone was very grateful.

At the end of the week of workshops in Ohashi, StopGap premiered Portfolio Collections with the new company! The performance opened with a piece that was put together by Lucy danced by the Ohashi workshop group, it was a beautiful work that interweaved duets and ensembles in an abstract way which allowed the participants to creatively develop tasks they were given.

The first performance ran well, but ever ambitious StopGap looked to the next performance in Toyama to be bigger and better!

In Toyama we faced bigger challenges teaching workshops to two venues; one disability service plaza, and the other a special school. It was such a satisfying experience as we worked with participants of varying degrees of disability, most of them being quite severely disabled, physically or in learning. The first time we were given the information about the groups the team became worried and nervous about delivering a good workshop that could be done by everyone. Every day presented a new problem-solving task which they tackled with fervor, it became exciting to hear what they had planned! Lycra, cherry-blossoms, feathers, balls all became features of the workshops to make them as interesting as possible, and they all worked so well! The participants loved it, at they end of the week they showered us all with gifts they had handmade themselves, exquisite gifts of shocking caliber, it was not only touching, but wonderful to know we had something to remember them by. I know I will take pleasure in showing friends when I get home and telling them about the people who made them!

Toyama also faced StopGap with the biggest venue they have performed in, and no kidding it was vast. Donna had the task of reducing the space for the dancers! (Not something that normally happens.... If anything not enough space is the problem!)

Toyama in general was very high profile, we were filmed in every workshop by news reporters, radio stations were interested, and in the paper quite frequently.. And then featured in the Japanese news! As a result the pressure was on to deliver a fantastic performance...

I have written an epic sized blog, so I shall round it up here.. But in general it has been a fantastic experience for everyone, and as a new member of Team StopGap I was able to really appreciate the work that StopGap do, how hard they toil to create the best experience for anyone who watches or participates with them, and even how hard they try to keep their own dancers happy too.
Slipping into this company was a daunting prospect, it still is, especially when you are in an environment where everyone wants to achieve the best, and constantly you are left questioning ‘can I live up to this?’
The truth is everything is possible, you just have to want it, and with this conviction I believe StopGap, and myself with it, will be able to achieve whatever they want.

Coffee Jelly in Japan! - by Vicki Balaam

At last we have all joined up ... In Japan!

Lucy, Chris, Sho and Denise have been out here a week already, and on Saturday Sophie, Laura, Jacqui and I landed in Tokyo and by Sunday we were all together again ... In Fukuoka. We are working for Japan Contemporary Dance Network, and will be touring throughout Japan. It’s an exciting project as we are not only performing in different cities but also leading workshops and creating performances on local dancers who are people with and without disabilities.

We are enjoying living and working in Japan for this short time ... And Laura’s even tried coffee jelly for breakfast! Chris was very grateful that I turned up with 2 big boxes of wheatabix though!

StopGAP's new dancer speaks about his first month with the company

... there's me thinking StopGAP would ease me into things! No such luck.
First and foremost, I'm extremely proud to be the newest member of StopGAP Dance Company. I can see myself growing as an artist here, and more importantly i can see my character growing here too.

It's been enjoyable, but a challenging few weeks. I've worked with Dan and the rest of StopGAP dancers to learn the repertoire for the upcoming tour, and I quickly realised how much hard work had gone into producing the pieces! I look forward to the challenge of taking Dan's roles and making them my own. Dan has left big shoes for me to fill, but I plan on bringing my own! :)

Aside from learning the repertoire, I've also been learning to teach workshops in 'the StopGAP way'. Encouraging people to dance in an inclusive environment has been a desire of mine for many years, and to be given the opportunity by StopGAP to do this means a great deal to me.

So far, being with the company has been like a roller-coaster, I'm not too sure what is around the next corner... I do however, know that my first performance will be in Japan, so just like the rehearsals, I'm being thrown in the deep end. (Good job I can swim) Cheers guys..!

StopGAP's New Dancer - by Vicki Balaam

After a lot of soul searching Dan Watson has decided to leave StopGAP to pursue his career as an independent artist, choreographer and, after 7 years in the company, to experience life outside StopGAP and in other companies. Dan is still part of the company as he is now our Associate Artist, and we’ll keep updating this blog with news of what he’s been up to. In December we held auditions to be our “new Dan”. This was the first time since 2003 we have had the need to find a new dancer so we were open to finding the perfect dancer to join us on the next stage of our adventure, no matter whether they were male or female, with or without a disability … the discussions about what kind of dancer we wanted raged within the company in the lead up to the auditions and throughout the two days! There’s nothing we like more than a healthy debate. Nearly 150 people applied, 80 people were invited to the first part of the audition, with 9 dancers invited to the second day. We were very impressed with the standard of everyone in the audition, and enjoyed trying to imagine who would work best in the team. The person who we have recruited is a 23 year old guy called David Willdridge. The other addition to the team is that our lovely Sophie is now a full time dancer with us so we will be re-launching a new look in the new year with 5 exciting dancers. I can’t wait!

LONDON AUDITIONS

StopGAP Dance Company is seeking charismatic performers with strong contemporary dance technique and good acting ability, willing to work under pressure with good humour.

To audition, by invitation only, send your CV and a covering letter, explaining why you would like to join StopGAP and what you would bring to the company, to: StopGAP Dance Company, Farnham Maltings, Bridge Square, Farnham, Surrey GU9 7QR. Or you can email them to: admin@stopgap.uk.com

Please ensure CV and letters are received by 5pm on 28 November 2008.
Successful applicants will be sent details of the audition and its venue, and will be asked to prepare a 1 minute solo.

Application deadline: 5pm on 28 November 2008

London audition: Thursday 4 December 2008
(be there at 9.30am to register and be prepared to stay all day)

Call backs: Friday 5 December 2008

Interviews: 12 December 2008
(at Farnham Maltings)

StopGAP Dance Company is offering a 1 year full time, PAYE contract commencing in January 09, subject to a 1-month trial. The company will be touring in the UK and internationally from February 2009.

For more information about StopGAP Dance Company, please visit our website:
www.stopgap.uk.com