DISTANT DANCES
Distant melodies.
Distant memories.
Distant moves.
Somewhere at the edge of our perception, dance hovers...
somewhere, under the ribs, memory stirs.
Drawing: Faye Dobinson
Distant Dances is an artist-led programme of guided adventures in movement and dance. For all bodies that like to move - no formal movement experience or training required. Come get involved...
See Events page for current schedule.
Email kyra.norman@gmail.com to join the mailing list and receive updates.
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Led by dancer and choreographer Kyra Norman, in partnership with some very special venues, collaborators and communities around Cornwall.
Launching in February 2020 at The Hypatia Trust, and shapeshifting our way through the pandemic with lockdown online choreographic collaborations, outdoor socially distant knees ups, some memorably beautiful times at Trebah Garden (where each session ended with us bobbing about in the water), lots of solo/ small group work, and lots and lots and lots of changes of plans: these days we're mostly dancing up close and on dry land.
"Different every time, always somehow brilliant."
Since 2021 we train weekly, most Thursdays, at The Acorn, Penzance. Currently open for new recruits - get in touch if you'd like to join us.
Distant Dances sessions are . . .
Pop-ups and collaborations include:
Lizard Reading Room
The Newlyn Centre
Old School Studio, Newlyn
Penlee Park Open Air Theatre
Kyra has also led expanded versions of the Distant Dances format for groups including Continuum, Freefall and Inner Ground.
Photo: Diane Hadden
WHAT TO EXPECT AT A DISTANT DANCES CLASS?
Distant Dances classes have been described as "different every time, always somehow brilliant...".
Classes are led by dancer and choreographer Kyra Norman, and grounded in Kyra's 20+ years of experience and training in movement and dance, particularly improvisation i.e. making things up as we go along, thinking creatively about what's available in a given situation, and what we might want to make from that.
Together we create a welcoming space for people (of all ages, bodies, backgrounds) to find ease, challenge and joy in the experience of co-existing with others, on the move, with a lively, generous group of movers and excellent music, in a beautiful venue.
You will be guided through individual, partner and small group movement explorations, taking time to notice your own body's needs and moving impulses, and then taking time to connect with others, finding a balance between leading and following, offering and stealing moves.
Arrive feeling however you're feeling, leave feeling more alive.
What people say:
"Exciting and invigorating"
"A brilliant group of people"
"These sessions make me very happy"
"It's rare to find a space for adults to take our dancing seriously"
"So much fun!"
"Such a relief to just be"
Other things people have said mid-class (that have really made me laugh):
"What is going on?! I looked back and it was carnage!"
"Anarchy in action!"
"Did I miss an instruction, or is it just one wild jamboree?"
DISTANT DANCES: RE-DANCING PEOPLE AND PLACES
Established in January 2020, these sessions were initially inspired by the many people, over the years, who have said to me 'Oh! I used to love dancing...' and then reflected on why, over time, they moved away from moving for pleasure.
There was also an idea about gathering groups of movers together in spaces where people used to gather to dance, but which now hold some other purpose (for example, there's a purpose-built nightclub in Penzance which is now a bed shop) and seeing whether we could embody any lingering traces of dance action still haunting those places - like a kind of time-travelling disco-seance....
I've come to think of these sessions as a process of re-dancing ourselves and the places where we get together. (Like re-wilding: only, you know, dancier.) There are no set steps to learn, or remember: instead you will be guided through clear, simple tasks that invite a fuller experience of your own physicality - with all that that might mean on any given day - and gradually generate a connected, often surprising, mutually inspiring experience for all involved, every time. Sometimes it feels like a workout, sometimes a nightclub, sometimes a meditation. We've been calling it a somatic disco.
FAYE DOBINSON X DISTANT DANCES A DRAWING/ DANCING COLLABORATION
Visual artist Faye Dobinson has been part of Distant Dances since the very first event at the Hypatia Trust in 2020, both as a dancer and drawing in response to others dancing. Sharing here some of Faye's drawings from Distant Dances events in 2023:
Drawings by Faye Dobinson, responding to Distant Dances evening event, October 2023
DISTANT DANCES EVENING EVENT: OCTOBER 2023
Poster design: Faye Dobinson Music: griptape. simmerdown
On Thursday 12th October 2023 we hosted our second Distant Dances event at the Acorn, Penzance: an evening-length programme of live movement and dance performance with original music; followed by an all-in Distant Dances disco
Featuring movement performance from a gang of remarkable dancers, aged between 20 and 70, based in Cornwall and Devon: Angus Balbernie, Debbie Fionn Barr, Angus Capel, Hannah Jacobs, Katie Lusby, Phoebe McChesney, Tim Merrifield, Kyra Norman, Harry Scott, Talia Sealey, Kuldip Singh-Barmi, Sapphire Sumpter, Olivia Walton
Featuring recorded music from friends of the project and tunes that have become our kind-of 'national anthems' - - thank you for lending us these tunes
Plus live improvised guitar from Angus Balbernie
And! an extended version of Going, Going, a new music and dance performance collaboration between choreographer Kyra Norman and composer Barnaby Taylor, with the dancers, featuring field recordings from sound recordist Ellie Williams, live percussion from David Oliver, live cello from Kath Buckler and live piano from Barnaby Taylor
With perfect Distant Dances Disco DJ Tim Ridley
And live drawing from Faye Dobinson
GOING, GOING TRAILER, filmed during a DISTANT DANCES live performance event (October 2023)
Going, Going is a new collaboration between choreographer Kyra Norman and composer Barnaby Taylor, emerging from the Distant Dances performance evenings. More information about Going, Going, here
Going, Going trailer, filmed & recorded during a live performance (October 2023, at the Acorn, as part of a Distant Dances event) Filmed by Ruby Ingleheart, sound recording by Chris Fayers
DISTANT DANCES EVENING EVENT: JUNE 2023
Poster design: Faye Dobinson , incorporating photo by Hannah Jamieson Music: Going, Going. Barnaby Taylor, feat. Ellie Williams, Kath Buckler
On Thursday 29th June 2023, we held a first Distant Dances evening event at the Acorn, Penzance: a programme of live movement and dance performance, with original music; followed by an all-in Distant dances disco.
Eleven performers from around Cornwall and Devon met for the day, and in the evening we shared three collaboratively improvised performances (20 minutes', 15 minutes', 10 minutes' duration) followed by an all-in anything-goes quiet-riot proper-disco knees-up....
Thanks to :
Dancers: Angus Balbernie, Winona Guy, Katie Lusby, Polly Motley, Kyra Norman, Harry Scott, Kuldip Singh-Barmi, Sapphire Sumpter, Lois Taylor, Claud Tonietto, Olivia Walton
Recorded tracks from Alabaster DePlume, simmerdown, Pete Judge, Barefoot, Rudi Ae - thank you for lending us these tunes
Thanks to Angus Balbernie for live guitar
This was the first outing for Going. Going. a new track composed especially for us by Barnaby Taylor - we're looking forward to developing this collaboration later this year
Thanks to Tim Ridley for being the perfect Distant Dances Disco DJ
Thanks to Faye Dobinson for drawing throughout the event and for all your support and encouragement
Thanks to our incredible audience for being the most up-for-it, appreciative and heartening crowd anyone could wish for, and for making this such a memorable shared experience
Next evening event: Thursday 12th October 2023. Tickets sold out in June, and people were queueing for returns, so get in early on the booking, don't miss out!
Photos crowdsourced from the audience, June 2023, dancers: Sapphire Sumpter, Winona Guy, Lois Taylor, Kyra Norman, Katie Lusby, Olivia Walton, Claud Tonietto, Polly Motley, Kuldip Singh-Barmi, Harry Scott
Thanks to Distant Dances regular, Andrew Tait, for catching this moment at our event in June 2023. Dancers: Harry Scott, Sapphire Sumpter, Katie Lusby. Music: Visit Croatia by Alabaster DePlume, by agreement. Thanks to all involved
DISTANT DANCES: Future events in development, get involved...
If you're an experienced improviser - mover, dancer, musician - come get involved in future iterations: be in touch
Next date: more to come in 2024, watch this space....
DISTANT DANCES: the thinking that got it started...
A longer article, reflecting on some of the things I've learned from the last few years' of Distant Dances, will be published here, soon. For now:
This is the thinking that got it started:
"What if ‘dance’ is always present, like a force field we can tune into?
"Something that can feed us and restore in us our sense of self, our sense of other, our sense of connection (to the past, to the present, to the future), our sense of humour, our sense of wonder?
"When we dance together we tune in, we negotiate, we attend to our environment, we take responsibility for our shared experience. Sometimes we blend seamlessly into one, sometimes we stick out like a sore thumb; we live at a time that requires all of these skills."