Like many of us who work in the arts sector, we feel that for the past few years, we have been reinventing the wheel.
Finally, we are getting back to doing what we love – creating, producing, performing.
FFIN DANCE has fortunately worked through the past few years, teaching and creating dance online at all levels: community classes, outreach projects and have also produced 4 new professional works which begin touring in July 2022.
We start at one of our best loved performance spaces – Canolfan Ucheldre.
HIRAETH is a programme which has a special meaning for us all, a longing to return to much loved place.
It consists of a series of 3 independent duets created by our company dancers Georgina, Julian and Catrin coupled with fourfold, a new piece choreographed for us by Welsh choreographer Liam Riddick This piece started life as a research & development project during the dark depths of lockdown: we undertook this on Zoom, each of us in our own homes.
We were fortunate to be awarded support from the Arts Council of Wales to create our best work to share and engage with communities.
Funded by the Gwent PCC, we have been undertaking Dance & Enhance, a very large project with the community in Blaenau Gwent. Our outreach teachers have been working outdoors with groups of children and young people to intervene at an early stage preventing anti-social behaviour patterns.
Our dance faktry is now fully operational back in our ballroom studio at The Beaufort Theatre & Café Bar. At Easter 2022 we were delighted to be back on stage with all of our community classes, partner groups from the community and we also premièred fourfold with the professional company in front of one of the biggest audiences we have had for many years!
On a personal level, I lost my mother. An enigma, totally unique and beautiful in every which way, passed away sweetly at our family home in Tredegar aged 97. She was inspiring to her last breath.
So new chapters, new pastures and new experiences for us all.
That’s where I’m at …
sue lewis
