Dance Artist & Educator for over 50's
Day 1 was packed with activity! In the morning leading up to lunchtime, we had three folk dance workshops; Polish, Greek and English folk. Participants were challenged with intricate steps and travelling steps as well as interacting with one another. Have a look at the pictures, they really capture the spirit, fun and engagement of everyone!
In between the workshops we had two educational videos, the first, Ancestral Heartbeat by Katiushka Borges (dance steps taught by Geoffrey Brinsden), was a video artwork with a sensory experience where the heart beats and the rhythm of drums with the sound of the rattles (ayoyotes) was embraced by the learning of dance steps which represented Fire, Air, Water and Earth.
The second video, Crossing Borders, made by Eleni Papaioannou, was a short film about the journey of leaving, approaching the unknown and creating a new ‘home’, crossing the borders of countries and within yourself. The video was made with interviews by the elders of Alsen Day Centre, Finsbury Park.
In the afternoon we held a fantastic Walk, led by Sean Gubbins. From the Round Chapel to the bottom of London Fields, bringing out physical references of the Jewish migration to Hackney and along the walk putting Jewish migration into context of Hackney’s history.
The late afternoon/evening brought in the magnificent space at the Round Chapel Hackney two very moving but very different installations.
The First work, Voices From Hackney, was created by senior curator from Zagreb Croatia, Leila Mehulic, and a postgraduate student at Central Saint Martins. Leila’s work is an audio installation, a recording of stories of the memories and thoughts of Hackney residents and workers sharing their contributions to London life. The work is part of an ongoing curated oral history project that is collecting the testimonials of people who were moving to London since the early 1960’s.
To close the day, the festival hosted One Way and the other: Human Migrations
Documentary, Unusual and Pop Video screening programme curated by Zaira Perina.
Migration, immigrants and refugee is today’s hot topic. But how many ways of perceiving and understanding global migrations are there?
Filmmakers and Artists explores the theme in different and opposite directions.
Simona Scotto
3rd Floor
90 Paul Street
London
EC2A 4NE
Tel: 07803 100 639
© 2017 Simona Scotto. Website by Liam Morgan