Doorstep Dances Goes Live

Dance Artists Tamar and Jo from Hull launch Doorstep Dances.​ From August 19th until September 26 ​members of the public can enjoy a very special visit from the two professional dancers, to perform right on their doorstep.

After its release, earlier this month, the Doorstep Dance video featuring Tamar and Jo went viral on the BBC website with over 5000 views in the first week.

From today members of the public can now choose a dance, from the ​5 specially designed dances ​including contemporary dance, Northern soul,disco​ ​dance and dance theatre, each under 5 minutes in length.

‘​It’s just like selecting a song from a pub jukebox, but with real life people, all from the comfort of your home.’

Book Your Doorstep Dance From Today

• You might choose a contemporary dance with a summery vibe with music by Laura Marling.

• If Northern Soul is more your thing, select Frank Wilson’s Do I Love You with Twisted Wheel inspired moves.

• Or how about picking about a sassy reworking of Donna Summer’s iconic disco floor filler I Feel Love?

Doorstep Dances by Tamar and Jo was designed to be an inclusive experience so operates on a ​Pay What You Can​ basis, with no obligation to make a contribution. Suggested donation is £5-£20 per visit.

All performances will comply with social distancing measures to ensure the safety of audiences.

“We hope having the dances Pay What You Can will allow lots of people the chance to experience Doorstep Dances, everyone from individuals and families in households whatever their income, to social care settings that have been isolated by Covid-19.” Tamar and Jo

You don’t need a special occasion to book a dance; the aim is to bring live performance back into communities to audiences old and new. However, a Doorstep Dance could make a ​Unique and very Special Gift ​for a friend or loved one, who you haven’t seen for a while due to lockdown. Or maybe there’s someone you want to say a very special ​Thank You​ to.

Just imagine the response when they receive a Doorstep Dance from Tamar and Jo, dressed in bespoke outfits, ready to add a touch of joy to their day.

Whichever dance and track you choose from the groovy ​@Bluebeany​ designed menu, you are guaranteed to have an unforgettable experience, as Tamar and Jo put on a very special show just for you.

Don’t Delay Booking opens from Aug 19 and closes 26 Sept 2020

Book Your Doorstep Dance From Today

It could not be simpler to book a Doorstep Dance. Just contact Tamar and Jo and ask for a Booking Form and menu of dances to choose from. Once your completed form is returned you will be contacted within 2 days to arrange your dance.

Email: t​amarandjo@gmail.com

Doorstep Dances​ has been made possible by the kind donations of supporters via Crowdfunder. It is still live if you would like to make a donation: https://uk.gofundme.com/f/doorstep-dances

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Live Dance at #PopUpPatio York Theatre Royal

Dance Artists Show The Way Forward in Time of Covid. Friday Aug 14th I travelled to York to check out some live dance performance. [Feels good to say that again] A specially curated, production by York Dance Space to launch York Theatre Royal’s #PopUpPatio event series.

Lockdown Art

Day Eighty-six: Bit of a stop gap and some new news, but first please take a moment to admire all the work I have made in lockdown at Bluebeany’s Art Club. And look I have a wonderful award. I think that award category could be stretched to cover most of my career as a creative.  Enjoy the slideshow:

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One of these art works is winging its way to Leeds, to take pride of place on the plinth at the Flask Gallery courtesy of artist/curator Alice Bradshaw. This is a very exciting development and one that I can only imagine happening by way of the unknowable nature of pandemic.

Right now you can see artist Tania Robertson’s ‘rock and roll’  by clicking on Flask Gallery on Facebook from 8 – 21 June.  https://www.facebook.com/flaskgallery/

This is the moment I realise that if this is the standalone post, where all the art is collected together, and that could be added to if we do more lockdown art prompts… I will have to do a whole new Day Eighty-six which wasn’t in the script. I will sort this but not now… now it is late and I have just found an errant bag of crisps and I am rejoicing in the flavour of pub snacks. If it wasn’t so late I’d open a bottle of beer and wallow in nostalgia. I have been wondering how it will be for the shielded when the vast majority go back to socially distanced drinking and shopping in unnecessary shops. Is this where the pandemic will really start to bite, where we have a race of insiders and outsiders, Morlocks and Eloi… perhaps it is on these lines where society divides yet further than it is already.   

Here’s my Unholy Foley for Spooky week.

 

Best laid plans…

REMOTE By Annabel McCourt – New Exhibition links Hull and Scarborough

DONT FEAR THE REAPER… Artist Annabel McCourt’s REMOTE opens inside the gallery at Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull. This time the Lincolnshire-based artist known for work that challenges and interrogates contemporary issues, has her sights set on the instruments and psychology behind 21st Century warfare.

Late Summer at High Wolds Poetry Festival

In a sleepy East Riding parish late September I joined dozens of poets to descend on a sunny North Dalton, to take part in the inaugural High Wolds Poetry Festival.  I’d seen the article about it on the Yorkshire Post online and felt it was the perfect opportunity to get out of the city. Living in the city shifting through concrete and glass quickly becomes claustrophobic and the need for open spaces is all the more pressing.

New Term New Twist For Adult Contemporary Dance Class

Tamar Draper and Jo Ashbridge invite you to join them for the Sept – Dec term at State of the Arts in Hull’s old town. Over twelve weeks participants will work with Tamar & Jo on several short pieces of choreography in-class, with an informal end of project ‘sharing’ evening for those who wish to show what they have learned during the term. 

BBC CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE IS BACK

Third BBC Contains Strong Language festival takes place in Hull September 27^th-29^th 2019. Tickets for BBC Contains Strong Language are available to book via Hull Truck’s website from Friday 23^rd August at 10am. Most events are completely Free! 

A Tittle-Tattle Tell-A-Tale Heart : Like an S&M Accident in a Muppet Factory

And the award for the best use of space goes to A Tittle-Tattle Tell-A-Tale Heart at Humber Street Gallery. The warehouse space working as imaginatively as exhibiting artist Athena Papadopoulos. The two upper floors of the gallery have been rendered almost unrecognisable in order to house the wildly inventive mixed-media work by the Canadian artist’s first major institutional presentation in the UK for Absolutely Cultured.

Costume of Dreams at Feral Art School

Costume of Dreams. Explore imaginary worlds through costume, installation and photography read the blurb. How could I resist? I don’t need much of an excuse to dress up as someone else for the day. The someone else in this case was drawn from the notion of ‘alternative self’. This might mean someone who you aspire to be, an aspect of your personality, a body part that you wished to transform and/or celebrate, or something from your inner world, a you from your dreams.

Cushion Roulette at Gob Almighty Debut

It is the irreverence of the Gob Almighty flyer that piques the interest: a lipsticked Larkin peering out of the zine style layout. ‘A new night of poetry’ with Peter Knaggs, Matt Nicholson, Mike Watts and Dean Wilson upstairs at the Brain Jar.