Past Regional Events

Manchester Forum

On the 8th of October 2005 we travelled up to Manchester to support and collaborate with Dance Initiative Greater Manchester (DiGM) who hosted an exciting Afro Vibes showcase which consisted of a practitioner’s forum in the afternoon and a sharing of work in the evening. ‘Funmi Adewole, the ADAD Chairperson, spoke to the artists about career progression and professional development issues that were challenging the artists in the North West region. The day was very informative and ended with enjoyable performances from African Spirit, Movement Angol, Afrocats, Free Expression, Hohodza Band and Santa Yalla.

Bristol Forum

The last weekend of October 2005 saw us in Bristol hosting our last Regional forum for the year. I had the opportunity to meet some highly motivated artists working in the South West region. The artists were still winding down from the exciting time they had at the Tribe of Doris Festival, which came highly recommended. The forum looked at the challenges of working in isolation and practical solutions or options to help develop their careers given the need for more artistic mentors and dance manager support in the South West region. Some of the artists, such as Sam Mbogo, Rachel de Garang, Katie Burrell, Claudia da Silva, and Tolo Ko Tolo dance company developed some proactive solutions such as agreeing to link their websites, and grouping together to hire rehearsal venues as a collective group of artists and develop a strong communication network so as to facilitate the finding out of opportunities and events and musicians in Bristol. The artists received some valuable information on marketing, fundraising and support agencies in the region.

If there are any artists in the South West region that were not able to attend and would like to receive the notes please feel free to contact Pamela Zigomo at ADAD who will distribute them to you.

The weekend in Bristol ended with an enjoyable evening at State of Emergency and Dance Bristol’s ‘Trans …quot; Mission’ platform which was held that evening. The platform showed some exciting work from Bristol based Tolo Ko Tolo, a Traditional African dance company and a group of young people put together by Dance Bristol who worked with touring dancers Stewart Thomas, Garry Tomlinson , Karensa Louis, Louise Katarega and Joanna Moven. The dancers gave moving performances to pieces choreographed by Maria Ryan, Bawren Tavaziva and Donald Edwards.