‘In-Visible’ a high quality dance theatre piece made with material devised by local people by IJAD Dance Company. Summary Bridging, empowering and connecting communities through exploring hidden England. Creating innovative participatory artwork, that stands alone in artistic quality. IJAD saw this need: In 2009/10 Cambridge Council awarded us £1,500 to carry out taster workshops. From these it was clear that there was a need for more opportunities for the public to engage in more creative activities with professional dance companies, usually open only to professionals. As an example One participant, of the 30-40 age group, Helena Bacon, a participant of the 30-40 age group undertook a 40 mile round trip to participate in these trial workshops. She said: "I think the Secrets theme is very exciting and inspiring. Thank you for creating this opportunity for everyone not just 'dancers". Furthermore it emerged that people saw the benefit in doing physical creative activity in intergenerational groups. As one participant stated it is 'very important to get generations together working on dance and getting to know each other'. It is clear from talking to communities that age groups are separated, and this is having detrimental affect on well being and community cohesion. In addition, our partners Arts Development East Cambridge (ADeC) stated that local people would see more dance if they had the opportunity to practice and the activity will allow them to have a greater understanding of its ‘language’. Synopsis of the project Reaching People With our partners Kettles Yard, The Shop, Cambridge University, Colchester Arts Centre, Living Sport and Local Councils, we will target an intergenerational cross section of the community from 13 - 80 to join the making process of ‘In-Visible’, introducing dance to visual art audiences and creative dance to ‘dance for health’ audiences, including a number of people who have little experience of either. Local people will be invited to join an open workshop programme. This programme will provide a safe and structured platform for the public to develop their own creative voices and an opportunity to 'un-pack' IJAD's interdisciplinary performance language through first hand experience. The subject matter: Hidden stories about the east of England will root the work firmly in the community, which is the uniqueness of the prject. The Performance 'In-Visible' will function as an art installation by day and a performance by night. Audiences will journey through a labyrinth adventure of interactive spaces. Exploring fields of visual, aural and tactile sensation, and experiencing a collage of stories contributed by local people and performed in contemporary dance. This adventure will be informative, curious, fun and above all dynamic, shifting from story telling to the abstract and absurd, from physical theatre to pastiche. Offering various ‘tableaux’s’, which resonate to a rich variety of emotions and remain engaging throughout. Outcomes This project has clear benefits to community health and heritage through the arts. Key outcomes will be: • Increased awareness of health, fitness and introduction to a way of being active that is creative, interesting and fun for 140 people by December 2010. • Increased awareness of local history and shared heritage for 2250 by December 2010 thorough seeing the show. • A production that is locally relevant, accessible and interactive, touring to 3 areas of the east of England in autumn 2010, and can be toured to further 9 locations in the region by 2011, generating further revenue for the company to reinvest in community work by Autumn 2011. On top of these outcomes, there are numerous health benefits that the wider community will gain and as the project focuses on local heritage there are also benefits in terms of local identity. The show will be a strong representation of the area’s heritage and hidden stories that relate to it. Financial Plan Budget Expenditure £ Pre-production 16,815 Workshops 17,780 Production costs 8,580 Touring Fees 4,255 Touring Costs 5,800 Project Management 9,025 Evaluation 900 Marketing 2,500 Overheads 655 Totals 66,310 Contingency @3% 1,990 Total Expenditure 68,300 To Conclude With your support this work will be a community engaged, relevant, touring show that leaves a legacy of increased interest and skills for further grass roots arts work in the east of England and touches people on a deep level. For IJAD it will make the difference between being on the map within local dance and community networks and being cited nationally for doing exciting work, which directly involves communities in dance activity. 'I was really impressed by the young people's achievement, the performance was incredibly high quality’ Rachel Evans Sadler's Wells Creative Learning Manager