The River Project

The River Project | The Exhibition

2010-11-23T02:28:00.000-08:00

The River Project | The Exhibition from babis on Vimeo.

The River Project | The Exhibition

2010-10-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

The River Project @ The Retort House | installation part 1

2010-08-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

Installing The Exhibition | The River Project

2010-08-13T03:41:00.000-07:00

Photographs by: Yu-ling Yeh

OUR VENUE | in the heart of Birmingham's city centre!

2010-07-26T02:24:00.000-07:00

The exhibition will be hosted at Retort House, a unique Grade II and Grade II* listed building, dating from 1822, measuring an epic 18,922 sq ft. One of Retort House’s main features is the Georgian cast iron trussed roof structure, an elaborate and unique tracery set against the backdrop of original brickwork elevations. The building is unique and situated in the heart of Birmingham's city centre. This is the first time it has been used for an arts event. Both The River Project and Retort House underline the importance of heritage, culture and participation in the region.

A new collaboration!

2010-07-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

A new collaboration with choreographer Kate Mason in the amazing Venue for our exhibition. The result is amazing, and it will be screened on the The River Project | The Exhibition on the 7th. We are looking forward to see you there!

The flyers are here (and they look quite amazing)!

2010-07-23T03:01:00.000-07:00

The flyers are here they look absolutely great. This is a great opportunity to thank again our amazing photographer Christ Keenan!

The River project | The Exhibition is getting closer

2010-07-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

PRAM @ The River Project | The Exhibition!

2010-07-15T05:52:00.000-07:00

The River Project is very proud to officially announced its collaboration with internationally renowned band Pram from Birmingham. Pram will be performing live on the 7th of August at The River Project | The Exhibition. More information about their performance and the programme of The Exhibition will be posted soon on the blog, the website, and our facebook page.

Check out their amazing website

Tourfilm from Film Ficciones on Vimeo.

film directed by Film Ficciones

New Website Now Live!

2010-07-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

Our website is now updated and live with all relevant information about:

The River Project | The Exhibition

Our blog and facebook page will be updated daily with the progress of the project towards the exhibition day on Saturday the 7th of August. Also please visit previous post to follow the journey of The River project form when it all began on September 2009.

Last rehearsals at danceXchange!

2010-06-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great day at danceXchange rehearsing, filming, face painting, shadow making! A big thank you to all the CAT students for their hard work and a great performance, Sioda Martin our choreographer for the day, and Scott for all the shadow magic! More details and photographs to be posted in the week!

A sneak preview (before the uv paint)!

2010-06-09T03:47:00.000-07:00

Rehearsals at danceXchange! from babis on Vimeo.

A sneak preview from the rehearsals at dancexchange working with 12 dancers. what followed was a pitch black studio, and a lot of uv paint! Next week we will post a sneak peak of the final filming!

Rehearsals, paint, lights off, and other stories!

2010-05-28T02:37:00.000-07:00

Photographs by Scott Johnston

17:15 pm: it's a wrap and it was absolutely SPECTACULAR!

2010-05-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

An amazing day overall! A very big thank you to all the dancers for the energy and effort they put into the project! Alex for doing a great job updating the blog! Scott for all the filmic magic and troubleshooting :), Kate for always coming up with the most imaginative choreographies! and Cat from danceXchange for all her help in today's filming! More news and updates tomorrow!

14:51PM

2010-05-27T06:55:00.000-07:00

The UV paint in action

Practice before the real thing

Live updating from the river project

2010-05-27T04:23:00.000-07:00

12:15PM

12:15 PM

12:15PM

10:30 AM

10:30AM

a bit of behind the scenes!

2010-05-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

12 dancers gave it their all today, working on the latest River choreography! A big thank you to Jen, Lucy, Misha, Angharad, Vanessa, Kim, Mary, John, Gabi, Lara, Vicky, Sioda, Alex, and Kate! Updates will be coming live from tomorrow's shoot!

Live from rehearsals!

2010-05-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

Back into rehearsals!

2010-05-25T18:50:00.000-07:00

The River Project is back in the rehearsal studio at the danceXchange with choreographer Kate Mason and dancer Sioda Martin preparing for the next group that will be part of our film! Watch this space for updates.

The River Project @ Yatzer.com and Created in Birmingham!

2010-05-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

www.yatzer.com

Created in Birmingham

Many thanks to

www.yatzer.com & Created in Birmingham

... and the editing has officially STARTED!

2010-04-25T04:49:00.000-07:00

1 .. 2 .. Rehearsals at C.I.P!

2010-04-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

Rehearsals @ C.I.P from babis on Vimeo.

New stage, New group!

2010-04-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

Towards the second stage of the project we were introduced to CIP (Community Integration Partnership). After presenting the project to all the members at CIP and attending their amazing (and full of delicious food) Christmas party we decided to work together in order to create another small River to add to the existing one!

CIP is a registered charity that has worked with women and children from newly arrived communities since 2001. "We provide a range of educational classes plus support to build skills, knowledge and confidence. Our goal is to enable our women to become part of their host community and to succeed economically by progressing into employment."

It has been a delight to be work with this group. Fran, our new choreographer, has been working closely with the ladies at CIP to translate their stories into dance. A great big thank you to Shain and all the staff at CIP for all their help and for always trying to accommodate us the best way possible! Watch this space for a sneak peak in the rehearsals.

Bingo & Dance & Green Screen!

2010-04-06T13:53:00.000-07:00

Bingo & Dance & Green Screen! from babis on Vimeo.

Bingo rehearsals!

2010-02-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

After 4 consecutive weeks of Bingo playing and Bingo dancing we came to our last rehearsal and eagerly anticipating our filming day! Must remember to buy Bingo Pens Gaffa tape! Very excited about it! Watch this space!

A sneak peek!

2009-12-01T17:07:00.000-08:00

Filming in Blue! from babis on Vimeo.

Filming in Blue!

2009-12-01T11:40:00.000-08:00

After all the rehearsals at the beautifull Onneley house today was the BIG DAY. We met up at the blue-screen studio of Birmingham University at the Millenium point. What followed was 6 hours full of Tap, Tango, Waltz, and Foxtrot. We had a brilliant day and the added surprises of Singing and spinning it only made our filming a whole lot more creative. A big thank you to Lawrence, Hilary, Edna, Kate and Scott!

A retrospective post | Rehearsals back in March!

2009-12-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

This blog has only started recently, covering mainly the second stage of the project, but I feel it is essential to write a little something about the very beginning of the project, when we started working on the choreography and how we would translate the story of The River into movement and dance. We had our first rehearsal at DanceXchange. This was the first time that the story of The River unfold through sketchbooks, videos, discussion, storyboards, research, and dance improvisation. Our aim wasn't to find a choreography for each group but mostly a way of exploring how we can use dance to bring all the groups together.

We would like to say a big thank you to Kate, Cat and Amy at DanceXchange for all their help from the very 1st day, when The River project was just an idea (and a very ambitious one)! We are very happy that since then DanceXchange is continuing to support the project. DanceXchange produces and tours many interesting projects. Always check their program!

http://www.dancexchange.org.uk/

Save the last Tap (and Quickstep)

2009-11-04T14:07:00.000-08:00

This was what seems to have been our last rehearsal @ Onneley house :(

And what a rehearsal that was! Two sessions full of dance and brainstorming, choreographing and laughing! All this was beautifully interrupted by the most tasty pork with vegetable and onion mushrooms dinner, followed by the sweetest (had to share it with Kate) cherry pie with custard dessert.

A big thank you to the ladies at Onneley house not only for the lovely dinner, the teas, the coffees and the biscuits all these weeks but also for helping us and making our work a lot more enjoyable.

Also congratulation (applause) to all the dancers, your participation has been amazing and your artistic input extremely valuable. Me and Kate would like to thank Colin, Vee, Edna, Hilary, Lawrence, Marcia, and Margaret individually.

We are now positive that the choreography is there and we all anticipating the BIG DAY. Loads of logistics to be arranged but definitely loads more to look forward to.

Roll the discoball and watch this pace for updates!

22 two little ducks

2009-10-28T01:23:00.000-07:00

A little taster of what is to be expected!

Bingo & Dance at the Irish Welfare from babis on Vimeo.

Bingo and Dance at IWCI (Irish Welfare information Centre)

2009-10-28T01:20:00.000-07:00

This is our second session at Irish Welfare in Digbeth, and this time we made it into the Bingo extravaganza. A great experience and an amazing environment with all the participant and staff. what followed in our sessions was a merge between Bingo, dance moves, and singing! we are very exited for the next three sessions and grateful to all the participants for making us feel part of the team and trusting us. Watch this space!

Tap, Ballroom, Shim Sham, and a little bit of Line Dancing.

2009-10-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

We are now working with at Onneley House, a day centre for the over 50, that offers, amongst fun activities such us trips, film club, and access to internet, three different classes focused on movement and dancing.

We first join the Ballroom sequence class, then Tap and Shim Sham and finally Movement class. Onneley house is an amazing environment and the people who attend the Centre made us feel welcome from the very first day we went to meet them in March 2009.

www.theriverproject.co.uk

2009-09-23T01:27:00.001-07:00

This is to celebrate the 1st post of our blog! This blog will be treated as online diary reflecting the progress of the project, with photographs, sound bites, and announcements.

We are now entering the second stage of the project where we will be working with another 4 groups, completing the filming processes, and creating the soundtrack!

we are now working towards the preparation of the second series of workshops with a pinch of Tap and Ballroom. We are very exited about it and we will be updating you very soon.