Green
Candle Dance Company’s production Listening Eyes for children
aged 4-7 created a ground-breaking link between contemporary dance
for children and Deaf theatre. This enchanting show integrated vibrant
dance theatre with British Sign Language. With a cast of hearing
and deaf performers, it opened the doors to Deaf culture and sign
language and provided an inspirational experience for both family
and schools audiences.
Hari is 6 and deaf – an ordinary boy, living an ordinary life:
he gets up, goes to school, plays with his deaf and hearing friends.
But Hari has an EXTRAordinary imagination, which turns the world,
as he experiences it through his ‘listening eyes’, into
a place of surprising and magical happenings.
The company re-located to Oxford House in Bethnal Green as resident
dance company, from its Islington base in July 2003. Listening Eyes
is the company’s 16th full-length production for children
and young people, and, like many of its predecessors, it uses Green
Candle’s trade mark blend of dance, song, words, live music
and, in this case, sign language, to tell an original story with
live, specially composed music.
This is the company’s first production to employ deaf collaborators
(Mark Smith and Paula Garfield) and deaf performers (Jo Dunbar and
Neil Fox), but Green Candle has a long history of working for and
with young deaf people, including its annual Dance Summer School
for Deaf Children, held for the past six years in collaboration
with Sadler’s Wells Theatre and last year filmed for BBC 2’s
See Hear programme for deaf audiences.
* Please
note: we are using the term ‘deaf’ to encompass the
full range of hearing loss and communication methods
Directed
by Fergus Early and Rachel Elliott
Choreographed by Fergus Early and Mark Smith
Music by Will Embliss
Stage Management / Music by Fiona Keats
Design by Kate Owen
Performers: Neil Fox, Jo Dunbar, Will Palmer, Kylie Sudds
Deaf Theatre Consultant: Paula Garfield
Tour schedule
17th May Ben Jonson School, Tower Hamlets
18th May St Marks School, Islington
19th May Burbage School, Hackney
22nd May Watermans Theatre, Hounslow, Workshop 13.15, Perf 15.00
24th May Berkeley Primary School, Hounslow
25th May Bangabandu School, Tower Hamlets
26th May Alfred Salter School, Southwark
28th May Chats Palace, Hackney, Performance 14.00
7th – 9th June Hacton Primary School, Havering
11th June Hammersmith Lyric, Hammersmith, Performances 11.00 &
13.00
13th June Woodside Infant School, Croydon
14th June Betty Layward School, Hackney
15th June Blanche Neville School, Islington
16th June Rotherfield School, Islington
17th June Gillespie Primary School, Islington
21st June Coopers Lane Primary School, Lewisham
22nd June Mayflower School, Tower Hamlets
23rd June Stewart Hedlam Primary School, Tower Hamlets
25th June National Deaf Childrens Society at Oxford House
30th June Derby Dance Centre, Performance 14.00
‘… an extraordinary and moving experience.’
Ballet-Tanz on forWard motion!
‘It was really excellent for our children – hearing
and deaf children together. They got so much out of it.’
Teacher, on Mina’s Story.
‘The dynamic and talented performers were professional
in every aspect. Audience participation techniques were brilliant.
A magical experience.’ Teacher on forWard motion!
This production is supported
by the FOYLE FOUNDATION
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