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MARKETING PACK - The Enormous Room
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Contents
About the Company 2
Media exposure and Press quotes 3
About the work (Brochure copy & Synopsis) 4
Biographies 6
Marketing Information- target audiences & age suitability 9
Sample Direct Mail Letter 11
Sample Press Release 12
Accessible Letter- for day centres and learning disability 14
Tour Schedule 15
Contact details 16
Production images, videos and logos 17
stopgapdance.com
ABOUT US
Stopgap Dance Company creates exhilarating dance productions of international standard. We employ disabled and non-disabled artists who find innovative ways to collaborate.
Stopgap value a pioneering spirit and are committed to making discoveries about integrating disabled and non-disabled people through dance. Difference is our means and our method.
As a charitable organisation we openly share skills and knowledge through performance,professional training,community outreachandpublications. We create our work for the widest possible audience because we want to shift perceptions about difference and inspire everyone to achieve their potential.
Stopgap’s productions are devised by the company dancers and collaborators, working as an ensemble under the artistic direction of Lucy Bennett:
Our productions seek to offer a window into a parallel world where human interdependence, strength and vulnerability play out with poetic realism.
Stopgap is a British company and works in partnership withArts Council Englandas a National Portfolio Organisation. We are also a resident company ofFarnham Maltings,and The University of Surrey. Stopgap’s previous work Artificial Things by Lucy Bennett is a compulsory study of GCSE Dance.
Visit our website etc for further information:
Stopgapdance.com
http://www.facebook.com/stopgapdance
http://twitter.com/stopgapdance
https://www.instagram.com/stopgapdanceco/
https://www.youtube.com/StopgapDanceCo
MEDIA
(On previous production Artificial Things)
Lucy Bennett on The Guardian’s Arts Head:
http://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/2014/apr/08/stopgap-dance-company-disabled-artists
Lucy Bennett on Exeunt Magazine Feature:
http://exeuntmagazine.com/features/artificial-things-disability-process-and-integration/
PRESS QUOTES
An absorbing encounter with grief and loss ★★★★ Bachtrack
A wonderful exploration that comforts and provokes long after the piece has ended – Exeunt
Work that can take dance into a new genre – Disability Arts Online
(On previous production Artificial Things)
Thought-provoking, intelligent, imaginative and powerful ★★★★★ TV Bomb
Bold and disarming ★★★★ Exeunt
Exhilarating, emotional and provoking ★★★★ Edinburgh Guide
Bold and honest ★★★★ Broadway Baby
Inventive and visually stunning londondance.com
ABOUT THE WORK
BROCHURE COPY
In the latest epic production from Stopgap Dance Company, we follow a father and daughter gradually coming to terms with the loss of Jackie – their wife and mother.
Combining exquisite detail in movement with evocative text and design,The Enormous Roomtakes the audience somewhere in between this world and the next.
Thoughtful, moving and uplifting,this is a show about saying goodbye and moving on.
SYNOPSIS
The Enormous Roomis a work of physical theatre depictinga relationship between Dave and his daughter Sam, who are both trying to deal with Jackie's sudden death.
In Act One, the audience see Dave barricadinghimself in the living room unable to let go of the past. As he wallows in his sadness, he beings to lose his grip on reality.His world becomesflooded with ghostly memoriesof his wife, andthe collisionbetween this world and the nextisorchestrated by a Puck-like character called Chock. Sam is grieving too and her memories of Jackie arealso present inThe Enormous Room. Sam’s memoriesare somewhat different to her father's though,so the role of Jackie is played by two different people simultaneously.Dave isstuck in his confused state, but Sam is evidently keener to move on. Her friendTompeeps in now and then to try to offer her escape.
Act Two is about the process of moving on. The living room is all cleared away and the focus shifts squarely on Sam. In a more abstract atmosphere signifying an inner world, act two depicts Sam'sinternal efforts in trying to lay the memories of Jackie to rest.
Trailer film: https://vimeo.com/186403839
Audience Tweets:
http://stopgapdance.com/news/your-reaction-the-enormous-room--premiere-week--spring-2017
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Artistic Direction & Choreography - Lucy Bennett
Executive Producer -Sho Shibata
Assistant Producer - Charlotte Mackie
Performed & devised by the cast:
David Tool as 'Dave', Hannah Sampson as 'Sam- the daughter', Amy Butler 'Jackie - the motherinSam's memory',Meritxell Checa as 'Jackie - the wife in Dave's memory', Christian Brinklow as 'Tom - Sam's friend' andNadenh Poanas 'Chock'
Theatre & Costume Design - Anna Jones (Curious Space)
Lighting Design - Chahine Yavrovan
Composer - Dougie Evans
Dramaturge - Lou Cope
Production Manager - David Stothard
Technical Manager - Francois Langton
Company Stage Manager - AlexandraAnzemberger
Costume Supervisor -Rosey Morling
Rehearsal Directors - Laura Jones and Siobhan Hayes
Access Worker/Production Assistant - Cherie Brenan
Production Assistant- Ethan Duffy
Creative inputduring research& development - George Adams (La Petite Mort Theatre), Ben Duke (Lost Dog), Dan Huxley (ethnomusicologist),Caroline Leroy & Michael Pallandre (Collectif Pret a Porter),Thomas Noone,Chris Thorpe (Unlimited Theatre) andLenka Vagrenova
Supporters:
Arts Council England, Farnham Maltings, New Theatre RoyalPortsmouth, PASS - Circus Channel (Interreg), Pavilion Dance South West, The Point,University of Chichester (Department of Theatre) andUniversity of Surrey
Thanks also to:
St. George's ChurchPortsmouth, Frensham Heights School, Aya Kobayashi, TJ Lowe,KJ MortimerandFemi Oyewole
BIOGRAPHIES
Lucy Bennett – Artistic Director of Stopgap Dance Company
Immersed in Stopgap’s work since 2003, Lucy has learnt to blend and expand the dynamic interaction of distinctly different dancers. Working as a choreographer within a company of markedly diverse dancers has allowed Lucy to develop, define and encapsulate her love for expressing human stories throughdance. In recent years she haschoreographed: Tracking(2009) commissioned by Without Walls consortium, Shape Arts and Liberty Festival, Extra Ordinary(2010) – Guest Choreographer for Dave Toole and Lucy Hind (winner of the Standard Ovation Award, 2010) and SPUN Productions(2012) commissioned for the Cultural Olympiad. Lucy is the UK’s leading expert of integrated choreography.
The Dancers
Christian Brinklow
Christian joined Stopgap in March 2016. He trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, graduating in 2012. Throughout his training he worked with artists including Deborah Johnson, Riccardo Meneghini, Colin Poole and Douglas Thorpe. After graduating Christian joined the NSCD postgraduate company, Verve 13 where he created and toured works by Angus Balbernie, Frauke Requardt, James Wilton and Ben Wright. Since completing his training Christian has worked with artists including James Wilton on the Rugby League opening ceremony; Gary Clarke; Barnaby Booth; Carlos Pons Guerra; Jack Stinton Dance Company and Douglas Thorpe. He has worked with Cie Utilite Publique in Lausanne, Switzerland onStress Biologythat toured nationally. Christian works extensively with Tangled Dance Company, performing and assisting in creation of all the company's major works, most recently,Whispers Of A Christmas Tale.
Amy Butler
Amy joined Stopgap in January 2013. She studied at London Metropolitan University graduating with a first class honours in Performing Arts. She then went on to complete a Higher Certificate at The Place in 2007. She has worked with Balbir Singh Dance Company (dancer and rehearsal director); MotionManual (Netherlands and Germany tour 2009); East Midlands Children’s Theatre Consortium (working with Héléne Blackburn and Enrique Cabrera); State of Emergency; Body of Art (Resident Artist at Déda 2011) and Abalino Dance Theatre (Faroe Islands and Portugal tour). In 2012 she worked with Akram Khan performing his work in the opening ceremony of the Olympics. In 2011 Amy was awarded the Lisa Ullmann Scholarship fund enabling her to complete an Integral Yoga qualification in India.
Meritxell Checa
Meritxell joined Stopgap in March 2016. Born in Barcelona, she studied from 2006 at the Folkwang Hochshule, Essen (Germany). Her professional credits include working with Alias Compagnie (Switzerland); Tanztheater Wuppertal von Pina Bausch (Germany) and Johannes Wieland and the Staatstheater Kassel (Germany). Most recently she worked with DCA - Philippe Decouflé (France).
Meritxell has her own company,wilkytroc, where she has collaborated with artists and companies to create dance works includingLast PictureandProtocolo. In 2015, while studying Natural Medicine at theFLMNE, Paris, she set up theTanztheater Social Project(TTSP) to bring dance to non-professionals dancers. As part of this she createdEtairas, a touring performance for women.
Nadenh Poan
Nadenh joined Stopgap in June 2013 as a member of a trainee company Sg2, but first met with the company when Stopgap taught for Epic Arts in Cambodia in 2011. In 2005 Nadenh began working part-time with Epic Arts. He went on to study with them on a two-year programme enabling him to learn more about contemporary dance, choreography, drama and visual arts. Graduating in 2011, Nadenh became full-time with Epic. During his time with Epic he was involved in performances includingSharrabangthat Stopgap createdwhileout in Cambodia. Nadenh has also had the chance to choreograph his own work as part of his two-year course with Epic Arts, receiving mentoring from guest artists including Adam Benjamin and Chisato Minamimura. With Sg2, Nadehn has collaborated onExhibitionandThe Awakening. With Stopgap, he has worked onThe Seafarers.He has recently collaborated with Tim Casson from Casson&Friends, on a childrens theatre piece called 'Night at the Theatre'. Nadehn has now graduated from Sg2 and looks foward to working with the main team on their newest production,'The Enormous Room'.
Hannah Sampson
Hannah has been involved with Stopgap for a number of years, firstly as a member of the original Stopgap Youth Dance Group and from 2010 as a Trainee Dancer. Hannah completed a BTEC Certificatein Performing Arts at Kingston College in 2010. She has taken part in workshops with chorographers including Charlotte Vincent, Anthony Missen (Company Chameleon), Charlie Morrissey and Thomas Noone. She toured as a Trainee dancer for Stopgap both nationally and internationally in European Street Arts Festivals TourTracking2012 and UK Cultural Olympiad outdoor tourSPUN Productions2012. Hannah danced in Chris Pavia’s choreographic worksShadowed Voices(performed at schools and conferences across the UK, as well as in Albania for the Albanian President in 2010) andCaptured by the Dark(Resolution! 2013 at the Place, London). In 2013 Hannah became partof Sg2 and in 2016 graduated to the main touring team.
Hannah has collaborated with Stopgap onTracking, SPUN ProductionsandThe Seafarers.With Sg2 she has worked onExhibitionandThe Awakening.Hannah has most recently collaborated with Tim Casson from Casson & Friendson a family show calledNight at the Theatre. She is currently collaborating with Stopgap onThe Enormous Room.
David Toole
Dave studied at the Laban Centre of Movement and Dance after participating in dance workshops with Candoco Dance Company. He received a Professional Diploma in Community Dance in 1993.
Dave toured nationally and internationally with Candoco Dance Company between 1993 and 1999. Subsequently he has performed with Graeae Theatre Company. The Royal Shakespeare Company and in 2000 worked with DV8 to create and performCan We Afford This?for the Sydney Arts Festival prior to the 2000 Olympics. The show was revived in 2003 and later made into the filmThe Cost of Living. Most recently he has worked with Cape Town based Remix Dance Company (Lucy Hind and Dom Coyote) creating a new work for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad and collaborated with Leeds based company Slung Low on 3 site-specific works. In the summer of 2012 Dave performed a key solo role in the opening ceremony of the Paralympics. He also appears in the Sally Potter film,The Tango Lesson, playing the role of the Designer.
The Creative Team
Production Design – Anna Jones, Curious Space
Anna is a co-founder of Curious Space, a Brighton based design studio creating unique and inspiring spaces for museums, galleries, public spaces and performance. Whether communicating a message in an exhibition or an emotion in a performance, their emphasis is on creating a powerful relationship between the audience and the created space. They design immersive and thought-provoking spaces, which inspire a strong emotional response from the audience. Passionate about the performing arts, Anna studied drama at the University of Hull. During her time there she became inspired by scenography and has never looked back. Her design style is minimal and quirky. Her hands on experience of scenic painting have fed into her design bringing a strong eye for detail and exquisite finishes. She thrives on working with people, inspiring and motivating her colleagues. Anna is renowned for her ever-changing radical haircuts and big smile.
Lighting Design – Chahine Yavrovan
As well as theatre, opera and dance, Chahine has lit objects, clothes, casts of one to 240, buildings, shows in back rooms of pubs as well as on main stages, site-specific, indoors and outdoors. He has worked with Jasmin Vardimon onTicklish,Lullaby, Park, Justicia, Yesterday, 7734, Freedom. Other dance work with Arthur Pita, Bock & Vincenzi, Yolande Snaith Theatredance, Walkerdance, Rosemary Lee, Requardt & Company, Ricochet, CanDoCo, Zoi Dimitriou, Dog Kennel Hill Project, Hofesh Shechter, Lea Anderson, Kate Brown, Anatomy Dance, Colin Poole, Naheed Saddiqui, et al.
Composer – Dougie Evans
Dougie Evans is composer for dance, sound designer for theatre and a photographer. As a composer he is specialised in organic composition and sound design. His work finds ways to accommodate instruments and found sounds with electronic textures, and using familiar sounds in unfamiliar ways to create a unique world for each soundtrack. He is Co-Artistic Director ofLîla Dance, andhas worked extensively for contemporary dance with previous collaborations including, Commotion Dance,Ieva Kuniskis,La Petite Mort Theatre,Yael Flexer & Nic Sandiland,The Ballet Boyz,Bootworks Theatre Collective,The Mayakaras,Stopgap Dance, Platform-K, Micadanses, Indepen-dance,Aya Kobayashi, 3fall,Ludus Dance, Joe Darby, Kai Downham, Liz Richards, Katie-Joan Lawson, andJerrel Jackson Dance Company. He trained in Music with English and Creative Writing at the University of Chichester, graduating in 2008.
Dramaturge – Lou Cope
Lou Cope is a British dramaturg, writer and teacher, who recently moved from Belgium to Brighton, UK. Recent work includes: dramaturg to Koen Augustijnen on his new show for les ballets c de la b – ‘Au-Dela’, which is touring throughout europe this year; dramaturg to Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet on the double Olivier Award, and Benois Prize for Dance, winning ‘Babel (words)’ designed by Antony Gormley; dramaturgical consultant on Cherkaoui and Gormley’s ‘Sutra’; dramaturg to Lisi Estaras on the les ballets c de la b research project ‘Soup’; to the London-based Darkin Ensemble on ‘The Blake Diptych’; and to Netherlands based Ulrika Kinn Svensson & Koen de Preter on ‘Sometimes it’s There’, currently in its 2nd year of touring. Lou is currently running the MA in Choreography at Fontys Dansacademie in the Netherlands on which she teaches dramaturgy and choreographic process, and is mentor to all Masters Choreography students. In 2012 Lou will be working and presenting workshops in Portugal, Malta and Greece. She has published a number of articles in books and journals on the director/choreographer in collaborative environments, including an article co-written with Alain Platel, and has just completed a chapter with Koen Augustijnen about their process for ‘Au-Dela’for a new book published by Methuen on Dramaturgy. 2012 also sees new collaborations with Jose Agudo and Phoenix Dance Theatre, Sharon Watson & Phoenix Dance Theatre, Liz Aggiss, Helder Seabra and Fleur Darkin of Scottish Dance Theatre.