Along Morecambe’s Seafront
Virtual Lancaster
28 February 2005
The Nuffield Theatre in Lancaster has commissioned performer Niki McCretton and digital artist/composer Kathy Hinde to develop work over nine months with grandparents and grandchildren from Morecambe and Lancaster to discover the crux of their relationships - the differences, expectations and unforgettable moments that bring them together. This work culminates in a free promenade performance at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday 23 April 2005 on Morecambe's seafront featuring the grandparents and grandchildren themselves, and other members of the community.
Beginning at Rita’s Café on the seafront, the audience have time to gather, have refreshments and share some of the grand-pairings' experiences through live interludes, short films, writings, questions and some hilarious moments with a microphone. The audience are then led outside to watch a string of performances along the Promenade linked by a journey on the Blue Train. These subtle and often poignant performances appear from nowhere and disappear again as the audience journey along the seafront to arrive at the statue of Eric Morecambe. Here will begin a never-before-seen spectacle – a ballet of a dozen mobility buggies performed by local people and accompanied by a new piece of music performed by the Galloway Choir. Rita’s Café will remain open during the evening with food available and as a gathering point for the evening event.
At 9:30 p.m. when darkness falls, the audience will be invited inside the grounds of the Midland Hotel to witness the projection of a new film which will cover this art-deco façade. Visible for miles, the choreographed film sequences will light up the building and transform it with images showing the inside of Morecambe's Winter Gardens. The film reveals the unused, silent state of these two historic buildings, providing a timely record of the town and its inhabitants, but also celebrating their planned restoration with a new future for Morecambe on the horizon. Admission to the evening event is also free.
Preston Today
17 February 2005
Eric Morecambe's statue will become a backdrop to the latest dance spectacular – a buggy ballet. All you need to pirouette with the best of them is a pension book and a set of wheels as the latest production of Lancaster University's Nuffield Theatre hits town. Artists Kathy Hinde and Niki McCretton have composed a "buggy ballet" to be staged on Morecambe Promenade and they are looking for 12 racy pensioners who are willing to dust off their racing overalls to help out.
Kathy Hinde said: "It is part of a larger event which will cascade down the Promenade. Ten pairs of pensioners and their grandchildren will perform mini-plays and showpieces with a motorised finale around the Eric Morecambe Statue. For that, we will work with 12 pensioners who will drive mobility buggies. Niki has written a musical piece that has been recorded on 12 different CDs and each one will be played on a different scooter using a ghetto blaster. They will come together when the ballet gets under way to form the final piece. The music is a revamp of The Lord Is My Shepherd hymn which many of the older people we spoke to said was important to them. The lead-up to the ballet is not going to be all-singing, all-dancing. It will be pretty quiet and it will also be performed in a subtle way. Obviously, the ballet is much more of a spectacle."
Niki McCretton, who will choreograph the buggy ballet, said: "We don't want people like us who don't use the scooters in their normal lives. We want people who have mobility issues and those who may be entirely immobile. It will be a way of getting people to dance who might never have thought they could perform in a ballet."
The artists hope that the pensioners will be able to provide their own buggies, but just in case they cannot, they have enlisted the help of mobility experts from Morecambe. Mark Crowther, who runs Beejay Mobility Services at The Mobility Centre, 95A Euston Road, said: "We will provide the back-up if things go wrong. They are insured anyway so things should be alright. It's a good thing for Morecambe. It gives the place a bit of a pick-me-up. I've seen a few smashed scooters come back to the shop in my time, but I think that provided they are careful, they should be alright. We've always got some spare parts if they don't."
Sarah Nash, who works at the Nuffield Theatre, added: "I just think that it is so exciting that we can move the production out of the theatre and engage with the community." The ballet will be staged around the Eric Morecambe Statue on Saturday 23 April 2005. Anyone who would like to join in will have to take part in three rehearsal events – one in March and two just before the ballet – plus a morning rehearsal on the day. The performance will be at 3:00 p.m. Organisers said the entire production will involve many people from Lancaster and Morecambe, and should be an exciting and unforgettable experience.
By Rachel Ryan
This Is The Lake District
08 February 2005
A ballet featuring mobility buggies and scooters as the dancers is to be performed on Morecambe Promenade. Performer Niki McCretton and Digital Artist/Composer Kathy Hinde are working together to create the unique event called the Motability Buggy Ballet. Niki will be choreographing the dance for 12 buggies which will move in formation and in time to music near the Clock Tower. And Kathy will record a special piece of music to be played on ghetto blasters positioned on the backs of the buggies.
Now, in order to get the ball rolling, they are looking for volunteer dancers to take part in the ballet. Says Ms. Hinde: "People can take part at whatever level they feel comfortable with. Most of the movement will be quite simple although there will be opportunities for people to take centre stage if they so desire." Anyone interested is asked to call Alice Booth at the Nuffield Theatre on 01524 592 994.
Morecambe Today
02 February 2005
Drivers of motorised buggies and scooters from the Morecambe-Lancaster area are being recruited to join the first Morecambe Motability Buggy Ballet. Twelve motorised wheelchair or scooter drivers will do a dance routine near the Clock Tower on Morecambe Promenade on Saturday 23 April 2005 at 3:00 p.m. They will move in formation, in time to original music, as part of a project called Relative commissioned by the Nuffield Theatre at Lancaster University.
Dance choreographer Niki McCretton and video artist-composer Kathy Hinde have recently been working with 10 sets of grandparents and grandchildren in the Lancaster-Morecambe area to discover the crux of their relationships – the differences, expectations and unforgettable moments that unite them.
For the Motability Buggy Ballet, Kathy will record a piece of music to be played on ghetto blasters positioned on the backs of the buggies to create an unusual symphony. The show will be followed by stunning film projections on the facade of the Midland Hotel.
Anyone who drives a motorised buggy or scooter can take part at whatever level they feel comfortable with. Most of the movement will be quite simple, although there will also be opportunities to take centre stage. If you use a motorised buggy or scooter and would like to take part, please call Alice Booth at the Nuffield on 01524 592 994.
Niki and Kathy also plan to develop the show material into a professional touring piece incorporating physical theatre, text, cine film, vinyl, digital projections, piano and even "mouth trumpet" to capture the changing pace of life on the journey to old age. The final version of this will be premiered at the Nuffield Theatre in autumn this year.
In A Motability Buggy Ballet?
Virtual Lancaster
02 February 2005
Do you or does someone you know drive a Motability Buggy or Scooter? Performer Niki McCretton and Digital Artist/Composer Kathy Hinde are working together to create a spectacular event in Morecambe commissioned by the Nuffield Theatre in Lancaster. It will be held on the seafront near the Clock Tower on Saturday 23 April 2005 and the Motability Buggy Ballet will be part of this larger event.
Niki will be choreographing a "ballet" for 12 Motability Buggies especially for the event. This will involve moving in formation with other drivers in time to original music. Kathy will record a piece of music to be played back on ghetto blasters positioned on the backs of the buggies to create an unusual symphony. You can take part at whatever level you feel comfortable with. Most of the movement will be quite simple, although there will be opportunities for you to take centre stage if you so desire.
If you would like to take part, you will be required to come along to an initial meeting in March plus two afternoon rehearsals before the event (exact time and places TBA). On Saturday 23 April 2005, you will need to be available for a morning rehearsal and the afternoon performance at 3:00 p.m. The rest of the event on Saturday involves many more local Morecambe and Lancaster residents, so this promises to be a fun and social occasion as well as a creative experience. If you are interested, please contact Alice Booth at the Nuffield Theatre on 01524 592 994.
Lancaster Today
26 August 2004
Families from Lancaster and Morecambe have been taking part in a unique commission to be staged at Lancaster University's Nuffield Theatre. The piece entitled Relative has been inspired by the interaction between grandparents and grandchildren in the district. Performance and video artists Niki McCretton and Kathy Hinde were commissioned to create the work which will look at how a community deals with inter-generational relationships. "Grandparents are often seen as just an extended body of childcare," said Niki. "But we wanted to explore how these two sets of people actually get on, because it's often a relationship which is ignored in society. Many children are born just as their grandparents are retiring and have more time on their hands which is quite clever of Mother Nature if you think about it. We made a deliberate decision not to speak to any of the parents and have had no contact at all with the 'middle' generation."
The pair have been working with 10 families in the district over the last three weeks, and through workshops and interviews will devise a mixed-media show that will then hopefully go on tour. "Sadly, the participants won't be coming with us because they lead such busy lives," said Niki. "One of the grandmothers has actually done this before and joked to us that she'd been performing in London recently - but only on film. We've been working really hard so that we can take as much of them with us as we can without them actually being there." That process has involved recollections, filmmaking, creative writing and even dance. Each of the participants were asked to fill a time-capsule shoebox with items important to them and to detail favourite books and music in the style of 'Desert Island Discs'. "We found there was a learning role on both sides," said Niki. "Grandparents are passing on their family history through looking back because memories are what they have. And from the other side, all grandparents say their grandchildren keep them in touch with the modern world because they are often the only children they come across."
Connie Gardner, 75, and husband Ron, 78, became involved in the project through a get-together group on the Ridge and last week spent time revisiting their past at the Winter Gardens. "Ron was teaching our granddaughter Amy how to dance in the theatre because we used to spend so much time at the Floral Hall when we were younger," recalls Connie. "It was interesting to watch them learning to dance because it just came naturally to our generation as something we did socially." The whole afternoon was filmed for the project which revealed something of a hidden talent for 10-year-old Amy's twin brother, Stephen, both of whom attend Christ Church Primary School. "He had a phenomenal flair for working behind the camera which really impressed us for someone so young," said Niki.
Working with twins may have appeared at first like an added bonus for the project, but Niki and Kathy soon discovered it was par for the course. The participants involved ranged in age from nine months to 84 years and of the 10 families involved, six contained sets of twins - four of which were the actual grandchildren involved. "There must be something in the water here!" added Niki. Relative will be presented at the Nuffield and at other sites around Lancaster and Morecambe on dates to be confirmed in the new year.
Lancaster University Press Office
25 August 2004
As part of a summer of events and artists' residencies commissioned by the Nuffield Theatre (located at Lancaster University in Lancaster, Lancashire), choreographer Niki McCretton and filmmaker Kathy Hinde have just completed three weeks working with grandparents and grandchildren from the region. The youngest participant was 9 months, the oldest 84 years. The artists ran interviews in the participants' houses focusing on what is unique about these relationships that skip a generation, as well as taking a series of cross-generational participatory workshops in dance, singing, writing and video-making. One grandparent took Niki, Kathy and three of her nine grandchildren on a guided tour of her birthplace, Kirkby Lonsdale. Another danced the waltz with his granddaughter in Morecambe’s famous Winter Gardens. Kathy and Niki, who are based in the South West, will be back next spring to present the fruits of their work in a site-specific performance made with all the participants in Morecambe.
Between Young And Old
By Phil Fleming
The Lancaster & Morecambe Citizen
13 May 2004 (Abridged)
Victor Hugo once said that to reform a man, you must begin with his grandmother. Now two artists are to spend the summer in Morecambe and Lancaster exploring the ins and outs of that very relationship - grandparents and their grandchildren. Niki McCretton and Kathy Hinde have been commissioned by the Nuffield Theatre at Lancaster University to make a new show entitled Relative, based loosely on the inter-relations of the old and the young. Niki and Kathy want to meet grandparents and their grandchildren for conversations and workshop sessions locally. They will focus on questions like how do you communicate across the generation gap, what are the differences in your lives and experiences, and what is your relationship to technology?
"Niki With Child Participant"
By Alice Booth, Projects Officer, Nuffield Theatre
