Hoops, Hats and Acrobats

by Choreographer Ruby Worth

'Hoops, Hats and Acrobats first began to take shape at Aberdeen citymoves as part of a two-week research lab in the summer of 2003. It was set up to offer choreographers an opportunity to look at creating dance specifically for an audience of children and young people.  During the process, I worked with five dancers and two different age ranges of children, and used a selection of poems by Shel Silverstein to source and inspire movement material.  The research grew through showing and sharing the creative process with children and culminated in a presentation at The Lemon Tree.

On the strength of this research, we applied for funding to produce a full-length dancetheatre piece for a young audience.  First taking the project to the Scottish Arts Council and then to Imaginate, wherewe succeeded in winning their first lottery commission to create a show piece for children and young people.

In the process of making this work, we have focused on creating a magical, poetic, cheeky and playful world for our audience.  An intention behind the dance is to deliver a physicality that is familiar and inspirational to the children, starting with movements that arrive out of games, play, partnering and relationship.

Rather than a narrative, Hoops Hats & Acrobats is a recipe for the imagination.  The children are invited in to make up their own stories and enjoy a first-hand experience of the live electricity of dance and theatre.

With £100,000 budget, Hoops Hats and Acrobats has had the necessary resources to assemble a fantastic creative team.  Of the 13-strong company, Paul Fitzpatrick (producer) has been with me since the initial research stages in Aberdeen, as have two of the dancers, Anna Ramsay and Tracey Altmann. Seke Chimutengwende, Gareth Green and Donatella Martina Cabras are dancers joining us from London. 

Karl Jay-Lewin (choreographer) has been a visionary and skillful partner in the developing of the work.  Brian Hartley (designer) has coloured, shaped and made move a magical world for the performers to play in. Tom Bancroft (composer) has provided a great flavoursome range of music for the piece.  Sergey Jakovsky (lighting designer) has worked wonders with the lights and Gemma Smith has kept us all on our toes as the excellent and ever-attentive production manager.

The question I have been asked most frequently is "what's the difference between making dance for a young audience as distinct from a purely adult audience?"  What I have learned from answering this question is that there is a lot of wisdom and magic in the young. 

Many of values that shine through the relationships explored – with each other and the world around them - while at play are values that we, as adults, can learn from.  Friendship, play, spontaneity, cooperation, physical expression, joy, delight, magic and wonder are but a few.

Finding out what is valuable in the real sense of the word, and working to embody these values and to bring them to life in an act of shared creation is what the work has been all about. For the rest, just come and see!'

Funded by National Lottery through the Scottish Arts Council