We were asked recently by Hertfordshire County Council to think about creative ways for people with learning disabilities to use their voice. One of the ways was using the talents of our MacIntyre Dancers to help people to express themselves, be visible and spread some joy.
We started looking outwards and we found out about Dacorum Community Dance, offering community dance sessions in Hemel Hempstead. We told them about our Cha Cha Chat sessions and they asked us to come and join them a couple of times and share ideas. Dancers are always looking for chances to perform and we talked about doing a flash mob together. We wanted it to be about people using their voice through dance. At our sessions, we asked people to show us their signature moves, the moves that showed them at their best. And we choreographed it into a dance.
We also connected with the arts team at Hertfordshire Council and they asked if we would like to be part of the Dacorum 50 festival. We knew there were some people who would be interested in being part of the workshop to make the costumes and others who would rock the parade. So we said yes! It was the perfect place to perform our flash mob.
Andrew and Millie were part of the team at the workshop making the costumes.
Andrew said,
Millie and myself had a great time at the workshop on Saturday and I was amazed at how much we were able to do ,purely as a result of the huge amount of preparation that had taken place before, allowing us to just turn up and have fun putting the different components together and then decorating it all. Millie seemed to enjoy sticking things and also enjoyed having the head dress fitted.
Stuart was part of the group watching and involved in the procession:
There was so much going on and we all loved it. A procession which included giant puppets, hundreds of young people and adults (many with painted faces) all wearing different costumes which reflected some kind of animal or insect. We even saw a giant bunny rabbit and a lion! Milly, Stewart and Billy and their carers wore their ‘bee outfits’ which our Macintyre friends and colleagues had painstakingly produced the day before! After the procession finished, we all went for a walk through the market square, which was wheelchair accessible, where we listened to a brass band and enjoyed experiencing all the activity and the food and drink stalls.
Then, at 2.30pm, we all had the chance to see the MacIntyre dancers performing a flash mob dance with another local dance troupe from Dacorum. We also met and chatted to Seb Moh about what we’d experienced and also what we’d been doing since he last visited us
Annie Smith from Dacorum council said;
A huge thank you to you, and all the fabulous MacIntyre Dancers and members for taking part in the workshop and joining in parade on Sunday. Everyone looked fantastic in their bee costumes and I hope they enjoyed it. Everyone’s participation really helped make it such a special community celebration.
Anita Taylor, Best Practice Facilitator at MacIntyre says:
None of this would have been possible without the creative flair and leadership of our incredible dance artists and leaders, huge shout out to Bella. Big thanks also to the people supported at Dacorum day service and Dacorum Community Dance whose signature moves and passion for dance helped to choreograph this amazing performance. Rise Up!
