Creative Dance Apprenticeships is a dynamic dance-driven programme, exposing hard-to-reach children and young people in the South East to a fusion of dance, music, video and communications technology. As a collaborator in this program, Magdalen Hayes will participate in offering tailor-made training for youth leaders and dance workers, focusing on the fruitful use of dance and related arts in challenging contexts. (November 2004 - February 2005)

Funding

Moving Doors was a Dance Theatre project for female offenders, directed by Magdalen Hayes and suported by Chris Johnston (Fluxx) and Rex Horan (The Irene Taylor Trust Music in Prison). The 4-week accredited course aimed at supporting rehabilitation and assisting participants' creative development, and culminated in two performances for invited audiences. Magdalen's work focused on the body's own sub-conscious memory, onto which culture, social surroundings and lived emotional patterns have been imprinted. The emphasis lies on discovering frequently suppressed modes of thinking that find their outlet in physical habits and behavioral peculiarities. All of this constitutes a body's lived individuality, and thus the source of its particular aesthetic quality. The collaboration between artists from different fields permitted the variety of participants' native gifts, whether in movement, theatre, or music, to find resonance in the work. A skillfully guided improvisation process resulted in the development of a Dance Theatre performance within the prison setting, layering the different art-forms towards an aesthetic whole. Two performances: 16th of December 2004, Morton Hall, Newark Newport.

Funding

In the Royal Shakespeare Company and Escape Artists, Littleport Intergenerational Community project, which was based on 'Two Gentlemen in Verona'. Magdalen Hayes served as Movement Director. Performance: 4th of November 2004, Littleport.

Funding

A drama workshop under Paul Malcolm (Escape Artists) for young homeless people, recovering addicts and community based Mental Health Service users was based on the 'ThreePenny Opera' by Berthold Brecht. The group explored theatre concepts, dance theatre (supervised by Magdalen Hayes) and music to illustrate their own version of the play. (May - August 2004)

In collaboration with Johannes Siegel (ROJ), Magdalen Hayes choreographically supports a group of young immigrants in developing a self-devised theatre piece to be performed for people in assisted living. The piece features song, dance, and musical interactions. Performances will take place in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg (Germany) in February 2005.

A musical was developed under the direction of Rober Chevara, NYT, at Bullwood Hall YOI in Essex: With the support of Magdalen Hayes and The Irene Taylor Trust- Music in Prisons inmates devised, scored and performed an original musical. The women worked over a period of three weeks to create the content, script, and dance as well as the songs for a 50min show, performed to audiences at the YOI in May 2004.