‘Blowup’ is an interactive performance environment designed for choreographed performances and public interaction.  The work consists of two large video projections in which video imagery of the performers or viewers is manipulated in real-time. These images are cut up, redistributed and distorted by the software so that parts of the body are projected larger or smaller than others depending on how fast they are moving.

It offers a fascinating way of exploring the body and its movement within a defined space. The workshop sessions will be led by choreographer and dancer Sue Hawksley  within the interactive environment.

There are three workshops available on Saturday 1st , Sunday 2nd and Monday 3rd October from 5.00 pm – 7.30 pm.  They might be of particular interest to individuals/pairs or those who might wish to develop the ideas with existing groups (dance teachers etc) with a view to the group getting the most from the exhibition.  Alternatively, it might just be good fun.

Places on the workshops are free but are limited to just 6 places per session, so advance booking is essential.  Places can be booked on the Shetland Box Office on 01595 745555 or www.shetlandboxoffice.org

Rocio is an experienced Belly dancer having danced professionally for over 13 years and has performed across Spain, the UK, Italy and Germany.  She has also worked as a choreographer and been involved in many television shows including Spanish series Manolito Gafotas.  Her Belly dancing is influenced by many styles and cultures including Bedouin, Andalusi, Egyptian and Lebanese.

Rocio currently lives in Shetland and is a very popular Belly dancing teacher.  Five of her students Robina Barton, Fiona Grieve, Stella Nort, Zoe Smith and Linda Wiseman will be taking part in the performance at the Garrison.

Rocio Bolanos said “I’m very happy to perform in Shetland again and in such a fantastic venue as the Garrison.  This show will be a special event full of colour and music from different cultures.  Also this year is especially exciting because some of my students are participating in it.  We’ve all had great fun preparing this performance and we’re all out to just enjoy it.”

Robina Barton said “It’s great fun going to belly dancing classes – great music, great clothes and great exercise – just a feel good experience. Preparing for the performance has been a giggle and hopefully the audience will enjoy it as much as we do!”

Tickets are available at Shetland Box Office, Islesburgh Community Centre, telephone number 01595 745555 or online at www.shetlandboxoffice.org

pdf version: Bonhoga Exhibition Programme 2011

please note that the programme is subject to change, please contact the gallery on (01595) 745750 for up-to-date information.

Shetland Arts and Shetland Islands Council accessed Scottish government funds to implement a ticket system that would help reduce the barriers that rural communities face in accessing tickets for events.  An advisory group looked at many systems that could cope with ticket sales and memberships systems and chose Tessitura, one of the largest international companies specialising in this field, as it was flexible enough to fit all their needs.  The Albert Hall, the Grand Metropolitan and many other famous venues have been successfully using the system for many years, including a similar partnership in Victoria, Canada, which sells ticket for a partnership across a wide geographic area, using Tessitura in a similar way to Shetland Box Office Partnership.

Phase 1 (face to face ticket sales in Islesburgh Centre and the Garrison Theatre, and phone sales operated by Islesburgh Centre staff) has been highly successful with over 95000 tickets sold in Shetland to date.  59 promoters have used the facilities selling tickets for 176 productions and 827 individual performances at venues from Fair isle to Unst.

The website enables users to view all up-coming events currently on sale via the What’s On page.  The events are listed in date order and include details such as the venue, description of the event and ticket prices.  Once you register as a user, you can buy tickets by credit or debit card and choose to have them posted to you for a small fee or collected from the venue or box office, unless the event is within the next 7 days, when the tickets will only be available for collection.  You can select your seat for events in the Garrison Theatre, with other venues having unreserved seating.

Other users of online box office facilities have found that within 6 month of their websites going live over 40% of all sales have been through the web. Offering three ways of purchasing tickets – face to face, over the phone or online – will open up events to everyone across the isles.  It will reduce the need for queuing for popular events, help those in the outer isles plan ahead to go to the cinema and other shows in town, and provide an opportunity for all promoters to sell their tickets outside Shetland, attracting tourists in advance to events across Shetland.

Gwilym Gibbons, Director of Shetland Arts, said: “This latest phase of the Shetland Box Office marks a significant development in this partnership project. The option for Shetland customers to buy tickets online and browse what’s on information across many different promoters, venues and organisations is a great step forward.  For visitors to Shetland it provides for the first time, information in one place that shows the vast offering of arts activity in Shetland; and best of all allows them to buy their tickets 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world”.

Gwilym added: “The Shetland Box Office’s success to date is born out of a special partnership between Shetland Islands Council, namely their Islesburgh team, and Shetland Arts. Partnerships around this complex mixed operational and strategic nature are always challenging across organisations and the Shetland Box Office has been no exception.  The launch today of online sales is a real tribute to the determination and commitment of staff in both organisations.  Shetland is at its best when organisations share resources and come together for the benefit of all, it’s not always the path of least resistance but more often than not, given time it does lead to the greatest return on investment”.

Florence Grains, the Council’s Spokesperson for Culture and Recreation said: “I’m delighted to see that the Shetland Box Office is now fully operational, including online sales. This development assists the Council with its aspiration to make services more accessible to everyone in Shetland, regardless of where they live.  I am also pleased to see that the Council and Shetland Arts are working so well together on this shared project and I look forward to seeing this service further develop over time.

• http://www.shetlandboxoffice.org/

How are we doing?

Have your say about the work of Shetland Arts

In 2007 Shetland Arts piloted a small-scale consultation process called Art Focus. People were invited to focus group meetings to discuss issues for the arts in Shetland.

It was a new step for us, and an important one. Although people found lots of positive things to say about our work, some of the responses were challenging and at times very critical; all the responses were valuable to us.

Three main themes emerged – we were asked to: broaden our horizons and take on new ideas; make what we do more accessible; be inclusive and communicate better the opportunities we offer.

During the last three years we have tried to take these comments on board and now we’d like to know how successful we’ve been, and how we can continue to improve the services we offer.

We’d really appreciate it if you could take five minutes to fill in this questionnaire. The results will inform our development plans for the next three years.

The survey contains a series of statements – some of them pretty blunt – with which you are invited to disagree or agree, as well as some questions about our marketing. At every point there is an opportunity for you to add further comment if you so wish. We look forward to hearing what you have to say.

* Click here to be directed to the online survey *

If you’d prefer to fill in a paper copy, please drop it into one of the collection points listed below:

• Shetland Arts (Toll Clock Centre)
• Shetland Library
• Peerie Shop Café
• The Lounge Bar
• Shetland College
• Clickimin Centre
• Islesburgh
• Sound Service Station
• Shetland College
• Bonhoga Gallery
• Garrison Theatre
• Wind Dog Café
• Your local shop!

We’d be grateful if you could return the copies to us by Friday 10th December

While he is Shetland Tony Mills will also be runing a series of free dance workshops for secondary age group (12-17) and adults (over 17). Download poster for more details.

For more details contact emily.sharp@shetlandarts.org

This all day seminar for artists who work in educational contexts will be held at the Tramway in Glasgow on the 25^th November will dig deeper into the Curriculum for Excellence.

There will be contributions from Maureen Finn, Development Officer for Expressive Arts at Learning and Teaching Scotland.  Paul Gorman, Head of Participation and Education for Visible Fictions Theatre Company will explain their ground breaking on-line drama and education project State of Emergency and Philippa Cochrane, Head of Programme (Maternity Cover) at the Scottish Book Trust will be joined by artists and a teacher to discuss the SBT Writers in Schools programme.

Participants will have the opportunity to network with colleagues from across artforms and to work together to explore the Principles of Curriculum Design in groups. At lunchtime all delegates are invited to attend Scottish Dance Theatre’s Tramway Interactive  - an engaging part lecture part matinee performance, which explores how dance interacts with music, lighting and design using excerpts from SDT’s repertoire.

This event is being led by the Federation of Scottish Theatre, Scottish Dance Theatre, Engage Scotland, Scottish Music Centre and the Scottish Book Trust.

 Attendance is free and open to artists from across artforms who work in education contexts. To book a place please complete the attached booking form and return to

kirsty@scottishtheatre.org

Please also pass details of this event to colleagues who you think may be interested in attending.

10 travel bursaries (allocated on a first come first served basis) of up to £100 is available to those whose return travel to the event is more than 200 miles, to be claimed by receipt for public transport only, unless in exceptional circumstances. Places at the event are limited and will also be allocated on a first come first served basis, with consideration to an equal balance of participants from each artform.

The closing date for all applications to attend is Monday 25^th October 2010. 

Download Artists and a Curriculum for Excellence Booking Form here

There will be a series of three workshops for the secondary age range (12 -17).  These will be held on Monday 11^th October (1.00 – 3.00) and Tuesday 12^th October (10.00 – 12.00 and 1.00 – 3.00).  It is expected that participants will be available for all 3 sessions and there might be the chance to share a piece of created dance at the end of the third session.  There is also a one off workshop for adults (aged 17 and over) on the Monday night (7.00 – 8.30).

The workshops all take place at the Garrison Theatre and there are only 16 places available.  Because of the number restrictions, booking is essential even though there is no charge for the workshops.  Bookings can be made at Shetland Box Office on 01595 745555.

The pieces he is performing are highly charged and contrasting in style, both asserting powerful choreographic language and technique and pushing inimitable physical extremes.  Watch iT!, a hit during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2009, is a multi media dance about one man’s love hate relationship with his TV, expressed through a striking mix of break-dance, physical theatre and cutting-edge animation.  Such A Bloke by award winning choreographer Janis Claxton, is an emotionally driven, semi autobiographical look into Tony’s experiences of futility and frustration as a bloke.

As part of his visit to Shetland, Tony Mills will also be running dance workshops at the Garrison Theatre on Monday 11^th and Tuesday 12^th October.

Tony is delighted to be coming to Shetland.  “Growing up in Orkney, I never got the chance to visit Shetland. I’m proud and excited about showing my solos there and that I can finally make the trip!”

You can watch a video of Tony Mills performing here.

Tickets for Watch iT! and Such A Bloke are £10/6 and are available from Shetland Box Office, 01595 743843.

On Thursday 14 October 2010, within the Closing Ceremony of the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Glasgow and Scotland will make the first public statement to the Commonwealth and the world by presenting a Handover Ceremony that will set the scene for the four years leading up to the delivery of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. The Handover Ceremony will mark the start of an amazing journey for athletes, citizens and communities of Scotland and the Commonwealth towards the biggest sporting event Scotland has hosted.

This is an opportunity of a lifetime to join a cast of hundreds to train and perform in what will be a truly exciting and historic event watched by one billion people around the world.

The performance will involve a mass choreographed dance routine with a cast of hundreds from all across Scotland and from all walks of life. It will draw on traditional symbols of Scottish identity in a way that is both modern and inclusive of Scotland’s diverse society, and will communicate the spirit of our Commonwealth Games to an international audience.

To make sure that adults of all ages, backgrounds andabilities can get involved in this exciting project, Glasgow 2014 will fund three people from each of the 32 Local Authority areas – none of whom will have professional dance or drama experience – to perform at the handover segment of the Closing Ceremony, alongside hundreds of cast members who are being sourced from dance groups, sports clubs and organisations from across the country.

Glasgow 2014 aims to use this investment in communities across Scotland to establish a network of people who will be motivated by the life changing experience of being involved in the Delhi 2010 Flag Handover. This network will then develop the knowledge and understanding to inspire others in their local area to become ambassadors for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

In order to take up this opportunity, individuals will have to be prepared to give up a significant amount of time and be prepared to travel to Glasgow and ultimately Delhi during 2010. They will have the following costs met for them i.e. food/accommodation in Glasgow and travel to Delhi and food/accommodation in Delhi, but will have to meet their own travel costs to Glasgow.

The full criteria for participation as a Mass Cast member is as follows;

• A good basic level of physical fitness, self-motivated and enthusiastic
• Ability to commit to the following rehearsal schedule in Glasgow:10 & 11 June 2010 and 20 September to 8 October 2010
• Ability to commit to the performance schedule in Delhi: 12 to 17 October 2010
• 18 years or over on 10 June 2010 (or 10 October 2010 if you would be able to stay at home for the rehearsals in Glasgow)
• No medical conditions preventing exercise, physical exertion, air travel, travel vaccinations and periods in hot environments
• Consent to all advice and necessary requirements as dictated by the Project Doctor e.g. travel vaccinations and medical and emergency attention in Delhi
• Full UK or other passport allowing travel to India and valid for at least 6 months beyond 16 October 2010 (16 April 2011)
• Consent to any necessary security and background checks
• And most importantly you must have pride, passion, dedication and a willingness to learn!!!