Help fund arts workshops in the Tees Valley

I am fundraising to deliver workshops based on La Llorona, my show that I have been developing this year, in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough, in the Tees Valley. As an artist based in and from the Tees Valley I recognise that young people here do not have the same opportunities to engage with the arts and with professional artists. Coming into contact with professional artists through workshops at my school and college was one of the ways I realised that working in the arts could be a viable career option. This area of low engagement with the arts often due to financial barriers and the Tees Valley has recently been identified as a Priority Place by Arts Council England. The workshops are designed for participants to develop their creative skills and how to create movement driven performance from a written story which will develop their communication skills and provide experience of professional practice.

The money from this GoFundMe will go towards covering the costs of delivering the workshops including travel costs, planning time, delivery and materials so that the workshop can be delivered at no cost to the participants.

Everyone who makes a donation to La Llorona will be thanked on my social media channels and will be included in the Thank You section on the programme given out for the performances of La Llorona.

You can donate here: https://gofund.me/0baa2c56 We will be closing the fundraiser on Friday 10 December at 5pm.

Muchísimas gracias for your support it means so much to me!

Dance Artists Needed

We’re looking for 10 professional/aspiring professional dance artists or facilitators to take part in a research project.

Patricia Verity Suarez, Middlesbrough based Movement Director, is working in collaboration with Amy Swalwell from TeesDance and Middlesbrough Council to strengthen the infrastructure for dance through the ‘Middlesbrough Dance Sector Development’ project.

The project aims to lead the way to a stronger, more vibrant and diverse dance sector in Middlesbrough. For us to do this, we need to understand what the current strengths are as well as identifying where there are gaps in provision, resources, training and professional opportunities needed for the sector to grow.

We are after artists, practitioners, facilitators or teachers to help use with our research in creating a ’10 Year Vision for Dance in Middlesbrough’.

Those selected to take part in the research will complete a short survey and attend either a group session or 1:1 with a small fee to cover expenses and time.

For more information please visit: https://teesdance.co.uk/takepart/ Please express your interest by Wednesday 4 August at 5pm.

If you have any questions, need any access support or would like an informal chat, please contact Amy – amy@teesdance.co.uk

Artist Breakfast - Middlesbrough

Happening on at the same venue, on the same day… is Dance City’s Artist Breakfast!

Why not join Dance City for breakfast before the research session to meet, network and chat with local artists.

Please note you can attend this Artist Breakfast without being part of our research – it’s a stand-alone event. 

When: 11th August 

Where: Middlesbrough Town Hall

Time: 8.30am-10am!

Joining the conversation will be Anand Bhatt, Artistic Director and CEO of Dance City, Phil Douglas, Director of Artistic Programmes and Artist Development, and Alex Anslow, Producer.

Booking is essential to attend this session. For more information and to book please click here.

Photo credit: Jodie Canwell

Photo Credit: Jodie Canwell

Photo Credit: Jodie Canwell

La Llorona Press Release

Local Dance Artist Patricia Verity Suarez Receives Funding For New Dance Performance ‘La Llorona’ & Research Project to Strengthen Middlesbrough Dance Sector Post Pandemic

Photographer Jodie Canwell

Positive news for the arts and culture sector in Middlesbrough - funding support secured for Patricia Verity Suarez’s work ‘La Lorona’ and Middlesbrough Dance Sector Development (MDSD) Pilot Project.

Patricia is an independent artist and Movement Director based in Teesside and London. She is also a Movement Lecturer on BA(Hons) Musical Theatre at Leeds Conservatoire and an Associate Artist of Both Barrels Theatre. Her movement work is exciting, dynamic and has a deep lyricism to it. She also makes work about the experience of being British and Latinx, and about our connection to the traditional and family stories we love. About Patricia - https://www.patriciaveritysuarez.co.uk/about-1 

Patricia has received support from Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants scheme and a Dance City Creative Summer Residency to continue work started last year on her solo work ‘La Llorona’ as part of a commission from Dance City’s 2021 Commissions programme, also supported by an Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grant with support in kind from Middlesbrough Council. She is also grateful for the ongoing assistance from producers Moving Art Management who are supporting the project.

La Llorona is a choreographic exploration of femininity, internalised emotion, and cycles of joy and violence through the juxtaposition of a Colombian oral tale of a woman who is abandoned, and in her grief drowns her child and contrasted with lived experience as an Anglo-Colombian woman. 

 

I am delighted for the continued backing of my work here in the Tees Valley and am excited to be supporting the dance community in Middlesbrough.” Patricia Verity Suarez

This creative process will be to develop the solo work into a full-length production ready to tour nationally in Spring 2022.

Patricia will be sharing rehearsal excerpts on her Instagram page @pvsuarezmovement on the following dates:

Tuesday 3 August 2021

Tuesday 17 August 2021

Thursday 26 August 2021

There will be a work-in-progress sharing at Dance City, Newcastle Friday 27 August 2021 time to be confirmed. Please contact Patricia for further details.

During this process Patricia in collaboration with Amy Swalwell (TeesDance) & Middlesbrough Council will be working to strengthen infrastructure for Dance through the MDSD Pilot Project to advocate for how and why venues in Middlesbrough could and should programme dance and develop dance audiences, providing tangible and practical recommendations. Building on the recommendations from Moving Art Management’s Middlesbrough Dance Mapping 2019. As part of this project a ‘10 year vision for Dance in Middlesbrough’ resource will be developed through conversations with organisations and freelancers within the sector distributed as an online document.

“I am thrilled that Patricia has been successful with her Arts Council England funding, this is great news for the cultural sector” Charlotte Nicol, Head of Culture at Middlesbrough Council

As the theatre sector recovers from the devastating consequences of the pandemic on our artistic community, Patricia and her team are dedicated to making a positive impact on the regions dance sector, making brilliant and brand new work for the stage, as well as opening doors for other professional artists to grow and develop new work. 

For further details contact:

Patricia Verity Suarez 

Email patriciaveritysuarez@googlemail.com

Mobile 07800862897

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Orpheus in the Record Shop

Very excited to share that I was Movement Director on Testament’s Orpheus in the Record Shop a Leeds Playhouse and Opera North production that was filmed for the BBC and can now be watched on iPlayer

Orpheus is alone, playing tunes in his record shop, when a visit from an enigmatic stranger sets his fragile reality into a spin.  Driven by an astonishing original soundtrack of hip hop, soul and funk, he ventures back into the past to confront some painful truths. Rooted in myths ancient and modern, from the journey of a classical hero to the magical, crackling aura of a vinyl record, this is a compelling examination of isolation and the redemptive power of music.

TeesDance Festival

Counting the days until TeesDance Festival, happening on Instagram in two weeks’ time – find out all about our local dance artists and gain an insight into the creative industries

It’s here! The full line-up for TeesDance Festival, happening on Instagram from 1 – 14 August to celebrate our dance workforce across the Tees Valley.

TeesDance Festival line up

TeesDance Festival line up