Play Us a River Autumn

Creative movement workshop series celebrating the Deerness River.

6 indoor sessions and 2 outdoor sessions

Saturday 26th October 2pm - 5pm ***FREE TASTER***
Thursday 7th November 7.30pm - 9.15pm
Thursday 14th November 7.30pm - 9.15pm
Thursday 21st November 7.30pm - 9.15pm
Saturday 23rd November 2pm - 5pm
Thursday 28th November 7.30pm - 9.15pm
Thursday 5th December 7.30pm - 9.15pm
Saturday 7th December 2pm - 5pm

From Tow Law to the Browney, the Deerness river flows, shifts, persists. It carves the landscape and carries the flora and fauna amongst which we play out our lives. Have you ever wondered about your relationship with your local river and its relation to you, to who you are, to where you live, to how you perceive and move?

Come and explore what movements our own Deerness River can carry us into through movement, sound, rhythm, tiny dances, sensory attention, imagination and many personal histories.

Join this invitation to celebrate our local river through play and creativity.

These workshops offers an opportunity to:

• move past shyness and awkwardness and find the fun and ease of creatively playing solo and in small groups.
• let the Deerness river move our bodies and mind in new ways 
• get some skills in creative movement and active witnessing
• learn more about the river and its wider ecology and the different people who love it.
  
  

The last session will be a group performance that we make together, called ‘Deerness Devotions’ — a performance-as-ritual to celebrate the river and its contribution to life in this valley. The river and other participants will be the main audience. The performance will be documented via 3-minute film in which participants will only be identifiable if they’re
comfortable with it.

No experience is necessary, just being up for giving something new a go in a friendly welcoming space.

There is a FREE taster on Saturday 26th October.

Sessions will build on each other and attendance across the workshops is encouraged, but it’s fine if you can’t make all the dates. 

Text scarlet on 07564 550231 or email scarletsumagr@gmail.com to ask any questions or reserve a place for the Taster. 

Ready to join the journey? Book online here

These workshops are subsidised by a Creative Commission. Extra contributions to help cover the true cost of research and development for these workshops are welcome but not necessary.

If you, or someone you know, might want to share a personal story about their relationship to the Deerness, please get in touch via email or phone. These stories will help us make our performance.

Accessibility: I aim to make this a fun and playful space where people of all body shapes, ages, abilities, ethnicities and genders feel respected, welcome and included. Nikki Woodward will on hand to offer extra support where needed.

New Brancepath Village Hall has a level entrance and a large wheelchair accessible toilet. For the outdoor days we will choose sites to visit that are accessible to everyone in the group. Sitting options for exploring movement prompts will be available.

About me

Hi, I'm Scarlet (they/them) and I live in Ushaw Moor and love to walk and be with the Deerness river. I like to invite people into creative spaces where we can put the shame and awkardness to one side for a few hours and experience something different and magical together.

In this series of workshops, I’m curious about what happens when we move and play both in a landscape and as a landscape. How does an embodied sense of being in a landscape open up more creative and spacious ways to relate to daily realities? How can devotion for our river change the way we inhabit our own bodies?

Cultivate Commissions are designed to support creative practitioners to work with and alongside  communities in County Durham to increase participation in cultural activity that has a positive  impact on community identity and a pride of place.  

Cultivate Commissions are part of Into the Light, a transformative programme that will drive long lasting growth in County Durham through creative collaboration. Over the next three years, it will  cultivate talent, widen access to creative education, enhance skills, and break down barriers in the  creative industries.