Play Us a River

Creative movement workshop series celebrating the Deerness River.

6 indoor sessions and 2 outdoor sessions

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:

• let the movements of the Deerness move our bodies and attention in new ways 
• collaborate creatively in duets, trios and ensembles
  cultivate creative movement skills and active witnessing
• learn more about the river and its wider ecology
• 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 the 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 an intention to be open to the unknown and to let your artistic-self play. Sessions will build on each other and attendance of all sessions is encouraged but it’s fine if you can’t make all the dates. 

Want to find out more? Text scarlet on 07564 550231 or email scarletsumagr@gmail.com to ask any questions or reserve a place.

Ready to join the journey? Book online here.

These workshops are subsidised by some external funding. Contributions to help cover the true cost of research and development for these workshops are welcome.

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 will do my best to make a space where people of all body shapes, ages, abilities, ethnicities and genders feel respected, welcome and included and I cherish each unique contribution that our different bodies bring.

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 (they/them)

Hi, I'm Scarlet. 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 play and co-create together in ways that are beyond our habitual masks or performances of 'normal', while respecting everyones unique pacing.

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.