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Damien's Latest Project
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
The Demon Barbers: New Show!
A short while ago I caught up with Damien Barber of "The Demon Barbers " to find he had yet another new project underway. I'm sure many of you have heard of or seen the Demon Barber Road Show. If not check it out here. This man knows no boundaries which is a great thing, as it's people like Damien that keep English Folk alive and kicking! Well, he's put together a new pilot show. You need to see it to believe it.
This is what he had to say:
"The Demon Barber Roadshow has been touring now for 6 years and since its formation I’ve always been looking at ways to develop it. One of the key aims of the Roadshow is to raise the profile of traditional English dance by getting it onto concert stages at festivals and into theatres. This has been very successful and we are now in a position to move it on again.
I am now looking at a much larger production in partnership with more mainstream dance organistaions. A couple of years ago I was approached by Bush Hartshorn from Yorkshire Dance (a contemporary dance organisation based in Leeds) who asked me if Black Swan Rapper would perform their ‘Techno Rapper’ at the British Dance Edition 2006, a biennial showcase of UK contemporary dance. We were taken back by the great reception and I was so enthused by it I arranged to meet up Bush and Lucy Suggate, a young contemporary choreographer, to talk about the my plans. Lucy had been brought up with traditional dance; her parents are clog and Morris dancers and she was really interested in the project. Many meetings later we were given the opportunity to put some of our thoughts together thanks to a research and development grant from Arts Council England and support from Yorkshire Dance.
The budget was tight and we only had 6 days to come up with short dance piece that would be performed at Yorkshire Dance’s 25th Anniversary celebrations. The overall plan was experimentation and so we spent our time looking at what everyone had to offer and ways we could connect them. The performance went down better than we could have hoped and has inspired us to push ahead with the final project, a full length theatre show based on traditional English dance to be launched in 2009. York Theatre Royal are very interested in the project and we have just confirmed a booking there for the Roadshow and the pilot for 7th May 2008".
I'm also informed that the clog dancer you see first is Hannah James of Kerfuffle . She works quite a lot with Damien and dances as part of the roadshow. When he wanted to do this experimental piece, he turned to her, knowing that not only was she a stunning dancer but would be happy to embrace the new ideas with which he was experimenting. Kerfuffle also feature on Folk Radio UK and you must also pay them a visit
I told you he didn't rest. Here's footage of that pilot show, I can see this being a huge success:
A short while ago I caught up with Damien Barber of "
I am now looking at a much larger production in partnership with more mainstream dance organistaions. A couple of years ago I was approached by Bush Hartshorn from Yorkshire Dance (a contemporary dance organisation based in Leeds) who asked me if Black Swan Rapper would perform their ‘Techno Rapper’ at the British Dance Edition 2006, a biennial showcase of UK contemporary dance. We were taken back by the great reception and I was so enthused by it I arranged to meet up Bush and Lucy Suggate, a young contemporary choreographer, to talk about the my plans. Lucy had been brought up with traditional dance; her parents are clog and Morris dancers and she was really interested in the project. Many meetings later we were given the opportunity to put some of our thoughts together thanks to a research and development grant from Arts Council England and support from Yorkshire Dance. 
