The performance plays with the everyday events and experiences of riding a bike, adding a hint of the surreal and comical, to change the way you think about cycling and your city spaces.

Strictly Cycling will be a strolling / cycling, promenade-style performance inspired by the flash mob phenomenon.  Five professional dancers perform choreographed and improvised routines on, off, over and around their bicycles, in almost any location.

The show will be high impact, with visually striking costumes and a mobile soundscape.  It will be exciting and enjoyable, self-contained and able to go anywhere – from shopping centres and High Street, to parks and rural locations – and, it will be waterproof as well!

We will be developing the flash mob aspect to involve any number of local participants and their bikes, following a simple two hour Strictly Cycling workshop on the day of performances.

Initial development commissioned by

Born in Cardiff, she studied English and Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths College.  She started writing for the BBC CBeebies Channel when it launched in 2000 and has been writing for many of the channel’s popular series ever since, including Storymakers, Boogie Beebies, Poetry Pie, Show Me Show Me and Old Jack’s Boat.

In 2009 her monologue ‘Big Feet’ was performed at the Edinburgh Festival as part of the Body Gossip Production.

In 2010 ‘I Hate Washing Day,’ a lyrical tale based on the day her sister left home to avoid washing day, was part of Wallpapered Tales, performed at the Wild Orchid Theatre.

During 2010 she wrote a fairy tale for a street theatre production, Bombay Gold by Kuljit Bhamra.  Featuring a string quartet and blend of tabla and western beats, the take was told through a combination of dance, song and poetry and was performed at the Mayor of London’s Liberty Festival.

Tracey has also written a children’s book called Monsters Not Allowed.

In 2011 she became a member of Transitions Dance Company whilst completing her MA in Dance Performance.  With Transitions, she created work with international choreographers, Martin Nachbar, Hubert Essakow and Shang Chi Sun, touring the UK and abroad.

After graduating, Zoe worked with artist Tino Sehgal in his latest creation ‘These Associations’ which was presented at the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern.

Zoe is currently involved in many collaborative projects that combine sound and movement in the London Soundpainting Orchestra and is a founding member of ‘On the Roof’ Collective.

Sophie has worked for many choreographers in the UK and abroad such as Hagit Yakira, Ingri Fiksdal, Ben Wright, Rosie Kay, Rosemary Lee, Willi Dorner, Tony Mira, Harry Theaker, Charlie Morrissey, and in Festivals such as Glyndebourne Opera, Greenwich & Docklands International Festival and Harare International Festival of Arts.

Alongside performing, she choreographs and teaches in a number of community and professional settings around the country and collaborates with artists of different mediums to create works in diverse performance contexts.  Most recently she has performed her own work in Finland and Hungary.

Ben has co-founded several devising theatre companies including Totally Irrelevant Theatre Company, with whom he toured the South West region with multiple devised workshops, performances and installations, as well as working alongside ARROW (Art: A Resource for Reconciliation Over the World) and Barefoot.  He continues to work with Ingo Theatre, who’s devised piece ‘My Brother, My Sister’ was nominated for the NEU/NOW Festival 2011 and selected for the Festival’s online showcase.

Ben has worked with a number of companies as a freelance performer, including Protein Dance, Hyperfusion, and now with Bicycle Ballet.

http://bendriscollartist.wordpress.com/

In 2012, with fellow performer Shaun Shears, he gained three stars and two reviews for their biographical performance of Hard Core Pawn at the Edinburgh Festival.

Mickel has choreographed and performed a solo called Shapes, and a duet called Fusion, most recently performed his Ultra Ego Ebony Rose Dark at London’s Tate Modern in a piece called Gender Talents: A Special Address.

He studied performing arts and dance at the Royal National College for the Blind and dance at Winchester University.  In 2004 he joined CandoCo Dance Company’s Contemporary Dance Foundation Course for disabled dancers.

Mickel has also worked for Amici Dance Theatre, Entelechy Arts, Salamanda-Tandem and The Joy of Sound Music Company.

Amelia has worked extensively with Extant Theatre, the UK’s only professional company of visually impaired people, including their newest piece Sheer.  Other credits include The Raven Theatre Company’s The Untimely Death of Mr String, Fluff Production’s Alice’s Adventures in a New World, and most recently Criptease at the Royal Festival Hall.

Amelia developed aerial skills working with Cirque Nova, Graeae Theatre Company and The Circus Space, performing most recently in the Paralympic Opening Ceremony.

www.ameliacavallo.net

Everyday Hero Workshop
A two hour long, movement workshop with the cast of Everyday Hero, exploring the dances and research behind the piece.  The workshop is for blind, partially sighted and sighted participants.  Please wear loose clothes and be prepared to take gentle risks.

Or, to participate in the show…

Everyday Hero Participants Workshop
Come and be an Everyday Hero and perform in the show!

Join a two hour workshop on the performance day, working with the cast of Everyday Hero, to learn simple group movement sequences that will be part of the final performance.

Bring bikes or tandems, participation is open to blind, partially sighted or sighted people of any age.

Through real and imagined landscapes, helped and hindered by people and creatures along the way, they must battle demons to return with untold riches on a tandem.

Everyday Hero is a unique, outdoor dance production, performed by a company of sighted and visually impaired dancers.  With a highly physical movement score and a rich soundscape of music, sound and spoken word narration, the piece can be both watched and heard as a sensory experience, accessible to all and especially visually impaired people.

Alongside some performances, there will be workshops and opportunities for local people (sighted, blind and partially sighted) to perform in the show.

Workshops available alongside performances, click HERE for further information.

The new show is based on an R&D project in 2012, which explored the potential of working with blind and partially sighted participants on tandems.  The initial R&D culminated on 10th July 2012 with a public sharing.  Further information HERE.

Everyday Hero is a collaboration between Virginia Farman, Choreographer; Tracey Hammett, Writer; Oliver Aylmer, Sound Design; and Karen Poley, Creative Producer; devised with and performed by Sarah Caltieri, Amelia Cavallo, Ben Driscoll, Karina Jones, Sophie Arstall and Zoe Georgallis

Funded by:

In partnership with:

& Awards for All

Supported by:

Pocklington Resource Centre, Balham

Produced by: