Anthony Missen
Company Chameleon
Zion Arts Centre
Stretford Road
Hulme
Manchester M15 5ZA
T +44 (0)161 232 6082
E info@companychameleon.com
W companychameleon.com
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SIZE OF COMPANY
3 on the road
SCALE OF VENUE
Small- to middle–scale
PERMANENT STAFF
Co-Artistic Directors
Anthony Missen and Kevin Edward Turner
Finance Director
Joe Lau
Company Manager
Joanne Peters
Company Administrator
Jen Bailey
ARTISTIC POLICY
Company Chameleon believes in dance theatre as a vital method for social change. Their work allows the viewer to experience the art of dance, while tackling challenging issues in inventive ways that allow the viewer access and inclusion. Through the performance of their work, and through educational programmes, they hope to support social cohesion and artistic understanding through the propagation of expression, creativity and physicality.
REVIEW EXTRACTS
‘Intelligently structured, nicely detailed and danced with an energy that is sincere rather than flashy, Rites [is] a class act.’ **** The Herald
‘Great theatre.’ **** The Skinny
‘Aggressive, athletic and poignant.’ **** The Scotsman
CURRENT PRODUCTIONS
Rites Both powerful and poignant in its exploration of those events and experiences that shape us as friends, brothers, fathers and sons, Rites allies bold athleticism with moments of human sensitivity. (42 mins, 3 on the road, 4 on the road with live music.)
Baka Created for the bicentenary of the Abolition of Slavery Act, Baka looks at ideas pertaining to power and powerlessness, subjugator and subjugated, and the subversion of these roles. (12 mins, 3 on the road.)
Scribe An improvised duet that uses a series of words (pre-selected by us or the audience) as stimulus. A locally sourced musician improvises the sound score. (20 mins, 3 on the road.)
WRAP-AROUND
Chameleon offers classes and workshops from beginners to professional level, to all ages and abilities. These can take the form of masterclasses focusing on contemporary technique, or workshops that focus upon creativity, choreographic and dance-making skills, or improvisation/contact improvisation classes. Rites in particular looks at themes related to masculinity, and questions what it means to be a man. Workshops here can focus upon issues surrounding this, through games, trust and sensitivity exercises, and partnering exercises. There would be scope into tying this work particularly into gender studies programmes at universities. Both Rites and Baka always provoke discussion. Baka takes as its base the slave/slave master dynamic. Both the performers are of mixed heritage, and in some senses are products of the activities of the British Empire in days gone by. Workshops tied to this work can look at identity, power struggle and manipulation. Workshops can be expanded to look at choreographic ideas, and we are interested in engaging communities on more than a one hit basis, ie longer residencies or creation of short works on community groups. Works created with groups of young men using some of the themes explored in Rites have been tremendously successful.
We are very happy to have post-show discussions and lecture demonstrations, we are particularly interested in encouraging debate and conversations with some of the themes we deal with. We are also available to provide more formal technical training to universities and dance schools.
TOURING AVAILABILITY
From January 2010
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