The Doorstep Theatre festival just finished up a couple of weeks ago and this was a very important one – what could have been our sixth and last festival, but what now looks to be the beginning of a really exciting 3 year journey.
We’ve received news from Arts Council England that they will be funding 2 years of activity in Torbay through Doorstep Arts, called Stepping Stones. While we’re still waiting to hear from some very important (and essential) match funders for this work, our hearts are full with all that can now be possible – for our children, and for our friends’ children, and for all the children of this community who deserve to be able to play, and imagine, and be in a safe place to take risks and try out their voices and possible selves.
This is a wistful time – a tap on the table and wait time – but it’s also a really busy time because the new Spring term has just begun, and all our 12 groups are heaving, thriving, boisterous, and so full of joy. It’s a real pleasure to see so many new faces at the new Palace Theatre Studio Courses (formerly TAF), which we took over on 1 April 2016. It’s a real pleasure to see so many of our Drop-In groups absolutely full to capacity, and to see small and important growth with the smaller groups which desperately need to expand.
It’s been 3 years of hard graft, sheer effort, determination and will… but at the Doorstep Theatre Festival on 9 April, we got to celebrate some of the successes of that graft.
We watched 111 performers come together at the Palace Theatre, in a partnership project with Dance in Devon, which ended in a full theatre dancing together.
The Dance on Your Doorstep platform event encapsulated much of what we’re trying to do here – with ROC Creative participants dancing alongside Sixth Form students alongside primary aged dance groups… a rich rainbow array of dance forms, styles, bodies, abilities, techniques, and interpretations.
It was glorious. There’s so much more work to be done, but with nights like this to celebrate, we feel ready for the next round.
