The perfect combo: Dancing and Picnic-ing
Culmination of the Richmond Arts and Ideas Festival in Murray Park
The very first Richmond Arts and Ideas Festival concluded with a Dance and Picnic in the Park event at Murray Park, in partnership with N-Rich Dance collective, and produced by Combination Dance Company.
This inclusive event was held in an underserved park in the borough and featured a wide array of diverse artists including SEN and LGBTQIA+ dancers and participants. The performances were SHE.LTER by Evie Savage and Jarrod McWilliams from Rambert School, Swan for Everyone by Marble Hill Dance Studio, KDYoga and Our Barn Community, Smart Cells created by Combination Dance’s Artistic Director Anne-Marie Smalldon and choreographed by Matt Walker and Chloe Mead, Bharatanatyam dance by Giri Raghunathan, Boundless Arts Company and Lee Harvey Robinson leading the participation, and the finale performance was How To Build a Universe by Jamaal Burkmar. Esteemed audience members arrived in numbers including Helen Shute, CEO of Rambert Company, Amanda Britton, CEO of Rambert School of Contemporary Dance and Ballet, Tim Corum, Head of Richmond Arts Service and Eckhart Theimann, the festival consultant who helped establish the Richmond Arts and Ideas Festival. The event was a great success with so many local people from Whitton attending with friends and family, all of which enjoyed the day thoroughly and many were compelled to join in which was fantastic to witness.
The Dance and Picnic in the Park event wove together a programme of performances that represented the diverse range of dance in the borough and showcased how there is also a unique pathway for people who are passionate about dance. From the age of 4, any person can take up a dance class, perform in public events, study dance GCSE, continue your education in a variety of genres at a vocational level at a number of well known dance schools and colleges and progress all the way through to becoming professional. See the list of partner organisations Insta handles at the end of this post and please get in touch with them if you want to bring dance into your life… it has proven benefits for both your physical and mental wellbeing.
If you attended any festival event, please complete the festival survey here, and you can enter a prize draw for a £100 gift here. We would be hugely grateful for any feedback on this event in particular as we’d like to bring dance and picnic-ing to the park again in the future. Suggestions for future performances are most welcome.
Dance and Picnic in the Park was commissioned and supported by Richmond Arts Service and funded by Arts Council England.
The event was also able to feature Smart Cells which was commissioned and funded by Imperial College London to be performed at the Great Exhibition Road Festival and focuses on the research currently being undertaken by researchers working in the Hugh and Josseline Langmuir Centre for Myeloma Research.
Dance and Picnic in the Park has been produced by Creative Producer, Kath Morton-Smith and Artistic Director, Anne-Marie Smalldon at Combination Dance.
Click here to find out more about Combination Dance and the dance classes, workshops and events it puts on.
The following are the partners involved social handles
@combinationdance
@_Extended_Play_
@matteo_walker
@cjsmead
@rambertschool
@MarbleHillDance
@boundlessarts
@LBRUT
@julesrphotography
#ArtsandIdeasFestival