From feeling isolated by society and then physically and mentally trapped inside their homes, adults with learning disabilities who have experienced more challenges than most in recent times have managed to remain connected thanks to the power of creative arts.
Wakefield-based CoActive Arts Charity has been working with adults with learning disabilities throughout the lockdown period via zoom and now in human as part of Wordfest 2021 as they prepare to showcase extracts of physical theatre, sculptures, and scripts they created throughout the Pandemic.
Not So Alone will be performed as part of Wakefield Council’s literary festival Wordfest 2021 which is centered around the theme of making words count.
“The show has been a creative journey in its creation, but now the power of making the performers’ stories visible in the heart of Wakefield City Centre will be an important moment for all involved. We invite everyone to pop down for free to The Ridings Shopping Centre this Saturday 2nd October from noon,said CoActive co-founder and arts facilitator Jody Gabriel.
Performer and participant Dan, said: I love being a part of Coactive because we have some serious stuff such as when we are performing, but we also have some fun stuff like art, creative dance, line dancing, yoga, and other things too. All the members are friendly and approachable too, so are the staff who work extremely hard to make CoActive sessions fun and want to go to.
It feels exciting to be performing in public but some of the members do get nerves too, but they don’yt show it. This will be the first performance in front of people since January 2020, so hopefully, it’ll go well!
Jody : “We have had to change the way we work over the pandemic, but we have really missed being able to gather in large groups and being able to perform. It will be an important moment for us to be able to show our work in our new home in ˜The Make Space, in The Ridings Shopping Centre.
Please come on Saturday 2nd Oct for a free performance at 12 noon.
The performance will be 15-20 mins with a further 10 minutes for Q&A. This will be performed twice with a break in the middle. The first performance is at 12 noon inside Make Space next to Poundland inside The Ridings on Saturday 2nd October 2021.
All about Wordfest 2021 which runs from 1-31 October 2021:
Returning in 2021 WordFest will have the theme of using words to capture our wondrous planet and combat climate change. The festival will blend digital activities, fun family events with local creatives, and community library activities and experiences, all promoting the message: ‘Make
Words Count’.
You can read performer Dan’s blog all about the show below too:
CoActive’s mini-performance of Lily and Cedric love story
On Saturday, October 2nd, a small group of CoActive members will be performing a short section of their Lily and Cedric performance. It came about during the 1st or 2nd lockdown when the writers’ group wrote a story and they came up with the 2 character names and how the story would develop.
So what you should expect is: the 4 seasons and how the Lily’s and Cedric’s perform in those 4 seasons and different things will happen depending on the season, you should expect some happiness, sadness, and loneliness too. You should also expect some falling in love and marriage proposals in this story too.
They will be performing it in their Ridings unit at 12pm on Saturday, October 2nd, which is on the middle floor of the Ridings next to Poundland.
I love being a part of CoActive because we have some serious stuff such as when we are performing, but we also have some fun stuff like art, creative dance, line dancing, yoga, and other things too. All the members are friendly and approachable too, so are the staff who work extremely hard to make CoActive sessions fun and want to go to.
There are some members who have been around since the start, some for a couple of years and we occasionally have some new starters who want to have a taste of it, and they don’t always come back but some do come back.
It feels exciting to be performing in public but some of the members do get nerves too, but they don’t show it. This will be the first performance in front of people since January 2020, so hopefully, it’ll go well!
