The Dancing Boy & His Shadow
When I watched Sean from Hijnx Theatre Company and Angharad from Artscare Gofal Celf dancing a shadow improvisation, I was moved to tears. We live in a society that does not empower people with learning disabilities to be leaders, so I found something deeply poignant in the role reversal, not knowing who is the 'teacher', not needing to, just experiencing the human connection of the dancers. And Sean moves so beautifully, his love of dance reaches out from the screen. As soon as I saw them, I put down everything I was doing and responded in story, to encapsulate the emotion of the moment.
The following day, I performed the piece as reading on facebook live to 200 viewers, including Sean & his Mum who wrote to me saying ...
'I felt every word of your story , it was as though you had knowledge of Sean's life and struggles, his love of music and dancing. He was smiling all the way through . I will treasure this lovely story. It was absolutely wonderful and had me in tears. It's given me a little lift and really encourages me and Sean to embrace his passion and makes things very worthwhile. Thank you so much for making Sean feel very special tonight, from a very emotional Mum.
This is the facebook live and at the top of the blog, is the film footage edited with the story. I hope that you enjoy it, feel it.
The photo used in the e-flier and the title page of the film is a painting by Virgina Flemming found at www.disabilitypicturebooks.com
If you would like more information about my stories, why not pop over to my website, The Sleeping Storyteller ...
