<\/p>\n
At the heart of the workshop is the person and their story. Participants are invited to share two vivid life events that have changed or influenced them in some way, or that became a turning point in their lives. These stories do not have to be told only in words. Together with the choreographer, participants explore them and express them through movement, gesture, sound, music, memory and their relationship with space. For one participant, an important life event may be connected to a particular song. For another, it may be a gesture, an object, a movement or a sound. For someone else, it may be a specific place or space.<\/p>\n
In the sessions, students dance, try out circus elements, and learn to sense their partner and find a shared rhythm. Circus arts are especially well suited to this work: balance and movement in pairs or groups are impossible without paying attention to one another.<\/p>\n
The sessions take place in two stages: from 5 to 15 October and from 26 October to 5 November. At the end of the residency, the individual stories will come together in a short joint stage piece performed by all participants.<\/p>\n\n
The residency is not designed as a story about hardship. Its aim is to create an experience of joy, belonging and togetherness. Participants take part as individuals, each with their own personality and experience. One of the workshop\u2019s most important messages is very simple: \u201cYou are not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a wellbeing residency, an artist works for a set period of time in a specific setting, such as a school, a social care institution or a rehabilitation centre. There, together with the people in that setting, the artist builds a creative process in which everyone can take part safely. Residencies give people who find it harder to reach art in everyday life the chance to experience it in person. Riga Circus already has experience with this kind of work, including at Gra\u0161i Children\u2019s Village. Within the project, we will continue and develop this programme in other parts of Latvia as well.<\/p>\n