Gravity and Levity (Blog assignment 4)

Gravity and Levity:
Artistic director Lindsey Butcher set up this Brighton based Dance Company in 2003, to develop the creative potential of aerial dance. The company presents work that redefines people’s perception of the dance floor by offering an alternative approach to traditional dance and circus.
At present the company offers, “A broad, accessible and ambitious program of participatory work.” Workshops are creative or equipment based focussed around specific dance or aerial techniques and take the form of a one off event or ongoing project
Despite their funding being slashed by the arts council, the company put on a “ Circus Boot Camp” in August giving complete beginners to aerial performance a chance to work with some of Europe’s leading circus professionals in an attempt to make the art form more accessible.
Taking into consideration the social issues affecting Brighton, I feel a possible area of development this small dance company could look into would be to work with and teach aerial performance to young children in the local communities on a more permanent basis.
In May 2010 an article was published entitled, “Brighton Kemptown candidates on tackling drug abuse” (http://newsfrombrighton.co.uk/brighton-politics/election-2010-brighton-kemptown-candidates-on-tackling-drug-abuse/). The article highlighted the Brighton and Hove communities concerns over the problem of the misuse of drugs in minors and more importantly what the then campaigning politicians planned to do about it. By structuring a teaching programme, using aerial dance and anti-drugs awareness, the company would be able to engage young people in a physical and fun activity in an attempt to alleviate boredom and create awareness about the dangers of substance abuse, at potentially a very young age.
I feel that the style of the dance that Gravity and Levity perform may be very appealing to younger people as it shares a close relation to circus performance. The company could benefit in a number of ways by engaging in this sought of project. For instance, their profile within the local community and the broader dance fraternity will be raised for addressing and dealing with the major issue of substance abuse. There is also the possibility of government subsidies to cover the costs of the programme. The company may even be able to expand by spotting talent and mentoring those individuals that show promise of one day becoming professional dancers themselves. They will also achieve their goal set out in the boot camp of making aerial performance more accessible.
The problems that Gravity and Levity may face by engaging in this issue could be that because the company is so small it may be very difficult to spread their workload between the education programmes and doing what they ultimately set out to do, create dance. This would mean that they might need to employ more people in order cope with the additional work load but since their funding from the arts council has been slashed this might not be a viable thing to do.
However, I feel that the potential future benefits that Gravity and Levity may experience by engaging in such a project may allow that expansion to occur. Benefits like improved trust and understanding, more business, increased motivation and increased attractiveness to potential clients should all pay off in the future.