Thursday 11 July 2013

Magpie Dance Charity Research

Magpie Dance

May 1985 – Present (28 years 3 months) Bromley, United Kingdom
Magpie delivers over 200 sessions every year for over 200 people. A recent new partnership with Oxleas NHS Health Trust supported by Reaching Communities, Big Lottery to deliver inclusive dance sessions for older people, challenging behaviours and people on the autistic spectrum. 

Magpie dance charity is a contemporary dance company for learning disabled dance. The company is well known for it's inspiring work and inclusivity.

Magpie believe that you can over come any obstacles, no matter if you have a disability or not. They'll try their best to make you feel comfortable and make you bring out the best of your ability. For example; if you was in a wheelchair and can't use your legs or limbs to dance, they'll adapt that and have someone either dance while they're steering you around or jump on top of the wheelchair, if you're comfortable with them doing so and create a movement or shape on top of it.


Funding;

Logo for Big Lottery Fund

Location;

Astley centre in Magpie hall lane Bromley 


Avril Hitman - Artistic Director

 

Avril Hitman founded the charity in 1985; she has the overall responsibility for the selection and interpretation of the work which will later be performed.
Aswel as being the artistic director Avril also manages the company which a hand full of artistic directors do.

Avril has been in the performing arts industry for 35years, this lead her to start leading and facilitating dance workshops for people with a range of abilities and ages.
Her aim was to help her students gain confidence and dance skills in a 45 minute dance class each week.
Two decades on, the over subscribed classes help around 80 adults and young people every single week, with over 200 scheduled sessions each year.

Interview:

Mrs Hitman said: “What we want is for the charity to be sustainable into the future so that there will be a Magpie here for people who need us.
“It’s been going more than 20 years and we want to make sure it is going to be providing opportunities well into the future for more people with learning disabilities.
“The main thing is getting some sort of financial stability for Magpie, which is important if we are to go on developing what we do.
“The charity has to raise around £250,000 every year and none of that is regular funding. It is quite a challenge.”
As part of our Help Magpie Fly campaign, News Shopper is helping to raise £100,000 for the charity helping people from across south-east London and north Kent.
“I very much see Magpie as an opportunity to open doors for people, to help realize their potential” Mrs Hitman said.
“The creative arts are vital and are a medium for people to get involved.
“It’s a way to channel creative ideas while developing skills.”
The mum-of-two from Chislehurst added: “If you find communicating difficult then dance is a fantastic medium because it doesn’t rely on verbal communication - it relies on you as a person.”
The idea for Magpie Dance came about after Mrs Hitman who had previously taught dance for 12 years, shadowed well-respected practitioner Wolfgang Stange who founded AMICI Dance Company in west London.
“I knew after taking part in the session that I wanted to work with people with learning disabilities”, Mrs Hitman said.

Got to dance

On the 7th Jan 2012, Magpie dance comapny thought it's about time to get there inclusivity and talent out there, so they applied for Got to dance;

Getting all threee gold stars Avril Hitman as the artistic director and founder of magpie dance charity was proud of her work and most of all the passion and commitment which was showed on that stage.




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