A GROUP of dancers hold movement classes and performances in Stroud and are looking for new members.

Bodyscape came out of a group called the Saturday group set up by Alex Howard and Jo Hofman in 2017/18.

The idea behind this group was to have the opportunity to bring a peer group of movers/dancers, who wanted to explore their individual ideas within a group on a monthly basis. The sessions of each month being 2 hours long.

From an idea that Alex Howard suggested in 2020. Jemima Bennett was encouraged to create a group piece, which comprised of Jo Hofman, Simon Slidders, Juliana Avila, Katie Lloyd Nunn, Cynthia Whelan and Solbritt Isaksson in Hawkwood woods, this required meeting every week and was performed to an audience in Oct 2021.

Katie Lloyd Nunn said: "The movement work in nature with Jemima and others during the vulnerable time of emerging from lockdown provided a nourishing context for being with others, which was helpful physically and emotionally, especially if we were living on our own,"

Everyone who was in that group so enjoyed moving outside that they continued to run regular Monday sessions in different locations around Stroud, which included Wick Ridge, Swifts Hill, Frith Wood, Arlingham and Museum in the Park, which is where we created another piece and ran three workshops as part of the Festival of Nature Day in July 2023.

The performance included Juliana Avila, Katie Lloyd Nunn, Cynthia Whelan, Jemima Bennett, Sharon Gimpel, Alex Howard, Andy Solway, and Brenda Waite.

We also invited APT theatre Company who are made up of abled and disabled dancers from Star College.

The workshops were run by Jemima Bennett (improvised Movement), Sharon Gimpel (Somatic and Feldenkrais teacher and dancer) and Claire Lewis (Nia dance).

In October 2023 we ran three workshops, the first of their kind, as part of the Stroud Arts Festival, who funded us by paying for Lansdown Hall.

These were led by Brenda Waite (Director, Dancer, Mime/clown and Pilates teacher), Jemima Bennett (Improvised Movement), Jo Hofman (Shiatsu, Shintaido practitioner) and Rebecca Stapleford (Artist, art curator, dancer).

All the workshops were well attended and appreciated by the participants.

Since May 2024 Bodyscape have been in residency every week at National Trust site Tinkley Gate where they have been exploring the idea of Diversity and Bio Diverstiy through movement.

This will culminate in a weekend of workshops “Stone to Bone” and “Meadow Score” and performances which will include Marie Louise Flexen with “Bird Nerd and Yama “Beneath Our Feet” on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 September 2024.

The idea behind Bodyscape is to give people the opportunity to discover their creativity in nature through improvised movement, learning to work individually but also as a group. If you are interested to join the group contact Bodyscapedance@gmail.com