‘Shoes’ was created in our shortest rehearsal/devising period to date. The performance was the result of three days of intensive work exploring a retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's classic fairy story 'The Red Shoes'.

Originally we explored the story from the perspective of the personal change and pain that is caused through interaction with the red shoes themselves. We explored the story's main themes of obsession, temptation, compulsion and jealousy, this led us to present the shoes in human form and investigate the effect caused by introducing that person into a family.

We wanted to express the intricate relationships of a family whose history is ruined by tragedy and how their inability to deal with this tragedy as a unit eventually evolves into a destructive force that destroys what is innocent, beautiful and could have offered them the hope and future that they sought so passionately.

Highly Sprung Participants describe 'Shoes':

 "'Shoes' is different from Sprung's recent work. It's less about the big political message and more of a human and personal message."

"It’s about relating to the audience rather than trying to teach them something."

"The play is more interesting on a personal level, seeing what choices people make when things get difficult and what the consequences of those choices are.”

Follow the making of blog at: www.highlysprung.posterous.com

The Beauty Manifesto
by Nell Leyshon

The world of The Beauty Manifesto is a world of extreme physical conformity where teenagers celebrate their sixteenth birthdays with cosmetic surgery.

Jasmine and her sister Chloe are ambassadors for the manifesto and their father is the chief cosmetic surgeon. It is Silas’ birthday and the time has come for his transformation. The problem is, Silas can think for himself and believes the manifesto is designed to make teenagers so unhappy about their bodies that they accept they need change.

The Beauty Manifesto explores living in a world of air brushed images and perfect bodies, and questions contemporary ideas of beauty.

New Deal for Communities is a Government funded community-led initiative aimed at improving neglected and disadvantaged local communities. In April 2000 Central Government awarded the Coventry New Deal for Communities areas of Wood End, Henley Green, Manor Farm and Deedmore, £54 million.

Since 2001, local residents, NDC officers, communities and agencies have been working together to decide how this money will be best used to regenerate the area by creating real employment and training opportunities, better housing, a healthier quality of life, a safer community, a cleaner environment and improvements in educational achievement.

In March 2011 Highly Sprung teamed up with NDC to deliver an exciting performance project to two local schools. Moat House and Henley Green Primarys schools worked with the company over eight weeks to devise a production celebrating the positive changes and successes of the work of NDC in thier local area. Over 50 children joined together in a performance using dance and physical theatre to share stories and memories of change to an audience made up by residents of the local community and change team.

June 2012

A three day physical performance festival produced by Highly Sprung Performance Co. and  hosted by The Belgrade Theatre Coventry.

Mission: To convert over 300 young people to the thrills of physical theatre. Through intensive workshops, Highly Sprung worked in schools across Coventry, Warwickshire and Birmingham to create new and original physical theatre. The festival included a new performance from Highly Sprung Workshops Performance Group.

The Physical Fellowship allowed audiences to discover and see new approaches to creating theatre, filled with energy, excitement and exhilarating ideas that make the impossible, possible. Each performance was made in collaboration with Highly Sprung and developed by the young people participating.

What is The Physical Fellowship:

The Physical Fellowship is a youth performance platform for young physical performers aged 12-21 in the Midlands. It will facilitate the sharing of original choreographed and devised performance in dance theatre and all forms of physical theatre and enable young performers to create professional dance and physical theatre performance and experiences.

The Physical Fellowship will provide young performers with a professional platform in which to present their current work and will place an emphasis upon the development of skills, as well as nurturing an understanding and appreciation of physical performance, through work with established professional performance companies, (in 2011 Frantic Assembly, Infuse Dance) through workshops and master classes.

Prior to the event:

Highly Sprung artists provided two daylong workshops with each participating school and youth group as an opportunity for the groups to develop skills to initiate their devising process or to offer input as the performance work develops.

Day one: All participants who were performing at the event were invited to attend workshops, seminars and master classes, which were delivered by visiting companies.

Evenings 1-3: Dedicated to showcasing the performance work of the participating youth and school groups, with public evening performances.

The Big Brecht Fest was a three day event bringing together schools and young people to discover, explore and present ideas and work from the legendary writer, director and theatre practitioner, Bertolt Brecht.

The festival included three very different nights of excellent performance from schools and community groups, including a new production of ‘Child of Terror’ from Highly Sprung youth dance theatre in collaboration with Highly Sprung professionals.

The festival was an opportunity to see two very different nights of excellent performance from four schools alongside Highly Sprung’s production of Child of Terror. Each school worked with artists from Highly Sprung Performance Co. to create new devised performances using the techniques and approaches inspired by Brecht. 

The Freedom Factory was directed, produced and managed by 12 young people from Highly Sprung Workshops. Exploring the theme of individuality and the pressures we feel to fit in, the performance was a very colourful and energetic production that provoked audience to question their own place in society.

The piece was performed in the newly built Belgrade plaza and supported by CVOne and Deeley Properties.

 The manager of CVOne who attended the performance as a key co-ordinator described the performance as:

“…Great, well worth seeing!”

Highly Sprung are very proud to be invited annually by Imagineer Productions to take part in the Godiva Carnival. With around 1500 participants and an audience reaching 5000 each year the carnival grows in ambition. Highly Sprung combine their use of physical performance with stunning costume to create vibrant and entertaining processions that thrill the crowd every year.

 The company has also been involved in touring the carnival to other festivals including Kendal Carnival and the Mayor’s Thames Festival.

Highly Sprung were very pleased to be part of a new outdoor spectacular 'Ostara' produced by award winning Imagineer productions and The World Famous celebrating the re-generation of Far Gosford Street, Coventry.

Ostara told the story of the extraordinary history and heritage of the area and the characters who have breathed life into its streets through time. This spectacular event involved two hundred local community performers working alongside professional artists from Highly Sprung Peromance Co., Imagineer Productions and The World Famous. The performance paid homage to the mythical origins of Easter and will celebrate the Spring Equinox in a journey from darkness into light.

Performed in partnership with 25 members of the Highly Sprung Workshops Performance Group. This production depicts a town without children. Suddenly without a purpose or a future to shape it. It explores the journey of the missing children, lost behind the Chalk Door, desperately trying to find their way home.

“…another of the company’s distinctive physical pieces…Don’t be put off by the fact that The Chalk Door uses young performers, Highly Sprung has proven that it’s anything but amateur.” - David Baldwin, Metro

Highly Sprung were approached by Coventry based Imagineer Productions, who specialize in large-scale outdoor events, to perform as part of the city's 1st ever youth arts festival. With bands, dance acts, singers and a giant video TV screen showing live footage of the performances. It was an inspiring event.

Most significantly, it was felt that Highly Sprung's performance of ‘It’s a Joke’ most challenged and entertained the audience, with many commenting upon the high standard of the performance and performances by all the young people.

Take Me Home probes at the events that might otherwise be overlooked and ignored. It indulges in the fantasy lives of everyday people that have fit too easily into an everyday routine.

Bodies fall and fly, are caught and collide.

Take Me Home focuses on a man lost, trapped on a train trying to find the one he loves. Trying to find the answers that are hidden behind the masks of the common commuter.

Highly Sprung team up with 65 young people from Coventry to create a huge performance that will challenge audiences to question the place of literature in our society.

Set in a world governed by an oppressive dictator, all must live by the rules or face the consequences. Controlled, restricted and ultimately destroyed, the freedom of the individual and the ability to read or write imaginatively is stripped away.

“No more will our enemies influence us. No longer are they free to roam our minds. The disease that spread across our country for so long has now, finally, been eradicated.”