The second of my European Festival trips, this time to the small town of Hasselt in Belgium for Krokus Festival of theatre for young audiences. I travelled on the Eurostar, an astonishing 2 hours from London to Brussels, not much longer than the time it took me to get to London from Kenilworth and so much nicer than flying, which I loath.  It was a packed 3 ½ days of watching shows and meeting people from all over Europe and beyond, I squashed an incredible 10 shows into my t

I was really happy to be invited back to Great Yarmouth to visit Magic Acorns who are leading pioneering work in early childhood arts with families in Great Yarmouth. With their own space in the heart of the community Magic Acorns are able to offer sessions to families in gorgeous sensory environments which facilitate gentle child-led playful explorations, movement, music and sound making. I was lucky enough to witness a few of their different offers to families with babies

Continuing my DYCP research journey over the last few months I've been delving deeper into Early Years music practice and been fortunate enough to make contact with some amazing practitioners doing a range of inspirational work with families in the community. I was introduced to the wonderful B'Opera who are a Birmingham based company creating immersive musical experiences for babies, toddlers, and their grown-ups through a blend of weekly workshops, relaxed concerts, and o

This November I had the opportunity to travel to Sabadell, 30 minutes outside Barcelona to visit El Petit, an International Arts Festival for Early Childhood as part of my DYCP research. My plan was to see as many shows as possible and connect with other people working in the sector. Unfortunately my plans to visit the whole festival had to change due to a gig clash so I was unable to attend the full 4 days of the festival delegate programme but I managed 1 full day and I mad

Amidst the chaos of Arts Council Englands lousy grant application portal, Grantium, collapsing in July I was fortunate to receive the good news that my application to the highly competitive Arts Councils Developing your Creative Practice grants was successful. The grant gives me time to explore my practice as a musician and how I might integrate this into my early years dance practice. It feels like such a privilage to be awarded this time to research and explore my passion

After 3 days of incredible shows at MAC, Birmingham it was now time to test the theory and attempt our first get-out. We'd made an...

Our last week of rehearsals came around so quickly, I began the week feeling really excited and slightly nervous about all the technical...

Week 3 of rehearsals sees us installed at Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), who have been our main theatre partner for this show, supporting...

Our second week in the studio was hosted by The Mill Arts Centre in Banbury, a gorgeous Arts Centre right next to the canal in an old...

With a full creative team now in place for the devising of Dance in the Dark and buckets of inspiration from the children and families...

Autumn has landed and an intense period of creativity has begun! Fuelled with inspiration from my recent visit to Babaró International...

My final day at Babaró, its been an intense whirlwind and I've thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this experience but its not over...

Today my day started with being lucky enough to attend a performance in a local special school, Antarctica by Rosán Sensory Adventures ....

With no shows to see today, I was able to catch up on some planning in the morning and then head into town for a 'Craft and Chat' ...

Today the sun has hidden itself and the temperature is cold and wintery.... I had booked two shows to see, so after a leisurely morning I...

After a restful nights sleep I awoke this morning to beautiful sunshine. With not too early a start as my first show was booked for...

As the summer wanes and Autumn sets in good and proper, its been a promising start with the fantastic news that I have been awarded a...

Already almost half way through 2024 and I haven't yet got around to writing a new blog post. Life just keeps moving at a faster and...

Over in a flash, 2023 has been the first full year of Sonrisa Arts and its been a super busy one... One show for older adults,...