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To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the North Devon Coast Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Appledore Arts and Dance in Devon are working together to create a unique and exciting dance performance in the gardens of Clovelly Court. The gardens look out across Bideford Bay, this breathtaking view encompasses some of the most stunning sections of North Devon’s iconic coastline.

On April 29th 2010, World Dance Day will be celebrated across Devon. The only public performance will be hosted by Clovelly Court and will be the main focus for this world wide project which will jointly celebrate dance and North Devon’s amazing coastline. Sarah Shorten a North Devon resident and highly respected, dance practitioner is best known for her site specific choreography. She will take the lead on creating a performance which will offer a unique and magical response to North Devon’s rugged and beautiful world class coast. Sarah will collaborate with 11 Devon based professional dance artists to produce the seeds of a piece of dance which will then spread across the county as each dance leader takes it back to their own community group to develop in their own way:

Rosie Allen West Devon Sophie Arstall Exeter Pippa Beaumont Plymouth Jennie Dodd North Devon Rebecca Jefferey North Devon Katy Lee North Devon Katherine Nietrzebka South Devon Niki Pollard Mid Devon Cathy Richards North Devon Michelle Wilkinson East Devon

On World Dance Day BBC Radio Devon will broadcast a specific piece of music which all the groups will dance to, performing their piece in their own space wherever it may be across Devon. Four of the group will be North Devon based dancers who will take the dance back to local groups ranging from school children through to mature adults: Clovelly Primary School Clovelly Youth Club Devon Youth Dance Company Goodleigh Primary School Hartland Primary School South Molton Community College The Plough Mature Dancers


On April 29th all of these participants will come together at Clovelly Court for their performance which will be the focus event for this Devon wide project. This is an amazing opportunity for local community groups to become involved with an arts project of this stature; something they will remember forever. Dan Farberoff a Devon based, nationally recognised, film maker who specialises in dance films is recording the work of the professional dancers with their community groups. In the early stages of the project Dan will produce a short film clip of the core dance material which will be distributed on-line to enable and encourage other dance groups, wherever they are in the world, to learn our dance and share it on World Dance Day. His film will create an artistic legacy of this unusual and inspiring project. The film will be premiered at the 2010 Appledore Arts Festival. Dance is an amazing and intriguing art form which can capture people’s attention and imagination and this innovative project is an exciting way to introduce dancers and communities to North Devon’s inspiring and memorable coastline. Anyone interested in dance is very welcome to attend the final performance or to take part in their own event anywhere in Devon or indeed the World! The project has been jointly funded by the North Devon Coast AONB and Devon County Council. We are very grateful to the Honourable John Rous who has very kindly given his permission for the performance to take place at Clovelly Court. Final performance at 6.30 pm sharp on Thursday April 29th, 2010 in the grounds of Clovelly Court, Clovelly, North Devon. Entrance to the event is free. Free parking available at Clovelly Visitors Centre, Clovelly Court is a short walk away please allows 10 minutes. Cream Teas and refreshments will be available (£2.95 / person) after the event in Clovelly Visitors Centre. The final film resulting from the project will be premiered at the 13th Appledore Arts Festival (June 3rd – June 6th, 2010) for further details www.appledorearts.org. International Dance Day (World Dance Day) is celebrated on April 29 it was introduced in 1982 by the UNESCO International Dance Committee. The date commemorates the birthday of dancer, Jean-Georges Noverre. The goals of World Dance Day are to increase awareness of the importance of dance among the general public, as well as to persuade governments all over the world to provide a proper place for dance in all systems of education, from primary to higher. The aim is to bring all dancers together on this day, to celebrate the art form and revel in its universality, to cross all political, cultural and ethnic barriers and bring people together in peace and friendship with a common language : Dance. North Devon Coast AONB is part of the North Devon Biosphere Reserve which is one of two new style UNESCO designated biosphere reserves in the UK. This project is being promoted through a network of over 560 Biosphere Reserve’s around the world with the hope that communities across the globe will take part in World Dance Day.