Epic Arts UK Tour

The Project

Epic Arts is a UK based arts charity working in Cambodia and supporting deaf and disabled young people.

This year, Epic Arts and StopGap Dance company from the UK worked together to create a new 30 minute dance project in Cambodia which we hope you can help us bring to UK audiences.

We worked hard over a 5 week period to develop this dance, titled Sharrabang, which celebrates our varying abilities and cultural backgrounds. Sharrabang explores themes of identity and aims to promote greater inclusion for people with disabilities in society.

The six dancers involved come from varying backgrounds and abilities, including one physically disabled Cambodian, one British woman with Down's Syndrome, three deaf Cambodians and one non-disabled dancer.

How you can help!

We need to raise £5,000 to bring our new dance to the UK in time for the Olympics next year.

As well as performances, we will also run workshops in schools and communities - helping thousands of young people to see ability, not disability. We will be working with a number of our partner schools and community organizations to deliver this part of the project.

This will be a life-changing project for the dancers involved, as well as an inspiring, interactive experience for the audience and participants. Please help us raise the £5,000 we need to make it possible, and spread the word about our campaign!
 

Background on Epic Arts 

Epic Arts is a disability arts charity established in 2001 working in the UK, Cambodia and China. We reach out to people of all abilities, disabilities, ages and backgrounds through workshops in dance, drama, visual arts, crafts, photography, music and story-telling.

Epic Arts promotes integration of people of all abilities and disabilities using the arts as a form of expression and empowerment, celebrating the creative potential of those with whom we work.

This project will give our disabled and non-disabled performers from the UK and Cambodia the opportunity to develop their artistic skills and showcase their achievements to a large international audience.

Who's involved

Dancers

Kathryn Langrish - Kathryn is an untrained dancer from the UK who has Down's Syndrome. She is a passionate person who loves dancing and has been working with Epic Arts in the UK since 2003. She loves people, movement and life, and is very excited about being part of this tour.

Puon Nadenh - Nadenh is a talented young Cambodian with a physical disability who met Epic Arts in Cambodia in 2005 and took part in a professional dance piece, The Return, which toured South East Asia. Nadenh is has ambitions to study integrated dance in London. Nadenh currently works as a full time performer and facilitator with Epic Arts.

Kan Sokna - is a dancer who has been participating in Epic Arts Cambodia's Vocational Training Programme since March 2009. The development of his physical expression has developed at an increasing speed during this training period and his participation in this choreography will be his first professional international project.

Lay Noth - is a young deaf Cambodian man who has been dancing with Epic Arts since 2009. Last year he was invited to join a professional dance project, a commission of Chisato Minamimura called 4D.

Sot Sopha - Sopha has been involved with Epic Arts since 2005, through workshops and performances in Cambodia. Sopha is passionate about dance is excited about his first international dance project.

Katie Goad - was one of the three founders of Epic Arts in the UK in 2001 and began Epic
Arts in Cambodia in 2003. Katie trained at Laban Centre and worked with Candoco before setting up Epic Arts.

 

Choreographers

Lucy Bennett and Sophie Stanley have come over to Cambodia from StopGAP Dance Company in the UK to choreograph this piece. StopGAP is a contemporary dance company consisting of dancers with and without disabilities. 

 

Composer

Chris Benstead has worked intensively in the world of dance and theatre for over thirty years. He has created a huge number of musical scores for large and small-scale companies, youth and community groups, radio, television and film in the UK, Europe, US and the Far East. He periodically teaches courses for dancers and musicians interested in working with dance and is one of the UK's most accomplished dance class accompanists.

Thank you to Darren Frazier and Crispian Cook for producing our Sponsume video pitch!