Ballet.id at Unlimited Festival, Glasgow

Ballet.id journey on learning arts by disabled artists started in early 2016 when Ballet.id received an invitation from British Council of a talk event by Jo Verrent,  Senior Producer of the Unlimited Festival. Attended by various community and organizations, the attendees discussed and shared with Jo about how to bring Disabled Arts into mainstream, how to improve the access and facilities for disabled people in Indonesia  through art.

Following this event, British Council invited Ballet.id as Indonesian delegation to attend the Unlimited Festival : a showcase of exceptional new work by disabled artist presented at Tramway, Glasgow from 15 to 25 Sep, 2016. It is an honor for Ballet.id to be invited to this very special festival. Represented by Belinda Oh and Mariska Febriyani.

Ballet.id arrived in Glasgow on 14 Sep and the day after got the opportunity to meet Jane Showell, Programme Manager UK-Indonesia season from British Council at Tramway. We watched all the performances in the Unlimited Festival from 15 to 18 Sep, 2016, and also attended to festival launch parties, networking lunch, and discussions.

“Such an amazing experience, this event has widen my horizon and networking’ –Mariska Febriyani

“I never imagine there is such a unique and impressive international art showcase by disabled artists until I came to Unlimited Festival” – Belinda Oh

What hardly seen in Indonesia is how supportive the environment in UK is for disabled people that enable them to do many things including art performance.  

In Unlimited Festival, there is a sign language interpreter for each performance as well as program book in Braille.

Photo -with Marc Brew,Artistic Director & Choreographer of MarcBrew Company

One of the performances that are really inspiring for Ballet.id is by Marc Brew. Marc was a ballet dancer who was wheelchaired following an accident. However, this condition doesn’t stop him to dance. This is very rarely seen in Indonesia, a disabled people that still dance and be creative. It really motivates us, and it is a great reminder that you don’t need to be on your legs to be able to dance. Dance can be done in many different ways.

 

Photo -  Mariska and Belinda visited Candoco Dance Company in London

Unfortunately, we did not get the chance to watch Candoco Dance Company in the Unlimited Festival as we have to return home when Candoco is scheduled to perform. Candoco is a unique dance company that has disabled and non-disabled dancers work together to create and perform in beautiful repertoires. We did, however, managed to visit Candoco office in London and met Stine Nelsen, Artistic Co-Director of the company and discussed the programs for society through the disabled arts

Ballet.id with Steven Brett, Programme Manager | Theatre and Dance for North America, Latin America & Caribbean and Jane Showell - Programme Manager UK-Indonesia Season

Ballet.id would like to express our gratitude and deepest thanks to British Council for the opportunity given to learn further about disabled arts. We would like to see arts by disabled people can also be realized in Indonesia.

Ballet.id at Unlimited Festival, Tramway