I joined the Merchant City Festival team this year as part of a Glasgow Life development programme for up-and-coming producers. We’ve been developing a community engagement programme, reaching out to various community centres around Glasgow, since April.
The idea was to work with participants preparing a performance for this year’s Merchant City Festival, using street arts as a medium, incorporating street dance and graffiti. It has been an interesting journey to see how presenting a new art form has engaged participants in different ways.
I’ve been involved in the dance community in Glasgow for years and have seen how much dance can help to transform people's lives. To come in as a new producer for the Merchant City Festival and develop a programme based on dance has reinforced my belief that moving and connecting to our bodies is really important. Most of the time, we are stuck in our heads, and we forget the body has its own rhythm and language and can even help channel and release emotions if we take the time to let this happen. But more importantly, this year's programme has reminded me that dance is a powerful social tool; it gets people to meet, move, have fun, and share quality moments together.
