Sign Dance Collective presents:

High Wyrrd

International dance, theatre and music showcase on the
streets of High Wycombe, from Friday 19th to Sunday 21st September 2008.

High Wyrrd is Signdance Collective's Internation Performance and Visual Art Showcase. SDC has invited many of its favourite artists and collaborators from Europe, USA, South America and the U.K. to join them in their hometown, High Wycombe. This is the company's first ever showcase, and the lineup is exciting, challenging, with top quality new work from stree threatre, dance, signdance, music, film and visual artists. No! its not he panto or My Fair Lady, but its definitely a taste of the new, inventive, fun and fantastic!

The Programme Of Events

Friday 19th Sept

12:00pm Frogmoor
Festival Warm-Up
Signdance Collective and The Luke Barlow Band with excerpts of 'But Beautiful' The Art Pepper Show. Jazz and Signdance combine to celebrate the influence of the late great alto Saxophonist Art Pepper.

7:00pm The Guildhall Undercroft
Preshow opens with 'Taste the Art' 30 minutes Carovana SMI Street Dance. International dancers, actors and musicians are sold for cheap, and audiences are welcome to bid for their favourite artist. Dancers use the area around the Guildhall to entice and persuade the public, live music infuses the streets with a sense of anticipation.

7:30 - 8:30pm The Guildhall Undercroft
'Travelling' Signdance Collective with Carovana SMI (Sardina) directed by Ornella Dagostino with music by Liran Donin. The story of how it is to live a life of constantly crossing boundaries - geographical and physical boundaries as well as existential boundaries. How does the movement of peoples’ around the world, as tourists, migrants, or as artists, affect indigenous communities? How does political conflict affect the traveller? What does it feel like to live the nomadic lifestyle of the artist? Funded by Arts Council South East.

Saturday 20th Sept

11:00 am-12:00pm High Street and Eden Shopping Centre
Hugo The Clown from Argentina Street interventions. One of the sweetest and naughtiest clowns we know! stay to watch him work and join him around town to see what he gets up to with the public!

12:00-12:30pm High Street and Eden Shopping Centre
The Cleaning Ladies Ana Monro from Slovenia. These ladies have an air of 'different' about them, we thought they could help our little town stay nice and polished. Street Theatre at its funniest and very best.

2:00-3:00pm High Street and Eden Shopping Centre
Hugo The Clown

2:00-3:30pm All Saints Church Yard
Signdance Collective are pleased to welcome the Regional Companies who have joined in to celebrate new inclusive physical theatre and dance. Presented are a range of artists who tour nationally, internationally, and locally. Oxfordshire's Anjali, Doorways Dance Group and Jigsaw from Aylesbury The afternoon is rounded off by the magnificent Deaf dancer: Antoine Hunter from San Francisco USA

3:30-4:00pm Eden Shopping centre (opposite Littlewoods)
SDCs David Bower in 'Listen' immerses the audience against a cloth of sound and images based on how David Bower uses his experiences of titinus as a creative tool to inform the performance work.

4:30-5:00pm Frogmoor
Ana Monro 'The Cleaning Ladies'.

5:00-5:50pm Covered Market Area
The Luke Barlow Band The best of new jazz from London. "...the session led by pianist Luke Barlow, featuring Ward on clarinet and guitar, throws high spirits and optimism around in abundance. Barlow’s group jams itself into manic grooves and swings like an unashamed jazz band, but they project a distinct identity". The Wire Music Magazine.

Sunday 21st Sept

12:30-1:00pm Frogmoor High Wycombe's Drumojo Samba Band Sit in the local cafe and enjoy the music, or sit down on the ground and have some delicious Caribbean food.

1:00-2:00pm Frogmoor. SDC's International partners Kultuur Werkstaat from Graz, Austria. Christian Jabornig brings his inclusive performance group to High Wyrrd with a clown and dance show. Solo performance by San Franciscan Antoinne Hunter.

2:15-3:00pm Frogmoor Hugo The Clown 'The Big Show' Families are particularly welcome to join the fun from this magical and extraordinary clown.

3:15-4:00pm Frogmoor. Ana Monro Presents 'The Golden Ass'. Ana Monro is to us the Slovenian Monty Python! The company is a great example of European style street theatre, is exceptionally funny, with a warmth and humour rarely seen. The Golden Ass tells the tale of Lucius who uses witchcraft to enable him to fly, but instead turns himself into an ass, through his life as an ass, he learns to become human, and a better human than he ever was. Slovenian Cultural Programme Funded.

4:15-5:00pm Frogmoor Drumojo the Samba and our Paralympian John Harris meet the athlete and enjoy the band in Celebration of the launch for the Cultural Olympiad Projects 2012!

6:30pm Swan Theatre Gallery Art Exhibition Opening. Join the artists for the opening of the Art Exhibition by Artist Esther Appleyard High Wyrrd's resident visual artist's reflection through a new work by the late sculptor Adam Reynolds 1959-2006. Bar open.