Your Story, Your Voice, Your Stage

Posted on 27 May 2020

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Join opera company Second Movement, and other adults with Tourette Syndrome to create and perform a new opera about TS

YOUR STORY, YOUR VOICE, YOUR STAGE

Second Movement in partnership with Tourettes Action presents Your Story, Your Voice, Your Stage; an opera making and performance project for adults with Tourette Syndrome, taking place digitally from June to October 2020.

The opera will be about the stories and experiences of the people taking part in the project. It will be created by them in a series of online workshops working alongside a composer and director. The project will culminate in a digital opera that those taking part can share with family and friends.

You don’t need any previous experience of singing or performing to join Your Story, Your Voice, Your Stage and you don’t need to contribute your experiences and stories to the opera to take part in the workshops and performance.

Watch this video from composer, Michael Betteridge who explains what the project is about.

How does it work? 

The opera will be created in four stages

What is the story we want to tell? What is the piece we want to make? - June 2020

Working with our composer Michael Betteridge, you will be invited to a one-on-one conference call of around 30 minutes - supported by a member of the Tourette’s Action if you so wish - to meet Michael and explore ideas about what this opera could entail. You don’t have to come armed with ideas - this informal conversation will allow the team to shape ideas of what the opera might look and sound like. This will be followed by a group conference call of everyone who has participated so far to share what ideas have been developed so far.

The creative process and the detail! - July - Aug 2020

Working in groups online we will start to bring the opera to life by creating text and music, working with musicians and singers, to expand on the initial ideas of the piece.
This will involve a wide range of activity including creative writing exercises, creating melodies and thinking in more detail about what we want to say in this new work. There will also be a chance to have a good old singalong as well! There will be 4 creative sessions during this period of up to two hours each.

Rehearsals - Sept 2020

With all the creative ideas laid down our composer Michael will share learning tracks for those taking part to practice at home as well as lead online rehearsals to assist everyone in learning the material needed for the final digital opera. You will record these in your own time at home during the month but have plenty of support from Michael and the team in doing so. There will be 3 rehearsals of up to two hours each.

The digital opera - Oct 2020

You can sit back and relax! Once all the music has been put together and the material sent to our animator/designer/filmmaker the team will spend the month putting all the finishing touches to the piece to then share with those who have contributed to the piece.

Do I have to be involved in everything?

Ideally we are looking for people who want to be involved at all of the three stages that we are inviting people to be involved in. However we are aware that not everyone might want to be involved at every stage. We are looking for a maximum of 15 people for the first two stages, but we have capacity to invite more people to the rehearsal process from September.

Please download the document in the right-hand side 'What to Expect' which explains in detail how the digital process will work.

To register your interest in taking part or if you have any questions about Your Story, Your Voice, Your Stage please contact Emma at Tourettes Action: emma@tourettes-action.org.uk 

In the event that the project is oversubscribed places for the first two stages will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

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