About
Who We Are
"A place to belong through the arts."
CoActive is an arts organisation dedicated to working with people with learning difficulties.
We welcome everyone into our group, providing a safe and creative sanctuary.
What We Do
We provide the opportunity for people in the Wakefield District to engage with the arts for fun, health, or to develop as: dancers, performers, creators, leaders and role models. Members have the opportunity to socialise, express themselves creatively, learn new skills and realise their ambitions.
"A place to belong through the arts."
CoActive is an arts organisation dedicated to working with people with learning difficulties.
We welcome everyone into our group, providing a safe and creative sanctuary.
What We Do
We provide the opportunity for people in the Wakefield District to engage with the arts for fun, health, or to develop as: dancers, performers, creators, leaders and role models. Members have the opportunity to socialise, express themselves creatively, learn new skills and realise their ambitions.
More About Us
- Our Mission Statement
- Articles of Association
- Membership
- Membership Application Form
OUR STORY
Here is a catalogue of our past projects...
Tour de Yorkshire
On the 28th May Coactive, performed participatory dance and drama, as part of the Artwalk,
as part of the Yorkshire Festival celebrating The Tour De France coming to Yorkshire,
funded by Creative Partners (WMDC).
As part of our drama we invited people to pose for a photo. Here they are…..
Charity Ball
On the 11th April 2014, Wakefield District Health and Community Support held a Charity Ball at The Cedar Court Hotel, in aid of Wakefield Hospice and CoActive. Our Creative Dance Group was invited to perform at this.
In preparation for the performance, during rehearsals Mel showed us some footage of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. We liked the way the dances brought out their personalities and playfulness. We were familiar with some of the techniques such as mirroring, but we had never tried that dancing style before. We spent time coming up some moves of our own and Mel put it together to make the final piece. We had to dress up smart in bow ties and cummerbunds for the men and 1930’s style dresses for the ladies.
Here are some of the things our group members said about the performance:
‘It brought me out. It brought me happiness. I danced with Anne and it went fantastic. I was very emotional. I never done anything like that before in my life.’
‘My Mum enjoyed it. She was proud. She stood up to see me. I came on stage.’
I was nervous at first, but I knew I had to do it because there were all those people in front of you.
We were all very happy to get such a warm reaction from everyone at the Ball. People were on their feet cheering and clapping and some were even in tears. We are very grateful to Wakefield District Health and Community Support and to The Cedar Court Hotel for putting on such a fantastic event. We are also grateful to the people that came to the event and supported us. They even raised over £4000 for us and £4000 for The Wakefield Hospice!
Grand Depart
With the opportunity to perform at community events to celebrate the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire in 2014, our Creative Dance and Drama groups took on a different approach to performing. Our participants have varying degrees of learning difficulty and in our Dance and Drama sessions we experience some wonderful times through interacting with uniquely creative, authentic individuals. A stage creates a distance from the audience but we wanted to create something where we could interact and that would be site specific.
Our Creative Dance Group looked at dance as a game, especially because The Tour De France is a competition. We looked at ways in which everyone achieving a certain movement or action could trigger the next part of the dance. We looked at being attentive to others around and moving in solo, cannon, and unison. Together as a group we devised a dance to take and perform, that could work with inviting audience members to join us in a co-operative dance
In Drama we concentrated on the strengths of our group members in creating performance stations that audience members could visit and interact with. Different group members took a lead on each station which over two performances included a game of catch, an emotion telephone, a lemonade stand, an adapted bicycle race, and a place to pose with props.
Our first performance was during the Artwalk at Wakefield One in May. Our second performance involved just the Creative Dancers taking a slot at The Ability Celebration Day organised by Total Voice Advocacy. Our third performance was on a warm sunny day in September as part of the Get Wakefield Moving Event in Wakefield. A cycle track was created around Wakefield City Centre and different groups performed or held workshops. Through these events we created a strong partnership with Wakefield Djembe Circle.
Tour de Yorkshire
On the 28th May Coactive, performed participatory dance and drama, as part of the Artwalk,
as part of the Yorkshire Festival celebrating The Tour De France coming to Yorkshire,
funded by Creative Partners (WMDC).
As part of our drama we invited people to pose for a photo. Here they are…..
Charity Ball
On the 11th April 2014, Wakefield District Health and Community Support held a Charity Ball at The Cedar Court Hotel, in aid of Wakefield Hospice and CoActive. Our Creative Dance Group was invited to perform at this.
In preparation for the performance, during rehearsals Mel showed us some footage of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. We liked the way the dances brought out their personalities and playfulness. We were familiar with some of the techniques such as mirroring, but we had never tried that dancing style before. We spent time coming up some moves of our own and Mel put it together to make the final piece. We had to dress up smart in bow ties and cummerbunds for the men and 1930’s style dresses for the ladies.
Here are some of the things our group members said about the performance:
‘It brought me out. It brought me happiness. I danced with Anne and it went fantastic. I was very emotional. I never done anything like that before in my life.’
‘My Mum enjoyed it. She was proud. She stood up to see me. I came on stage.’
I was nervous at first, but I knew I had to do it because there were all those people in front of you.
We were all very happy to get such a warm reaction from everyone at the Ball. People were on their feet cheering and clapping and some were even in tears. We are very grateful to Wakefield District Health and Community Support and to The Cedar Court Hotel for putting on such a fantastic event. We are also grateful to the people that came to the event and supported us. They even raised over £4000 for us and £4000 for The Wakefield Hospice!
Grand Depart
With the opportunity to perform at community events to celebrate the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire in 2014, our Creative Dance and Drama groups took on a different approach to performing. Our participants have varying degrees of learning difficulty and in our Dance and Drama sessions we experience some wonderful times through interacting with uniquely creative, authentic individuals. A stage creates a distance from the audience but we wanted to create something where we could interact and that would be site specific.
Our Creative Dance Group looked at dance as a game, especially because The Tour De France is a competition. We looked at ways in which everyone achieving a certain movement or action could trigger the next part of the dance. We looked at being attentive to others around and moving in solo, cannon, and unison. Together as a group we devised a dance to take and perform, that could work with inviting audience members to join us in a co-operative dance
In Drama we concentrated on the strengths of our group members in creating performance stations that audience members could visit and interact with. Different group members took a lead on each station which over two performances included a game of catch, an emotion telephone, a lemonade stand, an adapted bicycle race, and a place to pose with props.
Our first performance was during the Artwalk at Wakefield One in May. Our second performance involved just the Creative Dancers taking a slot at The Ability Celebration Day organised by Total Voice Advocacy. Our third performance was on a warm sunny day in September as part of the Get Wakefield Moving Event in Wakefield. A cycle track was created around Wakefield City Centre and different groups performed or held workshops. Through these events we created a strong partnership with Wakefield Djembe Circle.
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Some written feedback:
#Imaginative and fun and some beautiful movement. Thank you all #Would love to see something again very soon! #A very fun and entertaining event and a jolly atmosphere. Interactive and inclusive. Loved it! #Brought lots of colour and laughter to an otherwise grey rainy evening. Brilliant thank you. #Fresh air, rhythmic music surrounded by friends all doing their own thing to express themselves. What more can anyone ask from a committed caring group of people? #Enjoyed watching the group perform. Interaction between all was lovely to see. #Wonderful rhythms. Joyful atmosphere. Sense of freedom. #Fab Fab Fab. CoActive bring out the best in everyone whatever their ability! Keep up the fantastic work you selfless people! |
Holmfield Proposal
Since January 2015 CoActive have been running a film making course. We are very happy to release our film, ‘Holmfield Proposal’ for all to see. Just click on the picture to watch it. Hankies at the ready for tears and laughter. We are thrilled with the result.
Thank you to WDHCS and Creative Minds (SWY NHS Trust) for funding the project. We started by looking at Silent Film and Slapstick. We have lots to share and release in the future, but we spent most time on this one and we are very proud to share it.
We owe a big thank you to Ric Neale who composed, played and recorded the sound track. Also a big thank you to The Holmfield Arms for letting us film in such a lovely setting for free.
Any comments or questions : info@coactive.org.uk
Our Comedic Silent Films
During our Moving Through Film Course we had the absolute delight of working with guest artist Darren Johnson (https://twitter.com/pocketpanto). Looking at silent film and comedy, Darren helped us to develop our acting skills, and construct some great stories. We had a lots of fun and laughter. We also loved making slop which is the theatrical term for the stuff you sling at each other in comedy such as custard pies. We have made slop with your recipe since you worked with us Darren. Thank you!
Filmmaking Magic
Matt Rogers is another actor and filmmaker who worked with us on our filmmaking course. His link is here – Matt Roger’s website. With Matt we looked at some very early film techniques from the turn of the last century when filmmaking had just been invented. We looked at the work of George Melies, a french filmmaker whose most famous film, ‘A Trip to the Moon,’ was made in 1902. From this we used basic cuts to make things disappear, tricks using perspective and the use of low tech homemade props. Matt enabled us to let our our imaginations run wild. For our final film with Matt we came up with a wild story and had 6 x 2hour sessions to create it. Here is the story -zombie elves turn others into zombies, including Santa, who together sail to London, while turning the moon into a zombie which causes a world catastrophe prompting the Prime Minister to call the army and release the dinosaur which causes even more disaster, followed by our hero Lou shrinking people into Baubles to keep them safe!
Links to other films created with Matt:
The Day of the Assassin – Our lead character uses special skills to fend of those who would harm him. For us the story was also about the need for personal space.
Bully Off – Thinking about how we would like to deal with bullies.
Many thanks to our funders Creative Minds and WDHCS.
My Inner Animal July 2009
A collaborative dance and sculpture project. Inspired by self image, My Inner Animal, explored how we see ourselves on the inside. The project was created and performed with a local Belle Isle youth group.
Judas March 2010
A site specific promenade performance set in Wakefield Cathedral. The audience followed the action from Judas' perspective, and witness a story of betrayal and guilt. The group explored their own experiences of friendship, being let down and letting others down to create a fresh approach to a well known story.
Planets January 2011
A highly technical piece of dance. Inspired by the solar system, the orbiting planets and gravity were used as a stimulus for creating movement.
Allegro January 2011
CoActive's pilot music project culminated in a choral performance. Lead by guest practitioner Anthony Davis
Sorrow and Waiting April 2011
A film about grief. This project continues the story of Jesus's death, modernising the characters and settings and examining the process (5 stages) of grief. This piece of physical theatre, created especially for film, uses sophisticated visual metaphors to explore the characters emotions. It was filmed on location around Wakefield.
Let Bygones Be Autumn 2011 - February 2013
From April 2011 CoActive continued to develop work on the themes of grief, forgiveness and reconciliation, freedom and restraint. In December 2011 and January 2012 we filmed our dancers at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, interacting with the Jaume Plensa exhibition. We sent some footage of our dancers to this internationally acclaimed Spanish artist and he replied, pleased for us to produce a film with his sculptures.
Until July 2012 we continued to develop the dances and film in various locations around Wakefield and on Scarborough beach. With all this amazing footage, it then took us four months from September 2012 to January 2013 to edit it into a film that captured the spirit and all the messages of the work we'd been doing. Local band The Housekeeping Society worked with us to create a specially composed soundtrack.
On 13 February 2013 we had a Gala event to premiere the film and to celebrate the achievements of CoActive members. The film was very well received and it was fantastic for us to see our work put together from over the past 14 months. This was a massive project for us, and we're very proud of the result.
The film was funded by the BBC Community Fund, The Co-operative, and Wakefield District Health and Community Support. We received this feedback from the BBC:
We thoroughly enjoyed watching it! It was chilling, touching and mesmerising all at the same time. Working with a static piece of art must have made for a really interesting stimulus for a dance piece.
The F Word 24th May 2013
The F word is 'Forgiveness,' and following on from 'Let Bygones Be,' Both Creative Dance and Drama Groups worked towards a performance at Wakefield Cathedral. We are grateful to Wakefield Cathedral and especially Ali Bullivent for the way she worked with us and supported us. During the performance Ali and The Cathedral Praise Singers performed music and song, along with our drama and dance. The performance also launched CoActive's exhibition which ran at the Cathedral for just over a week. It contained The Forgiveness Project Exhibition, our 'Let Bygones Be' Dance Film on a loop, and some photographs and text about the dance film. This work was funded by Awards for All and Wakefield District Health and Community Support. Click here for more info.
Celebration Day 4th July 2013
Total Voice Advocacy invited us to be a part of their Celebration Day. Lots of groups were present, and at the day CoActive Drama Group performed some of their material on the F Word Project, and Nicci and The Dance for Fitness Group encouraged everyone to join in with some of their routines. Total Voice Advocacy were very grateful for CoActive's contribution and said, 'CoActive played a big part in making the day the success it was.'
Working with Yew Tree Youth Theatre June/July 2013
With funding from Awards for All, CoActive's Drama Group worked with Yew Tree Youth Theatre. We recruited actor Matt Rogers to work with Gemma Whelan in bringing the two groups together. The children especially were open and generous in the collaboration, and relationships were effective for creating brand new pieces of drama in a short amount of time. The last Yew Tree Session saw other local community groups come together. It started with a presentation of a cheque from funds raised by the local police, this included the majorettes and the seniors group that meet at the centre. Next we invited everyone in for a tea party where the CoActive/Yew Tree collaboration performed some pop up drama, invited everyone to join in a tea dance and then eat lots of cake.
'Twas the night before Christmas' and 'Go' December 2013
A Christmas party and performance. With the support of Gemma Whelan CoActive's Drama group performed a piece based on the poem 'Twas the Night before Christmas. We showed film of group members reciting the poem along with live action. Working with dancer Rachel Dean our Dancers performed improvised dance within a set of rules. Dancers were attentive to each others to watch for different emerging leaders.
Our Promise March 2014
CoActive's Drama and Dance Group performed as part of our AGM
Dancing in my Tails April 2014
Money from 'Wakefield District Health and Community Support' (WDHCS) has been vital to the running and development of CoActive. WDHCS held a charity ball to raise money for CoActive and Wakefield Hospice at which we were invited to perform. Read here about it from our blog.
I Want To Ride My Bicycle May 2014
Tour de Yorkshire September 2014
With funding from and in partnership with Creative Partners at Wakefield Council, we held two events to contribute to the celebrations around the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire Read about it from our blog. Click here.
Fables July 2009
A drama collaboration project with local youth groups. A collection of well known fables were reworked and performed in a community setting. The project incorporated elements of traditional storytelling and physical theatre.
Hands July 2008
A dance film, which focused on small dances.
Redundant July 2008
A physical theatre piece about the experience of being made redundant. A poignant insight into one man's experience of redundancy and his emotional journey after a lifetime's work. This performance formed part of a larger project based on members personal stories. A number of different creative mediums were used through out this project.
Stories of an outsider July 2008
A collection of short films based on the groups experience of being left out, misunderstood, judged or even abused.
Jack Frost December 2008
Drama based on a fantasy story devised by the theatre group.
A White Wedding July 2007
A comic physical theatre work focusing on the drama surrounding getting married. Incorporating elements of both dance and storytelling, the piece focused on the rituals a bride and groom go through, especially the mayhem surrounding stag and hen parties. Performed in location at St Andrews Church.
Snow white and the seven dwarves December 2007
A traditional pantomime.
The Circus December 2006
A devised physical theatre work centring on the lives of characters working in a Circus.
Twisting The Night Away July 2006
Performed at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
A dance piece inspired by a the tradition of social dances.
The Tempest July 2005
A dance piece based on Shakespeare's The Tempest
Since January 2015 CoActive have been running a film making course. We are very happy to release our film, ‘Holmfield Proposal’ for all to see. Just click on the picture to watch it. Hankies at the ready for tears and laughter. We are thrilled with the result.
Thank you to WDHCS and Creative Minds (SWY NHS Trust) for funding the project. We started by looking at Silent Film and Slapstick. We have lots to share and release in the future, but we spent most time on this one and we are very proud to share it.
We owe a big thank you to Ric Neale who composed, played and recorded the sound track. Also a big thank you to The Holmfield Arms for letting us film in such a lovely setting for free.
Any comments or questions : info@coactive.org.uk
Our Comedic Silent Films
During our Moving Through Film Course we had the absolute delight of working with guest artist Darren Johnson (https://twitter.com/pocketpanto). Looking at silent film and comedy, Darren helped us to develop our acting skills, and construct some great stories. We had a lots of fun and laughter. We also loved making slop which is the theatrical term for the stuff you sling at each other in comedy such as custard pies. We have made slop with your recipe since you worked with us Darren. Thank you!
Filmmaking Magic
Matt Rogers is another actor and filmmaker who worked with us on our filmmaking course. His link is here – Matt Roger’s website. With Matt we looked at some very early film techniques from the turn of the last century when filmmaking had just been invented. We looked at the work of George Melies, a french filmmaker whose most famous film, ‘A Trip to the Moon,’ was made in 1902. From this we used basic cuts to make things disappear, tricks using perspective and the use of low tech homemade props. Matt enabled us to let our our imaginations run wild. For our final film with Matt we came up with a wild story and had 6 x 2hour sessions to create it. Here is the story -zombie elves turn others into zombies, including Santa, who together sail to London, while turning the moon into a zombie which causes a world catastrophe prompting the Prime Minister to call the army and release the dinosaur which causes even more disaster, followed by our hero Lou shrinking people into Baubles to keep them safe!
Links to other films created with Matt:
The Day of the Assassin – Our lead character uses special skills to fend of those who would harm him. For us the story was also about the need for personal space.
Bully Off – Thinking about how we would like to deal with bullies.
Many thanks to our funders Creative Minds and WDHCS.
My Inner Animal July 2009
A collaborative dance and sculpture project. Inspired by self image, My Inner Animal, explored how we see ourselves on the inside. The project was created and performed with a local Belle Isle youth group.
Judas March 2010
A site specific promenade performance set in Wakefield Cathedral. The audience followed the action from Judas' perspective, and witness a story of betrayal and guilt. The group explored their own experiences of friendship, being let down and letting others down to create a fresh approach to a well known story.
Planets January 2011
A highly technical piece of dance. Inspired by the solar system, the orbiting planets and gravity were used as a stimulus for creating movement.
Allegro January 2011
CoActive's pilot music project culminated in a choral performance. Lead by guest practitioner Anthony Davis
Sorrow and Waiting April 2011
A film about grief. This project continues the story of Jesus's death, modernising the characters and settings and examining the process (5 stages) of grief. This piece of physical theatre, created especially for film, uses sophisticated visual metaphors to explore the characters emotions. It was filmed on location around Wakefield.
Let Bygones Be Autumn 2011 - February 2013
From April 2011 CoActive continued to develop work on the themes of grief, forgiveness and reconciliation, freedom and restraint. In December 2011 and January 2012 we filmed our dancers at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, interacting with the Jaume Plensa exhibition. We sent some footage of our dancers to this internationally acclaimed Spanish artist and he replied, pleased for us to produce a film with his sculptures.
Until July 2012 we continued to develop the dances and film in various locations around Wakefield and on Scarborough beach. With all this amazing footage, it then took us four months from September 2012 to January 2013 to edit it into a film that captured the spirit and all the messages of the work we'd been doing. Local band The Housekeeping Society worked with us to create a specially composed soundtrack.
On 13 February 2013 we had a Gala event to premiere the film and to celebrate the achievements of CoActive members. The film was very well received and it was fantastic for us to see our work put together from over the past 14 months. This was a massive project for us, and we're very proud of the result.
The film was funded by the BBC Community Fund, The Co-operative, and Wakefield District Health and Community Support. We received this feedback from the BBC:
We thoroughly enjoyed watching it! It was chilling, touching and mesmerising all at the same time. Working with a static piece of art must have made for a really interesting stimulus for a dance piece.
The F Word 24th May 2013
The F word is 'Forgiveness,' and following on from 'Let Bygones Be,' Both Creative Dance and Drama Groups worked towards a performance at Wakefield Cathedral. We are grateful to Wakefield Cathedral and especially Ali Bullivent for the way she worked with us and supported us. During the performance Ali and The Cathedral Praise Singers performed music and song, along with our drama and dance. The performance also launched CoActive's exhibition which ran at the Cathedral for just over a week. It contained The Forgiveness Project Exhibition, our 'Let Bygones Be' Dance Film on a loop, and some photographs and text about the dance film. This work was funded by Awards for All and Wakefield District Health and Community Support. Click here for more info.
Celebration Day 4th July 2013
Total Voice Advocacy invited us to be a part of their Celebration Day. Lots of groups were present, and at the day CoActive Drama Group performed some of their material on the F Word Project, and Nicci and The Dance for Fitness Group encouraged everyone to join in with some of their routines. Total Voice Advocacy were very grateful for CoActive's contribution and said, 'CoActive played a big part in making the day the success it was.'
Working with Yew Tree Youth Theatre June/July 2013
With funding from Awards for All, CoActive's Drama Group worked with Yew Tree Youth Theatre. We recruited actor Matt Rogers to work with Gemma Whelan in bringing the two groups together. The children especially were open and generous in the collaboration, and relationships were effective for creating brand new pieces of drama in a short amount of time. The last Yew Tree Session saw other local community groups come together. It started with a presentation of a cheque from funds raised by the local police, this included the majorettes and the seniors group that meet at the centre. Next we invited everyone in for a tea party where the CoActive/Yew Tree collaboration performed some pop up drama, invited everyone to join in a tea dance and then eat lots of cake.
'Twas the night before Christmas' and 'Go' December 2013
A Christmas party and performance. With the support of Gemma Whelan CoActive's Drama group performed a piece based on the poem 'Twas the Night before Christmas. We showed film of group members reciting the poem along with live action. Working with dancer Rachel Dean our Dancers performed improvised dance within a set of rules. Dancers were attentive to each others to watch for different emerging leaders.
Our Promise March 2014
CoActive's Drama and Dance Group performed as part of our AGM
Dancing in my Tails April 2014
Money from 'Wakefield District Health and Community Support' (WDHCS) has been vital to the running and development of CoActive. WDHCS held a charity ball to raise money for CoActive and Wakefield Hospice at which we were invited to perform. Read here about it from our blog.
I Want To Ride My Bicycle May 2014
Tour de Yorkshire September 2014
With funding from and in partnership with Creative Partners at Wakefield Council, we held two events to contribute to the celebrations around the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire Read about it from our blog. Click here.
Fables July 2009
A drama collaboration project with local youth groups. A collection of well known fables were reworked and performed in a community setting. The project incorporated elements of traditional storytelling and physical theatre.
Hands July 2008
A dance film, which focused on small dances.
Redundant July 2008
A physical theatre piece about the experience of being made redundant. A poignant insight into one man's experience of redundancy and his emotional journey after a lifetime's work. This performance formed part of a larger project based on members personal stories. A number of different creative mediums were used through out this project.
Stories of an outsider July 2008
A collection of short films based on the groups experience of being left out, misunderstood, judged or even abused.
Jack Frost December 2008
Drama based on a fantasy story devised by the theatre group.
A White Wedding July 2007
A comic physical theatre work focusing on the drama surrounding getting married. Incorporating elements of both dance and storytelling, the piece focused on the rituals a bride and groom go through, especially the mayhem surrounding stag and hen parties. Performed in location at St Andrews Church.
Snow white and the seven dwarves December 2007
A traditional pantomime.
The Circus December 2006
A devised physical theatre work centring on the lives of characters working in a Circus.
Twisting The Night Away July 2006
Performed at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
A dance piece inspired by a the tradition of social dances.
The Tempest July 2005
A dance piece based on Shakespeare's The Tempest
