by the Dancers

Hello! We are a music group at the City of Bristol College participating on a course called Towards Independence.

We meet every Thursday morning. During our music class we do different dances and sing songs and chants. We'd like to tell you about the Dances we do.



This is us - Simon, Sarah, Cath, Linda, Stephen, Stephen, Anne, Guilly and Kate who took the photo!

Part of our project this year has been to explain to people what we do in our sessions. We have taken some photos of us dancing and we've written about some of the Dances we do together.



These are the Dances we do regularly -

"Tis A Gift To Be Simple"
"I Woke Up This Morning"
"We Circle Around"
"Wa Guruji Ka Khalsa"
"Hevenu Shalom Alecheim"
"Wishita"
"Chief Seattle Cycle"

Some of our thoughts about the dances -

"Brilliant. Move around the room with other people in different shapes...circular shapes.....I like the partner dances"
Simon describing what joining in the dances is like for him

"I like to be pushed in my chair to the dances" Anne

"Backwards and forwards ..... then go with your partner. The second part is my favourite. It makes you feel warm."
Stephen Canby describing one of his favourite dances, "Hevenu Shalom Alecheim"



Sarah signs to us using Makaton and will use this way of communicating to let us know which dance she'd like us to do. She will often play the rattle while we dance, and her most frequently requested dances are "Wishita" and "Tis a Gift To Be Simple".

Learning the Chief Seattle Cycle -

"Every part of the Earth is sacred to my people. I like playing the drum. I bought it on holiday"
Stephen Cox

"American Indians... the way they dance... about the land... the earth... and the people. My favourite is the eagle song (We Circle Around) I like the song. You learn something."
Stephen Canby



If anyone has a photo or a story about their experiences dancing, especially if it's any of the Dances we know, we'd love to hear about it! You can write to us at this address:

Kate Fielding
V.P.P., City of Bristol College
Marksbury Rd
Bedminster
Bristol BS3 5JL