Celebrating in Wales

27th May marks the launch of Wales’ second celebration of Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month with follow on events planned for both Newport (17th June) and Cardiff (29th June).

This year’s celebration builds on the success of last year’s event at the Chamber of Commerce Building in Cardiff Bay. Last years one-day event featured circus performances by children from Shirenewton, storytelling, video shows, flower making, dukkering (fortune telling), and traditional Irish dancing, but this year organisers are promising much more as the celebration begins to spread out across Wales.

“We were very pleased at the reaction to last year’s event’ says organiser Isaac Blake of the Romani Cultural and Arts Company. Over 250 people attended with a good mix of public policy makers and people of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller backgrounds. This year we will be looking for significantly more people and an even greater mixing of Gypsy, Roma, Traveller and ‘country-folk’.”

National Launch

Helen Mary Jones, AM for Llanelli and Chair of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Children and Young People’s Committee will host the launch of the programme at the Senedd, 12 – 1pm on 27th May with young people from Newport and Cardiff schools who have taken part in competitions to design posters advertising the events in both cities. Ms Jones will announce the winners in front of an audience of AMs and invited guests.

Download Welsh events poster in Welsh or English >

Helen Mary Jones said “I am looking forward to this event immensely. The purpose of government in Wales is to reach out to, and to be accessible to, all of the people. To bring people together in a common bond. This celebration aims to do just that as we bring Gypsies, Roma, Travellers and people from other backgrounds together to challenge the misconceptions and barriers that artificially separate us”

Newport, Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre

The Newport event, June 17th, 10 – 2 pm, is targeted at people of all ages and all tastes combining history and art, theatre and dance, children’s and adult performances in a celebration of modern Gypsy, Roma and Traveller culture.

The event will include the first public performance of Gypsy choreographer Isaac Blake’s ‘Lavior’. Lavior is a powerful, but dark and menacing piece that explores 300 years of oppression through contemporary dance and haunting melody.

Lavior brings together three performers to explore the twin concepts of communal anonymity and loss of language in the Romani culture.

It is choreographed by Isaac Blake and danced by Michael Williams of Earthfall. It is sung in Romani

The piece has an original score composed by Philippa Reeves (voice) and Stacey Blythe (piano, harp and accordion)

Download Lavior Flyer in English >

Download Laviour Flyer in Welsh >

Traditional dancing by Kathleen Cassidy will be juxtaposed with the Hip-Hop dance moves of Daniel Flynn alongside performances and art by mixed groups of young people from Gypsy, Roma, Traveller and other backgrounds in local schools. David Philips from SEWREC, the equality council for South East Wales, believes that bringing young people together is the best way to challenge preconceived ideas. “Young people are the best agents of change” he says “these young people will spend 4 days working together to learn about the traditions of Gypsy culture in Wales and to put together their own interpretation through drama and dance with the Romani Cultural and Arts Company. These young people will show how communities can, and should, work together”

Taleri Gray and Andre Morgan-Andrews will be inviting our younger (and not so young) participants to take part in their fairy story telling and Dr Colin Clark from Glasgow University will be giving a lecture about the history of travelling peoples in the UK.

The artwork from the children’s poster competition will be displayed on the mezzanine throughout the month.

Cardiff Event, Pierhead Building

The Cardiff event on 29th June takes place at the Pierhead Building in Cardiff Bay from 10 am until 2pm.

Young people from the Shirenewton site will be performing work that they prepared over previous weeks with the NoFit State Circus, who will also be running circus skills workshops for the general public at the event. While the Cinetig Animation Company will be running animation workshops based upon their film of Welsh Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history in Wales.

Members of the local Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities will be demonstrating the traditional skills of flower making, basket weaving and peg making accompanied by traditional storytelling and the dancing of Kathleen Cassidy and Daniel Flynn. Light refreshments and snacks will be available plus lots of videos and slides.

Children from across Cardiff schools will be displaying their posters competition entries in an exhibition at County Hall on Atlantic Wharf during the two weeks leading up to the event.

Carol Lewis from Cardiff’s Traveller Education Service said that “last year’s event gave the young people a real boost in their self-confidence. It was important for them to see that other people took an interest in them and cared about the work that they did. These sort of activities, that celebrate Gypsy Roma Traveller culture raise self esteem, which is essential for the personal development of young people. We are all looking forward to an even more positive performance this year”

More Details:

More information about Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month in Wales can be obtained from:

Isaac Blake
Director 

Romani Cultural and Arts Company
C/o BVSNW
Chamber of Commerce Building
113 –116 Bute street
Cardiff
CF10 5EQ

Telephone: 029 2045 0068

Mobile: 07854412097

isaacblake@romaniarts.co.uk

Download Welsh events poster in Welsh or English >