Lisa Simpson Inclusive Dance
Liverpool, Merseyside
Liverpool, Merseyside
I’m a Liverpool based choreographer/workshop leader with a disability. I have Quadriplegia Cerebral Palsy and no verbal communication. I choreograph using the Simpson Board, an inexpensive but priceless tool that enables disabled people to choreograph their own work.
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Choreographer
I am a Liverpool based choreographer and a workshop leader with a disability I have quadriplegia cerebral palsy and no verbal communication; therefore, I choreograph using the Simpson board, an inexpensive but priceless tool that enables other disabled individuals like myself to create their own work.
The Simpson board came about when Adam Benjamin, former director and co-founder of CandoCo Dance Company did a five day residency in 1995 at Hereward FE College involving students with and without disabilities, Adam was inspired by the methods in which I produced visual artwork that he wanted to create a way to enable me to choreograph based on the same principles.
As we developed the Simpson board, my drive to be able to choreograph increased considerably and the enthusiasm within me to create a tool that enabled me to achieve it led to the board being named after me. Although we made a substantial amount of progress during the week it was clear that in order for me to have more of a precise decision e.g. individual movements of the dancers, the board would have to be developed further. This led to Jonathon Thrift from the Roehampton Institute London becoming involved, who had expertise in dance analysis and notion. He went on to modify the Simpson board with Bill Robbins, a student with the same degree of cerebral palsy as me.
In the autumn of 1995, I choreographed a ten minute integrated piece that was performed at Coventry University for Performing Arts and Hereward College in Coventry.
I choreographed a site specific at the National Star Centre as part of the Ignite programme in 2011. This piece helped me to gain a place on the CandoCo's International Lab of which I was one of six dance makers from all over the world to be involve in this.
If you want to see my work please visit http://www.youtube.com/user/SimpsonBoard?feature=mhum
Workshop Leader
In 1996 and 1997 I teamed up with Midlands-based Independent Dance Artist, Louise Katerega to work on the dance summer schools at Theatr Clwyd, North Wales and was a huge hit with the children who learnt to use the Simpson Board as well as dance.
After I studied BTEC ND in Performing Arts, I diverged to obtain a degree in Surface Pattern Design at the University of Huddersfield. My return to dance came in February 2009, when I was approached by Louise Katerega, by then Creative Director of FOOT IN HAND Dance Company, to team up with her to assist a member of Cut Dance in Suffolk with cerebral palsy and limited verbal communication in choreographing for the first time. It was so inspiring to watch her developing into a choreographer, who by the end of the 3 days was deciding everything from the positions her dancers were in, to the type of music that captured the right mood of her piece.
Since then, I have set up a social enterprise along with my business partners, called Simpson Board Enterprises Ltd; teaching people how to use the Simpson Board as I strongly believe there are other prospective choreographers with no, or limited verbal communication, who have not had the opportunity to realise their true potential.
The reports from Suffolk are truly amazing, as the woman’s confidence have improved considerably, not only with her choreography but also with her day-to-day living.
In June 2010, I co-led a workshop at a local special school in Liverpool having developed two new boards specifically for them based upon the original board. These new boards being simplified and interactive, the children are able to lead the group providing empowerment and greatly boosting their confidence.
I have also co-led workshops on the Disability Dance Symposium at Beaumount College, Gloucester Dance’s Ignite course and the Foundation for Community Dance’s Dance and Disability aspect of their National Summer School.
Disability Issues
Social Entrepreneur
After assisting a member of Cut Dance in Suffolk with severe cerebral palsy and limited verbal communication in choreographing for the first time, I have set up a social enterprise along with my business partners, called Simpson Board Enterprises Ltd; teaching people how to use the Simpson Board as I strongly believe there are other prospective choreographers with no, or limited verbal communication, who have not had the opportunity to realise their true potential.
Our Aims are:-
• Opening doors for people to choreograph and also dance.
• Bring the creative side out in people.
• To work with people with non, or limited verbal communication to increase their confidence and life skills.
Simpson Board Enterprises Limited particularly aims to work with disabled people with limited or non verbal communication to access an area of the arts currently denied them, in the form of teaching them how to choreograph. The Simpson Board concept is a unique training opportunity to allow both children and adults with this level of disability to gain a new and exciting skill which is both educational and fun to do. We are committed to supporting disabled people to realise their full potential and open up areas of interest and education in the arts
As a person with quadriplegia cerebral palsy and no verbal communication, I did not think I would be able to choreograph and it was a tremendous feeling when I choreographed a 5 minute piece for the first time. Also, the reports from Suffolk are truly amazing as the woman’s confidence has improved considerably, not only with her choreography but with her day to day living.
We also demonstrate to dance professionals how affective the choreography tool actually is, with the intent of showing the benefits that the people they teach can achieve.
Performer
As well as community performances with Hereward College, I did a reconstruction for Network First (The Killing of Kathleen Waugh) a young woman with learning difficulties, who went missing from a residential care home. My roll was to act out Kathleen's last movements leading up to her disappearance.
Also, I performed in Laura Lima’s piece ‘FLAT’ as part of 11 Rooms at Manchester’s International Arts Festival 2011 and 12 Rooms at Germany’s International Festival of the Arts at the museum Folkwang in Essen.
