Cornish Doorways

A making and performance project for Shallal Dance Theatre over three years, Cornish Doorways allowed Shallal to make new work to be performed at Goldolphin House and to explore and celebrate the life and legacy of Cornish philanthropist John Passmore Edwards. The idea grew out of a pilot project in 2012 where the company devised work for Godolphin House and Gyllyngdune Gardens in Falmouth.

Our 'Ladders and Footprints' show was designed to be performed at Falmouth's Passmore Edwards Free Library building, now housing Falmouth's public library and Falmouth Art Gallery. Both 'Ladders and Footprints' and the Godolphin show 'Cornish Doorways' were toured to other venues including the Acorn Theatre Penzance, Falmouth University AMATA Performance Centre, libraries in North and East Cornwall, reaching new audiences, Holifield Big Tent Festival and the Passmore Edwards Institute at Blackwater.

Cornish Doorways was also a combined arts project, where dancers develop performance ideas in lots of creative mediums. Visiting artists worked with Shallal to produce art installations in the grounds of Godolphin House. Members of Shallal Dance Theatre worked with filmmaker Barbara Santi to bring to life stories from Godolphin's rich past. Costumes workshops resulted in memorable hats and regalia. Both the Godolphin show and 'Ladders and Footprints' included poetry written by Shallal dancers. As the dancers learned about Passmore Edwards, they made drawings and paintings of the many public buildings that he built in Cornwall and of Passmore Edwards himself. All of these many different artworks were exhibited in an exhibition at the Museum of Cornish Life in Helston, which opened with a pop-up Shallal Dance Theatre performance.

The project ended with a book launch and exhibition at the Exchange Gallery Penzance and a screening of films from the project at Newlyn Filmhouse. The book of photographs 'Celebrating Heritage' takes the reader through the creative process that resulted in the two shows.

The project was funded by Arts Council England, The Heritage Lottery Fund, FEAST Cornwall, The Tanner Trust, Cornwall Community Foundation, Pavilion Dance South West, The Garfield Weston Foundation and generous private donors.

The project resulted in a wealth of artwork in different media and two major dance theatre productions 'Cornish Doorways' inspired by Godolphin House and 'Ladders and Footprints' inspired by John Passmore Edwards.

Audience members said:

A really well put together show, full of love, laughter, sadness and all emotions in between! I was really blown away by people’s dedication, patience, focus and persistence.

It was wonderful to see all the performers together as equal

What a wonderful evening: The ability to make tangible connections between the artforms – dance, drawing, poetry, performance, photography – is so exciting and of such high quality, and the audience is clearly spellbound! More please.

What a wonderful, wonderful performance on Friday. Thank you all for a lovely evening.

One dancer passes another dancer a book as part of the performance. They are outside dancing between big pillars.
Ladders and Footprints at Falmouth Library