Wingham's Jill Watkins has been mentoring dancer, and choreographer, Kristina Chan to bring a new performance opportunity to local youth.
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Kristina is a recipient of the National Regional Arts Fellowship Program 2020 and is currently calling for young people aged 10-24 affected by bushfire and drought to take part in RECOVER/CREATE 2021, a series of free performance art workshops followed by a show at the Manning Entertainment Centre.
Kristina first met Jill after moving to the region in 2018 from Sydney.
With more than two decades of professional dance experience under her belt, Kristina knew she was bringing something unique to her new community.
But it was the culmination of the the 2019 bushfires and the affects of the ongoing drought that inspired Kristina to develop RECOVER/CREATE 2021.
She knew it was an ambitious project and one she would need help to pull off.
Though Kristina has ample professional dance and choreography experience including working extensively with youth, she is yet to fully manage a community project from start to finish.
Enter Jill Watkins who specialises in circus and cultural development as a vehicle to bring artistic expression opportunities to the community.
In other words she is very experienced at producing community performance projects.
"I realised Jill would be the perfect mentor and guide," Kristina said.
"I asked her and she was absolutely great."
The pair have had quite a few meetings in recent months and Jill has helped Kristina with contacts to get the ball rolling on her project.
She has also offered the Circartus studio in Wingham for the series of free workshops being held from February to April 2021.
Kristina hopes the workshops will help young people to recover from the devastation of the fires, drought and of course COVID, as well as develop new skills for the future.
The workshops will help train and develop skills in movement, choreography, voice and contemporary performance.
Thanks to the Manning Entertainment Centre, the participants will be able to perform in front of their families and invited guests in a large venue once the workshops are complete.
Expressions of interest and for more information about the free workshops, contact Kristina Chan via email at chankristina@gmail.com or visit her website www.kristina-chan.com