Living Archive project

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Your donation will be used to create a 'Living Archive' of personal interviews with people who worked directly with Peter Darrell.

Their recollections will provide a first-hand insight into his achievement and gathered together they will form a testament to the power and originality of his life's work, directly connecting that experience to the viewer. We anticipate this material being in various ways:

  1. As part of the Peter Darrell Trust website in order to develop the site as a major cultural resource for all. The interviews, and their structuring within the web site, will be designed for any user to understand more about Peter Darrell the artist, the ground-breaking ballets he created and the choreographic process in general; to look at what inspired him through talking to the people who worked closely with him; also to look at the contribution he made to dance in Scotland.
  2. Providing engaging material for anyone interested in animating a programme of talks, lectures and workshops which can be taken out to groups and associations among the wider public, whose primary focus has not previously been dance-oriented. The thrust of Peter Darrell's belief from the very beginning, as I am sure you know, was that dance was not only for the dance specialist but should reach out to people who might not naturally realise its power and appeal.
  3. To support education in Scotland's growing dance environment as Darrell's work played a major role in its development. It is important that dance students understand what this means: besides providing Scotland with its national ballet company Darrell also set out to broaden the national audience by invoking his first principles - to present de-mystifed, compellingly theatrical dance to completely new audiences, using new forms and contemporary subject matter.

The body of interviews will become a crucial part in the development of the existing Peter Darrell website but will also be lodged as a national resource in the Scottish Theatre Archive. The Royal Academy of Music and Drama, The Scottish School for Contemporary Dance, Dance School of Scotland, Telford College of Education, The Edinburgh Central Music Library.

We hope that you will be interested in supporting this project.

If you know anyone who may be interested, please feel free to let them know about our project.

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