Dance for Parkinson's in the Pontio Centre

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I remember an interview with Tamara Rojo in which she said that one of English National Ballet's achievements of which she was particularly proud were its Dance for Parkinson's class.  I blogged about them in English National Ballet's Appeal for Funds for its Parkinson's Classes on 14 Dec 2014 and I have supported them ever since.

I have recently learnt that the National Dance Company Wales runs Dance for Parkinson's classes at the Pontio Centre in Bangor as well as Blackwood, Cardiff and Wrexham.  The Pontio Centre is an initiative of Bangor University that houses a theatre, cinema, gallery, fabLab, bars and restaurants as well as the dance studio where the classes take place.  I described its importance in How the Pontio Centre and M-SParc complement each other in the Social and Economic Development of Northwest Wales in NIPC Wales on 5 June 2020:

"Like M-SParc, the Pontio Centre is an initiative of Bangor University and they complement each other. While the science park provides facilities for new knowledge-based businesses the Pontio is a venue for the performing arts. Both are essential for the economic and social regeneration of Northwest Wales. The new businesses in or clustering around M-SParc already provide employment for the region's graduates and young professionals. The arts will nourish their minds and spirits."

I have reviewed three shows at the Pontio by Ballet Cymru:  Dylan Thomas – A Child’s Christmas, Poems and Tiger Eggs on 1 Dec 2018, Wired to the Moon, Divided We Stand and Celtic Concerto on 30 Nov 2019 and A Child's Christmas and Terms and Conditions on 2 Dec 2022.

According to the National Dance Company's website classes at the Pontio take place every Tuesday at 13:30 and cost £3.50.  The Centre is on Deiniol Toad not far from the town centre.  There is a car park almost opposite.

The National Dance Company Wales is one of the UK's leading contemporary dance companies.  It is based at the Dancehouse in Cardiff   It is about to take its mixed bill Pulse which will start at the Pontio on 23 March 2023 and will take in London, Derby and Huddersfield as well as venues throughout Wales.  I am looking forward to seeing the show at the Lawrence Batley on 18 May 2023.

Ballet Cymru at the Bangor Pontio Centre

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Ballet Cymru has commissioned Charlotte Edmonds to create a new ballet called Wired to the Moon. to a score by Katya Richardson with sets and costumes by  Eleanor Bull,  It will be performed at the Pontio Centre in Bangor together with Patricia Vallis's Divided We Stand and Darius James and Amy Doughty's Celtic Concerto on 29 Nov 2019.  I saw Divided We Stand in Cardiff earlier this year (see Made in Wales 29 March 2919) and Celtic Concerto at Sadlers Wells (see Ballet Cymru in London 1 Dec 2015). I can recommend the evening for those two works alone.  Having seen Edmunds's Fuse for the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company and her contribution to Northern Ballet's Tell-Tale Steps I think we can expect a very special evening.

The Pontio Centre is more than a theatre as I said in The Pontio Centre: A Resource for Inventors, Designers and Makers in North Wales 14 Dec 2018 NIPC Inventors Club. There is also a cinema, restaurant, students' union, bars and cafés and, most importantly, the Hwb which is the Pontio innovation area.  According to the Centre's website:

"Pontio Innovation is about equipping individuals and businesses with the tools they need to succeed in the modern economy. With a focus on transdisciplinary working and rapid prototyping, the Co-Lab, Media Lab, Hackspace and Fablab areas are equipped with cutting-edge technologies. It will boost the University’s cross-disciplinary teaching programmes and encourage collaborative work between students, staff and local businesses,"

Like the Menai Science Park (M-SParc) which I shall be visiting earlier in the day to give a talk to local entrepreneurs, inventors and creatives it is an initiative of Bangor University. New knowledge-based businesses are sprouting are springing up on both banks of the Menai Strait.

Many of the folk who have migrating or returning to Bangor and Anglesey will be attracted by the combination of coastal, mountain and pastoral landscapes that make Northwest Wales one of the most beautiful corners of the planet, but they also require the arts.  That is why the Ponto Centre's facilities supporting regular visits by Wales's classical dance company and other world-class performing artists are crucial to the social and economic development of Northwest Wales.