Date: Thursday afternoons 16, 23 and 30 June 2016. It’s up to you how many of them to come to.
Each person can choose between tap and percussion, or do a bit of both.
Time: Take note, the time is not the same every week!
| Date | Start | Finish |
| 16 June | 2pm | 3.30pm |
| 23 June | 12.30pm | 2pm |
| 30 June | 2pm | 3.30pm |
(We asked for timing preferences: some families were busy earlier, and some later, so this timing is to give as many people as possible the chance to join in and try it.)
As these free sessions are drop-in, we don’t know exactly how many people will come. If it turns out there’s more than about 30 to 40 of us, then some people might have to wait a little while before they get a go, depending on space and available tap shoes. Info below on likely timing plan, plus soft play area and café.
Venue: St Saviour’s Church Hall, Arkwright Walk, Nottingham NG2 2JU. Update: Apparently that postcode doesn’t work very well in satnavs, so maybe click through to the map, or have a look at the church’s “how to find us” page – see below.
Area: The Meadows, on the Navy and Green bus lines. Portland Leisure Centre is about 200 yards away.
Age range: All ages! including parents!
Price: FREE for these three sessions, supported by National Lottery funding.
These sessions have been specially set up for non-school families. Those considering non-school education for the future are also welcome!
(If enough of us wanted it, we might subsequently set up a regular group where we chip in to pay session leaders.)
There will be tap shoes available to borrow, starting at around a child size 13 and going up to adult size. For children with feet much smaller than size 13, maybe see if there are some shoes with a hard sole that you could bring.
Booking: There’s no need to book, just turn up. However, if this is your first visit to a home ed event and you won’t know anyone, do drop us a line via email first, so we know to look out for you and say hello!
Enquiries/contact: tapdance at non-school-nottingham dot org dot uk.
Nearby Soft Play and café: Eden Soft Play is in the church itself, in the same group of buildings, along with a community café.
The 4-tier soft play area is open to children under a height limit of 5 feet / 148cm, as measured by their sign, and has a separate toddler area. (It’s advertised as “under-10s”, but in fact that’s a guideline; the real cut-off, for insurance & safety reasons, is the height limit.)
At the soft play area, accompanying adults and under-1s go free. For the children in the paying age ranges, we will have some vouchers to get into soft play for half price. We plan to give out these vouchers when people arrive. This allows for parents to collaborate and take some children into the soft play area if they’re not interested in the tap and percussion, or if they have to wait a little while for their turn.
More on what will happen at the tap and percussion…
Leading the tap session, we have Jess Murray, “a leading artist in the UK’s rhythm tap community… musicality, improvisation and self-expression at the heart of the tap dancer’s craft”.
On percussion, we have Stickman, “world class, multi-disciplined, drummer and percussionist, also a poet, actor, educator, conceptual artist and father”.
The flavour will be informal and there will be a fair bit of “see what everyone wants to do on the day” – perhaps especially at the first session when the group is new.
We shall have two rooms, so that it’s possible for the tappers to go in one space and the percussionists to go in another.
What we might do is have three stages: a first go, a break, a second go which gives priority to anyone who hasn’t yet tried what they wanted, another break, then come together for the last part.
Or we might just be all together all the way through.
Map showing St Saviour’s Church Halls.
St Saviour’s “How to find us” page.
Nearest bus stop: “Ryehill Street“, on the Navy and Green Lines. All the bus numbers from 1 to 10 stop here. It’s about 250 yards from the venue.
Nearest tram stop: “Queens Walk”, about 650 yards from the venue (i.e. the bus stop is closer). You’d need to be on a Clifton tram. Tram information.
Parking: some by the venue, lots at Portland Leisure Centre about 200 yards away.
