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CHRISTMAS OPENING HOURS

Last class of 2011 is Friday 16th December.
No class Friday 23rd or 30th December.
Classes resume on Friday 6th January 2012.

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Saturday 26th March 2011 - 8pm

Diamond Night 6

(See the main Diamond Night page for general information about these events.)

The sixth in our series of arts evenings, bringing 'uncut performance gems' (ours and others') into the spotlight.

This time we have film, dance, music, and spoken word. The line-up includes:

Ari Robbins
Martin Hackett
Ayala Kingsley
Paulette Mae
Dariusz Dziala and Ana Barbour
Bruno Guastalla
Jeannie Donald Mckim and Café Reason
Malcolm Atkins
Pete McPhail
Vahni Capildeo

Oxford Brookes University Drama Studio map
Headington Hill Campus
Headington Hill, Oxford
Cost: FREE
Time: 8:00pm

Directions... map
...from central Oxford, follow High Street over the river to the roundabout at The Plain, take first exit (St Clements) and continue past traffic lights and straight on up Headington Hill, past the park, and then take the first driveway to the left near the top of the hill. Go past the gatehouse and take the 2nd turning on the right. The Drama Studio is a smallish, squarish building with railings outside the door, set back from the main driveway. Last time I checked, parking was still unrestricted on Saturday evenings.

...from London, buses go every ten minutes and run all night. Catch either the Oxford Tube, or the Oxford Express, then ask the driver to drop you at the stop called 'Gyspy Lane' or 'Brookes University'. Get off the bus and CROSS THE ROAD. There are two campuses, and the one you want is the less obvious one, a few metres further down the hill and on the other side of the road.

Friday 3rd June & Saturday 4th June - 8pm

Matrix

(For full programme see the main Matrix page.)

Cafe Reason return to the splendidly refurbished Pegasus Theatre with their latest offering - a sparkling collection of performance gems, mined from the popular Diamond Night experimental arts showcase. Over the past two years, Diamond Night has given many of the individual members of the group an opportunity to find their own creative voices. Matrix weaves together a 'best of' Diamond Night, that also makes the most of the new venue, as the butoh 'otherworld' leaches out of the confines of the stage.

Time: 8 pm
Venue: Pegasus Theatre, Magdalen Road, OX4 1RE
Tickets: £10, (£8 concs, £6 U18)
Tel: 01865 812150
www.pegasustheatre.org.uk

Sunday 24th to Tuesday 26th July 2011

Devon Landscape Retreat

Cafe Reason are going to the South Devon coast to hold a butoh nature retreat and workshop towards the end of July. This is something we have been doing when we can over the past few years and you can read a bit about some of our previous landscape retreats here.

We realised there will be more space available than we thought so we decided to open it to others this time. Mainly by invitation but if you are inspired to come then please do get in touch.

What? Butoh workshop and nature retreat
Why? Because ocean waves never get tired
When? Sunday 24th July til Tuesday 26th July
Where? Branscombe, on the South Devon coast
Who? Led by Paul Mackilligin
Cost? £35 (please bring breakfast and snacks)
Book? Email paul@cafereason.com
Info? Paul (07796 691037) or Bitzia (07837 096619)

We have use of a large private house with space for up to 12 people to sleep (please bring sleeping bag and/or sheets, towels, etc.) We also have use of a purpose-built dance studio in the garden.

The beach and cliffs are just a few minutes' walk away and we will be working/playing in the landscape whatever the weather so please come prepared with rain gear and sun protection, etc. Also, please bring a pair of walking boots/shoes and a pair of gloves if you can - like gardening gloves or similar - something that will protect your hands from rocks, etc. Bring outdoor clothes that you won't mind getting a bit of good honest dirt on. Also you will need clean dance clothes for the studio and swimming gear.

We will arrive on the Sunday afternoon and do something quite gentle in the studio on Sunday evening. Then the workshop proper will start on Monday morning and end on Tuesday mid-evening. We will leave on Wednesday morning, or Tuesday evening if you prefer. Lifts can probably be arranged from both Oxford and the London area.

About the workshop:
The point of this for me is to learn from nature - to suspend some of our habitual 'civilised' patterns and structures just enough to see that there are other ways of being and moving used by other life forms and non-life forms, ways which might be richer or easier.

Suspending familiar patterns can sometimes feel like hard work (or can sometimes feel 'too easy' to be worthwhile!) but the point is to discover how for example waves can continue to roll up a beach for millions of years without a single day off or coffee break, how seagulls hang in the air like that and how a particular wind-blown tree on a cliff perceives the world around it.

While engaged in this exploration process we may discover new ways of moving, but the point is equally that by changing the shape of our perceptual apparatus - our 'body antenna' - we may pick up more information from the natural processes surrounding us.

At some point on Tuesday we will be giving a performance in a public space.

What else to say...? I've just come back from Northern Norway where I gave a butoh performance at an art festival at Kråkeslottet on the island of Senja. Someone suggested a photo of me there might be good to include here but I don't know how to do that so I'll just give you the link to the article on the festival web site instead.

Google Translate will make a reasonable job of translating these Norwegian web sites.

Friday 21st October 2011 - 8pm

Diamond Night 7

(See the main Diamond Night page for general information about these events.)

The seventh in our series of arts evenings, bringing 'uncut performance gems' (ours and others') into the spotlight.

The Studio
Pegasus Theatre
Magdalen Road
Oxford
Cost: FREE
Time: 8:00pm

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