A series of individual site specific disability-led Dance for Camera Films created in response to a year long residency by traveller dance in the National Museum of Scotland

• Director: Janice Parker
• Camera: Mela Shaw, Eveline Nicolette
• Edit : Emma Davie

Commissioned by Artlink, Edinburgh and Lothians

traveller dance were given free reign in the Museum. Janice approached the new National Museum of Scotland to request time and space for the traveller dancers to be in residence there. The dancers met weekly and regularly for over a year initially in the education room and then spreading out through the museum. Janice and the dancers wanted to create work that reflected each dancers individual response to and area of interest in the museum. This gradually surfaced and cemented over the year. Some dancers chose the open spaces of the architecture, others the more hidden spaces. One dancer was fascinated by what happened behind the doors that the public (and him) normally weren’t allowed entry to. Other dancers connected with objects and artefacts from various collections. Each dancer eventually had a day with the camera to collect the footage for their film – work that gave voice, visibility, presence and validation to the learning disabled performers and that also contributed to the life, understanding experience of the museum. The resulting films were screened a number of times in the museum’s lecture hall and in various places and spaces locally. There is also a responsive essay accompanying the film series written by Artlink’s projects director, Alison Stirling.