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Which leads us into our Autumn-Winter season with another 8 week DWD project in Rhyl, Denbighshire.

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This iteration we were working with resettled families mainly from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan in partnership with the British Red Cross- thank you to Danielle and Clare who supported us with the children and created our little dino team. We had such a beautiful mix of children ranging from ages 3 to 12 years old. Our final performance group had 11 participants, who all became wonderful dino dancers!

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Eve and Anita were delivering on this project, accompanied by Charlotte one of our newest freelance practitioners who was shadowing a few sessions and lending a helping hand.

We were very fortunate to have a Ukrainian interpreter from Denbighshire County Council work with us throughout the duration of the project. Svitlana was a joy to have onboard and we were so thankful to have her communication skills and all the efforts she went to in order to communicate with the children and their families.

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Early on in the project we also had another fantastic dino packed virtual workshop session from National Museum Wales based in Cardiff led by the awesome Dan. Dan even went to such lengths to interpret key dinosaur words and phrases in Ukrainian and Syrian- how amazing. Again, we feel so lucky to have had the privilege to work with NMW and look forward to another workshop in the near future!

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Mid way through our project we had another surprise visit from some rather big footed friends- the animatronic dinosaurs from Jurassic Live! We had a total of 3 visits from the team; thank you to Jake, Nathan and Henry for their commitment and work and making memories for the children. The Jurassic Live team now have two new dinosaurs which we were fortunate to include in our final performance piece- Rocky and Bash! They are great additions to the dino extravaganza team.

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Throughout the project Eve and Anita really enjoyed and took great pride in seeing the progression of the children. They became better communicators; their confidence grew and they became more involved and engaged in the project. They were willing to explore more creative movement whilst also taking on leadership roles themselves- Da Iawn!

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The final performance showcase event was presented in the fantastic Christ the Word school in Rhyl (which some of the children involved in the project attend). The school were so accommodating and most generous with the use of the drama theatre facilities. The staff have been so supportive and we are truly thankful for everything Christ the Word provided for us- Diolch yn fawr!

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Eleni is most happy to relay that the performance event was a huge success, with the children performing twice in the theatre at Christ the Word school to their family and friends. Bash and Rocky were on their best behaviour at the performance event and the children taught them a step or two!

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We celebrated with the children with a yummy stupendous cake made especially for us by the Ginger Bear Cake Co- a gracious thank you to Sian for whipping up another dino delight. The children involved in the project were all awarded with thank you/goody bags which included their photo with the dinosaurs, their t shirts with a chosen art dinosaur design by Anya (one of our older girl dancers), National Museum Wales arts and crafts goodies, Eleni merchandise all in a super cute dinosaur themed backpack to take away.

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However, our biggest thank you goes out to the children and families that participated in the project- without you we wouldn’t have had the experience we all shared, we hope the project created lasting memories for you that like us; you will cherish.

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Stayed tuned for our third and final iteration of Dancing with Dinosaurs; taking us to Flintshire next!