Dance Performance at the Thamesmead Festival 2023

My name is Melissa Rayne and I'm a neurodivergent Dancer and Dance Maker, born in Wales but residing in London. I'm crowdfunding to support the creation of a new contemporary dance work, The Tree of Life, to be performed at the Thamesmead Festival 2023 on Saturday 12th August on the Southmere Stage. The festival is an annual community event that aims to showcase the best creative and performing talents in this often underappreciated area of South East London.

The Tree of Life is my first submission to the festival, and I feel incredibly privileged to have been selected. My vision is to bring high-quality contemporary dance to Thamesmead to engage with an audience who may not have seen professional work like this before — especially dance that's choreographed and performed by a neurodivergent artist. Following my performance, the audience will even have the opportunity to participate in a short workshop led by myself and my two dancers.

The reason I'm crowdfunding is that due to the community nature of the festival, the organisers aren't able to fund the creation of work (it's quite like the Edinburgh Fringe in that respect!). Therefore, I will be self-funding almost every aspect, from studio hire to wages and costumes. If I'm able to reach my funding goal, it's my dream to add a stretch goal to hire a professional musician to perform alongside us.

In bringing the Tree of Life to life (pun intended) it's my immense privilege to be working with two incredibly gifted dance artists: Aaron Markwell and Jan Wood. The work has its roots at The Playground Rambert, where I first trialed my choreographic ideas with 20+ dancers and a professional musician. My long-term vision for this work is to continue to develop it and to go on to apply for further performance opportunities. Performing at the Thamesmead Festival will be a major step towards fulfilling that goal.

About Melissa Rayne:

I am a neurodivergent Dancer and Dancemaker. Drawing on an eclectic movement history of classical/contemporary dance, martial arts & somatic movement practices, I create engaging Dance Art from a feminine perspective.

For over 10 years, I have danced with established and independent choreographers and companies throughout Europe, including: Budapest Dance Theatre, InverseDance, Ofelia Jarl Ortega, Phoenix Dance Theatre/BBC Television and Ranbu Collective. As a choreographer, I was part of the Creative Team for Trigger Theatre's Platinum Jubilee performance of The Hatchling in 2022, entered work into the Szoloduo Festival, Budapest and am an active member of The Playground Rambert creative community.

Visit my website: www.melissaraynedance.com

Follow me on Instagram: lupusmelis

About The Thamesmead Festival:

The Thamesmead Festival is renowned for being the "biggest annual event on Thamesmead's cultural calendar". It takes place at the abundant Southmere Park, overlooking Southmere Lake and the iconic tower blocks of this mid 20th century Brutalist development.

Find out more here.