Cai Tomos, CAIN - Elegant / Intricate Documentary, a People Dancing Wales Commission
Cai Tomos, a freelance choreographer and performer from Dolgellau, North Wales and based in London built upon his previous learning under the mentorship of Anna Halprin, the founder of the Tamalpa Method and deepened his understanding of the Tamalpa methodology through further training and mentoring.
Cai applied this learning during regular monthly workshops with CAIN, the older people’s dance group he leads at Galeri, Caernarfon, during and beyond this 2014 Wales Commission. Galeri is supporting Cai’s work with CAIN in his capacity as a Creu Cymru Dance Buddy with the venue.
The first part of Cai’s commission activity was a residential programme in France in August 2014, with G. Hoffman Soto, a Senior Associate of the Tamalpa Institute, California who has been teaching in the training programs at Tamalpa Institute since its inception in 1978. As a collaborator at the Institute, he has contributed to the evolving nature of the Tamalpa Life/Art Process. Soto teaches Somatics and Experiential Anatomy at New College of California and has taught internationally since 1979. He also leads a yearly training program in Germany called Awareness in Movement, and has been a regular teacher at the Institute Gestalt Wurzburg since 1981.
Following this residential programme and in his sessions with CAIN, Cai received mentoring support from Lian Wilson, Creative Director with Tamalpa UK and a certified Movement Therapist RSMT and Movement Educator RSME with ISMETA (International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association). Lian is a Tamalpa Practitioner, Dancer and Associate of the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health, and is a respected and internationally established Tamalpa teacher. She visited Cai and the CAIN group in Caernarfon in October 2014.
Cai shared his learning and spoke about his broad experience of working with older people at People Dancing in the session, But is it art? which is also available to view on our Panel Discussions page.
Related Content
Find out more about the creative process behind this and the other 3 Wales Commissions, on our dedicated webpage. Commissioned with support and produced in partnership with Arts Council of Wales and find out more about Cai’s work here.