Dementia Care Matters Brings In-Flight's NAOMI'S FLIGHT to The Old Market This Month

Dementia Care Matters is bringing over the In-Flight Theater production Naomi's Flight from the USA to the UK for the first time. There will be four performances in November 2014 which will be held at The Old Market Theatre in Hove.

Naomi's Flight combines theatrical storytelling with daring aerial acrobatics on three suspended metal sculptures to present an intensely personal drama and often humorous perspective of a family coping with age, diabetes, and dementia. Mara Neimanis draws on her own experience of her mother's diabetes and dementia and her 81 year old father's challenges as the primary caregiver for her mother, to reveal the enduring bonds and obligations of love as well as a world that is upside down and inside out.

In-Flight Theater's brand of aerial theater is sometimes performed inches above the floor, or sometimes 15 feet up on suspended steel sculptures. This creates a physical context to turn what could be mere spectacle into a moving and uninhibited narrative about the nature of memory, the struggles of caregivers and the descent into dementia. Naomi's Flight takes the personal and makes it universal as the journey of care giving begins for the baby boom generation.

The first performance will be part of the 9th UK Dementia Congress (UKDC) which is being held at the Brighton Hilton Metropole on Monday 10th November. This performance is being sponsored by Bupa, Brunelcare and Pegasus. Delegates at UKDC will be invited to an evening performance on Monday 10th November as well as participating in a workshop with In-Flight Theatre's Mara Neimanis and Dementia Care Matters' CEO/Founder David Sheard.

The three public performances of Naomi's Flight are on Tuesday 11th, Thursday 13th and Friday 14th November 2014 at 8:30pm with a ticket price of £12.50. Tickets can be booked with The Old Market.

DETAILS:

In-Flight Theater with Dementia Care Matters presents:
Naomi's Flight
Written by and starring Mara Neimanis,
Directed and stage managed by Bryce Butler
Lighting design by Kendra Richards

Opens the 9th UK Dementia Congress on Monday 10th November 2014 at The Old Market.
Public Performances: Tuesday 11th, Thursday 12th and Friday 14th at 8:30 pm.

Ticket Price: £12.50
Venue: The Old Market, 11A Upper Market St, Brighton, East Sussex BN3 1AS.
Book Online: http://theoldmarket.com/shows/naomis-flight/
Book by phone - Monday to Friday 1-5pm: 01273 201 801

Mara Neimanis, In-Flight Theater - Mara Neimanis is the founder, artistic director and principle performer of In-Flight Theater where she has developed a unique style of theatre that combines sculpture, text, and aerial elements together in solo performances as well as in collaborations with theatre, dance, and aerial companies. Mara tours and teaches throughout the United States and internationally in Latvia, Israel, and Costa Rica. Mara runs In-Flight Theater studios in Baltimore and produces the Baltimore Alley Aerial Festival. Mara received the 2013 and 2014 Maryland State Arts Council award for solo performance for Naomi's Flight and best of the DC Fringe 2007 for her hit solo show, Air Heart. Her work has been described; "Neimanis makes the impossible look supremely easy" - The Washington Post / "Naomi's Flight is a bold new fusion in performance art that will shake you to the core with understanding, compassion and empathy." - DC Metro Arts /"Naomi's Flight is something truly unique and significant in the scope of physical performance" - Maryland Theatre Guide.

Dr David Sheard, Founder/CEO of Dementia Care Matters - Dementia Care Matters is a leading dementia care organisation providing consultancy, training, resources and research across the UK and Ireland. The approaches are designed to create culture change and deliver real outcomes in person centred dementia care. Over the last 30 years David Sheard has developed a reputation as a challenging and motivational speaker and as a leading dementia care consultant in the UK, Ireland, USA, Australia and Canada. His main focus in speaking has been to hold up a mirror to reflect the realities of dementia care and what it really takes to 'get it'. After 15 years in health and social services in specialist dementia care posts, latterly as a General Manager-Old Age Psychiatry in an NHS Trust, David founded Dementia Care Matters in 1995. His purpose is to demonstrate that dementia care is about emotional care, and that this is no different to what we all need in life. For over 10 years David worked as an external training consultant to Alzheimer's Society. He has an appointment as a Visiting Senior fellow in the School of Health and Social Care, University of Surrey and holds the Honorary degree award of Doctor of the University (DUniv). In 2009 David worked as a Dementia Care Consultant to the BBC for the programme 'Can Gerry Robinson Fix Dementia Care Homes' believing this was the most powerful way to get the message across that dementia care could be so different.

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