Amgueddfa Sir Gaerfyrddin // Carmarthenshire Museum
Yr arddangosfa Cragen Beca yn parhau tan 1 Hydref 2022 // The Cragen Beca exhibition continues until 1 October 2022
Amgueddfa Sir Gaerfyrddin // Carmarthenshire Museum, Abergwili SA31 2JG
Dydd Mawrth – Dydd Sadwrn 11am – 4pm // Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 4pm
Mae’r artist symud Simon Whitehead wedi gweithio gyda mi i ddatblygu symudiadau gyda thri pherfformiwr a fydd yn gwisgo gwisgoedd Cragen Beca ar gyfer ffilm artist a fydd yn cael ei dangos ochr yn ochr â’r gwisgoedd yn Amgueddfa Sir Gaerfyrddin, Abergwili o 14 Mai.
Yn wreiddiol yn Geograffydd, hyfforddodd Simon mewn Dawns yn Llundain ac Efrog Newydd ar ddechrau’r nawdegau. Mae ganddo ddiddordeb yn y ffordd y mae pobl bob amser yn symud mewn gohebiaeth â grymoedd, bodau a deunyddiau eraill a bod dawns yn ffordd o ddod adref ar y ddaear gyda’n gilydd – nid ydym byth yn symud ar ein pen ein hunain. Mae Simon wedi teithio’n eang gyda’i waith a thros y 10 mlynedd diwethaf mae wedi canolbwyntio ei ymarfer yn nes at adref. Mae’n aelod o Maynard Abercych CIC, artist rhyngddisgyblaethol ar y cyd sy’n cydweithio ar raglen o weithgarwch dawns yn gysylltiedig ym mhentref Abercych gorllewin Cymru. Gyda’i gilydd, maent yn rheoli dawns Twmpath/pentref, yn gweithio drwy breswyliadau dawns barhaus, gweithdai, partneriaethau lleol a rhyngwladol.
Mae yng nghanol PhD (Ymarfer fel Ymchwil) a ariennir gan yr AHRC ym Mhrifysgol Glasgow. Mae’n meddwl am syniadau ecolegol Posthuman mewn perthynas â choreograffau o gyffwrdd ac effaith. Mae Simon hefyd yn therapydd Craniosacral.
Simon has lived and worked in rural Wales for the last 28 years. He currently lives in Abercych with his partner/ dancer Stirling Steward and his 2 daughters.
Movement artist Simon Whitehead has worked with me to develop movements with three performers to wear the Cragen Beca costumes for an artist’s film which will be shown alongside the costumes at Carmarthenshire Museum, Abergwili from 14 May.
Originally a Geographer, Simon trained in Dance in London and New York in the early nineties. He is interested in how humans are always moving in correspondence with other forces, beings and materials and that dance is a way to become at home on the earth with each other – we are never moving alone.
Simon has travelled widely with his work and over the last 10 years has focussed his practice closer to home, he is a member of Maynard Abercych CIC, an interdisciplinary artist collective that collaborate on a programme of engaged dance activity in the village of Abercych west Wales. Together, they manage the Twmpath/village dance, work through ongoing dance residencies, workshops, local and international partnerships.
He is in the midst of an AHRC-funded PhD (Practice as Research) at The University of Glasgow, he is thinking about Posthuman ecological ideas in relation to choreographies of touch and affect. An artist book is emerging out of this work. Simon is also a Craniosacral therapist.
Ces i benwythnos rhagorol, yn gweithio gyda thri dawnsiwr a pherfformwyr rhyfeddol i wisgo a bywhau ein gwisgoedd Rebecca. Rydyn ni yn creu ffilm i fod rhan o’r arddangosfa Cragen Beca yn Amgueddfa Sir Gar canol mis Mai.
Diolch enfawr i Marc Rees, Osian Meilir a Jonathan Pugh am eu brwdfrydedd mewn gwisgo lan ac am ffeindio eu ‘Becca mewnol’. Diolch i’r artist symudiad Simon Whitehead am ei gwaith meddylgar ac am helpu i ddatblygu’r perfformiadau.
Diolch hefyd i wneuthurwr ffilm, Jacob Whittaker a Jay, ei chynorthwyydd. Diolch i Hilton am adael ni defnyddio ei sgubor ffantastig am y ffilmio.
Rwy’n edrych ymlaen i rhannu lluniau o’r y dydd yn fuan.
I had such a brilliant weekend working with three amazing dancers and performers to wear and animate the Rebecca costumes. We’re making a film that will be part of the Cragen Beca exhibition at Carmarthenshire Museum in mid-May.
Thank you so much to Marc Rees, Osian Meilir and Jonathan Pugh for inhabiting the costumes so brilliantly and finding their ‘inner Becca’! Thank you to movement artist Simon Whitehead for his thoughtful work helping to develop the performances.
Thanks also to filmmaker Jacob Whittaker and assistant Jay as well as Hilton who let us use his beautiful Carmarthenshire barn as a location for the filming.
Looking forward to sharing stills from the shoot very soon.
Mae Osian Meilir yn artist sy’n creu a pherfformio gwaith dawns a symud ac mae bellach wedi’i leoli yng Nghymru. Yn hanu’n wreiddiol o Bentre’r Bryn, ar arfordir gorllewin Cymru, aeth Meilir ymlaen i hyfforddi yn Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Yno, enillodd radd dosbarth cyntaf cyn bwrw ymlaen â’i astudiaethau a chwblhau ei radd Meistr mewn Perfformiad Dawns yn rhan o Transitions Dance Company.
Mae profiadau cynharaf Meilir, a’i gefndir yn ymhêl â’r ddawns werin Gymreig, wedi golygu bod Meilir yn gwerthfawrogi dawns o bob math o ddiwylliannau gwahanol. Mae hefyd wedi golygu ei fod yn cael mwynhad o ystyried y ffordd y gall dawns godi pontydd pwysig rhwng pobl o bob cwr o’r byd.
Mae Osian yn gweithio gyda phrosiect Cragen Beca i ddatblygu sgiliau perfformio pobl ifanc ar gyfer Parêd Cragen Beca.
Mae gwaith Meilir fel perfformiwr yn cynnwys gweithio gyda artistiaid fel Lizzi Kew Ross & Co, Gwyn Emberton Dance, Satore Tech a Fearghus O’Conchuir gyda Chwmni Dawns Cenedlaethol Cymru. Mae ei waith hefyd yn ehangu i fyd theatr ar gyfer cynulleidfaoedd ifanc drwy berfformio gwaith gan Carlos Pons Guerra a Paul Bosco McEneaney, yn teithio ledled y DU ac yn rhyngwladol, yn ogystal a’i waith solo ei hun ar gyfer Cwmni Theatr Arad Goch – Palmant / Pridd (Pavement / Pasture). Fe greodd ei berfformiad cyntaf graddfa ganol – Qwerin, fel cyfarwyddwr a choreograffydd yn 2021 ac mae ganddo brofiad helaeth o arwain gweithdai a dosbarthiadau i blant a phobl ifanc.
Bydd Qwerin yn ymddangos fel rhan o’r diweddglo Parêd Cragen Beca yn Sgwâr y Guildhall, Caerfyrddin ar 1 Mai 2022.
Osian Meilir is a performer, dance-maker and movement artist based in Wales. Originally from Pentre’r Bryn, on the west coast of Wales, Meilir went on to train at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, attaining a first-class degree, before continuing his studies and completing his M.A. in Dance Performance as part of Transitions Dance Company.
His very early experiences and background of Welsh folk dance has led him to appreciate dance from all different cultures, and to enjoy how dance can build meaningful bridges between people from around the world.
Osian is working with the Cragen Beca project to develop the perfomance skills of young people for the Cragen Beca Parade.
Meilir’s work as a performer has seen him working with artists such as Lizzi Kew Ross & Co, Gwyn Emberton Dance, Satore Tech and Fearghus O’Conchuir at National Dance Company of Wales. His work also expands into working in theatre for young audiences, performing in works by Carlos Pons Guerra and Paul Bosco McEneaney, touring accross the UK and internationally, as well as his own solo work for Arad Goch Theatre Company – Palmant / Pridd (Pavement / Pasture). He premiered his first mid-scale production – ‘Qwerin’, as director and choreographer in 2021 and also has extensive experience in leading workshops and classes for children and young people.
Qwerin will be appearing as part of the Cragen Beca Parade finale in Guildhall Square, Carmarthen on 1 May 2022.
Aeth Jacob a minnau ar daith o amgylch Sir Gaerfyrddin ddoe i edrych ar leoliadau ar gyfer y ffilmiau Cragen Beca rydym yn eu creu yn rhan o’r prosiect.
Treuliom dipyn o amser yn Nhalog yn cael golwg ar y pentref a rhai o’r mannau pwysig sy’n gysylltiedig â stori Cragen Beca. Gwnaethom gwrdd â Myrddin ym mynwent Capel Bethania a oedd yn cadw’r beddau a’r tir yn gymen. Cyflwynodd ef ni i bâr hyfryd o beunod a oedd yn treulio ychydig o amser yn ei gwmni ymysg y cerrig beddi. Mae Myrddin yn 80 mlwydd oed ac mae wedi byw yn Nhalog ar hyd ei oes. Adroddodd yr hanes am yr adeg y cafodd ei fedyddio ym mhwll y pentref pan oedd yn ei arddegau. Dywedodd wrthym hefyd am enwau rhai o’r ffermydd y gallem eu gweld ar hyd y bryniau.
Hefyd bu inni gwrdd â pherchnogion yr adeilad sydd bellach yn sefyll ar safle hen Felin Talog lle roedd John Harries, a oedd â rhan allweddol yn stori Merched Beca yng Nghaerfyrddin, yn arfer byw.
Jacob and I went on a road trip around the Carmarthenshire yesterday to look at locations for the Cragen Beca films we are making as part of the project.
We spend a while in Talog looking at the village and some of the important places that are connected to the Cragen Beca story. We met Myrddin in the graveyard of Bethania Chapel who was keeping the graves and the grounds in good order. He introduced us to a beautiful pair of peacocks who were spending some time in his company amongst the gravestones. Myrddin is 80 years old and has lived in Talog all his life, he recounted his baptism in the village pool when he was a teenager. He also told us the names of the farms we could see ranged across the hillside.
I was also delighted to chat to Neil and Sally, the owners of the building which now stands on the site of the old Talog Mill where Rebeccaite John Harries, a key player in the story of the Carmarthen Rebecca story, lived.
cragenbeca.co.uk 