8/6/2019 Gail Parmel ACE dance and music - one step beyond write-up

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APRIL 5 -11, 2010 THE VOICE

WEST MIDLANDS NEW

ONE STEP BEYOND

By Poppy Brady

ITS A story to rival BillyElliott how a dance-madittle girl went from leapinground to Jimmy Cliff in hermums living room to run-ning her own dance company

that has taken its successfulproductions all over theworld.

A champion for African andCaribbean dance, Gail Parmelhas excelled as an artisticdirector and choreographer tothe extent that she is nowncluded in the UKs top 50Women to Watch List for 2010,organised by the Government-funded Cultural LeadershipProgramme.

ASTONISHINGIts an astonishing achieve-

ment, but Gail remainsextremely modest as she sitsat her desk in theBirmingham-based ACE Danceand Music studios she set upwith her husband Ian nearlythree years ago.

Their company ACE, whichstands for African CulturalExchange, was actuallyaunched a decade earlier butts dancers had no permanenthome in terms of rehearsalspace.

Now they have an airy stu-dio in Floodgate Street,Digbeth, which is buzzingwith dancers chatter, a varietyof classes and rehearsals foranother major performance.

ACE has produced at leastsix works from Solitude orSanctuary and Entrance, tothe current performanceSwitch and also Skin in 2008,

which was performed in

Grahamstown, South Africa.Its all a long way from

Gails home in Leeds whereshe was one of ten childrenwho discovered her lifelongpassion for dance as shehelped her mum with chores

after church on a Sunday.My job was to sweep downthe steps and mop the pas-sageway and there I woulddance to Jimmy Cliff andBoney M, says Gail. Iremember we used to put poloneck jumpers on our heads tomake long hair and pretendwe were Pans People. Weworked to the music and mymum got all her cleaningdone!

Then a glimpse through awindow watching a danceclass at her new school - EarlCowper Middle School inChapeltown - further stokedthe fires of Gails dance pas-sion.

I couldnt wait to join thatschool, just for the dancing,she remembers. Even then Iwas more interested in howdance was put together andlater on I realised how this ledto my career in choreogra-phy.

TIMINGAnd with sheer good timing,

she won a place at the newlyopened Northern School ofContemporary Dance inChapeltown, where 25 yearslater it still remains a world-class contemporary danceinstitution.

After completing three yearsof vocational training there,Gail moved to Birmingham to

join the Kokuma Dance

Company, a dedicated Africandance company which shesays blew my mind, because Ifelt so connected.

And what did her mumthink of her dancing? Again,similar to a scene straight

from Bill Elliott, Gails mumhad little idea of her daugh-ters talents until she actuallywatched her dance in a properperformance.

PASSIONOnce mum realised how

passionate I was, she sup-ported me and has continuedto do so to this day, says Gail,who returned to the NorthernSchool in Leeds to complete aperforming arts degree in justone year.

After her degree, Ian a free-lance musician and steel panplayer, and Gail decided tolaunch ACE in Birminghamand, in the early days, tradedteaching classes for rehearsalplace before launching theirown studios.

Their studio now has apacked agenda of classes from parents and tots to ACEYouth and adult African danceclasses, plus djembe drum-ming with Ian.

Their next big dance pro-duction will be called TenStrong, but Gail and Ian alsohave another production mis-sion to start a family.

They are foster parents totwo sets of twins who are nowin their 20s, who they fosteredfrom the ages of five andseven, and now, after goingthrough IVF, they are hopingto complete their dream with a

baby of their own.

How a dance-crazy Birmingham schoolgirl grew up toown her own dance company

ACES HIGH:

Gail and Ian

Parmel

STEP UP: Gail in

a dance routine