Month: February 2017

Singing and dancing service

A branch of the popular fast-food chain Leon has said it will only be hiring staff who can sing and dance. In this bold new move, it vows that hiring individuals of this stature will mean it will be easier for staff to take time off to prepare for and go to auditions. The particular chain which advocates this is located opposite the Queen’s Theatre in London, where the iconic musical Les Misérables is currently running.

The Leon branch said it would be holding auditions to recruit its staff at the end of January, looking to hire a large team of 40 performers as its serving staff. It is well documented that it can be difficult for performers to attend auditions for performance work, due to the fact they are limited by the hours of work they must do in between these jobs. By working for this branch of the Leon chain, performers have more freedom to attend those auditions which they may not have previously been able to consider.

In a bonus to working at such a considerate and understanding organisation, the restaurant will also allow the staff to perform for customers during shifts. From practising their new audition repertoire to performing their favourite time steps, customers in the Leon branch are surely in for a treat as they get more than they pay for. Leon’s co-founder John Vincent told the Evening Standard newspaper that the company wanted to provide a stage for West End hopefuls, both by hiring them as employees and allowing them to perform for customers.

On its website, Leon say its vision is to ‘prove that it was possible to serve food that both tastes good and does you good, and there is no denying the fact that customers will sure receive this in the branch opposite the Les Misérables theatre.

HeadStart Newham project

East London Dance is embarking on a major new partnership with HeadStart Newham, a project to tackle the growing prevalence of mental health problems amongst young people. From February 2017, East London Dance will embark on an 18 month project with HeadStart Newham – in partnership with London Youth and Sadler’s Wells – for mental health prevention in young people aged 10-16. The programme will deliver a creative and high quality programme of dance participation and performance, for young Newham residents with emerging mental health difficulties.

Through the participation programme, East London Dance aims to provide progression routes for all young people in East London, of any age or ability. The HeadStart project will identify and connect with this specific group of young people, providing them with a progressive dance journey. The dance programme is vital: Headstart Newham identified a significant and growing area of need among young people with this project, which will greatly benefit from shared knowledge, experience and the effect dance can have on mental health and wellbeing.

The programme will offer access dance classes at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, weekly classes, week-long projects and the opportunity to join the East London Youth Dance Company. The programme will reach at least 150 local young people over the next 18 months, culminating in a dance platform event at Stratford Circus Arts Centre.

50% of all lifetime mental disorders begin by the age of 14, and evidence of the benefits of creative and sporting activities in promoting mental health resilience in 10-16 year olds who are at risk has been well proven. In light of this, HeadStart Newham’s commissioning of East London Dance to develop and lead a new preventative dance programme is hoped to promote wellbeing and mental health resilience for local young people.

Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Cinderella Dreams

Cinderella Dreams, which premiered on 20 February, was the culmination of a six month quest by Birmingham Royal Ballet to find the perfect fit for Cinderella’s jewelled slipper, in a production that brought to life big ballet aspirations of both young and old. The company searched the midlands area in order to stage this new production, which brought together talent from across the generations. In its aim to inspire and develop dancers from across the region, the production adapted David Bintley’s classic choreography to create a new and vibrant version of Cinderella.

Cinderella Dreams worked to showcase emerging talent from those aged eight to 76, working alongside dancers from Birmingham Royal Ballet. Over 150 dancers from the age of eight took part in open auditions in September 2016, and a final cast of 65 was selected, to experience the intensive training, rehearsal and eventually performance of a classical ballet. The production was in front of a full audience at the Birmingham Hippodrome, a hugely rewarding outcome for all involved.

The project was developed with the Department for Learning at Birmingham Royal Ballet, under the eye of Project Manager Rebecca Brookes. As a result, Cinderella Dreams has been an inspirational project for all involved, from the youngest to oldest dancers part of the production. There was a huge demonstration of talent, involving those who may not have ever had the chance to be involved in a professional ballet production. Whilst not without its challenges, Cinderella Dreams was a dream come true for many of the dancers involved.

Cinderella Dreams was the perfect production for all those who aspire to dance on the big stage; the benefits of dance are unbounded and this production was no different. As a charming and magnificent showcase, it demonstrated the breadth of dance talent across the area.

How to… improve your pirouettes

With a multitude of dance events and exhibitions taking place up and down the country this year, there is no end to the fun dancers can have attending and seeing what is on offer, be it shopping, browsing dance courses or taking part in pop-up classes.

This year Dance Direct will be present at the Can You Dance? conventions, taking place in a number of cities throughout 2017. It is the biggest touring dance convention in the UK and will be visiting 10 different venues this year. There will be the opportunity to shop the great range Dance Direct stocks, but most exciting is the chance to win big in a pirouette competition! Show us how many pirouettes you can do at our stand, or post it on social media and tag @dancedirect, to be in with a chance of winning a Dance Direct goodie bag, full of lots of freebies!

It’s never too late to start practising: pirouettes are not always a dancers’ favourite part of class, but with a few tweaks you can drastically improve your technique and ensure you are spinning across the studio.

Often pirouettes can go slightly AWOL if a dancer does not have the strength to maintain their turns. A strong relevé onto demi-pointe and using the core to control your centre of gravity can do wonders for the number of turns you can achieve, and your recovery too. Starting at the barre before moving into the centre, practice snatching your working leg onto demi-pointe, and your other leg to retiré. With strength running through your arms too you’ll create a solid base for your turns.

Perhaps the most vital part of succeeding in your pirouettes is the use of your head, and spotting using a point in space ahead of you. Not only does this help you achieve multiple turns by the body following, but it also helps to prevent dizziness – you can then turn some more! Before you turn, decide how many pirouettes you will achieve. If you need a double pirouette then don’t change your mind halfway through – commit to your turns and use your head to whip round twice.

Keep your head up and your shoulders back, and you’ll sail round. Looking at the floor will only mean you will end up down there, and unless it is choreographed, it’s best to stay standing!

Newsies on screen

Audiences will soon be able to experience the Tony® Award-winning musical NEWSIES in cinemas for the first time this month, when it makes its cinema debut in the UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, following a cinema launch in the US. Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, the show is based on the 1992 film: it went on to become Disney’s single most requested title to be adapted for the stage.

NEWSIES, the Broadway Musical, features a Tony® Award-winning score with music by eight-time Academy Award® winner Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) and lyrics by Jack Feldman, and Tony Award-winning choreography by Christopher Gattelli. The production was inspired by the ‘Newsboy Strike of 1899’. It is set in New York City at the turn of the century and tells the tale of newsboy Jack Kelly, a charismatic and rebellious leader of a group of “newsies” who dreams of a life far from the hardship of the streets. When publishing titans raise distribution prices at the newsboys’ expense, Jack rallies his newsies to strike.

NEWSIES played on Broadway from March 2012–August 2014 and went on to tour the US from October 2014–October 2016. It is set to delight audiences in cinemas across the globe, especially with Jeremy Jordan (Supergirl, The Last 5 Years) reprising his Tony Award-nominated performance as Jack Kelly.

Disney Theatrical Productions, a division of The Walt Disney Studios, was formed in 1994. Worldwide, its nine Broadway titles have been seen by over 160 million theatergoers and have been nominated for 59 Tony Awards®, winning Broadway’s highest honour 20 times. With more than 20 productions currently produced or licensed, a Disney musical is being performed professionally somewhere on the planet essentially every hour of the day.

The Royal Ballet School’s special collections

Recently the Royal Ballet School launched a unique and exciting online project that traces the story of the founding of a national ballet in Britain, through specially curated collections. Named The Ballet History Timeline, it is a new, interactive online tool that relates to the wider history of classical ballet as a theatre art form.

The Timeline was created by the School to mark the 90th year since it was founded by Dame Ninette de Valois in 1926, building on historical content originally developed for the Julia Farron Ballet Resource Centre, an information database formerly located in White Lodge Museum (2009-15). The Timeline is an ongoing project, beginning in the 1860s and continuing through to 1956, the year in which Dame Ninette de Valois’ school and companies were awarded a Royal Charter.

The timeline will eventually extend both further back and forwards so that more of the material held in The Royal Ballet School Special Collections can be explored online. Set out as linear chronology, the Timeline is illustrated by archival material from The Royal Ballet School Special Collections, now within its proper historical context. The Timeline works on both desktop and mobile devices but, due to the extent of the materials, is best viewed on a desktop.

The Timeline currently features nearly 750 images of items held in The Royal Ballet School Special Collections: nearly 67,000 words and detailed image captions. This Ballet History Timeline will be a hugely useful interactive reference, as well as an inspiring, free educational resource for students of dance studies.

The Royal Ballet School, as a centre of classical ballet training, has for generations produced dancers and choreographers of international renown – from Margot Fonteyn, Antoinette Sibley, Anthony Dowell, Anya Linden, Darcey Bussell and Kenneth MacMillan, to a new generation currently making its mark on the world stage – Lauren Cuthbertson, Steven McRae, Edward Watson and Christopher Wheeldon to name but a few.

Russell Maliphant returns

Russell Maliphant Company is set to restage classic and early dance pieces as part of maliphantworks, at the Print Room at the Coronet. It is one of few venues in West London to produce and present dance work; this co-production with Russell Maliphant Company sees the venue’s regular spring dance slot being filled for 2017 by one of the world’s most acclaimed choreographers.

Opening on 28 February, maliphantworks will include modern dance classic Two; Afterlight (Part One); The Wall Duet from The Rodin Project and Unspoken. It will be restaged and performed by a host of Maliphant’s past and present collaborators, reunited from across the world. The works span his hugely celebrated 25 year career, and the staging of these will see Maliphant’s Print Room at the Coronet debut with the site-responsive return to some of his early work, inspired by the intimate Victorian theatre in Notting Hill. maliphantworks will feature the return of some of his original dancers, and a community outreach programme will run in conjunction, supported by DanceWest.

Maliphant will perform in Unspoken with James de Maria, 20 years after the pair first danced the duet, and marking de Maria’s return to the stage after 16 years. Daniel Proietto will dance Afterlight (Part One), for which he was Olivier Award-nominated in 2010. The international award-winning Dana Fouras will dance Two, which Maliphant choreographed for her in 1997, Olivier Award-nominated Tommy Franzen will bring his eclectic dance style to the duet The Wall, with Dickson Mbi renowned for his strength and incredible popping style.

Print Room at the Coronet and Russell Maliphant Company have partnered with DanceWest to increase audience access and diversity for this and future dance productions, the community dance organisation for West London. It will support new audiences in connecting to dance, by providing access to classes, projects and performances in addition to this world-class and unique evening of performance.

Winners of the 17th National Dance Awards

The Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle recently announced the winners of the 17th National Dance Awards, with many successes. Legendary ballet dancer Dame Beryl Grey won the De Valois award for outstanding achievement, and English National Ballet won the outstanding company prize. With so many up and coming dancers included in the nominations list the decisions must have been difficult ones. Other successes included the following:

DANCING TIMES AWARD FOR BEST MALE DANCER – Chase Johnsey

Nominated:
Tobias Batley (Northern Ballet)
Alexander Campbell (The Royal Ballet)
Chase Johnsey (Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo)
Vadim Muntagirov (The Royal Ballet)
Liam Riddick (Richard Alston Dance Company)

GRISHKO AWARD FOR BEST FEMALE DANCER – Francesca Hayward

Nominated:
Francesca Hayward (The Royal Ballet)
Ekaterina Krysanova (Bolshoi Ballet)
Laura Morera (The Royal Ballet)
Tamara Rojo (English National Ballet)
Zenaida Yanowsky (The Royal Ballet)

OUTSTANDING FEMALE PERFORMANCE (MODERN) – Ching-Ying Chien

Nominated:
Ching-Ying Chien (for Akram Khan Company)
Marivi Da Silva (for Denada Dance Theatre)
Christine Joy Ritter (for Akram Khan Company)
Hannah Kidd (for Mark Bruce Company)
Vidya Patel (for Richard Alston Dance Company)

OUTSTANDING MALE PERFORMANCE (MODERN) – Jonathon Young

Nominated:
Miguel Altunaga (for Rambert)
Daniel Collins (for The Old Vic/The Mconie Company)
Akram Khan (for Akram Khan Company)
Liam Riddick (for Richard Alston Dance Company)
Jonathon Young (for Kidd Pivot/Electric Company Theatre

OUTSTANDING FEMALE PERFORMANCE (CLASSICAL) – Zenaida Yanowsky

Nominated:
Francesca Hayward (for The Royal Ballet)
Ekaterina Krysanova (for Bolshoi Ballet)
Martha Leebolt (for Northern Ballet)
Tamara Rojo (for English National Ballet)
Zenaida Yanowsky (for The Royal Ballet)

OUTSTANDING MALE PERFORMANCE (CLASSICAL) – Cesar Corrales

Nominated:
Tobias Batley (for Northern Ballet)
Cesar Corrales (for English National Ballet)
Chase Johnsey (for Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo)
Vladislav Lantratov (for Bolshoi Ballet)
Irek Mukhamedov (for English National Ballet)

 

SYTYCD is back

So You Think You Can Dance will soon be back for a 14th season this summer, returning to its original format of featuring adult dancers between the ages of 18-30. The programme, now an Emmy Award winner, dabbled in the featuring of younger dancers, however it is now back to its original focus on older dancers.

Back in September, a 14 year old dancer was named the winner during the live two-hour season finale, the show’s youngest winner. Here SYTYCD reportedly had more than 180 million video views on social media last season and the series celebrated its 250th episode.

The format will remain the same as previously aired for older performers; the dancers will showcase their talents in various dance styles, including contemporary, tap, hip-hop, ballroom, animation, breaking and more. The Top 10 dancers will be paired up with All-Stars who will guide them throughout the competition as they bid for votes and the title of America’s Favourite Dancer. It has been clear from the programme’s audience that the preference for dancers is older, returning to this hugely successful past format.

This season, all potential contestants must register online, and upload a video or provide a link to a performance of theirs. If selected, producers will then schedule the contestant for an in-person audition in one of the two audition cities: New York or Los Angeles, in March. Applicants must register for a chance to audition by 19 February, and full eligibility rules and additional details can be found online.

Over its 13 seasons, SYTYCD has received 55 Emmy Award nominations and garnered 14 Emmy Award wins. The hit series also received a Teen Choice Award in 2006 and a Television Critics Association Award in 2012 for Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming.

Dance on Camera festival

The annual Dance on Camera Festival recently took place, co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Centre and Dance Films Association. Kicking off at the beginning of the month, the line up of films was full of favourites from the dance world, bringing together an eclectic mix of pop legend Justin Timberlake, swing dance, a ballet school for the blind and a modern dance infusion from Martha Graham for its audiences.

Opening night saw the premiere of Anatomy of a Male Ballet Dancer, a much-anticipated portrait of revered American Ballet Theatre principal Marcelo Gomes, in addition to a Q&A with Gomes and the filmmakers. A short film also shown , Our Five Senses, featured dancer/choreographer Selene Muñoz with New York City Ballet’s Ask la Cour and Amar Ramasar, and that was without a further photo exhibition and Virtual Reality installation.

The closing night programme was also set to impress. In the Steps of Trisha Brown is a documentary following the staging of Brown’s Glacial Decoy at the Paris Opéra Ballet, and Between Stephen and Yvonne was also shown. As a short film in the form of a conversation about Brown – between postmodernists Stephen Petronio and Yvonne Rainer – it is necessary viewing for any fan of Brown’s postmodernist work.

In the Steps of Trisha Brown takes a look at the dancers of Paris Opéra Ballet and their learning to perform Brown’s grounded work. Modern and contemporary dance can be hard for classical dancers to adjust to at first but benefits their repertoire hugely. The film features much archival footage of Trisha in action, creating the movement all the way to a performance. The film is paramount in understanding her work and the importance of passing it from dancer to dancer.