Body Of Knowledge

ResCenEarly November saw the launch of a new strand of ResCen, the Research Centre of Middlesex University. This strand is dedicated to the reaching and works of Robert Cohan, a dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company and now a teacher and choreographer in his own right.

Cohan went on to establish The Place, London, with Robin Howard, and London Contemporary Dance Theatre, bringing a specific style of contemporary dance to the UK.

The students at Middlesex University are taught the Cohan method of the Graham technique by Anne Donnelly, a student descendant, passed down from teacher to student to teacher again, creating a legacy which is both complemented and supported by ResCen. The Cohan method does not differ widely from pure Graham technique; the principles of movement remain the same, just with the additions of Cohan’s profound teaching method and incorporation of the body and mind.

Robert Cohan, is the founding artistic director of The Place alongside Robin Howard, who financed the years following The Place’s inception. It was born from the journey of the Martha Graham technique from America to London by Cohan, seeing his work and legacy documented in by his colleagues and students to preserve his teaching method and also include interviews about his ethos and various works.

Now The Place is home to many contemporary and jazz classes, alongside the Richard Alston Dance Company and London Contemporary Dance School, no longer London Contemporary Dance Theatre which became the recipient company of London Contemporary Dance School students. The Place offers termly classes in techniques such as Release, Cunningham, Limón and Graham, alongside some ballet and jazz.

Rambert’s New Home For Dance

Rambert Dance Company LogoBritain’s national contemporary dance company Rambert has taken up residence in its new home on London’s South Bank, which includes dance studios, treatment and body conditioning rooms, workshops, offices and an archive. The location has been made available to Rambert by Coin Street Community Builders in return for a commitment to provide a significant community dance programme in the local area, and for a rent of one pair of ballet shoes a year. The facility will nurture, develop and realise the creative visions of the best of today and tomorrow’s choreographers and dancers; the ambition is that the landmark dances for the next 100 years will be created in the building, therefore giving dance a permanent home on the South Bank

Rambert will take its work to people throughout the UK, with the most far-reaching touring programme of any British contemporary dance company. Currently over three-quarters of Rambert’s performances take place outside of London, complemented by equally extensive education and community-based work. Closer to home, the new premises will hold connections with the local neighbourhood. People of all ages and abilities will be welcomed into the building to join in dance classes, and the daily activity of the building will be opened up to visitors, as will the extensive archive of Britain’s oldest dance company. The hope is that everyone who comes into the building will be inspired with confidence and ambition for Rambert’s future as Britain’s national contemporary dance company.

During the first year in its new building, Rambert’s home will be a hub for making new works, restaging classic repertory, creative collaborations and community engagement. Plans include, three new large-scale commissions for the company (Artistic Director Mark Baldwin, Shobana Jeyasingh – one of the UK’s foremost independent choreographers – and Alexander Whitley, a former Rambert dancer recently appointed associate artist with the company. Two classic works from Rambert’s past repertoire will be revived, namely Christopher Bruce’s iconic Rooster, first performed by Rambert in 1994 and last revived in 2001, and Four Elements, a 1990 commission for Rambert by celebrated US choreographer Lucinda Childs.

Rambert’s new home is the first major, purpose-built dance facility to open in London for 10 years. The building’s three main studios have been named the Marie Rambert Studio, after the company’s founder; the Mercury Studio, acknowledging the Mercury Theatre, the company’s first home; and the Anya Linden Studio, in recognition of the generous contribution to the fundraising campaign from two of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts: Monument Trust and Linbury Trust. The Marie Rambert studio is 306.75 square metres – the equivalent size of the stage at Sadler’s Wells which is the largest theatre space the Company regularly tours to.

Strictly-Themed Workout Programme From Bristol

FitStepsA Bristol fitness instructor and diet adviser Sarah Buscemi has added a new Strictly-themed exercise regime to her usual repertoire to enable clients to dance their way to fitness with a new Strictly-themed workout programme. Sarah has joined other Rosemary Conley consultants around the country to train in FitSteps, which was launched earlier this year by Strictly stars Natalie Lowe and Ian Waite.

The programme is based on some of most popular Latin and ballroom dances, also seen on the hit television show Strictly Come Dancing, including the jive, cha cha, samba, tango, waltz and quickstep, but for FitSteps it is broken down into easy sections. As a result FitSteps has been made suitable for dancers of all abilities, even if you have never danced before

Sarah runs 10 Rosemary Conley classes each week in Bristol and South Gloucestershire, with the 90-minute session including a 45-minute exercise session, and now FitSteps. Like all FitSteps instructors, Sarah was personally introduced to the moves by Natalie and Ian, and can download new dances to teach her clients from the FitSteps website, keeping the programme both fresh and up to date.

With television shows such as Strictly growing in popularity, it is no wonder that FitSteps is appealing: it is around 50% dance and 50% aerobic moves, but the combination of the two makes for an intense workout. With FitSteps there is no need for a partner, and supports all levels and abilities, whether they work out often, or can’t remember the last time they put on their fitness shoes.

If you would like to try your hand (and feet!) at FitSteps, visit fitsteps.co.uk to find a class near you.

Phoenix Dance Theatre

Phoenix Dance TheatrePhoenix Dance Theatre has grown over the last thirty years to become a renowned and respected British dance company. Founded in inner-city Leeds, the company has become a leading contemporary company and now completes both national and international tours in the aim to bring inspiring and entertaining dance to the widest possible audience.

Founded in 1981 by David Hamilton, Donald Edwards and Vilmore James, Phoenix’s fresh approach to contemporary dance won much support from its audiences and critics. The company began with just male dancers and went on to appoint female dancers from 1987 following the appointment of Neville Campbell as Artistic Director. Cambell worked to expand the company to ten dancers, and also expanded the company’s repertoire. In this year also the company established its permanent base at Yorkshire Dance in Leeds city centre.

1991 saw Margaret Morris take over as Artistic Director, and with this saw the expanding of the company’s UK and international touring. In 1996 the company were the some representative of British dance at the Cultural Olympics in Atlanta, and the company continued to grow under two more Artistic Directors, establishing an archive and rebranding the company. Phoenix has seen many styles of directorship and many growing facets as a result: under Javier De Frutos, for example, the now multi-cultural company won the ‘Company Prize for Outstanding Repertoire (Modern)’ at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards.

Current Artistic Director Sharon Watson was appointed in 2009, re-introducing the company to diverse and mixed programmes of work and revived classic pieces from the companies rich repertoire. The company now aims to be the leading middle scale dance company in the UK, having just celebrated three decades of dance. The company’s new home at Quarry Hill means Phoenix can continue producing high quality work for even longer.

The 14th National Dance Awards Announcement of Nominations

National Dance Awards Critics' CircleThe Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle has announced the list of nominations for the 14th National Dance Awards, to be awarded at a central London venue on 27 January 2014. The National Dance Awards have been organised each year since 2000, celebrating the variety of Britain’s dance culture. They are the only awards given by the body of professional dance critics in the UK.

Grishko are continuing as headline event sponsors as well as sponsoring the Best Female Dancer Award, which is given in memory of Richard Sherrington; Dancing Times will continue its long-running arrangement to sponsor the Best Male Dancer Award and other sponsors continuing for a further year include Stef Stefan, sponsoring both the Outstanding Company and Best Modern Choreography Awards; the Ballet Association for the Best Classical Choreography Award; Lee McLernon for the Outstanding Female Performance (Classical) and the Critics’ Circle. The event will also play host to the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement and the Dance UK Industry Award, given in memory of Jane Attenborough, for both of which there are no prior nominations.

It is clear that there is a vast and rich choice for the National Dance Awards, and the results are eagerly anticipated.

DANCING TIMES AWARD FOR BEST MALE DANCER
Dane HURST (RAMBERT)
Vadim MUNTAGIROV (ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET)
Sergei POLUNIN (MOSCOW STANISLAVSKY BALLET and GUEST ARTIST, THE ROYAL BALLET)
Edward WATSON (THE ROYAL BALLET)

GRISHKO AWARD FOR BEST FEMALE DANCER
Maria KOCHETKOVA (SAN FRANCISCO BALLET)
Natalia OSIPOVA (MIKHAILOVSKY BALLET and GUEST ARTIST, THE ROYAL BALLET & BOLSHOI BALLET)
Olga SMIRNOVA (BOLSHOI BALLET)
Eva YERBABUENA (BALLET FLAMENCO EVA YERBABUENA)

STEF STEFANOU AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COMPANY
BOSTON BALLET
MIKHAILOVSKY BALLET
ROSAS
SAN FRANCISCO BALLET

BEST CLASSICAL CHOREOGRAPHY
Mark MORRIS (‘BEAUX’ for SAN FRANCISCO BALLET)
David NIXON (‘THE GREAT GATSBY’ for NORTHERN BALLET)
Alexei RATMANSKY (’24 PRELUDES’ for THE ROYAL BALLET)
Christopher WHEELDON (‘AETERNUM’ for THE ROYAL BALLET)

BEST MODERN CHOREOGRAPHY
Guilherme BOTELHO (‘SIDEWAYS RAIN’ for ALIAS)
Matthew BOURNE (‘SLEEPING BEAUTY’ for NEW ADVENTURES)
Sidi Larbi CHERKAOUI (‘PUZ/ZLE’ for EASTMAN)
Russell MALIPHANT (‘FALLEN’ for BalletBoyz® TheTALENT)

OUTSTANDING FEMALE PERFORMANCE (CLASSICAL)
Nancy OSBALDESTON (for The Ballerina in ‘PETRUSHKA’ for ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET)
Cira ROBINSON (in ‘WAR LETTERS’ for BALLET BLACK)
Akane TAKADA (for Olga in ‘ONEGIN’ for THE ROYAL BALLET)
YUAN YUAN TAN (in ‘RAkU’ for SAN FRANCISCO BALLET)

OUTSTANDING MALE PERFORMANCE (CLASSICAL)
Jeffrey CIRIO (in ‘PLAN TO B’ for BOSTON BALLET)
Israel GALVÁN (for Flamenco Performances at SADLER’S WELLS)
Nicolas LE RICHE (in ‘LE JEUNE HOMME ET LA MORT’ for ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET)
Brian MALONEY (for Bratfisch in ‘MAYERLING’ for THE ROYAL BALLET)

OUTSTANDING FEMALE PERFORMANCE (MODERN)
Julie CUNNINGHAM (in ‘NEW WORKS 2012’ for MICHAEL CLARK COMPANY)
Rocío MOLINA (in ‘DANZAORA’ at SADLER’S WELLS)
Clemmie SVEAAS (in ‘WITCH-HUNT’ for BERN BALLETT)
Hannah VASSALLO (for Aurora in ‘SLEEPING BEAUTY’ for NEW ADVENTURES)

OUTSTANDING MALE PERFORMANCE (MODERN)
Nathan GOODMAN (in ‘MADCAP’ for RICHARD ALSTON DANCE COMPANY)
Christopher MARNEY (Count Lilac in ‘SLEEPING BEAUTY’ for NEW ADVENTURES)
Liam RIDDICK (in ‘BUZZING ROUND THE HUNISUCCLE’ for RICHARD ALSTON DANCE COMPANY)
Paul WHITE (in ‘THE ORACLE’ for MERYL TANKARD)

BEST INDEPENDENT COMPANY
bGROUP
BalletBoyz® The TALENT
NEW MOVEMENT COLLECTIVE
SHOBANA JEYASINGH DANCE

Sadler’s Wells’ ten year plan

Sadler's Wells LogoThe UK’s largest dance house, Sadler’s Wells, has announced plans for a new performance space as part of its recent ten year plan. The vision of Artistic Director and Chief Executive, Alistair Spalding, is one which is ambitious, but exciting for a city in which dance thrives. The announcement came almost ten years after he was appointed in his current role, and outlines plans for the next decade.

The main crux of the plans is to establish an additional, fourth performance space for Sadler’s as one of the world’s leading dance organisations, with the expansion backed by a commitment to invest £5 million in commissioning new dance works. The new venue will house 500 seats in order to present new, mid-scale contemporary work in addition to the main dance house and the smaller Lilian Baylis studio theatre. London is lacking in a space of this kind, and it is hoped that the building of one will help confirm London’s position as a global centre for the art form.

Despite the fact Sadler’s Wells is a dance powerhouse, the demand for dance in the capital is continuing to grow, meaning the gap for a mid-scale space must be filled. Spalding believes the new building will give creative talent a proper chance to develop for the future growth of the art form by expanding the current base and without losing the unique quality and atmosphere that is associated with Sadler’s Wells.

As a rule Sadler’s has been transformed from a receiving venue for other companies’ productions to a venue that is celebrated for supporting, commissioning and producing original, new work which it presents nationally and internationally. The dance house aims to present the busiest season of dance ever in the theatre’s 331-year history, with a total of over 40 shows across the three venues during spring/summer 2014.

English National Ballet School Celebrates 25 Years

English National Ballet School2013 marks the 25th anniversary of English National Ballet School, to be celebrated by a series of events which showcase the skills and talents of the students. The events will kick off with a 90 minute live broadcast from the School on 28 November, during which audiences will have a unique insight into a day in the life of the students. Also included in the broadcast will be an interview with Tamara Rojo, Artistic Director of English National Ballet, with the School being a common feeder for the main company.

As the official School of English National Ballet, the School and the Company continue to work together. The 2012 launch of the ‘My First…’ series of ballets created for children has seen the students appear in principal roles, a great taster of what is required and what may be to come. By inspiring a new generation of young dancers, My First is making ballet accessible for very young children: over 100,000 children and their families nationwide have watched the first two productions.

The School was founded in 1988 by Peter Schaufuss, Artistic Director of London Festival Ballet (renamed English National Ballet in 1989), with just twelve students. His ambition was to produce dancers trained in the Company’s unique style: the School proved successful. Today, the School operates in the same way, with a student body of just 35 young dancers. Currently a third of the English National Ballet dancers are graduates of the School ranking from Corps de Ballet up to Principal dancers, having graduated from the 3 year diploma in Professional dance accredited by Trinity College, London. 55% of the current first year students are home grown British talent and a strong employment record is maintained, with many graduated students now working in major ballet companies worldwide.

The Royal Opera House Ballet Series

The Royal BalletThe Royal Ballet has recently hit cinemas all over America and is continuing to do! Select cinemas throughout the United States will present the 2013 ‘Royal Opera House Ballet Series,’ featuring 3, one-night-only screenings of the new Don Quixote staged by and starring Carlos Acosta, Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Peter Wright’s classic production of The Nutcracker. High definition cameras are used to film the performances, which provide multiple points of view including close-ups and wide shots with a Royal Opera House production truck transmitting the live feed via satellite to the US.

Don Quixote

Inspired by the adventures of Cervantes’ bumbling knight, Don Quixote tells the tale of Kitri (danced by Marianela Nuñez), her sweetheart the barber Basilio (danced by Carlos Acosta), and their adventures as they attempt to avoid Kitty’s father Lorenzo’s attempts to marry her off to the rich Gamache.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Pre-recorded in April 2013 and starring Sarah Lamb, Alice encounters out of the ordinary characters down the rabbit hole, including the Queen of Hearts, who performs her own version of the Rose Adagio from The Sleeping Beauty, to dancing playing cards and a tap-dancing Mad Hatter.

The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker is an essential part of Christmas for audiences everywhere, despite the many versions available. The classic tale is suitable for all ages and loved by many. Originally seen at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in 1984, this production by Peter Wright is grand with elaborate costumes, a large cast, and one awe-inspiring Christmas tree.

NYCD To Work With Akram Khan

National Youth Dance CompanyThe National Youth Dance Company is an exciting new company, as part of Sadler’s Wells, that aims to create and perform innovative and influential youth dance. It has announced that it will be working with Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist and acclaimed choreographer Akram Khan as next guest Artistic Director. Following the company’s work with similarly celebrated choreographer Jasmin Vardimon, 30 new members will joining the current company to present a new work specifically created for NYDC; the piece will receive its world premiere on 16 April 2014 at Sadler’s Wells. The new work will be performed as part of a double bill that will feature a reworked excerpt of Khan’s Vertical Road.

The newly recruited members were selected from sixteen workshops held in 9 different regions across the country, resulting in 20 male and 10 female dancers aged 15 – 19 gaining the privilege to work with award-winning dancer and choreographer Khan. Khan thoroughly enjoys working with young people with passion and ambition. He believes, and rightly so, that the positive role of the arts in our society is fundamental in providing young people with the skills they need to succeed in any walk of life. NYDC is a fantastic opportunity to nurture the next generation of artists and inspire a host of young people to get involved with dance.

Since its inception in 2012 NYDC has seen over 500 young dancers attend 27 workshops across England. Over June and July 2013 NYDC took part in nine performances seen by over 5,000 people in a range of venues, from large scale theatres to site specific outdoor stages, in locations stretching from London to Leeds, Bristol to Kent. Having set a very high standard with their sold out debut performance of Jasmin Vardimon’s (in between), the young dancers of NYDC have shown that they can hold their own alongside established companies on the main stage at Sadler’s Wells.

Khan is one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists today. In just over a decade he has created a body of work that has contributed significantly to the cultural arts in the UK and abroad and his reputation has gained from his imaginative, highly accessible and relevant productions such as DESH, Vertical Road, Gnosis and zero degrees.

Free Events From Rambert On The South Bank

Rambert Dance Company LogoRambert is set to move to its new purpose-built home on the South Bank later this year and joining with music, film, theatre and the visual arts at what will be London’s cultural hub.

To celebrate this the Company will be hosting a series of events showcasing all that Rambert does, connecting people with leading industry professionals from Monday 2 – Saturday 14 December, when Rambert will be inviting the public to explore the state-of-the-art facilities. Visitors will be able to tour the building, watch rehearsals for upcoming performances, observe Rambert’s world class dancers at work in their daily technique class and take part in classes. Workshops will be on offer for people of all ages, experienced dancers and those who are completely new to dance.

The two week programme also includes performances of Artistic Director Mark Baldwin’s The Rite of Spring by the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, concerts by the Rambert Orchestra, and Vintage Rambert, a cross-arts performance piece created in response to Rambert’s Archive by young people aged 16-25. The choreographic process of Baldwin will also be demonstrated as he creates new work in the studio.

The new building project has been over twelve years in development, with construction beginning in November 2011. The site was made available to Rambert by Coin Street Community Builders, one of the UK’s leading social enterprises, in return for a commitment to lead a significant community dance programme in the local area and for the rent of one pair of ballet shoes per year.

All programme events are free, but booking is essential as capacity is limited. They can be viewed online at www.rambert.org.uk/rambert_moves. To book a place on any Rambert Moves event please email [email protected].