A report from the House of Lords has deemed the focus on sciences as detrimental to the arts in schools, as a result of the Communications Committee investigating the barriers young people face when attempting to get into the performing arts industry. As part of the report, the committee heard from witnesses including director Indhu Rubasingham and the CEO of the Society of London Theatre, Julian Bird. Aside from supporting the report, they also highlighted the number of performers, directors and writers from more affluent backgrounds, and the under-representation of those from BAME communities.Continue reading House of Lords: sciences detrimental to arts
One Dance UK, the national advocacy body for dance, has released a manifesto ahead of the general election next month on 8 June. The manifesto demands that dance should have the same status in education as subjects such as maths and English, and even the same status as the similar arts subject music.
Studio Wayne McGregor, home of Wayne McGregor’s prestigious dance company, has pledged to give away 5,000 hours of rehearsal time for free at its new studios in east London, every year. This is in order to address the lack of affordable dance space in and around London. The new multimillion pound studio in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park opened on 31 March, opening its doors to artists at all stages of their career so they can use the company’s dance facilities.
For over 20 years, Rhythm Time has been offering professionals with a passion for singing the opportunity to build a rewarding business. Rhythm Time is pre-school music franchise which taps into professionals who loves singing and wants to build a fun, rewarding career that offers the flexibility, whether you’re an actor, singer or dancer.
Dance students constantly hear their teachers tell them that ballet is the foundation of all dance, but for which reasons? Of course it aids all other dance disciplines in terms of technique, lines and posture, but ballet has other benefits as a classical art form…
A new theatre is set to open in west London in October this year, named the Playground Theatre. The venue was originally founded in 2001 as a space for artists to explore theatrical ideas, without being a fully-fledged venue. After much restoration and conversion to the physical site, the Playground Theatre will open as a venue. Utilising a budget of £270,000, the new theatre will boast a seating capacity of up to 200, with a flexible stage and two dressing rooms.
For performers, auditions can be the hardest part of the industry and their work. Once the dancer has the job, the hardest parts is over, but first they must get through that competing stage. However, auditions can be largely prepared for – bar the taught content of the audition – and dancers can practice handling how they respond to stress in group situations.
Research has suggested that ballet training may encourage young students to suppress negative emotions, demonstrating potential psychological harm of ballet. Whilst this is rather a bold statement, research has revealed that studying music, for example, promotes a variety of cognitive and emotional benefits, whereas the results are more mixed for dance training, ballet in particular.
Sky Arts has recently launched a £1m fund that will commission 50 artworks to explore post-Brexit Britain, in partnership with Barbican, Sage Gateshead, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and Storyvault Films. Named Art 50, this follows the triggering of Article 50 as a landmark project that will explore what it means to be British post-Brexit. It will be funded by the Sky Arts Amplify fund, which was set up to encourage arts organisations and production companies to collaborate on new ideas.
Now in its eighth year, English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer competition will be held at Sadler’s Wells for the first time on Thursday (25th May 2017). Selected annually by their peers, six of the company’s most promising dancers perform at the event in front of an eminent panel of expert judges, before one receives the 2017 Emerging Dancer Award. Also revealed on the night will be the recipients of the People’s Choice Award as selected by members of the public, and the Corps de Ballet Award, acknowledging the work on and off-stage of a member of the Corps de Ballet.