Category: Uncategorised

London’s Peacock Theatre has played host to a great number of captivating shows, and the award-winning Motionhouse is no different. Bringing a multimedia dance show to the venue, new show ‘Broken’, meant the company did not disappoint – its usual athletic performance was ever-present, lapped up by the audience.

The company’s staging is rooted in dance, theatre, circus, acrobatics and film, under the direction of artistic director and choreographer Kevin Finnan MBE. In true Motionhouse style, Broken erupts onto the stage in an adrenaline-filled spectacle, displaying the company of six dancers who bring Broken to life with awe-inspiring partner work and highly-skilled dance, based on strength and control as opposed to the tricks of today. Broken is part of the Earth Trilogy, which explores humans’ relationship with the planet, making it a thought-provoking and moving experience as the human race comes up as minuscule against the power of earthly surroundings.

A revolutionary set design by Simon Dormon, and ground-breaking digital imagery projection by Logela Multimedia, make way for fantastic digital projection, motion graphics and graphic design alone. With a narrative set against the combination of dance, circus and theatre, the dancers add further strands to the vibrant and eclectic performing arts scene as they delight audiences with the new production. The performers hang in suspense against the moving backdrop, and negotiate the constant changes in the world of illusion they inhabit, with the movement vocabulary gripping and fast-paced. Broken is set to an original score by Sophy Smith & Tim Dickinson, emphasising the ambiguity of the Broken world, earth but not as it is known.

With the dancers performing solos, duos or as the group of six, the precision and control they displayed was second to none throughout. The rumbling soundtrack paired with the intensity of the projections was seconded only by the interspersed work by the dancers, relying on both their physical strength and the strength of the group as a whole. Lacking was the usual display of contemporary dance ‘tricks’ seen in so many other performance companies, hugely welcome in presenting the Motionhouse company as innovative and bold in its work, inspiring others to do the same. The high energy and intensity showed off the Motionhouse dancers, complementing the physicality of the movement and the combination of this with the theatrics, projection and technical display.

Motionhouse is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Broken premiered in 2013 and was originally commissioned by Warwick Arts Centre, Watford Palace Theatre, The Grand Theatre Blackpool, mac birmingham and Swindon Dance. Pushing movement to its limits since 1988, Motionhouse creates awe-inspiring ‘4D’ spectacles where music, visuals, dance and physical theatre integrate to form a seamless immersive experience. The company’s distinctive style takes movement to its limits, integrating elements of circus and acrobatics with contact choreography and breath-taking dance. Motionhouse prides itself on producing shows of outstanding quality that are exciting, accessible and enjoyable for all.

The company additionally tours to theatres and festivals at home in the UK and across the globe. The company’s ambitious experimentation with setting, action and context have become an integral part of its trademark style, led by Finnan. Finnan was Choreographer and Movement Director for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, and his interest in exploring and questioning the traditional use of space in performance has led to the creation of extraordinary dance spectacles on unique sites.

A wide ranging education and participatory programme runs parallel to Motionhouse’s touring performance work.

British and Italian dancers have triumphed in the Royal Academy of Dance’s annual Phyllis Bedells Bursary. Taking place on 20 March, the Bursary was awarded to 15 year old Ryan Felix from the UK, established to encourage talented young dancers to further their career in classical ballet. Past winners of the prestigious competition have gone on to dance with renowned ballet companies including the Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Bèjart Ballet, London City Ballet and the Dutch National Ballet.

Following last year’s introduction of a new Choreographic Award, Italian dancer Greta Zappettini also triumphed, aged 14. A total of 14 candidates from the UK, Canada, Indonesia, Thailand and Italy took part in the Bursary. In addition to the Classical Repertoire Variations, candidates each performed a variation choreographed by themselves, their teacher or a peer to a piece of music of their choice. The Bursary is named after Miss Phyllis Bedells, founding member and Vice President of the Royal Academy of Dance.

Ryan Felix began his RAD training at Harlequin Stage School with Edward Bury. After gaining a scholarship for Elmhurst School for Dance, he studied with Phillip Pegler, Denise Whiteman and Sarah Dickinson. He is currently studying classical ballet with David Yow and has passed his Intermediate and Advanced 1 with distinctions; he is working towards his RAD Advanced 2 qualification. For his Classical Repertoire Variations, Ryan’s performance came from Giselle, Act 1, Peasant Pas de Deux, Variation II.

Awarded annually, the Phyllis Bedells Bursary has a value of up to £1,000, to be used to further the winner’s training: it can be offset against existing tuition fees or material and equipment. The Bursary is open to members of the RAD who have passed the RAD Intermediate and the Advanced 1 examination (Advanced 1 with Distinction). Valerie Aitken chaired the panel of judges and was joined by Jonathan Cope CBE, Répétiteur with the Royal Ballet.

Registration for the annual Dance Proms is now open; current dance teaching members of the IDTA, ISTD and RAD are eligible to enter and be in with a chance of performing at one of the world’s most iconic venues on Sunday 30 October. The Royal Albert Hall will again play host to the event, celebrating the creativity and commitment of dance teachers and their students from across the world.

From ballet to ballroom, hip hop to jazz, the Dance Proms team are inviting teachers to shine a spotlight on their school and enter to join the Dance Proms company for 2016. Dance teachers must submit a dance piece they would like their students to perform at Dance Proms; if selected, they will join around 500 other young dancers and guest acts to dance in front of 4,000 people on the world’s most famous stage: the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Dance Proms is a unique collaborative project between three of the world’s leading dance training and awarding bodies: the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, the International Dance Teachers’ Association, the Royal Academy of Dance and the Royal Albert Hall. Dance Proms aims to provide a platform to celebrate dance, dance students and dance teachers, and give young people the opportunity to perform at the Royal Albert Hall. The event also creates opportunities for the three awarding bodies’ respective members to engage with and benefit from every aspect of the project.

Registered teachers are invited to submit an original dance piece, which may have been choreographed by themselves, their student(s) or another choreographer, in one or more categories or dance styles. There is no limit on the number of entries submitted by one teacher.

Enter at www.danceproms.co.uk no later than Friday 6 May.

The 1930s craze of dance marathons has made a comeback in 2016, in the form of choreographer Arthur Pita’s new work of dance theatre for 2016, telling the story of couples who risked death-by-dancing during the Great Depression. Introduced during the roaring twenties, the age-old contests saw participants dance non-stop for as long as physically possible.

Dance marathons were hugely popular in America in the early 20th century, with the first taking place in 1923 in New York. The winner danced for 27 consecutive hours and with six partners. It inspired many others to challenge themselves with this endurance across America, with dancers desperate to break the previous record. Eventually the marathons became large-scale urban events where the dancing took centre stage, and their popularity grew.

During the Great Depression of the following decade, dance marathons became more sinister to match the mood of the era. Dancers whose aim had been to break records now competed against one another for 24 hours a day and weeks on end, desperate to win prize money. Gone were the days when they performed popular dances, now just shuffling across the dance floor with as little energy as possible. Adhering to the rules also meant the dancers must remain in hold and keep moving without their knees touching the floor.

Contestants were given 15 minutes of rest time each hour, and once back on the floor they often took it in turn to support one another’s weight for extra rest. Spectators returned to watch dance marathons every day to witness the contestants stumbling across the dance floor and washing, sleeping and eating in public.

Towards the end of the 1930s there was an attempt to regulate dance marathons, partly in order to resist the growing pressure to ban them. Eventually the marathons no longer drew in the crowds due to the change in attitudes after the Depression, and by the end of World War II, they had died out altogether.

Julia graduated at the University of Surrey, Roehampton, in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies & French in 2007, after travelling to France to study drama, dance (ballet/jazz) and languages. After graduating, she met her mentor Stuart Thomas, a contemporary dance teacher from the Alvin Ailey lineage, and she began to practice Graham, Horton and Jazz techniques whilst teaching street dance.

Having won her first free style hip-hop competition and a choreography competition in 2009, Cheng furthered her choreography experience as an Associate Artist of Step Out Arts in 2010. She was short-listed for the Blueprint Bursary Prize in 2010 and 2011, and was an Associate Artist of The Hat Factory Luton, promoting and performing dance in the South and East regions, pioneering the first battle events in the area.

As a founder of Kolesk Dance, Julia created performances in theatres across England to inspire young people with performance projects. In the pursuit of self-development, Julia visited New York, was awarded a scholarship to study physical theatre in Austria, and represented the UK in an International Final of ‘Funkin Styles’ in Germany. She also travelled to Israel to train in Gaga technique with Batsheva Dance Company.

Julia continues to compete, teach, perform and choreograph. In 2014 she founded an all-female collective, House Of Absolute, promoting dance projects within the commercial, theatre and underground scene. House of Absolute will appear as part of this year’s Breakin’ Convention.  Photo: Chris Tang

 

Have you always wanted to be on stage?

No, not always; I was extremely into sports at a young age, then throughout my teenage years I developed an interest in the arts. At first I was set on being a singer, then an actress and at the age of 18, after taking open street dance classes in Luton, I decided I was going to be a dancer.

 

Where did you train, and what was it like?

I graduated with a degree in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies from Roehampton University in 2007; during this time I trained in ballet and jazz in Lyon, and an unconventional journey of dance training unfolded. An important part of my training has taken place in clubs, jams, battles and workshops in hip-hop, Waacking, popping and House.

At the age of 23, I started studying intensively under the guidance of Stuart Thomas who took me under his wing as his student, teaching me contemporary dance: Graham, Horton and jazz techniques. He was a really strict teacher but immensely generous. I felt I flourished under his mentorship and his teachings of philosophies of movement. He gave me belief and support which has ultimately formed my self-belief and perseverance as a dance artist. I followed this by training in physical theatre in Austria, and Horton, Graham, jazz, House and Waacking in New York, as well as Gaga technique in Israel. Travelling and meeting other artists has been a huge part of my training.

 

Describe a day in your life now.

Each day is different. For example, I will be shooting a dance film, picking up costumes from a costume designer, having a collaborative meeting with a film director, then teaching class in the evening and training at home. And throughout the day I will be dealing with administrative tasks, managing my independent work, as well as projects for House of Absolute.

 

How important is your ranging and diverse training in your work today?

It has been imperative to finding my own individualistic style in movement. I truly believe that all types of training lead to a stronger clarity of self-expression, and therefore versatility in training can only strengthen each person to adapt and respond efficiently to different scenarios of work in today’s performance industry.

 

What has been the defining moment of your career?

I think an important moment for me was an article written about my choreographic work in Chinese for a Chinese magazine last year during Project New Moon (produced by Chinese Arts Space). The reason being that I was able to share a part of my creative work with my parents: without them being able to witness the physical work, they were able to read about it and understand it through their own language, and that was really important to me.

 

What has been the most challenging?

If I am honest, I think the most challenging moments arise daily; to keep going, to work as an artist and to continually have self-belief in moments of adversity, be it personal, financial or physical obstacles.

 

What’s the most rewarding thing about the performing arts?

The most rewarding thing is that the performing arts has the ability to create human connection and empowerment through honest expression.

 

What’s the worst thing?

Constantly having to chase invoices when you are a freelance artist!

 

Do you have any pre-show rituals, either if you’re performing or watching your own creations?

I always have a moment with my creative team of performers, breathing exercises, saying a few words, thanking them, telling them I love them and to have a great show.

 

Who or what inspired you to form the all-female House of Absolute?

I had been wanting to create an all-female company to specialise in Waacking for a few years since a collective I.H.O.W UK (Imperial House of Waacking UK, part of a New York collective) had stopped training together in 2012. I finally did this in March 2014 as I was complaining about having no one to train with apart from my international friends, who were not so readily accessible being in other countries! I was inspired to create this mainly as I wanted there to be a next generation for the Waacking community in the UK, and also because I wanted a strong female representation to push boundaries of dance performance.

 

How will House of Absolute be part of this year’s Breakin’ Convention?

We were involved in Open Arts Surgery in March 2016 and will be presenting our new work ‘Warrior Queens’ for the main festival, on 30 April.

 

What is your advice to an aspiring artist?

Keep going…

Draw inspiration outside of dance.

Collaborate and share with other artists.

Travel, travel and travel!

Surround yourself with people who draw the best out of you.

Keep believing…

Anthony Cranwell trained at Laine Theatre Arts. He holds the Professional Certificate of Education, the Fellowship qualification with the Modern Theatre faculty and the Associate Diploma with the Classical Ballet faculty with the ISTD. He now teaches across the years at Laine and cites students’ success as one of the best things about teaching.

In 2015 Anthony was selected to take part in the Dance UK mentor scheme to develop skills as part of becoming a leader in the dance industry. With his fair share of performance under his belt, Anthony has been part of Movin’ Out (Twyla Tharp), Saturday Night Fever (Arlene Phillips), Footloose (National Tour – Karen Bruce), Grease (Arlene Phillips), Fred Astaire – His Daughter’s Tribute (Bill Deamer) and Eternal Flame (National Tour – Gerry Zucarello), amongst many others. He has choreographed shows such as Little Shop of Horrors and Smokey Joe’s Cafe, in addition to teaching across the world.

 

Have you always wanted to be involved in dance?

Not always, but I loved music and moving to music.

 

How did your involvement begin?

My sister danced from the age of two and I used to watch some of her classes, competitions and shows. I loved it, but as dance was not something a boy would do at that time, I would dance at home rather than dare go to classes, and would choreograph routines as well.

I took up disco dancing because if anyone from school found out, that seemed more acceptable than ballet or modern dance, but I really tried to make sure no-one at school ever knew. I took up modern at 17 when my sister’s dance teacher’s daughter suggested that I audition at colleges. It had never occurred to me, as the careers advice I had at school was that only people who had danced from five years old could have dance as a career. This information was delivered as factual advice but was actually very misinformed and quite misleading.

 

Did you train? Where, and what was it like?

I auditioned at Laine Theatre Arts as that was where my dance teacher’s daughter had trained and recommended. I had no knowledge of any other college and I was really quite naive about the whole thing. I decided that if I couldn’t get into Laine then I wasn’t right after all and therefore would study something else. I used the result of that audition as a guide to whether I should study dance at all.

I could have potentially missed out on having this career just for simply not being more open-minded and researching other colleges offering the same training. For me, Laine was the perfect place. I think it is very important to open your options now and make sure that the college you choose is the one that feels most right to who you are.

I loved the family atmosphere of Laine. There was a limited number of students, I was very happy there and it was educationally the first place in my life where I felt comfortable, accepted and could be almost entirely myself. As with everything I felt more comfortable in some aspects of college life than others,but I knew where I was strongest and learned to do my best in the subjects where I felt weaker.

 

What was a typical day like?

We danced for most of the day and I would often eat my lunch quickly and join in other classes during my lunch breaks. There were extra-curricular options to audition to take part in, such as opera classes and cross-college productions, which I chose to do as much as possible. I knew that I would not be successful every time, in a college full of talented students all competing with each other, but was happy that sometimes I would have an opportunity and other times maybe I wouldn’t.

Our subjects were a strong base for the industry. The timetabled days were not fussy with lots of diverse expectation, and so I felt I could focus clearly on what I needed to do. Every day was a different mix of subjects but I had ballet and jazz every day, contemporary once – sometimes twice – a week, singing classes twice a week, Musical Theatre, tap, pas de deux and performance class. It was a very condensed and focused training.

 

What is a typical day like now you are teaching at Laine?

The college is a very different place now in a lot of ways, but has kept many of its core principles. Over the years students have had more input with what they feel they need and the college has listened and responded. There are more subjects and more teachers in some subjects.

My days are still quite diverse, but because of my specialist subject area my classes are across similar genres. I teach jazz to all the year groups, from Foundation to Year 3. My current schedule focuses on teaching jazz technique up to Year 2 and free jazz to the 2nd and 3rd year students. I also teach the ISTD Advanced 1 and 2 syllabi, which are now an optional extra-curricular subject for the students. This gives them a place to use the techniques and styles they are learning across the rest of the college in a choreographic setting and gain extra qualifications that have educational equivalents for the future.

 

Tell us more about your work with students – what do you enjoy most about it?

I don’t have a particularly favourite area of my job. I love every aspect for different reasons. Foundation is a particularly special year group to me. I was on the faculty for this area of the college from its launch in 2011 and have seen the course grow over the last few years. It is now in its fifth year and it has been very successful with regards to onward study, including at Laine. I love watching the students’ progression, which has to occur in a very short space of time if they are to improve their audition performance.

I am currently teaching a new jazz technique syllabus to the 1st and 2nd years that I have choreographed. I love to find new ways of challenging myself in my job and this was a great challenge for me to prepare. It is important to me that the students have a strong understanding of base jazz techniques that they can then apply in their other classes. I therefore thoroughly enjoy teaching my free jazz classes, where the focus is entirely on style, performance, audition techniques and developing learning styles.

I love my job because of its diversity – both creatively and academically. I enjoy helping to create new solutions from an organisational perspective as well as from a class preparation and development perspective. Helping the students to be successful in a way that is personal to each of them, whether the training leads to performance, teaching, onto creative teams or success in other aspects of life, is very inspiring to me.

 

What is your favourite thing about dance?

I love the physical release of emotion that it gives in a way that going to the gym cannot do. Simply creating artistic shapes and lines with your body whilst connecting to the vibe or rhythms of a piece of music is an awesome feeling. I think all dancers who have a natural feel for musicality would agree there is no better feeling than when you dance something through and it connects so perfectly with the accents and rhythms in a track. For me that feeling is hard to describe – and then the fact that doing this entertains people is fantastic!

I have that same feeling when the students start to feel a routine or exercise sequence in that way. At the moment there seems to be a trend amongst young dancers to focus on flexbility, acrobatic and virtuoso skills rather than the true essence of jazz dance. These skills are important however they seem to have taken precedence over truth of feeling, rhythm, style and musicality. Hypermobility and gymnastics are useful to dance, however if the intention, message, story or even simply the vibe of the dance is lost then it’s no longer dancing. I see too many so-called jazz solos that lack the integrity of what jazz is based on and and therefore look stiff and aristocratic, rather than true physical expression of the heart and soul. Younger children will grow to believe that dance is a series of mechanical steps and athletic jumps joined together with disconnection from the music. They should learn skills whilst being free to invest in their internal love for natural dance movement, and then being shown how to connect the two.

 

And the worst?

The frustration of physical limitation! The realisation that your body will never do what someone else’s can do. Particularly hard when you are younger, but viewing it now I can see how those students who understand that struggle tend to have a bit more fight in them and use the other theatrical aspects of dance in order to feel fulfilled. In particular, listening to the music and finding the accents, and being more attentive to the shapes and maximising the feeling, rather than the visual extremity of a line that they see in a mirror. For this reason they generally learn to listen and ‘feel’ the movements much more quickly.

 

What or who inspires you most on a daily basis?

The faculty I work with and the students I teach. Working in a large faculty of jazz staff means there is always a diverse range of conversation and opinion. We like to challenge each other in the best way and this constantly inspires to me ask more of myself and get more out of what I do, always with the students’ benefit as the result of that. The students are inspiring because of the new and individual ways of moving that they display when they are able to be creative and innovative on their own.

 

What advice would you offer to someone hoping to go into a career in teaching?

Don’t think that the base level teaching qualification is enough. If you are teaching children be aware that there is as much, if not more, responsibility in preparing their bodies for the future than you may think, whether they want to be dancers or not. You would not dream of lifting or moving gym equipment without correct alignments and the same theory should be applied to lifting and moving your own body, otherwise imbalances occur and cause injury. It is one thing to have knowledge, but quite another to actually be able to see that knowledge being applied or not: having an acute eye for technical as well as stylistic accuracy is imperative.

Being open-minded to constantly improving and updating your knowledge is vital to not only your students’ success but also your own. If you are not successful in your knowledge then your students will not achieve through being appropriately challenged or fulfilled. A dance student should feel success and failure equally so that they confidently and objectively move forwards, and do not become demotivated with failure later, simply because it is a feeling they do not recognise

Remember how inspiring your dance teacher was, but do not try to copy or imitate it. You have to be yourself, know your own standards and expectations, know that things may have moved on since that teacher taught you. Use some of that inspiration but be open enough to develop those techniques and become yourself. This especially applies to those of us who learned dance in a very authoritarian way. There is a tendency to believe that the same techniques should still be applied, when really some of these techniques were, in fact, destructive.

Learn to listen to your students, and be confident enough to say that you do not know or cannot do something. As long as you are confident about your strengths you can be confident about your weaknesses: it is better to say you do not know and refer them to someone who does, rather than make the answer up just to save losing face in front of a student. Being a teacher does not mean you have to know everything, and do not feel that you have to be the teacher that offers everything.

Dance always keeps moving on, don’t get left behind just through fear!

Song and dance extravaganza THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT! will tour the UK this year, including performances from special guest stars. Each venue will feature a guest star alongside the cast of West End singers and dancers, with guests including Ruthie Henshall, Jane McDonald and The Overtones.

The award-winning Henshall is one of the biggest stars of musical theatre. Her career has seen her star in some of the most successful musicals, most recently in Billy Elliot. She has been nominated for an Olivier Award four times as a musical theatre artist, and has played the lead role in many of the most highly-acclaimed, long-running and award-winning musicals in the West End and on Broadway of the last 30 years.

Performer and entertainer McDonald found fame after starring in the television documentary series, The Cruise, as a singer. She has since received rave reviews for her lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats, and with her first number one album. McDonald’s concerts have sold out at venues across the UK, including the Royal Albert Hall, and McDonald was a panelist on the popular UK ITV1 Daytime Show, Loose Women, for 10 years.

The Overtones, the UK’s number one vocal harmony group, has achieved sell-out tours, sold over 1,000,000 albums and has just celebrated its fifth consecutive top 10 album. The group has performed at major events and concerts and are seen regularly on national TV, including a performance at the Queens’ Jubliee Concert.

Delighting audiences all over the country, THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT! will celebrate the biggest hits of the 1940s and 50s, including music by Rodgers and Hammerstein, as well as Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. It will tour to the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin; Theatre Royal, Windsor; Manchester Opera House; Oxford New Theatre; Dartford Orchard; Edinburgh Playhouse; Glasgow Theatre Royal; Liverpool Empire; York Opera House; Regent Theatre, Stoke; Bromley Churchill Theatre; Newcastle Theatre Royal; Woking New Theatre; Birmingham Alexandra Theatre; Aylesbury Waterside Theatre; Brighton Theatre Royal; New Wimbledon Theatre; Southend Cliffs Pavilion; and Norwich Theatre Royal.

Whilst breathing is a necessity for the human body to function, dancers do not always utilise their breath in order to enhance their performance while they dance. Many students hold their breath whilst dancing, and teachers can be heard saying ‘breathe!’ as the barre exercise finishes. Of course, it would be impossible to dance without having breathed, but dancers can use their breath further to maximise their dancing. Using the breath encourages a certain fluidity for the movement, and is more enjoyable for the dancer!

Most prevalent in younger dancers, many are unaware of the benefits of connecting the breath to movement. They are often focusing so hard on performing correctly that using the breath is secondary. Small changes, such as breathing in and up during a jeté, and breathing out in a plié, can transform the look of a movement and mean the body is performing properly. In general, inhaling emphasises movements that grow and exhaling places more emphasis on movements which shrink.

As dance students develop they can more easily be encouraged to use their breath alongside movement. The ballet barre is a good place to begin this, as the dancers can concentrate on matching their movement with their breath in a controlled environment, where they are familiar with the movements. Moving into the centre, they will begin to understand how they can use breath to their advantage, rather than keeping it under control. Improvising in a contemporary class can also benefit from using the breath as it is used amongst the movement, and to initiate new movement.

It can be useful to give students allocated slots in the movement to breathe, or to incorporate specific breathing patterns, such as inhaling when arms or legs are lifted or at the initiation of a jump, and exhaling at the beginning and end of a turn or during the landing of a jump. However, it is important for dancers to explore the connection between breath and movement themselves to assist their technique and performance.

Leanne Benjamin, the Royal Ballet’s longest-serving principal dancer will return to Australia to be appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to the performing arts. More than three decades after she left Queensland, in order to pursue her dreams on stage, Benjamin will be honoured with the prestige she deserves, cited as one of Australia’s most accomplished dancers. Over 10 years ago Benjamin was honoured with an OBE, so it is only fitting that now she is honoured by her homeland.

Benjamin retired from the stage over two years ago, but has remained in London; only recently she was a guest speaker at the London Ballet Circle. After her retirement as a dancer, Leanne graduated from the Chelsea College of Art and Design with a degree in Architectural Design. She now mentors and coaches students and professional dancers, and is a patron of the Tait Memorial Trust that gives an Australian student financial aid towards training in London. She is also developing a book but ultimately delights in finding new ways to contribute to the ballet world, passing on her knowledge.

Rewinding to her training, Benjamin left Australia to join the Royal Ballet School in London at the age of 16. Within a year she had won two of the most prestigious ballet competitions in the world, the Adeline Genée Gold Medal and Prix de Lausanne. After graduating into Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet in 1983, where she became a principal, and moving to London Festival Ballet in 1988, she joined Deutsche Oper Ballet in Berlin in 1990. During her time there Leanne worked with choreographer Kenneth MacMillan who convinced her to join The Royal Ballet in 1992.

Amongst many prestigious choreographers, Bemjamin has worked with Frederick Ashton and Ninette De Valois, one of the last dancers to have first hand experience of working with the founders of The Royal Ballet.

Inspired by Charles Dickens’ classic work of literature Oliver Twist, Avant Garde Dance and The Place are set to present Fagin’s Twist, from 28 September–15 October following a national tour. It will be the first major production and UK tour by Avant Garde Dance since 2012. In an ambitious reimagining of Oliver Twist, the innovative hip hop and contemporary dance company will present an evocative story of Fagin’s youth, corrupted by greed and poverty.

Fagin’s Twist features five of the familiar characters: Oliver; Fagin; Bill Sykes; Nancy and the Artful Dodger, but reimagines the paths of their lives and their individual circumstances. Dickens wrote the novel Oliver Twist less than 15 minutes from The Place in the London borough of Camden, as a commentary on child poverty and social injustice. Twists have been added to the tale to create a poignant, coming-of-age dance drama which draws parrallels between Victorian London and the modern society we inhabit.

The piece adds subtle layers of texture and precision through working with a dramaturg, accompanied by a specially written score. The piece will challenge audiences’ perspectives of a much loved classic. Co-produced by The Place, Fagin’s Twist is commissioned by Theatre Bristol, East London Dance, Pavilion Dance South West, Dance East and The Place. It is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

The company Avant Garde Dance was formed by Artistic Director Tony Adigun in 2001 as a creative release from the world of commercial dance he inhabited. It brings together a group of like-minded dancers to explore unusual, abstract and artistic ideas away from the mainstream. Education work is also core to the company’s ethos, with an educational workshop available for Fagin’s Twist, and a Young Dancers Participation Programme will run alongside the performances for this tour.