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Dance, when considered an expression of the self and art, is far removed from the rigour of weekly dance class and the demands of technique. Despite this, to build a foundation for dance and technique it remains imperative that dancers are encouraged to develop a level of strength and flexibility in order to progress their further. A large part of technique in particular, and ballet as a foundation for all dance styles, is turnout, which many dancers aspire to improve.

Turnout is not necessarily important in all styles of dance but is at the core of the ballet aesthetic: turnout helps to provide a more stable base of support through the foot. It is easy to ‘force’ turnout by pushing the heels forward, however without the knees tracking over the toes in a plié and the hips rotating outwards, this creates a false image. It puts too much rotational action in the knee joints, ankles and feet which destabilises the knee and ankle and can result in injury.

One hundred eighty degree turnout is something few dancers have, and the vast majority of dancers work constantly to improve their degree of turnout. For the most part, this extent of turnout is something very few dancers are born with – for most, the natural skeletal structure restricts the amount of turnout they have. Despite this, it is possible for a dancer to enhance turnout, and to stretch and strengthen the hip structure to maximise this. Although genetic factors cannot be improved, tendon and muscle structures can be improved to support the lateral rotation to maximum advantage.

Factors that can inhibit turnout include imbalanced pelvic alignment, gripping or tucking the pelvis under, tension in hip muscles and overuse of incorrect muscles. Work within your physical structure to safely improve turnout by working on muscles for internal and external rotation equally. Strengthening and stretching the hip structure should be combined so as not to create an imbalance. Work on stretching the medial and lateral rotators of the hip, the hamstrings and hip flexors and releasing tension of the hip muscles not needed for rotation, such as by foam rolling.

London’s Roundhouse in Camden is due to celebrate a landmark year, having opened 50 years ago as a bold new arts centre in the capital. In 2016, a new building will act as a centre of creative excellence, with the anniversary year beginning with a world premiere for choreographer Akram Khan and a first ‘in the round’ music series. Still to be announced is a major event to celebrate the Roundhouse’s birthday in October, still under wraps.

The building could be classed as one of the most iconic performance spaces in the world, and a state-of-the-art creative centre for young people. In recognition of this momentous year, the intention to add a brand new campus as a centre of creative excellence for young people has been announced. Ahead of this however, Khan’s production of Until the Lions, a brand new intimate music series and the announcement of the return of UK’s foremost festival of international contemporary circus, Circusfest in April, will also add to the celebrations throughout the year.

The Roundhouse offers audiences of all ages new and extraordinary experiences in live music, circus, theatre, spoken word and more. Additionally, each year it helps over 3,000 11-25 year-olds realise their creative potential through opportunities in music, media and performing arts. They work with industry professionals to develop their skills in a dedicated creative centre, to be championed further in 2016. June will see the Roundhouse recognise its 10th anniversary of reopening as a charity following a huge refurbishment and the 50th anniversary will be celebrated by honouring its historic role in the UK’s live music and performing arts scene.

The Grade II* listed building and former railway engine shed was built in 1846, falling into disuse until reopening as a performing arts venue led by playwright Arnold Wesker. The cutting-edge arts venue lived for 16 years before it fell into disrepair in 1983, and in 1996 The Norman Trust bought the building and set up the Roundhouse Trust. In 2006 the building reopened with a mission of providing creative opportunities for young people. Since then nearly 30,000 young people have benefitted from the centre’s projects.

While injuries in dance can be debilitating and demoralising, learning about the most common injuries can be useful in both preventing and healing.

Tendonitis is one of the main offenders for dancers, where there is an inflammation or tear in the tendon that travels under your calf muscle, inside the ankle bone and along the bottom of the foot to the big toe. Pain is felt when the dancer goes from demi-pointe to full pointe, and can also mean the big toe clicks or gets ‘caught’. This form of tendonitis can derive from repetitive ‘pushing off’ with your foot during jumps or while going from plié to relevé, so it is important to have balanced strength and flexibility in the ankle.

Stress fractures can also be common in dancers, where tiny cracks occur in the bones due to repetitive overloading. These are often found in the long bones of the foot and the pain is most apparent when jumping or turning. To begin with, you may not see any swelling or bruising, but it will gradually become more painful to dance. Loading the bone beyond its limit causes a reaction which then heals, but with overuse it cannot heal quickly enough and cracks. Periods of increased activity, such as lots of rehearsals for a performance or during a summer intensive, can also cause the fractures, as well as having weaker bones due to poor nutrition. Strengthening exercises can help as modified rest before attempting to jump.

Straining the muscles in the lower back can feel like a dull ache on one or both sides of your spine, occurring when dancers try new things, such as a new step, style of dance or choreography. Weakness in the core muscles are partially to blame, in addition to the back, as the overuse is overwhelming when the muscles are not quite strong enough, leading to stretching or tearing the inflamed muscles. During recovery you may be able to take modified class, however you may need a complete rest period. Gently stretching the muscles and abdominal strengthening exercises, like planks, can help, in addition to targeting the lower abs.

It is important to look after the body, it is the only one you’ve got!

The hit musical Guys and Dolls recently transferred from the Chichester Festival Theatre up to London, as so many musicals have done in recent years. The theatre in Chichester appears to be a lucky charm for all productions that play there, seeing them all journey to London to play to and delight the capital’s audiences too. The hit production is also set to tour the UK, enabling audiences further afield to experience the show too.

The show will move from the Savoy Theatre – where it is currently playing – to the Phoenix Theatre in March with a UK tour running simultaneously. Having only opened at the Savoy in January, the confirmation of its transfer across London demonstrates the popularity of the show. The production will replace the musical Bend It Like Beckham which shuts on 5 March, with Guys and Dolls opening on 19 March, soon after closing at the Savoy on 12 March. The show is currently booking at the Phoenix Theatre until October 2016.

Directed at the Chichester Festival Theatre by Gordon Greenberg, the show will also tour from 16 March across the UK at the same time as the extended West End run. The UK tour will visit Liverpool Empire; Theatre Royal, Newcastle; His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen; The Edinburgh Playhouse; Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield; Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin; Theatre Royal, Norwich; Mayflower Theatre, Southampton; Grand Theatre, Leeds; Theatre Royal, Plymouth; King’s Theatre, Glasgow; Milton Keynes Theatre; Theatre Royal, Nottingham; The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury; New Theatre, Cardiff; Bristol Hippodrome; Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton and New Victoria Theatre, Woking.

While full casting details are to be confirmed, the show tells the story of gangsters in New York and the love story between a gambling man and a Salvation Army woman. It features songs such as “Luck Be a Lady” and “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ The Boat”.

Pivot Dance, a European creative collaboration initiative, was recently announced by The Place, London. It is a three year project looking at the value of creating dance performances in consultation with audiences, artists and producers, funded by the Creative European Programme of the European Union. With such huge backing, the initiative looks set to introduce new work for even more dance audiences.

This project is running simultaneously at The Place in the UK, CSC Centro per la Scena contemporanea di Bassano del Grappa in Italy and Nederlandse Dansdagen in The Netherlands. The three partners aim to represent a cross-section of organisations in Europe, made up of a producing theatre, a national platform and an international festival. The partnership is synchronised in terms of the organisations’ objectives towards dance artists and audiences, going further to embrace wider objectives around deepening artists and audience relationships.

Pivot Dance will culminate in the creation of six brand new dance shows made with the help of an ‘Audience Club’ in each country, hitting each of its objectives in working towards the future of dance. Specifically, Pivot Dance aims to create a shift in behaviour in the dance industry for the next generation of makers and audience, where they go on a creative journey together, rather than meeting at the end in the performance space. The three project partners are international leaders in supporting emerging artists and so are ideally placed to shift artistic behaviour across Europe.

The three key dimensions of Pivot Dance are therefore artists, producers and audiences to develop an artistic voice and entrepreneurial instincts from the very start of the creative process. Over the course of the project, the selected artists and producers will work with the Audiences Clubs and experienced dance professionals. This project tests new models for this three-way relationship: how it can impact the dances that are made, and how audiences connect to them.

The artists and producers who have been selected to participate in Pivot Dance are:

Sivan Rubenstein and Xavier De Sousa (UK) Joseph Toonga and Emma Beverley (UK) Giorgia Nardin and Irene Bedin (Italy) Elena Giannotti and Lisa Gilardino (Italy) Dario Tortorelli and Fred Bax (The Netherlands) Iván Pérez and Joriene Blom (The Netherlands)

The chairwoman and executive director of the International Association of Blacks in Dance, an organisation that has existed in the United States for over 25 years, has recently voiced her opinions on the lack of female African-American dancers in ballet companies. Denise Saunders Thompson held auditions as a result, in conjunction with the association’s annual conference for women seeking contracts with American companies.

Attending the audition were representatives from Ballet Memphis, Pennsylvania Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Washington Ballet, amongst others, in addition to the Pacific Northwest Ballet School and the School of American Ballet. Thompson’s aim was to attract 50 dancers who were aged over 15 with at least two years experience en pointe. Ahead of the audition Thompson maintained that there was room for many more dancers and that there was no application deadline, opening the opportunity further to more dancers.

The objective of Thompson’s work was to demonstrate to companies’ artistic directors that there are many minority dancers available to them, in addition to being a call to action for these dancers, fulfilling the need identified for the artistic directors. There has recently been much focus on equity, inclusion and diversity in dance – as well as the celebration of Misty Copeland’s talents as a ballerina – so the audition comes as a follow-up to that.

The audition has been lauded as a positive and worthwhile experience for both the auditionees and the panel; it is a rare moment to have Houston Ballet Academy, Dance Theater of Harlem, Ballet Memphis and Washington Ballet in the room at the same time. Thompson aims to continue in this vein and strengthen the process in alignment with the companies. Ultimately she is looking to bridge the two parties together and work further to diversify the landscape of the ballet world, particularly in the United States.

RADiate, the Royal Academy of Dance’s initiative which offers subsidised dance classes to children on the autism spectrum, and to those with learning difficulties – and those who are non verbal – is set to expand into more schools across South and South West London. Recent funding will mean the RAD can consolidate and expand this inclusive outreach project into more schools, and meet more students’ needs beyond the London boroughs of Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Southwark.

RADiate classes allow children to benefit creatively, educationally, physically and socially, since the specific nature of dance particularly suits their more visual, non-verbal learning style. RADiate currently provides weekly dance sessions in ten special needs primary schools and mainstream primary schools with Autism Spectrum Disorder bases, delivered by a small team of highly-experienced teachers on a weekly basis. Many of the RADiate children find it difficult to engage in group activities so tutors are experienced in using activities which will attract the children into the group, so that taking part becomes a fun experience.

The children additionally benefit from the opportunity to develop at their own pace, with the support of a teaching assistant in ongoing weekly classes. These particularly give children with severe and complex learning difficulties the opportunity to make gradual progress within the routine and structure of the class. The class repeats movements each week and develops them slowly, as appropriate for children with autism who find change difficult.

As a new addition to the RADiate work, Michael Nunn OBE, co-founder of BalletBoyz, will also take on the role of RADiate ambassador. Whilst there are no plans yet to expand the project further across the country, offering the opportunity of dance even to a small proportion of children goes some way in practising and championing inclusivity in dance.

The hit and award-winning television show So You Think You Can Dance is set for a return to the public’s screens this year, with Fox announcing recently that the dance-based reality show will be back for a 13th season. However this time there’s a twist; 2016 will see younger dancers featured more than ever before.

Branded as So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation, the new focus of the show will look at dancers between the ages of 8-13 in more detail. Those focused on in particular will be those who are skilled in dance styles like contemporary, tap, hip-hop, ballroom or break dancing, opening the pool of talent wider and casting the net farther.

The young dancers will perform for their chance at a place in “The Academy,” where only the best will move on to the next round. Each member of the top 10 will then be partnered permanently with a SYTYCD All-Star to learn routines across all styles of dance, with one contestant going home each week. The judges – Nigel Lythgoe, Paula Abdul, and Jason Derulo – are set to return to the show, adding continuity to the show’s now changing face.

The brand new format will refresh the look of the show for its loyal fan base, which has stuck by the popular programme for over a decade. As a result of inspiring young dancers across the country, the focus on younger dancers looks like it will be a welcome change. The common perception of dance has changed dramatically in the twenty-first century, with it becoming much more mainstream and appealing to wider audiences.

The young and passionate new group of performers on the series will see much more talent hit television screens, who will potentially go on to shape the future of dance.

With January and the ‘new year’ well and truly over, dance classes are back to normal and the usual dance training for many dancers has resumed. Sometimes with new classes and extra training, other areas of technique and conditioning can slip a little further down the priority list: something which is usually neglected is a focus on flexibility.

With added dancing workload, new muscles are being used and they can become tight and sore as a result. There are certain flexibility improvements, however, that can be made in order to maintain flexibility and nurture it throughout additional training or classes you may take on in 2016.

Dynamic stretching can have a big impact on overall flexibility and help to retain technique previously built up. Dynamic stretching, and the movement that comes with it, helps to prepare the body for work on flexibility levels by increasing the flow of blood and oxygen to the muscles, warming up the muscles and mobilising the joints. Once the body is warm, dynamic stretches take the body through movement – such as walking lunges and hugging the knees to the chest – to begin increasing the elasticity of the muscles.

Alternatively, static stretching must only really be undertaken once the body is fully warmed up, as the stretches are still and held for much longer than dynamic stretches. These stretches should be held for around 30 seconds to increase flexibility, whereas dynamic stretches are held for around a third of this time, such as touching your toes. Gradually lengthen the muscle, breathe deeply and allow your muscles to relax into a deeper stretch throughout the stretch period.

Research continues to show that a combination of both dynamic and static stretching is most beneficial for increasing flexibility when your muscles are warm, however the stretches should never feel painful.

The award-winning collaborative duo Stiles and Drewe have recently announced a new Mentorship Award for musical theatre writers. What is tipped to become an inaugural award will help the next generation of musical theatre writing talent, following the success of the pair themselves.

The new award aims to help support and develop musical theatre writing in the UK, initiated by the Olivier Award-winning writing duo George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who know a thing or two about writing for the stage, and successfully. Named as the MTI Stiles + Drewe Mentorship Award, the accolade will help to raise winners’ profiles in the industry and provide them with mentorship and support to help develop a new musical over a twelve-month period, culminating in an industry showcase.

There is no doubt that writing and developing a musical, be it for the West End, Broadway or Fringe theatre, is difficult work. Stiles and Drewe have acknowledged this too and have been championing new writers in the UK, now able to offer them support. The new Mentorship Award is hoped to make a significant difference to the quality of musical theatre writing in the UK: the pair will mentor the next generation of musical writers using their knowledge of the industry and the work required.

Stiles and Drewe found success as a partnership after winning the first Vivian Ellis Prize in 1985 for their musical Just So and their credits since then have includes Honk!, Betty Blue Eyes and Mary Poppins. Producer Cameron Mackintosh was an individual who provided Stiles and Drewe with advice and support during the early years of their careers, and even produced their first musical. Mackintosh has worked with the duo for over 30 years, so can vouch for their successful writing collaboration.

Submissions for the award are now being accepted, closing on 9 March. Winners of the award will be selected by Stiles and Drewe and a panel of judges.