Uncategorised – Page 66 – Dance Direct Blog. News, Reviews & Advice About Dance

The London Ballet Circle

The London Ballet Circle provides financial support to student dancers, raising funds by hosting events such as talks by dancers, choreographers and company directors where members can find out from artists about their life and work. The events of the LBC offer a range of prestigious industry artists as speakers at the events, and the LBC also arranges private visits to ballet schools so members can observe students in training, and their incredible discipline and dedication devoted to their art. All of the LBC events raise vital funds to assist the education of the next generation of talent.

LBC was founded in 1946 by Stanley Hawkins and its founder President and first Patron was the founder of the Royal Ballet, Dame Ninette de Valois. Dame Alicia Markova – founder of English National Ballet, as it is now known – succeeded Dame Ninette. LBC also aims to promote interest in dance, rather than just ballet, and the associated arts by arranging a broad range of talks amongst other exclusive events. Recently LBC has hosted talks by world famous stars such as Marianela Nunez, Thiago Soares, Mara Galeazzi and Edward Watson.

Recent visits include watching classes and rehearsals at the Royal Ballet School, English National Ballet School, Tring School for the Performing Arts, the Central School of Ballet and the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School. LBC has also organised private guided tours of dance-related exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal Ballet School Museum at White Lodge.

Funds raised by the events provide financial support to gifted student dancers whose school principals have identified as greatly benefiting greatly from high level tuition, such as that provided by the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School, the Wells Weekends, and other summer schools run by the country’s leading ballet companies.

The New Year’s Honours List 2014

OBE Image: New Year's Honours 2014 The New Year’s Honours List 2014, released on 30 December 2013, included nine honours for dance professionals, championing their work for the arts sector. Dance UK runs the dance sector’s Honours Advisory Committee which is a group of dance professionals who volunteer their time and expertise to ensure dance professionals are regularly nominated from across the rich and diverse world of dance. Teachers, dancers, managers and choreographers can all be nominated, recognised for their hard work in all dance forms.

Choreographer and former dancer Gillian Lynne CBE was made a Dame as part of the New Year’s Honours List for services to dance and musical theatre, acknowledging her dedication to the industry which spans decades. Dancer and choreographer Carlos Acosta, received a CBE for services to ballet, recognising his work in the dance world. Assis Carreiro, former Director of DanceEast in Ipswich, was awarded an MBE for services to dance. Assis is now Artistic Director of Royal Ballet of Flanders. In addition, Liv Lorent, founder and Artistic Director of balletLORENT based in Newcastle, received an MBE for services to dance.

Other honourees included Lady Patricia Marina Hobson MBE awarded an OBE for services to ballet & philanthropy, Margaret Jaffe founder of Northern Dance Centre awarded the British Empire Medal for services to dance, and Jane Pritchard, Curator of Dance, Theatre and Performance Collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum: Jane was awarded an MBE for services to the arts. Jane curated the Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes exhibition at the museum and was archivist for both English National Ballet and Rambert.

Teaching Routes To The Same Goal

Dance Class

Teaching vocational theatre and dance is the subject of much discussion with many training options available, and students with different learning styles, such as through visual cues, hearing cues and doing things actively.

What makes a good teacher?

Theatre and music teachers in vocational schools play a specialised role in student development, taking time to develop their skills by giving information and guidance to progress quickly. Some teachers do this by sharing industry contacts, careers advice and specialist teachers.

At vocational school specialist teachers apply both experience and theory to teaching lessons. Students have access to the ‘experiential’ model of education where physical skills are used to experience and train in the subject. Vocational teachers speed up this experiential process by helping to rectify bad physical habits and engage students intellectually.

Vocational school is available both as full-time and part-time schools. A full-time vocational school teaches core curriculum subjects and specialist subjects, such as acting, dance and drama full-time, whereas Part-time vocational schools work alongside a child’s traditional schooling, teaching specialist subjects after school or at weekends. There can be academic and vocational grades awarded at the end, depending on what each school offers. The part-time type of school replaces the role of a traditional middle school such as Sylvia Young Theatre School and Tring Park School.

It’s important that vocational schools keep high standards and help children to progress onto specialist further education schools: vocational schools are important places for young people to learn the skills needed for entry into theatre, dance and music crafts, even if they have not had prior experience. Vocations like theatre, dance and music require students to carry out a lot of physical repetition: the region of around 10,000 hours of practice is needed to become an expert before their bodies and minds understand fully.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Mariinsky Ballet To Visit London In 2014

Mariinsky Logo The Mariinsky Ballet has announced plans for its London season in the summer of 2014: the season will run from 28 July to 14 August at the Royal Opera House, opening with the classic tale Romeo and Juliet. The company will also dance a triple bill of The Firebird, Marguerite and Armand and Concerto DSCH, Swan Lake and a George Balanchine double bill of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – the first time the company has danced this work in the UK – and Apollo. The season will end with the London premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s Cinderella, a production eagerly awaited by London audiences.

The Mariinsky Ballet is a classical ballet company based at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world’s leading ballet companies. Internationally, the Mariinsky Ballet is most commonly known by its former Soviet name the Kirov Ballet; the Mariinsky Ballet is the parent company of the Vaganova Ballet Academy, a leading international ballet school which has recently been subject to employment scandals.

The Imperial Theatre School as it was originally known, was established in 1738 and was the predecessor of today’s Vaganova Ballet Academy to create a school which would train young dancers to form the first Russian ballet company. The first group of students went on to form what would become the predecessor of today’s Mariinsky Ballet. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Imperial Russian Ballet soon rose to prominence and would employ some of the most influential and famous names in ballet history including Marie Taglioni, Enrico Cecchetti, Jules Perrot, and Carlotta Grisi.

Despite later name changes and pressures of the Russian revolution, the present day Mariinsky Ballet is still linked to the school, which is now known as the Vaganova Ballet Academy.

Treacle Holasz – Today’s Pioneer

Treacle Holasz is an emerging Irish, Ukrainian choreographer who combines her eclectic heritage to create comical and engaging physical theatre. Her latest piece ‘Why Fronts: A Contemporary Lap Dance’ is being showcased as part of The Place’s Resolution! 2014 festival.

When did you begin dancing, where and why?

At around the age of 4 my mother’s friend, Lucy, gave us some Tchaikovsky recordings, that I would put on and dance around the room doing faux ballet; I had so much fun that my mother started to take me to ballet classes at our local YMCA. Then, like so many of my dance friends, I regrettably stopped taking classes, and it wasn’t until the age of 12 that I rediscovered my passion for dance and creating movement. My skills were nurtured at The Place as part of the first year of their CAT scheme and their youth company – Shift.

What were your early years of dancing like?

So incredibly fun! One of the reasons I love teaching dance workshops and community projects now is because you can see in others the sheer excitement to learn! I have always been ambitious, from a young age I juggled studying for my GCSEs alongside attending dance classes every night of the week. Thankfully I have wonderfully supportive parents who worked very hard to not only pay for my lessons but drive me to classes. Despite never having experienced contemporary dance themselves, they have always encouraged me. I think it’s really empowering to be young and discover a past time that requires both discipline and creativity.

How long have you been performing? Did you start young?

I was painfully shy, up until the age of 17, so I was really only comfortable when I was performing. I performed throughout my school years, Shift in particular was a great and formative experience; as well making some great lifelong friends I was also given the opportunity to work with incredible choreographers like Martin Lawrence, Tom Dale and Zoi Dimitriou. I continued to perform throughout my training and on graduating performed with The March Performance Group. We were real pioneers, a group of feminists lead by American thinker Kate March. Shortly after, I met Cypriot choreographer Marina Poyiadji and we were commissioned by the European Union in 2012 to create and present a duet in Cyprus entitled ‘DECLARE WHAT’.

This work was an intensely intimate process, working together so closely we were almost able to second guess each others next movement. This collaboration sparked my interest in vocal rhythms of language, a device which I explore more throughly in my latest piece ‘Why-Fronts – A Contemporary Lap Dance’.

Where did you train and what was a typical day like?

I trained for 2 years at Lewisham College. It was fantastically brutal, we were like a dance army, we’d get in for around 8.30am to warm up then have classes from 9am-5pm, then if you were working on choreography you sometimes didn’t get away till 8pm.

I was very privileged to learn under Buddy Watkins and Ragnhild Olsen, both very different but really memorable teachers. After Lewisham I briefly went up to Northern School of Contemporary Dance but I couldn’t leave London so I decided I wanted a choreography based degree, there are some really fantastic university courses. I chose Middlesex University; a typical day was pretty varied but generally speaking you had two technique classes. The choreography classes were always my favourite as from the start there was a clear emphasis on discovering our own choreographic voice. I set up a company in my second year called DRA – we would perform choreographies at London venues to live bands and DJs, and loads of our fellow Middlesex dancers turned up in support. It was and is a really friendly, approachable atmosphere and I’m excited to be teaching a choreography workshop on 3 February at Middlesex, hopefully acting as a springboard for more collaborations in the future!

What is a typical day like now?

Very different, literally every day is different! Freelancing is tough but you feel like you make yourself achieve and every day counts. Rehearsals for my current piece
begin with tea and a quick gossip, then we all lay down, we do a series of set breathings and face warms ups then we start creating noise, warming up our lungs from there we will begin to move first improvised then into our more set material with my wonderful dancers Georges Hans and Charlie Ford. Some days I teach and rehearse with The Meyer Dancers (a 1960’s GoGo group founded by Holasz). Whenever possible I try and a fit in a hot chocolate with my friend Ruby Isla to discuss fun ways to promote my work through social media, and how to spread the word about the various choreographic workshops that I offer, with the aim of enabling others to discover their unique choreographic voice.

Do you still take classes? How do you keep on top of your technique?

When I was at Uni I did take class at The Place, but as a freelancer I can’t commit from one week to the next in case I’m performing or teaching – so I really rely on drop in classes. My personal 2014 resolution is to take up a ballet class again, I think it’s a technique you just fall in love with again as you get older. It’s a bit like being an artist when you learn first draw, you use a pencil, then you get excited by inks, water colours and oil and you sort of take the pencil for granted but without the pencil the painting is arguably a mess so with the discipline of the pencil you find a freedom to be creative. So you could say that Ballet is my pencil, Ha!

What’s the best part of performing?

When you see someone in the audience smile or laugh or even just look you dead in the eye and you think “YES! They get it”. I think it’s far harder to make an audience laugh and connect with you as a human being rather than an unobtainable ‘performer’. I never want to lose sight of the fact that dance should be enjoyable escapism. I’m a born entertainer: if you are paying us money, I want you to go home thinking “We just got entertained.” A personal pet peeve of mine is when I go and see a work and company are so self indulgent that they appear to be enjoying the evening more than the audience.

What piece will you be performing at Resolution!? What is it about?

I’m really proud of this work called ‘Why Fronts: A Contemporary Lap Dance’ (or if you are on the twitter-sphere, #Yfronts). Essentially it is a piece which explores the influence that gender has on society’s attitude towards movement, questioning why certain movements performed by a woman are viewed as provocative, whereas exactly the same movements or pose performed by a man are deemed
animalistic? We are also debating whether the popular but controversial dance form of a lap dance should be considered pro or anti-feminist? My dancers Georges and Charlie had a workshop with acclaimed pole dancer VEGAS (Sasha Allen) in the art of pole and seduction; she has been really influential in the work as she gave us such a frank account of her professional working life.

Which part of contemporary dance do you enjoy most?

I love moving the most, physically dancing. It is a varied and rich style and to an extent it is a misunderstood style that is often under represented – I’d like to see it be given a lot more coverage. I strongly believe that people should be encouraged to feel OK if they “don’t get it”, the wondrous nature of contemporary dance is that is doesn’t have a linear and one dimensional narrative, it isn’t something that needs to be ‘got’ or understood fully, but more emphasis needs to be placed on works being created purely for enjoyment purposes.

What advice would you give to someone aspiring to be part of the dance industry?

Not to listen to advice! There really is no magic recipe or clear path into any creative industry. I think you can carve your own path and make your own opportunities; you don’t always need to rely on platforms or funding awards, put on events with people whose work you dig and venues you love and just make things happen, your way.

What’s next for you? When are you performing at Resolution?

We are performing on 11 February – we really want to have fun with the piece, it’s going to be more like a party than a performance, There’s a strong cultural influence from my Irish Ukrainian heritage so we have a live Bodhran player Tad Sargent joining us, we are also asking some of the audience to join us on stage, then there is talk of vodka shots… My dashing dancers be stripping down to their Yfronts so it really is one for the diary! We both hope to tour the work and also to teach our choreography workshops alongside it to dancers of all abilities. At Holasz Choreography we are all about remembering, creating and having a ruddy good time!

You can keep up to date with future dates, plans and gossip here:

https://www.facebook.com/holaszchoreography
or @holaszchoreog on Twitter

Why-Fronts – A Contemporary Lap Dance is part of a triple bill and is being performed alongside Jenni Wren’s Slanjayvah Danza: MinorTears and LCP Dance Theatre’s Am I. For tickets and more information please visit http://t.co/TALKUlBSZ4

August Bournonville

Iconic classical ballet productions such as Swan Lake, La Sylphide, Giselle, and The Sleeping Beauty are all the work of one choreographer: August Bournonville. It is arguable that La Sylphide is perhaps the most internationally famous representative of classical Danish ballet, created by Bournonville and paying homage to the distinct Danish style of classical ballet. The style was prolific, having engendered the ‘Bournonville school’ or ‘Bournonville ballet’.

Bournonville was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1805. He went on to dance with the famed Marie Taglioni and became a soloist with the Royal Danish Ballet, eventually serving as its balletmaster. He remained there until the end of his life, in 1879, having made 50 ballets for the company in the unique style he created from his studies in the Italian, French, and Danish schools.

Bournonville movement is characterised by the use of petit allegro (fast, intricate footwork with small jumps) rather than by big, virtuoso lifts or grand allegro. Bournonville believed that dancing should be understated, graceful, and light, epitomised by the lowered eyes of the Bournonville dancer, giving the overall appearance of graciousness. The dancer must be directly on top of the music, meaning there is very little rhythmic freedom to speed up or slow down movement. Despite this, Bournonville ballets remain expressive.

Today the Bournonville style is surrounded by the sky-high extensions and dazzling turns and jumps of other choreographic styles however the beauty and difficulty of the dances must not be underestimated. Bournonville’s ballets continue to be performed throughout the world and the Royal Danish Ballet upholds the Bournonville style as one of its proudest traditions. The style encompasses both high technical demands and an infectious celebration of life.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

News for British Ballet Organisation

John Travis, the director of the British Ballet Organisation, recently announced significant news which will enable the BBO to develop, secure its future and enhance the support and service provided to its members and the dance profession. It’s current home, Woolborough House, has been a much loved home for the organisation; however the BBO has outgrown the building and it is no longer fit for purpose. After a lengthy and complex process the sale of Woolborough House has been agreed and will be completed early in 2014.

Established in 1930, the British Ballet Organization is proud of its heritage and continues in the tradition of its famous founders: the name Espinosa is recognised worldwide as one of the most important influences in the development of dance and the training of dancers. Woolborough House in London was the Espinosa family home from 1913. On the formation of the BBO, it became and remains today the Headquarters of the organisation. Many famous students studied with Espinosa at Woolborough House, including Phyllis Bedells and Ninette de Valois. In 1932 a studio was built alongside the house which has continued to host classes and BBO examinations and provides rehearsal space for many leading dance companies and professional artists.

The exciting opportunity for BBO has become possible with the support of the Espinosa Memorial Fund, and will allow the BBO to retain a freehold headquarters in central London as a long term safeguard for future generations.Their support allows the organisation to fully utilise the legacy of Edouard Espinosa and the family.

The BBO Board and the Chief Executive Officer have been working with the EMF and the Trustees of Woolborough House to formulate a development strategy, which reflects the charitable objectives of the organisation and the values that have underpinned the BBO throughout its history. During this process the Trustees have identified some exciting opportunities that will ensure BBO retains and enhances its position as a major teaching and training organisation both regionally and internationally.

Johan Kobborg Appointed Director Of The National Romanian Ballet

Johan Kobborg has recently been appointed as director of the National Romanian Ballet, taking up his new post in February 2014. This announcement came after the first night of Kobborg’s production of La Sylphide for the company, which opened on 7 December, meaning Kobborg will be at the helm of the company, steering it in an exciting direction.

Both Kobborg and his fiancé Romanian ballerina Alina Cojocaru, who danced the first night La Sylphide with The Royal Ballet’s Steven McRae, left The Royal Ballet as Principals this summer in order to pursue other artistic challenges: Cojucaru joined English National Ballet and has since danced Principal roles in Le Corsair and The Nutcracker.

Born and trained in Denmark, Kobborg joined The Royal Ballet in 1999, along with Cojucaru, where they danced throughout the classical, Ashton and MacMillan repertoire and in many new ballets. The dancers gave many memorable performances as members of The Royal Ballet, both at the Royal Opera House and around the world. Over the past ten years, their unique partnership has developed and the couple’s last UK performance as members of The Royal Ballet was in Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling on 5 June. In July they danced on tour with the company in Tokyo.

Kobborg has praised the National Romanian Ballet company, saying on Twitter that “Romanian Ballet has more natural born Sylphs than any other company I ever worked with”; his directing of the company looks set to hold lots in store for the lucky dancers. In recent years, Cojocaru has staged galas to raise money for Romanian Hospices of Hope and she has also given the Romanian National Ballet 50% of its annual supply of pointe shoes.

In the past Kobborg has also worked around the world as a producer and choreographer, staging Bournonville’s La Sylphide and Napoli and creating his own ballets.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Flagship Children’s Theatre For Darlington

Darlington Borough Council

Darlington Borough Council has announced it intends to use £600,000 of ring-fenced funds from the future sale of Darlington Arts Centre to help create a flagship children’s theatre which will become the first permanent performance space for children’s touring company Theatre Hullabaloo. The company will bid for £1.5 million of Arts Council England capital money for the project and the local authority will provide its own cash as match-funding if the bid is successful.

The proposed theatre would include a 150-seat studio theatre space for professional performances by Theatre Hullabaloo, as well as rehearsal areas and a cafe. Other arts organisations and community groups would be able to stage works and use the space as well. While Darlington Borough Council would be unable to subsidise the new venue, its proposal would entail running the building and sharing management costs with the Darlington Civic Centre while Theatre Hullabaloo would programme the space.

The council-owned Darlington Arts Centre, which was the previous base for Theatre Hullabaloo as well as other arts groups, closed in July 2012. The new venue will not replace the Darlington Arts Centre, but will form an important part of a proposed cultural quarter for the town that would also have national significance as a small theatre space for the town.

The proposal is for the venue to embody the values of the company which are that children should not be compromised as an audience by having to be secondary users in an adult-designed space. The venue will be a children-centred space that would allow the company to create and perform its own work and create a hub for artists developing their own practice in theatre for young audiences.

The Art of Food

Nutrition Pyramid Following injuries, it is paramount that dancers recover as quickly as possible, and diet can particularly aid this. And it’s not just about what you eat, it’s about what you shouldn’t eat too; junk food fills holes without providing any nutrients, just empty calories, and caffeine reduces bone-mineral density and increase fluid loss.

In order to promote healing, the following foods are of particular benefit: produce, dairy and meat aisles, rather than pre-packaged goods. Every nutrient plays a part in recovering from injuries, particularly protein, vitamin D and vitamin C. For calcium choose milk, yogurt, low-fat cheese and almonds; for vitamin A try sweet potato, carrots, blue/orange/purple fruits and vegetables; gain vitamin C with broccoli, citrus fruits and berries; to increase magnesium have almonds, spinach, pumpkin and ground flaxseeds; for omega-3 fatty acids: walnuts, ground flaxseeds, beans, wild salmon; and for protein: milk, eggs, tofu, beans and lean meat.

To ensure strong bones, rather than gorging on milk and other calcium-filled products, try adding a little more virgin olive oil to you meals, such as salad or pasta. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism reports that men put on diets that included the Mediterranean staple showed a significant increase in levels of osteocalcin, a marker of healthy bone formation.

Another unexpected food tip is to use juice to stay slim. Juice is usually associated with ‘bad foods’ due to its high sugar content, however if you’re craving a fruity drink, try watermelon juice. A recent study published in The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry found that an amino acid in watermelon juice called citrulline might help with weight maintenance.