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The 15th National Dance Awards

National Dance Awards Critics' Circle The Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards 2014 took place at The Place in London, at a ceremony hosted by Arlene Phillips on 26 January.

New records were set as choreographer and dancer, Akram Khan, became the first to win a sixth NDA, picking up this year’s for Best Modern Choreography for Dust, his work for English National Ballet that was part of its Lest We Forget programme. Christopher Wheeldon became the first to win five awards in the same category, winning the Best Classical Choreography Award for The Winter’s Tale for the Royal Ballet.

Natalia Osipova and Jonathan Goddard became the first dancers to pick up two awards at the same ceremony: Osipova won the category of Outstanding Female Performance (Classical) for her performance as Giselle for the Royal Ballet, and Goddard won the Outstanding Male Performance (Modern) for his portrayal of Dracula for Mark Bruce Company (which won Best Independent Company). Both dancers were consequently named Best Dancers of 2014. 2014 marked Goddard’s second collection of The Dancing Times Best Male Dancer, a record-breaking fourth time as Grishko Best Female Dancer for Osipova.

The De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement was presented by Darcey Bussell to Carlos Acosta in recognition of his outstanding career as a dancer and a producer, and The Outstanding Company of 2014 went to English National Ballet. The Outstanding Male Performance (Classical) was won by Xander Parish, the British dancer who left the Royal Ballet to join the Mariinsky Ballet, for his performances of George Balanchine’s Apollo. The Outstanding Female Performance (Modern) went to Wendy Houstoun, for her one-woman show, Pact with Pointlessness, inspired by the death of choreographer, Nigel Charnock.

The Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle introduced a new award for 2014 to recognise emerging artists, and this was won by upcoming Royal Ballet soloist, Francesca Hayward, notably for her performances of Ashton repertoire. The awards completely celebrate and encompass the talent of the dance industry, both from home-based companies and many touring ensembles from overseas. The next National Dance Awards are scheduled to be held in London on 25 January 2016.

The Value Of Performing Arts

The music, performing and visual arts sector (including theatre), is now worth £5.4 billion a year in contributing to the UK economy, new figures from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have revealed. It is clear here that performing arts have a huge value for the UK as a whole, let alone every individual which engages with the arts. The statistics are part of a wider analysis of the creative industries, which now contribute £76.9 billion to the UK economy.

The contribution is a growth of almost 10% from 2012 to 2013, which is the most recent year available to reference. The 10% increase is three times that of the wider UK economy during the same period, demonstrating how vital the arts are, not just culturally but socially too. Music, performing and visual arts, one of nine sectors included as part of the creative industries, showed a 19% increase on 2012. The new figures also show a 46% increase in the music and performing arts sector since 2008.

Secretary of state for culture, Sajid Javid, has acknowledged the contribution of the creative industries to the wider UK economy as being evident to all, and it is hoped his influence is spread wide across the UK government. The creative industries are perhaps “one of our most powerful tools in driving growth”, remarked Javid, engaging young children and sparking an interest in them. Javid also maintained that the “government is determined to continue its support for this most dynamic of sectors as part of our long-terms economic plan, [and] children’s TV and orchestras have been instrumental in attracting inward investment”.

In terms of UK employment, the creative industries accounted for 1.7 million jobs in 2013, which is 5.6% of total UK jobs and an increase of 1.4% on the previous year. Here we can clearly see the value of the arts which continues to increase.

The Royal Ballet School Seminars

The Royal Ballet School has launched Inspire, a series of six seminars for classical ballet teachers starting in May 2015. Held across the UK, the inspiring events will support continued professional development and networking for dance professionals from all teaching backgrounds and societies, devised and delivered by the School. The seminars will explore good teaching practice and the foundations of classical ballet technique (non-syllabus based).

Each seminar can be attended as a one-off event but the School recommends that teachers take part in all six seminars in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the full Inspire series. A certificate of participation will be provided after each seminar, and on finishing the six seminars, a final certificate of completion of the Inspire programme will be awarded.

The series will launch with the first event in London in May 2015, delivered by Mark Annear and Karen Berry of The Royal Ballet School. The series will then run from autumn 2015 in London, and initially Birmingham, Cardiff, York and Edinburgh. Other locations will potentially be offered later as the programme progresses. Teachers will therefore be able to access some of the finest ballet training tutors in the country to share the world-class expertise of The Royal Ballet School to enrich their practice.

The School’s mission is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers for The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and other top international dance companies, and in doing so to set the standards in dance training, nationally and internationally. The School offers an eight-year carefully structured dance course, aligned with an extensive academic programme, giving the students the best possible education to equip them for a career in the world of dance. Keeping in line with this, the Inspire programme will produce teachers with a well-rounded knowledge to take back to their classrooms.

The Professional Dancer

Professional Dancer Do you want to take your dancing to a professional level? As glamorous as it may seem, the life of a performer is a lot of hard work, pain and strict dedication to the goal. If you still wish to pursue a career in dance you must strive for it completely, as it requires a lot of passion and hard graft.

It is important to keep your feet on the ground, metaphorically speaking, and think realistically about your career. If you are the strongest dancer locally this will not make you the strongest amongst others in an audition. Open auditions are perhaps a dancer’s worst nightmare for being noticed, and a closed audition means agents put forward their very best dancers for that job – you may be one of many very similar dancers.

It is important to play up to your strengths and use them to your advantage in any dance environment, be it a class, audition or workshop. It is also important to continue learning and conquering your weaknesses in order to develop as a dancer. It’s easy to get complacent when you are responsible for keeping yourself in shape for auditioning, so keep challenging yourself and trying new things. Despite this, there will be auditions and jobs that you simply won’t get or be out forward for based on non-personal reasons, such as looks, so you must develop a tough skin.

Have a “plan B” too: make sure you have a substantial education behind you in case you must stop dancing for any reason. It is also important to have a clear idea of how you can work when you are in between dance jobs, so develop your skills, and build up professional experience. Don’t forget you also need persistence and a positive attitude: don’t take life too seriously and remember to enjoy the hard work involved in reaching your dream.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Follies With Henshall And Baranski

Follies Christine Baranski, Russell Watson and Ruthie Henshall are set to star in a concert production of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Follies at the Royal Albert Hall on 28 April. Directed by Craig Revel Horwood, with choreography by Andrew Wright, the music for the production will be performed by the City of London Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Follies musical, performed in the West End in 1987, reached London after successful stage productions across the US, including in Manhattan, Los Angeles, Michigan, Texas, Washington and Massachusetts. Follies went on to experience a world-wide theatre revival between 2001 and 2013, where it was then performed at the Toulon Opera House in France.

The musical has its historical roots in 19th century Parisian musical theatre. Follies first hit Broadway in 1971 and enjoyed 522 performances across New York. Written by Sondheim, one of America’s most renowned musical theatre composers, Follies benefitted from Sondheim’s huge musical talent. Oscar Hammerstein II became a surrogate mentor to Sondheim, who was rapidly enchanted with musical theatre. The inspiration for Follies came from reading a New York Times article about showgirls from the real-life Ziegfeld Follies and their lives.

A story was created focusing on two ex-showgirls who attend a reunion act for the Weismann Follies. Based on the Ziegfeld Follies, which entertained America in the roaring 20s, the story tells us how showgirls performing in the US became celebrities very quickly. Despite this, fame was fickle, and short-lived for most.

Follies has been just as much a success recently as it was in the 1970s. It has thematic implications for feminism and women’s emancipation, which first struck a chord with the American political classes. The narrative focuses on the culture behind making stars of people overnight, and the fascination with celebrity life. Unsurprisingly, the musical won seven Tony Awards in 1972, including Best Score for Sondheim.

Australian Dance Theatre Celebrates 50 Years

In 2015, Australia’s oldest contemporary dance company, Australian Dance Theatre, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. This huge milestone is a fantastic achievement, with the company surviving many decades of different arts views. To commemorate the milestone, Australian Dance Theatre will present a “50th Anniversary Gala” at the Dunstan Playhouse down under in July: through the gala the company will pay tribute to its history, which is both vast and varied. The celebrations will honour its current and former artistic directors, and will also present a new work created by Garry Stewart, co-choreographed with former dancer, Larissa McGowan.

In it’s 50th anniversary year, Australian Dance Theatre will also tour nationally and internationally. Garry Stewart’s work Be Yourself will be presented in three parts of Australia, including New South Wales. In addition, his dance film Collision Course will be presented in Melbourne’s Federation Square in February as part of the Recharge: Experimental Biennial of Media Art. Two European tours of the company’s newest work – Multiverse – will take place in March and June, taken to French and Spanish theatres, including the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris. Australian Dance Theatre will also tour to South America, which is a first for the company and a new market to play to.

Other 50th anniversary celebratory events for Australian Dance Theatre include a Founders’ Celebration held in the Adelaide Arcade which was the first home of the dance company, a commemorative book which will be launched in November and involvement with the 2015 Australian Dance Awards which will be held in Adelaide in September.

For more information about Australian Dance Theatre’s plans for 2015, including the above performances, education activities and events, and research projects, visit the company’s website.

Multi-Screen Brighton Cinema Plans Retreat

The plans for new multi-screen Brighton cinema have made a hasty retreat after the developer made a swift turnaround on the plan to use a historic venue. Campaigners are now celebrating the dismissal of the plans, which aimed to convert the historic Brighton Hippodrome into a multi-screen cinema and shops.

Entertainment company Vue wrote to the Save Our Hippodrome group confirming plans to convert the Grade II listed building were not being pursued by the landlord. Vue’s managing director in the UK and Ireland confirmed the redevelopment would not go ahead, and consequently Vue will not be placing a cinema in the Brighton Hippodrome.

In a huge act of camaraderie, hundreds of people supported rallies organised by the Save Our Hippodrome campaign. The group objected to the planning application approved by Brighton and Hove City Council which would have seen developer Alaska Group, in partnership with Vue, use a historic site to essentially lose the history of the building through a cinema and shop complex. Thousands of people signed a petition against the move due to the belief the building would serve the area better as a theatre.

The news was revealed as the group filmed a campaign video outside the Brighton Hippodrome, however there may be other plans in store for the site after the victory of the Save Our Hippodrome campaign. More than 100 people, including members of the Green, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties, backed the recording, speaking about the campaign’s mission and the historical importance of the building. It is hoped that following the good news that the council will now work with the campaign in order to preserve the site even further.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

National Deaf Children’s Society Seeks Aspiring Deaf Dancers And Musicians

National Deaf Children's Society A new competition from the National Deaf Children’s Society – named Raising The Bar – has been announced in order to encourage young deaf dancers and musicians to showcase their performance skills. Entering is simple, just through the NDCS website, and could mean the young artists could show off their talents and attend a masterclass led by successful deaf dancers and musicians.

Young artists aged 8-16 have until 22 February to create and submit a 1-2 minute video of themselves performing a dance or music routine via the Buzz website. To do this, they must first upload the video to YouTube and then provide the link when completing the entry form. 10 lucky winners will then be selected to attend a two day masterclass on 24 and 25 May in Birmingham. There are no boundaries: it can be any kind of dance or music, from hip hop to ballet, or playing the clarinet to signed song!

The entrants must be a resident in the UK, and if an entrant is under the age of 13, the YouTube account used to upload the entrant’s video must be an adult’s. Runners up will receive prizes of Amazon vouchers worth £25, and for the winners, there will be the opportunity to meet and be mentored by current successful deaf musicians and dancers. Danny Lane, an acclaimed deaf pianist from Music and the Deaf; Ruth Montgomery, a very successful deaf flautist; and Ava M Blake and Billy Read from world famous Defmotion will all be involved.

At the end of the masterclass, there will also be a chance to take part in a variety performance to an audience, following the opportunity to meet other deaf peers with the same interests – it sounds a lot of fun!

Merce Cunningham Trust Money For Two Arts Groups

The Merce Cunningham Trust, established in 2000 to further the iconic American choreographer’s legacy, has announced an award of $250,000 to the Baryshnikov Arts Centre, and $375,000 to the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

Both organisations were seemingly highly important to the choreographer during his life, especially the Foundation for Contemporary Arts as it was founded by Cunningham’s partner John Cage, and Jasper Johns, a longtime collaborator. The Foundation provided vital support to Cunningham over the many years he worked before his death in 2009. Equally so did Mikhail Baryshnikov, who performed Cunningham’s work and assisted fundraising. Baryshnikov heads the Baryshnikov Arts Centre.

These generous donations mark the first – and perhaps only – time the Merce Cunningham Trust has awarded cash grants: it may not happen again. The Merce Cunningham Trust works to support the legacy of Cunningham’s work, and much work is done to support the licensing of the work. The recent donations awarded have arrived without any criteria by which to work with the donations, despite the Trust’s aims, not even to encourage the teaching of Cunningham’s technique.

Meanwhile, the Baryshnikov Arts Centre has been raising funds to establish a Cage-Cunningham fellowship, and will also rename its largest rehearsal space the John Cage and Merce Cunningham Studio. In focusing on its own fundraising for the fellowship, it seems the Merce Cunningham Trust donation was a surprise from the sister institution, especially a provision of this size to aid its work. The Centre aims to advance the next generation of ‘rigorous artistic rule-breakers and innovators, in the names of Cunningham and Cage’ and can do so through the award.

The Foundation for Contemporary Arts will use the grant to establish a biennial Merce Cunningham Award, the first recipient of which will be choreographer Yvonne Rainer; Jasper Johns has particular memories of Rainer dancing in Cunninhgam’s old 14th Street studio.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The Associates

Sadler's Wells The Sadler’s Wells’ Associate Artists, some of whom will form the upcoming ‘The Associates’ programme, represent some of the most exciting talent in contemporary dance today. For this particular programme at Sadler’s Wells, three Associates will present new and critically acclaimed work in February.

Crystal Pite, Kate Prince and Hofesh Shechter will together celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first appointments of Associate Artists by Artistic Director and Chief Executive Alistair Spalding in 2004. Sadler’s Wells is a receiving dance house, however its Associate Artists mean new work is being created within its walls. Since the appointment ten years ago, over 90 productions have been brought to the stage, and even gone on to tour around the world.

Each Associate has a unique style and approach to creating dance. Newest Associate Artist Crystal Pite will present A Picture of You Falling, a duet for a man and a woman. It centres on Pite’s fascination with the shared narratives that live in our bodies, the familiar repetitive storylines that move across cultures and generations, and the body’s role as illustrator. Inspired by the complex beauty of baroque music, Hofesh Shechter presents his new work, the barbarians in love, set in a sparse world in which six dancers move with mathematical precision and passion. Completing the bill is another new work, SMILE, choreographed and performed by Tommy Franzén and directed by Associate Artist Kate Prince. Inspired by the song Smile, originally composed by Charlie Chaplin, the piece looks behind the smiling face of one of the world’s greatest entertainers.

In addition to Crystal Pite, Kate Prince and Hofesh Shechter, Sadler’s Wells’ other 13 Associate Artists are Matthew Bourne, BalletBoyz, Wayne McGregor, Jasmin Vardimon, Christopher Wheeldon, Jonzi D, Sylvie Guillem, Michael Keegan-Dolan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant composer Nitin Sawhney and lighting designer Michael Hulls.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons