Dance Proms 2012

Dance Proms 2012

Dance Proms is back for 2012, ready for a sparkle filled event as a unique and exciting collaborative project that celebrates the wealth of talent among the nation’s young dancers and will culminate in a gala performance at the Royal Albert Hall on 4 November. As a partnership project between the International Dance Teachers Association, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, Royal Academy of Dance and the RAH working together in celebration of dance, this year’s participants of the 26 acts are set to raise the bar even higher, be it through tutus, tap shoes or coloured leg warmers.

Dance Proms was launched last year to find the UK and Ireland’s most talented dance students – in all dance genres, from ballet to ballroom, salsa to street dance and jive to jazz dance – and offer them a unique opportunity to perform  an original piece of choreography on the stage of one of the world’s most prestigious and iconic venues. The event is supported by many top names from the dance world and the Dance Proms patrons include Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag, Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova, Matt Flint, Len Goodman, Wayne Sleep OBE and the RAD’s President Darcey Bussell CBE. The gala performance will feature a diverse variety of acts to celebrate the dedication of the nation’s dance teachers and to showcase their students’ abilities, giving an amazing opportunity to young dancers.

This year’s 450 students will go on to perform alongside guest appearances from Strictly Come Dancing’s Darren Bennett & Lilia Kopylova, and Top Hat‘s Tom Chambers and Summer Strallen. Dance Proms 2012 will be hosted by TV presenter Chris Hollins.

Ethan Stiefel and the Royal New Zealand Ballet

Ethan Stiefel

Ethan Stiefel, who may or may not be better known as a star of the ballet film Center Stage , has formally retired from dancing with American Ballet Theater and has been working tirelessly as Director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet for over a year. He has just announced plans for the company’s 2013 season and the premiere of Giselle, his first commissioned production full of supernatural tutus, ballet shoes and ethereal beings, filling ballet, rather than commercial fans with much anticipation.

With his friend, Johan Kobborg, Stiefel is creating a new production of Giselle, starring Stiefel’s fiancée, Gillian Murphy, which premieres in Wellington on November 7 of this year. July 2012 saw Stiefel give his farewell performance in New York as an American Ballet Theatre principal donning show tights and ballet shoes, but is now preoccupied with his new productions.

The RNZB website displays the profiles of 30 dancers, including Murphy, but Stiefel has stated there are now 34 dancers in the company including some from the New Zealand School of Dance. The lucky three company members who will join Murphy in dancing the role of Giselle are Antonia Hewitt, Katherine Grange, and Tonia Looker and the Albrechts will include former Royal Danish Ballet principal, and now freelance guest artist, Andrew Bowman and Qi Huan.

Image courtesy of notmydayjobphotography‘s photostream on Flickr.

The Next Guest Speaker for RAD

Royal Academy of Dance Logo

After the success of the Royal Academy of Dance’s first Guest Speaker event with Christopher Hampson in April 2012, and the recent event in October with Kevin O’Hare, the RAD’s Faculty of Education has announced that Robert Parker, the Artistic Director of Elmhurst School for Dance, will be their next guest speaker on Sunday 18 November at Birmingham Royal Ballet. The RAD will be offering dance fans the chance to hear yet another leading dance figure’s journey and anecdotes by opening Birmingham Royal Ballet’s tutu adorned doors.

As a Principal dancer with the Birmingham Royal Ballet company, Parker donned his ballet shoes and tights and performed all of the classical lead roles, as well as performing in works by esteemed choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Kim Brandstrup and David Bintley. He recently completed the Faculty of Education’s Professional Dancers’ Teaching Diploma at the RAD, adding yet another dance string to his ballet bow. As for the Elmhurst School for Dance, based in Edgbaston, Birmingham, the institution offers ballet training to 11 to 19 year olds, with close links with Birmingham Royal Ballet. Elmhurst is the oldest vocational dance school in the UK and its vision is to provide a world renowned centre of excellence for the training and education of classical ballet dancers for Birmingham Royal Ballet, and many other national and international dance companies.

Parker is set to discuss his training and career in dance with his audience for the Royal Academy of Dance, with the event free of charge to RAD Faculty of Education students, RAD members and RAD staff, but non-members are also welcome to reserve in advance. Attendance will cost £10 (including VAT) for non-members, with places allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Image courtesy of the Royal Academy of Dance.

The Launch of the Female Choreographers’ Collective

Female Choreographers' Collective

Holly Noble and Jane Coulston, both professional dancers and choreographers, recently asked the question: where are all the female choreographers? In recent years it has been a recurring topic of discussion in modern dance as an industry that is predominately female and as an art form particularly pioneered by women, such as Isadora Duncan, Doris Humphrey, Martha Graham and Twyla Tharp, let alone the rest of the dance sector. In a bid to answer this, be it choreographers of pointe shoe and tutu, leotard and leggings or any other dancewear background, the pair have launched the Female Choreographers’ Collective, an organisation that is looking to reverse the apparent skewing of opportunities toward male dance makers.

Noble and Coulston are making a stand in response to the dwindling number of female choreographers receiving regular funding or support in the same league as their male counterparts through the FCC, with the sole purpose and mission of the collective to support, encourage and spearhead work created by female choreographers across the UK. They are aiming to contact all female choreographers in the UK and organise forums, networking opportunities and platforms to showcase the abundance of female talent currently creating work.

In addition to their championing of the female dance artist population, the pair are also committed to investigating the reasons behind the inequality, calling on all female choreographers that are interested in highlighting this issue to share their experiences being a female choreographer in the dance industry today. The issue has been discussed over the last few years, with Dance Umbrella hosting a forum on the topic in 2009. In this heated debate everything from childcare to sexualisation and ego of the male choreographer were thrown into the arena. Whilst Noble and Coulston currently only have theories, they hope the FCC will provide clear answers on the shift with the support of female choreographers in order to provide female choreographers with the opportunity to stand alongside their male peers and gain higher profile choreographic commissions and opportunities.

The FCC will support female choreographers of all genres, whether they are just starting out on their creative journey or are fully established choreographers, having presenting an FCC women’s choreographic platform on 13 October 2012 to offer a platform for female choreographers and to celebrate the FCC launch. The pair are aiming to run a women’s platform regularly, for example three times a year or more.

Holly Noble

Holly trained at The Arts Educational School in Tring and at Laban Conservatoire in Greenwich specialising in Ballet and Contemporary. She has had a diverse career in Theatre, TV and Film working as a freelance dancer, choreographer, actor and teacher. As a dancer she has worked with various choreographers such as Ashley Wallen, Lynne Page and Michael Voss.

Holly is founder and Artistic Director of A.D. Dance Company, a neoclassical touring company of eight dancers. Alongside this Holly Directs and Produces ‘Platform A.D’.

Holly has most recently joined English National Ballet as an Associate Dance Artist and has been appointed as Artistic Director for English National Ballet Youth Company.

Jane Coulston

Jane Coulston in is the Director Choreographer of Beyond Repair Dance, a contemporary dance company.

After finishing her training at Laban Jane worked internationally as a dancer and choreographer, working and studying further in New York. Working with the New Amsterdam Dance Theatre, Stagedoor Theatre Arts and various dance theatre companies in the USA. This work included off Broadway productions and work with the American academy of film London.

The New Home of London Studio Centre

London Studio Centre LogoThe London Studio Centre recently announced confirmation that it would be moving its headquarters to artsdepot in North Finchley from the start of the 2012/13 academic year, in addition to all the leg warmers, leotards, ballet shoes, jazz pants and noisy tap shoes it will also be transporting through means of its new and returning students. With the new term and year well underway, such a resourceful and ‘giving’ venue seems perfect for such an organisation.

The performing arts college has also announced that it is delighted to be working work closely with this first class performance venue which is also home to the performing arts of Barnet College and Middlesex University’s third year dance performance showcase once annually. artsdepot will provide lecture halls, a library, rehearsal studios and performance space for London Studio Centre, giving the students fantastic facilities to hone their craft in. The building also facilitates the opportunity to develop interesting and innovative collaborative work with other artists, adding yet another strand to the college’s outlook.

artsdepot will house the London Studio Centre’s foundation, first and second year students temporarily while negotiations for the fit out of its proposed new premises in West London are completed, which will provide it with purpose built studios and state of the art facilities. The London Studio Centre has moved from its York Way studios after 26 years due to the Kings Cross area redevelopment but looks forward to creating a new home in Acton with brand new studios in the near future.

The History of the Tutu

Alexandra Ansanelli in a Pancake Tutu (Royal Ballet 2008)

Since the beginning of ballet history and up to the present day, tutus have been the centre point(e!) of all classical ballet, be it in a little girl’s dream in pretty pink tights and shoes or even in the snazzy modern costumes of George Balanchine’s ‘Rubies’ in Jewels. Tutus have changed in design over the years but have always retained the certain illusive quality that surrounds ballerinas. To many, tutus epitomise the ethereal, magic aura that surrounds ballerinas on stage, and without a tutu, the performance may be quite different.

The term “tutu” derives from the audience members in cheaper seats, which were originally at the front of the auditorium. These viewers were able to see beneath the ballerina’s tutu: the length of these was dictated by the ballet patrons who wished to see the dancers’ spectacular feats whereas those in the cheaper seats had a view of the ballerina’s derriere, or the French “cucu”, which eventually became “tutu”.

It is said that the first tutu was the Romantic tutu worn by Marie Taglioni in the 1832 performance of La Sylphide – the Romantic era – which showed off her footwork. This style of tutu was and still is of three quarter length in a bell shape, also seen in Giselle. The Classical tutu followed, which is a shorter and stiffer skirt of a slight bell shape ending just above the dancers knees and extending outwards from the hips, seen in Balanchine’s Jewels worn by the ‘Emeralds’. Next was the Classical Pancake tutu which is short and extends straight outwards from the hip. It may also contain a wire hoop along with extra stitching to keep the layers stiff and flat together. The Balanchine/Karinska tutu was next, also known as the “powder puff” as a short skirt with no hoops and a fuller appearance. By no means least, and certainly not the last for ballet as it is known today is the Platter tutu, with its flat top which sticks straight out from the ballerina’s waistline, with skirts continuing to define both the shape and style of tutus.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Dancers’ Career Development… Dancers Selected!

Dancers' Career Development (DCD) LogoFollowing on from the announcement of the Dancers’ Career Development project to mentor twenty dancers, a hugely popular application process has seen the dancers selected, all nominated by their peers as future leaders (wearing a variety of dance shoes and an array of leotards).

The dancers’ mentoring scheme saw the dancers selected by a panel of dance professionals to take part in Dance UK’s new scheme in partnership with Dancers’ Career Development and with the support of Arts Council England. As a result of the scheme’s popularity, Dance UK is seeking further funding to extend the programme to Scotland and to also raise further funding to repeat the scheme in 2013 and 2014 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, enabling even more dancers and their leg warmers to take part.

The dancers selected to take part this year are:

1. Kate Coyne, dancer, Michael Clark Company
2. Shane Shambhu, Dancer, Actor and Artistic Director of Shane Shambhu Company
3. Neil Westmoreland, Resident Director for Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures
4. Kit Holder, first artist, Birmingham Royal Ballet
5. Jonathan Goddard, independent dancer
6. Laura Jones, dancer for Stopgap Dance Company
7. Lee T Johnston, dancer, National Dance Company Wales
8. Henrietta Hale, independent dance artist
9. Sonia Sabri, Artistic Director of Sonia Sabri Company and independent dancer, choreographer and teacher
10. Malgorzata Dzierzon , dancer, Rambert Dance Company
11. Jonathan Payn, First Soloist, Birmingham Royal Ballet
12. Hannah Bateman, Leading Soloist, Northern Ballet
13. Angela Towler, dancer, Rambert Dance Company
14. Catarina Carvalho, dancer, Wayne McGregor | Random Dance
15. Anusha Subramanyam, Artistic Director of Beeja, performer and choreographer
16. Emma Dunn, independent dance artist
17. Naomi Cook, member of Springs Dance Company, and a freelance dancer, teacher and rehearsal director
18. Catherine Bennett, independent dance artist
19. Dena Lague, independent dance artist
20. Nicole Watson, dancer and creative director at Surface Area Dance Theatre

The selection panel, which was Chaired by Dance UK included Pedro Machado, Co-Artistic Director of Candoco Dance Company (who personally benefitted from the mentoring scheme in 2006), Marie McCluskey MBE, Founder and Artistic Director of Swindon Dance; Sue Wyatt, experienced arts manager and dance company leader; Benjamin Dunks, Artistic Director of Attik Dance; Dr Scilla Dyke MBE, Senior Lecturer, Royal Academy of Dance and Trustee of Dancers’ Career Development; Monique Deletant, Administrative Director, Akademi South Asian Dance UK; and Jan De Schynkel, former dancer, teacher, choreographer and Arts Council England Relationship Manager

Over eight months the dancers will be provided with a paid mentor who is a high profile leader from the arts world or beyond the sector.

The Genée International Ballet Competition

The Genée International Ballet Competition 2012The Genée International Ballet Competition, the prestigious competition of the Royal Academy of Dance, is fast approaching at the end of 2012. December will see many international applicants don their pointe shoes and ballet tights in order to take part in one of the most highly-thought of ballet competitions all over the world. Taking place in Wellington, New Zealand, tickets for the semi-finals and finals are fast selling out, with competitors preparing themselves for a week of masterclasses, coaching and finally, performing, ready to take the next steps in their ballet careers and present themselves in the most positive light.

Whilst behind-the-scenes organising is constantly going on for the 2012 competition, the RAD has just announced that the 2013 Genée International Ballet Competition will be held for the first time in Glasgow in September. The RAD will be working in partnership with Scottish Ballet, with its newly appointed Artistic Director Christopher Hampson, and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to stage a very exciting competition, with the enthusiastic support of the City of Glasgow. With Glasgow hosting the competition, it will mean that the Genée will return to the shores of Great Britain for the first time in three years, and will be Scotland’s first Genée competition.

Scottish Ballet previously announced this exciting news and partnership at a press conference in late September, including the announcement of their new Artistic Director, a confirmation of their firm commitment to making the 2013 Genée a very special event full of leotards, practice shoes and tiaras, especially for the extravagant final. Hampson has already made an extensive and long-standing contribution to the Genée over the last nine years and is personally very enthusiastic about the collaboration.

To get some idea of what the Genée is all about, take a look at the following video:

The RADC Autumn tour

The Place

The Richard Alston Dance Company Autumn tour 2012 sees the company’s 10 dancers taking to the stage for 16 performances throughout UK, and in the US, leotards and all. The tour opens in London at The Place, Robin Howard Dance Theatre, (3-6 October), for the annual At Home season, and ends in New Jersey, at Montclair State University, (13-16 December), as part of the internationally renowned Peak Performances series.

Prior to the tour’s beginning, the company took part in the Design Museum Ball as part of the London Design Festival 2012, performing a one-off special event of contemporary dance on 21 September. A series of dance moments was created especially for the evening with the dancers wearing a set of dazzling crystal-encrusted costumes created for them by fashion designer Julien MacDonald. The audience discovered dance episodes scattered throughout the museum with sculptural forms, digital projections and crystal-inspired visual effects creating a dramatic backdrop against which the dancers engaged with the space. The event was inspired by the literary heroine, Miss Havisham for Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, with those wearing a wedding dress, rather than leg warmers, rewarded free entry to the ball.

The tour following this event will contain pieces Shimmer, Isthmus and Madcap. Shimmer is danced to the music of Ravel, played live with Julien Macdonald’s jewel-encrusted cobweb costumes illuminating the choreography in a beautiful piece of theatre. The barefoot dancers emanate thoughts of fairy dust with magical effect. Isthmus will be performed for only the second time following its premiere at A Celebration for Bob Lockyer at The Place in April 2012. Alston uses the music of Jo Kondo, whose composition Isthmus moves with rapid light rhythms, both sharp and delicate to present nimble and breathtaking precision. Following his recent commission by Scottish Ballet to mark the 2012 Olympics, Martin Lawrance has created Madcap as an original, new choreography, creating a powerfully charged work.

Image courtesy of The Place.

Step into Dance’s Musical Theatre Company

Step into Dance, a partnership programme between the Royal Academy of Dance and The Jack Petchey Foundation, are holding auditions on Sunday 7 October to recruit students into their exciting new Musical Theatre Company. Students in the company will be able to meet other like-minded, talented young people and also perform at prestigious venues across London.

Step into Dance is a fully inclusive community dance which currently runs in 187 secondary schools over 32 London Boroughs and Essex. The programme offers weekly extra-curricular dance lessons to students who would not otherwise have access to quality dance, jazz shoes, or flared dance trousers.  From a pilot of 28 schools, it is now a fully inclusive programme delivered in 187 schools, including Special Educational Needs schools and Pupil Referral Units. Step into Dance is the biggest secondary school dance programme in the UK, unique in offering and performance opportunities throughout the academic year. Each of the 187 schools engaged in the programme pay an annual fee, contributing to the running costs of the programme.

Step into Dance, through its extended programme such as Watch this Step, Step into Battle, the Step Borough Events and its showcase end of the year event, Step LIVE! Step into Dance is responsible for creating over 20 unique, inclusive performance opportunities each year. The events develop the participants’ creative experience, showcasing Step into Dance to a wider audience.

The new Musical Theatre Company, complete with top hats and New Yorkers, will be lead by Sonny Ward as teacher and choreographer. Ward trained at Millennium Performing Arts and with the National Youth Theatre, with his choreography credits including West Ham FC Dancers at Upton Park, Dance Expressions at Sadler’s Wells, Christmas Cabaret for MD2000, Flashmobs for Walkers Crisps and Littlewoods Christmas TV Adverts 2011. Ward also teaches at the Sylvia Young Theatre School and is Co-Director of Eaton Ward Agency, having trained young students that have gone on to perform in Matilda, Billy Elliot and The Lion King.

Image courtesy of Step into Dance.