Tag: Arts Council England

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.

New English Ballet Theatre

Image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/

New English Ballet Theatre is a new company formed by director, choreographer and dancer Karen Pilkington-Miksa for recent graduates of dance training programmes in 2010, hiring dancers for a period of 3 months and commissioning new works for an annual programme. The company offers 20 young dancers an opportunity to tour their ballet shoes professionally and to work with established choreographers including English National Ballet’s former Artistic Director Wayne Eagling, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Michael Corder and English National Ballet’s emerging choreographer Jenna Lee.

Of the 200 young dancers graduating from ballet schools every year, only four are selected by main companies; New English Ballet Theatre provides dancers at the start of their career the chance to dance principal roles, be they tutu-clad or tunic-and-tights. In their recent programme Synergies at the Peacock Theatre, 4 of the 9 contributing choreographers to the repertoire were female, which is a rare occurrence. Having the opportunity to choreograph, for both males and females, is a promising signal that the arts are continuing to flourish and succeed, especially considering the loss of Arts Council funding by so many dance organisations.

New English Ballet Theatre itself has no funding, but boasts a patron list that includes Carlos Acosta, Marianela Nuñez, Mara Galeazzi, Darcey Bussell and Wayne Eagling, in addition to support from Sadler’s Wells as a platform which is celebrated internationally. The company champions young dancers, choreographers and designers in a huge showcasing of talent and innovative work in its first year of project-based work. With dancers who have trained at esteemed dance training schools and conservatoires such as the Rambert School, London Studio Centre, English National Ballet School and the Conservatorio Professional de Danzxa in Seville, New English Ballet Theatre aims to give emerging young artists a full professional experience rather than touring within a school environment, such as Ballet Central or Ballet West. Through the company’s environment, the dancers are keen to bring classical styles to a much wider and less conservative audience as those involved try new things and experiment for the dance world.

 

Sadler’s Wells’ National Youth Dance Company

Sadler's Wells National Youth Dance CompanyNew cultural education projects have been announced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, meaning young people from all backgrounds will get increased opportunities to access dance, music and museums.

Donning the dancewear so integral to the youth of the UK, be it ballet shoes, jazz pants or urban sneakers, the esteemed dance house Sadler’s Wells has been selected to form the National Youth Dance Company (NYDC) as part of plans to boost cultural education. Arts Council England announced that the organisation will run the company, providing 90 talented 16 to 19-year-olds with the chance to develop the skills for a career in dance. With dance gaining more interest and popularity across the country than ever before, economically, politically and socially, the National Youth Dance Company is a fantastic initiative for those whose passions embody dance life, and also wear Lycra.

Four new projects have also been chosen for the ‘In Harmony’ programme, which aims to inspire and transform the lives of children in deprived communities through community-based orchestral music-making. Projects will be delivered between 2012 and 2015, joining existing projects in Lambeth and Liverpool. The programme is jointly funded by the Arts Council and the Department for Education, taking forward some key recommendations in the National Plan for Music Education.

Aiming to stretch ambitions, the programmes will enable young people to engage with schemes that are truly excellent, with commissions offering national opportunities in order to grasp dreams and help make them a reality. Culture Minister Ed Vaizey added that “introducing the UK’s young people to dance, music and museums through fantastic initiatives like these will help inspire, nurture and foster the next generation of performers”, demonstrating the great continuations of the cultural and artistic achievements of the UK.

Showtime

Mayor of London Presents Showtime

On the weekend of the 21 and 22 July, seven weeks of free, family fun kicked off as part of the Mayor of London Presents Showtime.

Showtime signified an electrifying mix of incredible artists and shows handpicked from across the world. Over the coming weeks these specific art forms will join on London, be it leotards and pretty pink ballet shoes or jazz quartets. The performances over the next seven weeks will reach every corner of London, fulfilling everyone’s artistic preference.

Forming part of the London 2012 Festival and supported by Arts Council England as a principal funder of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Showtime will combine the best of British street arts, international acts, and a host of alternative music from beat box to electro swing across all 33 London Boroughs.

On the 21 and 22 July, the action began with major events at The Piazza on Wimbledon Broadway as part of Merton’s Outdoor Arts Festival; at General Gordon Square in Woolwich to coincide with the Torch Relay; at the Whitecross Street Party in Islington; in Kingston; and Richmond Riverside.

Over the rest of the summer, the highlights of Showtime feature a hair-raising experience with Arcadia’s Lord of Lightning wrestling four million volts of electricity, and an enchanting performance from the Invisible People telling poems, stories and jokes one to one.

The Lyrix Organix: Relay will feature the finest poets, beatboxers, hip hop and freestylers in an original live experience, and you can get dancing to everything from swing to break-dance in urban dancewear and sneakers at Continental Drifts’ Bandstand Remixed.

To find out what’s happening near you and to plan a summer like no other visit the Mayor of London Presents website.

The Place Prize 2012

The Place Price 2012The prestigious The Place Prize, sponsored by Bloomberg, has announced the commissioned artists who are to compete, unveiling another year of innovative contemporary dance, semi-professional dancers kitted out in their dancewear and the upcoming choreographic talent of the UK. As one of the most high-status dance awards, The Place Prize is returning for its 5th edition, premiering the commissions during The Place Prize Semi-finals in September.

16 new dance works have been commissioned from over 200 entries, a phenomenal interest and the highest number to date. By the end of summer 2012, The Place Prize will have enabled the creation of 92 pieces of new choreography, with an investment of over £1.2million in British dance. Since the cuts made to Arts Council funding by the government in April 2011, many dance organisations have had to reduce their activity, even preventing many leotards and ballet shoes seeing their familiar studio floor again.

The 16 entrants competing for The Place Prize have been awarded a total commission fund of £100,000 to realise their dance dreams, and the recipient artists will also benefit from free production time and support from The Place Prize team to create their pieces. The commissions encompass a wide range of contemporary styles, reflecting the sheer diversity of today’s dance scene in Britain.

The commissioned artists include former Place Prize Finalists (2011) Riccardo Buscarini and Eva Recacha, and Place Prize Semi-finalists Ben Ash (2006), Ben Wright (2006; 2008), and Darren Ellis (2010). In addition to previous alumni, Jonathon Goddard, the first contemporary dancer to win the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Best Male Dancer in 2008 and fellow Rambert dancer Gemma Nixon are also involved. Mamoru Iriguchi, a self-taught performance maker who originally trained as a zoologist, and then a theatre designer, has also been commissioned. His work was first seen on The Place stage during Resolution! 2011, another choreographic platform. As only the 5thversion of The Place Prize platform, who knows what choreographic talent it may uncover.