Tag: Dance

ZooNation’s New show!

ZooNation Dance CompanyZooNation, the hip hop dance company founded by Kate Prince in 2002, will perform the world premiere of new production Groove on Down the Road at the Southbank Centre in London this summer. The new show is written and directed by Prince, and has been commissioned by the Southbank Centre, described as a “unique twist” on The Wizard of Oz.

Prince’s production will include music from the 1978 film The Wiz, and will be re-mixed with current hits by DJ Walde. The cast will comprise dancers under the age of 19 and two 11 year-old dancers, Arizona Snow and Portia Oti, will share the role of Dorothy, taking to the stage and unleashing their talents. This cast is born from the ZooNation Academy of Dance, which Prince trains each week, an admirer of their capability and talents at such a young age. The dancers have had huge amounts of access to hip hop dance and the culture which surrounds it, and the wealth of information that comes too. As a result of this, the group is made up of a whole new breed of dancers who have a raw, authentic and fearless skill and passion for dance.

The show marks the return of the hip hop dance company to the venue after it last performed there in 2010 with smash-hit Into the Hoods, a take on the musical Into the Woods. Into the Woods was created in 2005 and was commissioned by Sadler’s Wells to be performed for the first time in 2006 at the Peacock Theatre. The show then opened on the West End in 2008 and therefore became the first hip hop dance show on the West End and the longest running dance show in the history of Theatreland.

Groove on Down the Road will run from August 10 to September 1 at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.

The Olivier Awards 2013

2013 Olivier Awards

The Olivier Awards, organised by the Society of London Theatre, were presented at the Royal Opera House on Sunday in the celebration of talent that graces our theatrical stages.

For dance there was a wealth of wondrous watching in the performances which won nominations in different categories –

Best New Dance Production:

The Royal Ballet’s Aeternum was nominated, featuring Principal Marianela Nunez, who was also nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Dance. Also in this category was Scottish Ballet’s A Streetcar Named Desire, which picked up the National Dance Award for Best Classical Choreography earlier this year, and NDT2’s Cacti.

Outstanding Achievement in Dance:

ILL-Abilities Company, who will be performing as part of Breakin’ Convention’s 10th anniversary, Lez Brotherston for the set and costumes for New Adventures’ Sleeping Beauty, and Marianela Nunez for varied and fantastic performances in Aeternum, Diana & Actaeon and Viscera of The Royal Ballet were all nominated in this category. Earlier this year Nunez was also awarded the National Dance Award for Best Female Dancer.

Best Theatre Choreographer:

Bill Deamer for Top Hat, first-time Olivier Award nominee Scott Ambler for Chariots of Fire in his reinvention of the Olympic-inspired running scenes, double Olivier Award-winning Stephen Mear for Kiss Me, Kate, and Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett for The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, as part of Frantic Assembly, were all nominated for this category.

The nominees for Best Musical Revival were A Chorus Line, Cabaret, Kiss Me, Kate and Sweeney Todd, and the nominees for the BBC Radio 2 Audience Award nominees were Billy Elliot, Matilda, Phantom of the Opera and Wicked.

Following the nominations, the glittering event and red carpet saw the many winners acknowledged in their contribution to great theatre, with a few included below.

Best Actress: Helen Mirren for The Audience

Best Actor: Luke Treadaway for The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

BBC Radio 2 Audience Award: Billy Elliot

Best Musical Revival: Sweeney Todd

Best Actress in a Musical: Imelda Staunton for Sweeney Todd

Best Actor in a Musical: Michael Ball for Sweeney Todd

Best New Musical: Top Hat

Autograph Sound Award for Best Theatre Choreographer: Bill Deamer for Top Hat

Best New Dance Production: Aeternum by The Royal Ballet, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon

Outstanding Achievement in Dance: Marianela Nunez for Aeternum, Diana & Actaeon and Viscera by The Royal Ballet

Best Entertainment and Family: Goodnight Mister Tom

Special Awards: Michael Frayn and Gillian Lynne

Thriller Live’s Extension

Thriller LiveAlmost four years after his sudden death in 2009, the popular musical spectacular based on the hits of King of Pop Michael Jackson Thriller Live is set to carry on singing and dancing into 2014. Full of moon-walking, white gloves and grabbing of crotches, the musical has received a new extension to its run at the Lyric Theatre in London’s West End.

The show opened in January 2009, and is currently taking bookings until 16 March 2014. As a musical each performance showcases the iconic songs and fantastic, and equally iconic, dancing of the Michael Jackson legend and legacy, re-writing the rules of dance and consequently increasing its popularity.

In huge contrast to some of the story-telling book-based musicals that are also currently playing in the capital, Thriller Live conveys lots of high energy dance, eye-popping graphics, videos and songs in order to take audiences on a journey through the career and music of Jackson. The production is also regularly updated to keep the performances and the performers fresh, and has recently added an exciting new opening which some of its first audience members may not have seen. The show is now in its fifth year of existence and is an incredibly heart-warming experience for all those involved, making the musical very popular.

As a result of the announcement of the show’s extension, Thriller Live will be closing in on the record of the longest running show in the Lyric theatre’s 125-year history. The record is currently held by Five Guys Named Moe, which ran at the venue in the West End from December 1990 to March 1995.

Sleek Technique

Sleek Technique

Sleek Technique, an online, ballet based, fitness programme, has been designed by two professional dancers as accessible dance-fitness programme for everyone. The live classes can be downloaded “on the go” and include authentic barre techniques and ballet bootcamps, as well as downloadable sculpting workouts delivered direct to computers, tablets and mobiles.

The technique prides itself on fitting in with busy lifestyles in order to create and maintain beautifully shaped bodies whenever and wherever you are. Sleek is an entirely portable fitness methodology, perfected for non-dancers by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s professional ballerina and fitness coach Victoria Marr and West End dancer Flik Swan. It combines elements of classical ballet technique and conditioning exercises used by the professionals to sculpt their lean, dancer bodies. The Body Beautiful workouts are delivered live online or are available to download to start transforming shapes, and with a maximum of 5 people in each live class, the founders are able to monitor technique to make sure participants get the most out of every session.

Sleek Technique combines the dancers’ knowledge on which exercises really give a toned and slender body, and the girls are always ready to help transform and aid progress. Sleek uses multi functional dance based exercises which condition and tone muscles whilst improving co-ordination, posture and stamina. These are combined with isolated isometric exercises which work to sculpt individual muscle groups. Sleek Technique is low impact and easy on joints, but high intensity to strengthen muscular structure. Stretching out each muscle group as it is worked then ensures longer, leaner, dancer like muscles are created with no bulk, to show off beautiful lines with curves in the right places.

Dancing for Comic Relief!

Comic Relief

March 2013 has seen £75,107,851 raised through the 25th Red Nose Day to help transform lives in the UK and Africa.

Dancing and fundraising have lent themselves to one another vastly in the past, and 2013 has been no different. Already this year stars have been dusting off their dance shoes in order to raise lots of money for charity, including Ann Widdcombe and Russell Grant in a Strictly Come Dancing special for Children In Need, and Coronation Street actor Anthony Cotton and his performance of Anything Goes for Let’s Dance for Comic Relief. This is without counting the many non-official dance-athons and sponsored swing dances, for example, undertaken by the general public, contributing vastly to this cause.

To help raise money for Comic Relief, slapstick comedy genius Miranda Hart has completed five challenges in five cities in what was aptly named ‘Miranda’s Mad March’. Of particular interest for dance fans everywhere, Miranda completed a Strictly Come Dancing evening in the Manchester Town Hall with Strictly professional Pasha Koyalev, with the daunting task of dancing a Latin American routine to the iconic dance track I’ve Had the Time of My Life. Organising and performing at this special Strictly event from the all-time favourite dance film, Dirty Dancing!

Of course a dance performance without a few worries would be unheard of, so Miranda’s knee injury cropping up before her challenges had even started meant that she worked extra hard to complete the Dirty Dancing challenge and even attempt the iconic lift! With Pasha a worthy contender for the legendary Patrick Swayze, Miranda also created magic with her co-star Sarah on the dance floor, and they could even be contenders for the next series of Strictly Come Dancing!

The 42nd Street Gala

42nd Street

100 of the best UK tappers – including So You Think You Can Dance winner Matt Flint – joined forces for a spectacular Gala performance in aid of the Caron Keating Foundation. The Caron Keating Foundation is a fund raising charity set up by Gloria Hunniford and her sons Paul and Michael in order to aid many cancer charities across the UK. The charity gala performance of the Broadway musical 42nd Street was held at the London Palladium on 17 March in aid of the Foundation. 

250 people both on and off stage gave up their time and services for free in order to generously to produce an uplifting and exciting evening. 100 dancers donning their tap shoes and tights, including part of the original 42nd Street production in Drury Lane in the 1980’s, gave some exciting performances which brought many standing ovations.

Also on stage were many well known names which included Brian Conley, Gary Wilmot, Summer Strallen, Gok Wan, Russell Grant, Gabby Roslin, Angela Rippon, Wayne Sleep, Louis Spence, Arlene Philips, Vanessa Feltz and many more, much to the delight of the audience. More bedazzling talent also appeared in the form of So You Think You Can Dance winner Matt Flint, a former pupil of Laine Theatre Arts, who choreographed several numbers for the show.

Next for the Caron Keating Foundation is the Night of 1000 Stars which is to be held at the Royal Albert Hall in May. This will be to celebrate Harold Prince, who some may argue is the King of Broadway, and his multi award-winning shows. Songs from West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera, Fiddler on the Roof, A Little Night Music, Sweeny Todd, Cabaret, She Loves Me and stars from both sides of the Atlantic will be included.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Matt Mattox: A Dancing Life

Matt Mattox

Matt Mattox, the renowned dancer, choreographer and teacher who helped shape contemporary jazz dance in the United States and Europe, died on February 18, 2013 in France aged 91. Perhaps known under the auspice of ‘Matt Mattox technique’, Mattox’s interpretation and approach to jazz dance has been practiced and delivered by many students and professionals, and will no doubt continue to be. Mattox taught his brand of dance to generations of pupils, first in New York and later in Europe.

Mattox had a prominent career dancing in films and on Broadway in the 1940s, and afterwards, despite being less well known than some of the celebrated Hollywood dancers of his era, such as Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Despite this, he was every inch their competitor in making his mark on the art of dance throughout the twentieth century, even appearing in the 1954 film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, amongst others, choreographed by Michael Kidd. For his role in Seven Brides, Mattox can be seen performing a dazzling series of leaps and splits above a sawhorse.

Mattox went on to build on jazz dance’s aesthetic traditions and kinetic vocabulary by developing the work of his mentor, prominent choreographer and teacher Jack Cole, envisioning the body as a straight line with curving lines of light energy. As a result, Mattox, as a primary protagonist, built on Cole’s traditions and reshaped them as his own. As a dancer, and later choreographer, Mattox was celebrated for his ease of movement and precision, in addition to his fantastic agility. Mattox helped conceive a dance genre that was subtler, more rhythmically complex and far more eclectic, combining his own extensive training in ballet with tap dance, modern dance and folkloric dance traditions from around the world. What resulted was a new, fluidly integrated art form Mattox called ‘freestyle dance’.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Reasons to dance

Reasons to Dance

First of all, and most importantly, dance makes us happy! We get to do something we love every week, wear beautiful and sparkling costumes, improve our dance technique and performance, have fun, make friends and keep fit! Exercising through dance releases hormones called endorphins which make us feel positive, spreading to other areas of our lives too.

As well as increasing endorphin levels, dance keeps us healthy and active, and is far more enjoyable than going to the gym! Dancewear and gym-wear are quite similar, but there are so many designs of leotards, dance sneakers and other dance clothes, we are simply spoilt for choice. Dance also lowers stress levels by stimulating our brains in other ways, and takes your mind of other worries that are nagging away – dancing is fun, free and exciting!

Aside from learning about technique, different dance styles and new skills, dance also educates us about our posture and how we look to the outside eye. This has benefits that run far wider than for just dance alone, making us look younger, feel healthier and increase our longevity as humans who have learnt about the correct way to hold ourselves. Dance also increases strength and flexibility by improving joints, muscles and general stamina, as well as toning the body up.

By dancing, we are creating opportunities to meet new people as well as creating time for ourselves. There are no distractions meaning you can concentrate properly on learning the steps, polishing the routine or simply working on your technique. Meeting new people and making friends also means that dance becomes enjoyable on another level, socialising with others who share your passion.

Above all, dancing and taking part in dance classes mean we learn more about dance and engage in our favourite hobby – what’s not to love?!

Upcoming Dance UK events

Dance UKDance UK, the national voice for dance founded in 1982 to tackle the big issues facing the dance sector, has organised an array of events suitable for budding dancers, students, choreographers and teachers.

‘Fundraising for Artistic Projects’ is a seminar for dance managers and self-managed artists as part of the Business of Dance training programme on 5 April 2013. The session will provide practical knowledge and information for self-managed dance artists, company dancers looking to develop their own work, and independent dance managers who want to develop their skills. Focused on will be the types of funding available, identifying local funds open to artists, an overview of Arts Council England Grants for the Arts funding and top tips on how to write successful funding applications.

The ‘National Choreographers’ Conference’, in previous years known as Choreoforum, will be held on 11 May on behalf of the Choreographers Professional Network. The National Choreographers’ Conference is the only open national event for choreographers, whether it’s film, commercial, contemporary, West End, opera, youth choreography or choreographic teaching. A committee of diverse choreographers steer the conference content by requesting speakers, offering a forum to share artistic debate, concerns and to network with fellow choreographers in a non-competitive environment, to share expertise and information. The conference will also include sessions for individual, agencies and training/higher education institutions that are involved in Choreographic Talent Development.

‘Nutrition and Touring’, on 8 April, is a new seminar aimed at company managers, artistic directors, rehearsal directors, touring dancers and dance science students and practitioners. It will feature the most up-to-date research and advice in healthy touring and nutrition for dancers. Speakers will include Mhairi Keil, Performance Nutritionist and Consultant with the English Institute of Sport, Jess Sayers, Company Manager, Wayne McGregor | Random Dance and Erin Sanchez, Healthier Dancer Programme manager, Dance UK in order to share knowledge and enable the attendees to learn from fellow dance professionals working in dance touring who strive to create healthy working environments in dance companies and theatres.

Easter Courses For Young Dance Students

Easter 2013 Dance Courses

Despite many dance schools taking breaks for the Easter holidays, eager dance students still have the chance to dance their way through the holidays. There are a wide variety of courses to suit every dance taste, such as hip hop, musical theatre and ballet, enabling students to build on existing skills, and even gain an idea as to further training in dance which they may like to undertake in the future.

ZooNation Easter Academy are inviting beginner and intermediate level dancers to learn from ZooNation company members, covering a wide range of hip hop and street dance styles including Locking, Popping, Breaking, House and Waacking. Students will also be able to learn some original choreography from the hit West End show Some Like It Hip Hop.

The Place Youth Dynamics course can see students work with the renowned national touring company Tavaziva Dance, allowing young dancers to develop their contemporary technique and learn some of the company’s repertory.

The Royal Academy of Dance are holding a Boys’ Day of Dance for male students aged 7 – 16, enabling them to experience four different dance styles: Ballet, Street Dance, Contemporary and Capoeira. The classes held will be taught by professional male teachers and performers, helping to inspire young males in introducing them to dance.

Laine Theatre Arts’ International Easter course will incorporate Jazz, Musical Theatre and Drama workshops, building up a range of skills for students perhaps interested in auditioning for the vocational training course offered at Laine Theatre Arts in Musical Theatre and Dance.

All courses offered by a whole host of dance companies, examination boards and training institutions are fantastic opportunities to inspire new talents and develop existing skills of dance students who are eager to further their training and improve their skills.