Tag: Dance

Dance Direct at MOVE IT! 2013

Dance Direct at Move IT! 2013

MOVE IT, the ultimate dance experience, is the UK’s biggest dance event, and since its inception has welcomed 20,000 dance fans to share their passion for dance in one huge celebration.

2013 saw MOVE IT take place from 8-10 March, and the event presented fantastic performances by dance schools and colleges, great opportunities for dancewear shopping, an array of over 200 classes to take part in, and even some very special guests on the stage and on the Interview Sofa. These included Twist and Pulse, the winner of the first series of So You Think You Can Dance Charlie Bruce, Got to Dance judge and former Pussycat Doll Kimberley Wyatt, Principal of English National Ballet Daria Klimentova, a special performance by Wayne McGregor | Random Dance and even former prima ballerina and newly appointed Royal Academy of Dance President Darcey Bussell. Dance and ballet enthusiasts had the chance to hear her talk about her work with the RAD and what the year ahead has in store.

The Dance Direct stand was busy throughout the weekend, with dance fans, students and teachers eager to snap up the latest dancewear and dance shoe fashions. From leotards, to new tights, to ballet shoes, jazz pants, hoodies and t-shirts, Dance Direct look sure to be clothing most of the dance population for the year ahead! The Dance Direct team also had lots of new Dance Direct catalogues to give out to the dance-hungry crowd, and gave out vouchers of different values to winners who texted in their email addresses and free water bottles to keen tweeters. Teachers had the opportunity to join the team to learn about Dance Direct’s new costume ranges, with lots of sparkling tutus and costumes on display around the area!

MOVE IT will next take place from 7-9 March 2014.

Rambert Dance Company’s Summer Schools

Rambert Dance Company Logo

The time of year has come again when young dancers everywhere are scouting out summer schools to take them through to the holidays, filled with ballet shoes, tap shoes, jazz shoes, and lots of leotards!

Summer schools are a fantastic way to experience a new style of dancing, or a new organisation or vocational college, and are also useful to decide which institutions dancers might like to apply and audition for when the time comes. For younger dancers they can experience a few days or a week or more of full-time dancing, possible singing and acting, lots of new friends and whole host of different classes to take part in.

The prestigious Rambert Dance Company also runs summer schools, giving dancers the chance to find out a little more about the company and what life is like as a company dancer. For Rambert, the dancers help throughout, be the programme for adults, youths or even “young movers”. For 2013 Rambert Dance Company will be running the following:

  • Adult summer programme on 25 and 26 July: these two special days of classes of general level hold a wonderful opportunity to work with dancers and teachers associated with Britain’s leading contemporary dance company. The programme includes contemporary technique classes, body conditioning classes (yoga or pilates) and repertoire workshops which focus on one current and one historic piece of Rambert repertoire: Sounddance by Merce Cunningham and Swansong by Christopher Bruce. Participants will learn movement phrases and look at creative tasks focused around them.
  • Adult summer school between 5 and 9 August: a unique opportunity to work closely with some of the most exciting dancers and emerging choreographers in dance today, geared towards dancers of an intermediate or advanced level.
  • Youth Summer school for Young Movers between 29 July and 2 August: this exciting week of classes and choreography is led by Rambert’s animateurs (professional dancers and teachers). Drawing on recent Rambert repertoire there will be daily contemporary classes and workshops for a great opportunity to dance, create perform and be inspired!

Project Y – Scottish Youth Dance’s Initiative

YDanceScottish Youth Dance created Project Y in 2006 in order to give talented young leotard-clad dancers the opportunity to develop their dance skills and experience what it is like to be a professional dancer. Over the past 7 years the programme has been hugely developed, and there are now two different ways for young dancers to get involved: the Performance course and a number of Foundation courses, open to any dancer who wants a taste of their possible future.

The Performance course is a four week programme designed for aspiring young dancers aged 16 to 21 who want an exclusive taste of what it is like to be part of a professional dance company. Dancers are able to work with some of the top choreographers from both the UK and abroad and as a result create a new programme of dance pieces. As a company in its own right, Project Y will then tour, performing at a number of venues, such as The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Glasgow), the Lemon Tree (Aberdeen), Eden Court (Inverness) and Carnegie Hall (Dunfermline), having  also appeared in the 2012 Olympic Torch Relay! The course takes place during the summer holidays, usually at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.

The Foundation courses are weeklong programmes for a younger spectrum of dancers, aged 12 to 18. These courses for aspiring hopefuls are a beneficial way of improving dance technique and getting a taste of the Performance course above. The courses include a daily contemporary class – leggings galore – and choreography workshops led by members of the YDance team for Scottish Youth Dance. The participants on the courses will also have the chance to be involved in creating an inspiring new dance work and get the chance to perform it too! The Foundation courses also take place during the summer holidays.

Life at Vocational Dance Colleges

Vocational Dance Colleges

For many dancers over the age of 16, the New Year spells auditions for vocational colleges. Many students who prefer to get their applications in early may have already heard from a college about whether they will have to pack up their tap shoes, ballet tights and jazz pants because they have or have not been awarded a place.

Some colleges have a specific uniform they prefer their students to wear both in and outside college during weekdays. Many sell tracksuits and other mandatory items, whereas most prefer a style of leotard, practice shoe, clothing colour, or all three! It is essential that as an emerging young dancer you are able to display a certain level of versatility, which also extends to your ‘look’ and style. Regardless of how you move or how high you can kick your leg, some choreographers prefer to focus on looks and clothing style before anything else in a class or audition. If you look the part then your performance will be much more convincing.

It is also important to look after your health whilst at a vocational college. For many students this is their first time away from their homes, and remembering to eat well and maintain your health can often get lost amongst other, additional parts of life. Your body will also change in terms of shape, strength and form, so looking after your body correctly is vital. Colleges which offer many dance disciplines and subjects can be extremely demanding: on top of remembering dance phrases, etiquette and class routines you must also remember to fuel yourself.

Whilst it is important to throw yourself into the course and enjoy every moment of vocational college life, it is also important to remain grounded and reasoned. The time will fly past – good luck!

Birmingham Royal Ballet’s 2013 Choreographics Performance

Birmingham Royal Ballet

Birmingham Royal Ballet recently presented its 2013 Choreographics performance on 10 January 2013 as a unique programme of ballet created by BRB dancers. Rather than donning their usual tutus, tights and pointe shoes, programmes of this kind give the dancers the chance to develop their artistry in a related but separate avenue of dance performance and create to their own tastes.

The pieces, danced by members of the Company, were performed in the studio theatre at Elmhurst School for Dance in Birmingham, with the six dancers choreographing announced as Kit Holder, Matthew Lawrence, Brandon Lawrence, Ruth Brill, Kristen McGarrity and Lachlan Monaghan. The dancer-choreographers choreographed pieces specifically for the event, to music of their own choosing. The projects provide a welcome opportunity to experiment creatively, try new things out with unlimited freedom and take a breath of fresh air from the rigours of the studio, filled each day with leg warmers and buckets of sweat.

Kit Holder, who has previously contributed to the Choreographics evening of 2010, subsequently had one of his pieces Printer Jam included in Birmingham Royal Ballet’s 20th Anniversary Royal Gala and the launch of the Drum’n’Bass awards in Birmingham, before being expanded into a longer piece as part of International Dance Festival Birmingham 2012. Kit is a clear example of the heights emerging choreographers can reach, and especially those usually contained in a classical environment, rather than a more experimental one. In addition to this, Matthew Lawrence has previously had the opportunity to choreograph gymnastically, demonstrating the doors which may be available to the dancers, should they extend their career to choreographing. Royal Ballet dancer Liam Scarlett is also a demonstrator of this, having recently choreographed for Miami City Ballet.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The Anniversary of George Balanchine

George BalanchineJanuary 22 2013 marked the birthday of Giorgi Melitonovitch Balachivadze, otherwise known to ballet and dance fans all over the world as George Balanchine, born in 1904 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Balanchine, as the co-founder of the New York City Ballet and one of the greatest choreographers of modern ballet, created the aesthetic we can recognise in theatres today, with costumes of often just leotards, tights and shoes. Other works, such as Jewels, are more classical in taste, but still echoes the Balanchine style and legacy throughout the dance sector in the twenty-first century.

Balanchine co-founded the School of American Ballet with Lincoln Kirstein and Edward Warburg in 1934, and consequently created one of his most iconic works, Serenade, as a result of his concern that his young students didn’t understand the difference between class work and perfor­mance. He decided the best way for them to learn was to give them something new and unfamiliar to dance. Balanchine said in an interview years later, “I made Serenade to show dancers how to be on a stage”, adding parts for whoever and whatever his classes consisted of. The first class had 17 girls, which explains the beginning of the piece using 17 dancers, and so on. For the emerging of the New York City Ballet, Kirstein envisioned an American ballet where young dancers could be trained and schooled under the guidance of the world’s greatest ballet masters to perform new, modern repertory, rather than relying on touring, imported artists performing for American audiences.

The School of American Ballet has been the home of New York City Ballet since Balanchine journeyed to the US, which has gone on to become one of the most renowned companies of the world. Today, the company is made up of over 100 dancers.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Diablo Ballet’s Web-Made Ballet

Diablo Ballet Logo

The world’s first “web ballet”, the brainchild of Diablo Ballet, has begun. Merging dance and technology, Diablo Ballet is calling ballet and dance fans all over the world to assist in creating the world’s first ballet of this kind.

Not dissimilar to the ideals of postmodern dance pioneer Merce Cunningham, the ballet of Diablo Ballet, named The Web Ballet, will be the first dance work developed from suggestions made on the internet, and will premiere this March in the US. Internet users can participate from anywhere and be fully involved in the creation of the piece, without having to dust off their leotards or legwarmers.

The Web Ballet will be based on the choreographic ideas submitted to Diablo Ballet’s Twitter page from 8 January 2013, welcoming budding choreographers and enthusiastic fans to submit their ideas and see them transformed into a fully-fledged work. The Twitter hashtag #DiabloWebBallet has been suggested in order for users to communicate ideas such as the mood of the work, the emotion and expression of the dancers and the movement vocabulary itself, using a separate tweet for each suggestion. Users can also vote for their favourite musical accompaniment as one of three works on Diablo Ballet’s YouTube page.

The Web Ballet will be created by Robert Dekkers, a Diablo Ballet dancer, and one of Dance Magazine’s 2011 25 to Watch artists.  Submissions end on 14 February, when Dekkers and Lauren Jonas, Diablo Ballet’s Artistic Director, will select seven choreographic suggestions. Dekkers will have two weeks to assemble the winning ideas, and create a new dance work. Those who tweeted the winning artistic suggestions will receive tickets to the performance, and a photograph of the completed work, autographed by Dekkers.

This is truly combining Twitter with the tutus!

N.B. All idea submissions become the property of Diablo Ballet.

2013 National Dance Awards

National Dance Awards Critics' Circle

28 January 2013 saw the 13th National Dance Awards winners announced at The Place, London. Considered by many as one of the most comprehensive list of dance achievements, 2013 certainly did not fail to deliver, providing a roundup of all the great work that was seen in 2012.

The awards are decided by the 60 members of the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle after an extensive round of nominations and voting. To be eligible to win an award, performances had to take place in the UK between 1 September 2011 and 31 August 2012.

The 2013 winners are as follows –

DANCING TIMES AWARD FOR BEST MALE DANCER
Akram Khan (Akram Khan Company)

GRISHKO AWARD FOR BEST FEMALE DANCER
Marianela Nuñez (The Royal Ballet)

STEF STEFANOU AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COMPANY
Royal Ballet Flanders

BEST CLASSICAL CHOREOGRAPHY
Annabelle Ochoa (A Streetcar Named Desire for Scottish Ballet)

BEST MODERN CHOREOGRAPHY
Arthur Pita (The Metamorphosis)

OUTSTANDING FEMALE PERFORMANCE (CLASSICAL)
Ksenia Ovsyanick  (English National Ballet)

OUTSTANDING MALE PERFORMANCE (CLASSICAL)
Zdenek Konvalina (English National Ballet)

DANCERS PRO AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING MODERN PERFORMANCE (FEMALE)
Teneisha Bonner (Zoonation)

DANCERS PRO AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING MODERN PERFORMANCE (MALE)
Tommy Franzén (Zoonation and Russell Maliphant Company)

BEST INDEPENDENT COMPANY
Ballet Black

DE VALOIS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
Robert Cohan

DANCE UK INDUSTRY AWARD
Jeanette Siddall

The Chairman of the Awards committee, Graham Watts OBE, spoke at the event, and dedicated the 2012 awards to the memories of the late Charles Hedges, John Percival and Freda Pitt, all of whom have died since the last awards. In the year of the Centenary of the Critics’ Circle, the combined years of membership for the three critics totalled a century.

Youth America Grand Prix gala

Youth America Grand PrixThe Youth America Grand Prix, one of the most esteemed ballet competitions in the world, assembled an all-star cast of mostly principal dancers from some of the best companies in the US, and beyond, for its highly anticipated gala. Dancers from American Ballet Theatre, the New York City Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, Boston Ballet, the Dutch National Ballet and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater were in attendance, assembled by the YAGP organisers for a programme of excerpts from ballet’s most classic and revered works.

The gala concluded and followed the regional semi-finals of the ballet scholarship competition. Named as “Ballet’s Greatest Hits”, the gala served to be a rare collection of exceptional ballet talent of tutus, pointe shoes, tights and fantastic ability, class and interpretation in one evening. In addition to this, for the first time the gala also marked the first filming of a live performance – as well as documentary footage – which will become part of Emerging Pictures “Ballet in Cinema” series broadcast to cinemas all over America in the spring.

The evening began by presenting some of the students from the previous two days of competition, demonstrating the sheer talent that is anticipated by ballet fans all over the world, solidified by the professional performances of the students’ professional counterparts. Variations from Swan Lake and La Bayadere were amongst those performed at the gala, making the evening a very special one for the competitors and the audience. Works from Ailey repertoire, The Nutcracker and Giselle were also performed, providing the audience with great hope for ballet in the twenty-first century, and beyond.

The Next Speaker in the YPIA Lecture Series

Akram Khan

Young People in the Arts has announced that the next speaker in its YPIA lecture series in association with the Southbank Centre is dancer-choreographer Akram Khan. Founded in 2008, YPIA is a social network for arts professionals at the outset of their careers, running a monthly programme of talks, debates and professional development opportunities, including the chance to network with others who work in the arts.

As one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists, Khan has created work that has significantly contributed to the arts sector in just over a decade. As a dancer with his roots based firmly in the South-East Asian style of Kathak, Khan’s most recent success was at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Khan’s reputation has been built on years of success and dedication, delivering highly accessible productions such as DESH, Vertical Road and zero degrees to audiences all over the world, of many other cultures and artistic disciplines. Previous collaborators of Khan’s include the National Ballet of China, actress Juliette Binoche, ballerina Sylvie Guillem, choreographer/dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, singer Kylie Minogue, visual artists Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Tim Yip, writer Hanif Kureishi and composer Steve Reich. His work in zero degrees even forms part of the UK dance curriculum today, with the duet becoming an awe-inspiring and extremely moving piece of work.

Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including the Laurence Olivier Award, the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award, the South Bank Sky Arts Award and the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award. Khan was awarded an MBE for services to dance in 2005 and is also an Honorary Graduate of Roehampton and De Montfort Universities, and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban.

Images courtesy of Andy Miah at Flickr.