Dance – Page 7 – Dance Direct Blog. News, Reviews & Advice About Dance

Becoming a Professional

Dance Auditions Making the transition from student to professional is a hazy one – dancers can gain employment whilst in full-time training and there are factors that can help navigate the transition. Aside from having talent and passion, dancers need to be self-motivated, persistent and professional. It’s also much easier to survive if you are liked by your peers and professionals, and have a reputation of working hard and making the most of every opportunity.

It is important to remain motivated and take class, to keep up to date in the industry and with the new faces. Work may not come along for a while, but it’s important to keep your face out there and remind teachers, agents and other dancers that you are there. Dancers may also need to take on other forms of casual employment to pay the bills. For many, this means teaching or waiting tables; whatever it is, having the flexibility to get to classes and auditions is essential so that you can be as fit and ready for work as possible.

Finding an agent is a high priority for graduates as there are many jobs that only agents hear about and because they can negotiate agreements. Some agents attract a variety of work and others specialise in one or two areas, so make sure they have a reputation for getting the type of work you’re interested in. It may be that you cannot find an agent until you have some experience, so remember that there are still open calls, particularly for jobs such as theme parks, cruise ships, and other shows.

Auditions are a big part of a dancer’s life so it’s vital to cultivate a positive attitude and develop a thick skin. Keep in mind that each audition you attend is an opportunity to show what you can do, whether or not you get the job. If you aren’t right for the job this time, make sure you impress someone enough for a job in the future. Always ask yourself what you can improve on from the experience that will help you get closer to getting the job next time.

Recovering From Smaller Injuries

Shin Splints While major injuries are devastating, it is often the smaller injuries which have more of an effect on a dancer’s wellbeing, such as being covered in bruises or burning the feet constantly. Dancers can become desperate for a cure, such as for cuts, split skin, blisters and bruises.

For cuts and split skin, lots of dancers use fat-based balms to keep skin softer so it’s less likely to split in the first place. Use a pumice stone to reduce the thickness of skin or calluses, or nail clippers to trim tough edges so they don’t get caught and pull the wound open. Some dancers also develop taping methods for prevention. Cuts need to be kept clean and sterile, to prevent microorganisms from growing and tape can be used to hold the skin together.

Despite being small, blisters can be painful and troublesome. They form due to friction on the skin but by placing a layer between what rubs and your skin can eliminate the friction, such as by using tape, tights or clothing. Your skin will also toughen up with exposure so you will be less susceptible to blisters once your skin gets used to a new shoe or to dancing barefoot. As with calluses, dancers can use a balm or oil to make sure their skin stays soft and doesn’t dry out and harden around the blister: make sure you keep an open blister clean, sterile and covered. Don’t pop the blister, but if it is no longer intact, leave the skin over the wound.

Bruises are difficult to prevent, as they occur when capillaries, and sometimes tiny veins, are broken due to impact, allowing blood to collect near the surface of the skin. Try to control descents to the floor with strong muscles and smooth, coordinated movement. If you do bruise easily use balms and creams such as Arnica to help the healing process, and don’t let the small stuff get you down!

Step LIVE!

Eighteen youth dance groups from mainstream and SEN secondary schools across London have been selected to perform at Sadler’s Wells in London’s biggest celebration of youth dance, taking place on 5 July.

Step LIVE! is the end of year showcase from Step into Dance, the UK’s largest inclusive secondary school dance programme. The event will feature over 350 young performers, who all receive specialist dance education thanks to the Step into Dance programme – a partnership between the Royal Academy of Dance and The Jack Petchey Foundation. The event is the culmination of a year of hard work and a fantastic opportunity for young dancers on such a large stage.

From a pilot of 28 schools, the Step programme is now a fully inclusive programme delivered in 200 schools and available in 32 London boroughs and Essex, including Special Educational Needs schools and Pupil Referral Units. Step into Dance is unique in offering sustained training (of up to 2 hours per week) and performance opportunities throughout the academic year.

Following a series of nine London-wide Borough Events, groups who showed the most promise and talent were invited to auditions across the capital. Lambeth Academy were one of the groups to impress with an energetic street piece choreographed by their Step into Dance teacher, Kevin Young. The group from Lambeth, who performed outside a local supermarket to raise money for costumes, will join seventeen other school groups from the Step into Dance programme performing at Step LIVE! 2014. Also performing will be the three Step into Dance Youth Companies, showcasing the very best of the programme’s promising young talent.

Tickets to Step LIVE! 2014 are now on sale at www.sadlerswells.com or via the Box Office on 0844 412 4300.

Mirrors: An Honest Reflection?

Dance Studio Mirror It is often a revelation to dance in a studio without mirrors. Some dancers may feel uncomfortable and uncertain at first not to have mirrors, as they are not to be able to see what they are doing and check they are performing the exercises correctly. Despite this many would argue that the movement will feel right for the body, and mirrors are not required to feel this as they encourage dancers to ‘make shapes’ rather than initiate the movement from an internal source.

Dancers often find that dancing in a room with no mirrors frees up their dancing, with no judgements about themselves and liberating the movement, feeling it rather than observing it. It is important to dance with the whole body, increasing confidence and changing the way dancers experience dance and their own movement.

It’s not to say that mirrors are not a useful tool as an addition to the dance studio to help correct placement and alignment, however when dancers are constantly in front of a mirror it is easy to judge yourself harshly and compare yourself to others in the class. The reflection becomes the most important part of the dance and what dancers think they should be seeing, rather than working to improve the physical body that is there in the studio. Some dancers can even become obsessed with their reflection, spending more time looking at it than listening to the teacher.

As you progress and develop as a dancer it becomes easier to recognise the feelings of movements and technique when they are ‘correct’, gleaning the best results when you’re not caught up in your own image or perception of what you see in the mirror. Essentially your teacher is your mirror, providing feedback needed to move more efficiently without the effects of reflective self-criticism. Once you feel the movement and understand how to move her boys when you feel it, your brain can start to reproduce it over and over again and you need never see it.

Agent Searching

Finding An Agent In both the musical theatre and acting industries – in fact, any of the performing arts – securing an agent can be tricky, and almost as difficult as securing jobs! Some graduates from performing colleges leave with agents already secured; most of these are the agency that works alongside the institution and the graduates are automatically added to their books. Other instances of securing agents upon graduation is a direct result of the students inviting agents to their final college showcases, and being taken on that way.

If neither of these ventures are fruitful, it means an agent must be secured outside of the institution and post-graduation. It is something that must be done in order to be put forward for appropriate jobs, giving more chance of securing the job. Some performers do work unrepresented, however it is useful to have that other person talking and negotiating in their behalf. An agent will have more of an idea of the types of auditions and work opportunities that are suited to you, and will have more chance of getting you in the audition room.

It is important to do your research when it comes to agents, and often recommendation from friends and peers are a good basis to go on when approaching agents for the first time. Make sure you check which performers the agent already represents and think carefully about your training, skills and experience, and what would be best for you. It is important to contact agents that suit your skill level, and as a result the agent can attract castings and work opportunities that suit you.

It may take time to secure the agent you would like to represent you, and sometimes plans do not work out. However it is important to be open as you might find a different agent who suits you better.

Festival News From Wilton’s Music Hall

Wiltons Music Hall The iconic East London performance venue Wilton’s Music Hall is set to host a three-day dance festival this autumn in order to showcase new work by emerging artists, and forge relationships for future collaborations. In addition, the organisation is also looking for potential companies to partner with on future commissions across different dance forms, widening their reach to new and potential dance audiences who may have not engaged with the music hall venue before.

The venue will stage the event, to be called Wilton’s Strike!, as part of its interim arts programme that is running while the venue’s restoration continues, providing an unmissable opportunity for emerging dance artists and choreographers all over the city and beyond. Wilton’s is inviting applications from dance groups to take part in the festival, by submitting an idea for a piece of choreography, up to 30 minutes in length, based on the theme of metamorphosis.

Following applications, six of those applicants will be selected to appear in the festival in the autumn of this year, and will be given £1,500 and rehearsal time to develop their work, as well as mentoring from contemporary dancer Jonathan Goddard and other artists. The chance to be mentored by dancers of this calibre alone is an incredible opportunity and not one to be missed. Goddard danced at Wilton’s Music Hall last summer in the title role of Mark Bruce’s Dracula to great critical acclaim.

Wilton’s Strike! will take place from 25-27 September, with two companies of the six selected performing per night. Dance and theatre critics will be invited to attend the festival and view the performances, and each performance will be live streamed online to expand the festival’s reach.

The deadline for festival application submissions is 23 June.

Dance For Young People At The Place

Young people in the capital are asked to watch, learn, create and perform this summer as part of The Place’s summer activities throughout July. It is a month packed with exciting dance for children, young people and families. The hugely popular Something Happening For Kids family festival then returns on 19 July to take the under 10s and their families on a whirlwind tour of dance. For older children there is Summer Fusion, a five-day summer school for young people aged 6-16, which starts on 28 July.

The Place will present two events that showcase the quality and creativity of the young dancers who participate in the Children and Youth Dance programmes at The Place; Without Compromise and All Over The Place. All proceeds raised through ticket sales will go towards the Iris Tomlinson Fund which helps children from all backgrounds fulfil their dancing potential by providing small bursaries to help with the cost of their dance classes at The Place.

All Over The Place will see young dancers aged 5-15 take audiences on an exploration of movement on 5 July. There will be site-specific performances, where you could find anything, from haunted houses to superheroes in training. The tour culminates with a simple dance which audiences can take part in, inspired by the national Big Dance celebrations. On 12 July The Place will present new work created for and by young artists aged 10-18, Without Compromise. The platform gives young dance makers a voice and opportunity to develop their choreographic skills and style, supported by professional dance artists and expert technical staff.

Summer Fusion is a five day summer school from 28 July-1 August for dancers who enjoy being creative. Participants will work with highly skilled dance artists, and live music will feature in all technique classes allowing young dancers to develop their musicality. The creative sessions will also allow them to explore innovative movement, working creatively to produce short dance pieces that will be shared on the final day.

Kids Week 2014

Kids Weeek 2014 Kids Week is back for 2014 with a bang, offering an incredible 36 London shows with free tickets and amazing exclusive activities for children throughout the whole of August. This year sees everything from hilarious page to stage adaptations to dramatic long-running musicals each taking their place in the line-up.

Kids Week is now in its 17th year and shows no sign of stopping. From 1-31 August, one child aged 16 or younger can go free for every adult ticket purchased to a participating show, plus a further two children’s tickets can be purchased at half price. Shows such as – for the younger theatre-goers – acclaimed picture book stage adaptations Aliens Love Underpants, The Tiger Who Came To Tea and What The Ladybird Heard are on the cards, as well as those such as Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, The Lion King, Mamma Mia!, Matilda The Musical, Les Misérables, The Phantom Of The Opera and Wicked.

For families wanting a slightly different theatrical experience, there are shows on offer that aren’t so much in the mainstream such as The 39 Steps, Stomp or book to stage adaptation War Horse. Also included in the Kids Week celebration is Beatles concert extravaganza Let It Be and Michael Jackson tribute show Thriller Live. For slightly older children, Billy Elliot The Musical, The Bodyguard, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, The Mousetrap and The Woman In Black all return to take part in Kids Week.

Each show offers a unique theatrical experience regardless of age category; ticket holders can also explore life on stage or behind the scenes with a host of fantastic activities. From attending a tea party with The Tiger Who Came To Tea to taking a Billy Elliot ballet class, there is something for everyone.

Carolyn Bolton: Rising To Rambert

Carolyn Bolton

Carolyn Bolton was born in Columbia, USA, and trained at South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and University of South Carolina. She joined Rambert in 2013 after working with the Wideman/Davis Dance Company, Unbound Dance Company, and Spartanburg Ballet.

Carolyn’s career highlights include performing with New York City Ballet in the USC Dance Company’s annual gala and featuring in the 2007 ETV documentary Sketches from Chronicle for the Martha Graham Company.

Carolyn has also choreographed works during the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities year round programme, the University of South Carolina academic year and Summer Program, Benedict College After School Dance Program, as well as works for Litchfield Dance Arts Academy. In addition, Carolyn has choreographed solos for numerous dance competitions including the prestigious Youth America Grand Prix Competition.

When did you begin dancing, where and why?

I began dancing quite late, aged eleven. I auditioned for a dance programme at my local middle school in South Carolina and was accepted. Initially I was inspired to move by images on the television ranging from Olympic events, such as figure skating and gymnastics, to more fantasy based programmes like the Power Rangers. However it was seeing Julie Kent from American Ballet Theatre perform Le Corsaire that ultimately sparked my interest. I loved the music, costumes, and the beauty of each step and knew I wanted to dance too.

What were your early years of dancing like?

When I began dancing it was only for fifty minutes a day, five days a week. My school did an excellent job of exposing me to various modern techniques as well as classical ballet. They also brought in professionals, such as Carolyn Adams, to work with us and set established pieces like Donald McKayle’s ‘Rainbow Etude’. My teacher also encouraged me to take classes outside of school and provided me with free after school lessons at a local studio.

How long have you been performing? Did you start young?

I have been performing for about fourteen years now. I started performing shortly after I started. My school would put on several productions a year, including one large production at the end of each year. I also had the opportunity to participate in performances with local companies in South Carolina.

Where did you train and what was a typical day like?

I did my pre-professional training at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. A typical day for me included a ballet technique class in the morning, followed by a pointe class, and three hours of repertory. I would then complete my academic course work and continue rehearsals into the evening. After rehearsals I would have about two hours of free studio space, so I would continue to work on my own choreography or improving technical skills. Each Saturday I would take either a Horton, Cunningham, or Jazz class in addition to my normal ballet class and rehearsal schedule.

What is a typical day like now?

A typical day now consists of a morning technique class either ballet or contemporary, followed by five hours of rehearsals.

Do you still take classes? How do you keep on top of your technique?

I try to stay on top of my technique by taking daily classes provided by Rambert, as well as maintaining pilates exercises to target my weak areas.

What’s the best part about performing?

The best part of performing for me is the silence and moment of stillness I feel when I step on the stage. It’s an indescribable feeling to have all the focus on you. It’s also a lot of pressure, and that knowledge of everyone watching you gives you an adrenaline rush which is unmatched by any other experience.

What would you say was your greatest achievement to date?

My greatest achievement to date is to be dancing for Rambert. I have had the privilege and honour to work with so many artists in America, but Rambert has truly opened a new world of dance to me. It is a pleasure to be in the midst of such talented and diverse artists each day.

Which part of dance do you enjoy the most?

I truly enjoy taking class every morning. For me class is a form of meditation; a way of centering the body, reconnecting with myself and getting in touch with how I am feeling each day. Class allows me to take risks and improve on my technique and artistry prior to stepping on stage.

What advice would you give to someone aspiring to be part of the dance industry?

I would advise someone aspiring to enter the dance industry to cherish every moment and opportunity presented. The dance world can be very fickle but it is vital to remember that ultimately, you are in charge of your destiny. It is important to persevere even when it appears things may not work out. By maintaining a positive attitude and looking for solutions rather than problems, achievement is inevitable.

What’s next for you?

I am looking forward to more touring and performing with Rambert. I am also interested in further exploring my choreographic vision while simultaneously teaching for companies/schools.

Life Without Dance?

Red Cross As a passionate young dance student, it can be hard to conceive of a life without dance. Perhaps you’ve been injured, or can’t get a job or even discovered a full dancing life just isn’t for you. You may be able to return to dancing, and if you do your body will not have forgotten, and you’ll be able to bring more to your dancing than previously.

For many, letting dance go and getting a different job is a welcome change. The change from dancing can be refreshing and the shift in routine can be a welcome break from a sometimes intense dance existence. Injury might also mean you need to take a break from dance and, if it permits, with the right rehabilitation you can return your body to dance.

In the return to dance it is important to retrain the body to return it to its optimum health. A combined programme of, for example, running for cardio, skipping for lower leg strength, Bikram yoga for flexibility, lunges for thigh strength and ballet classes for overall strength, coordination and movement pathways can get the body back into condition.

An alternative return to dance may be through teaching, either within an institution or, more likely, freelance. It is important to take it slowly and set good foundations as a gradual return will put your body at less risk. Focusing on gently increasing your flexibility, strength and fitness means there is less chance of injury.

If you’ve managed to stay fairly active, you might not find the physical side of returning to dance too tough, but it is still important not to be too hard on the body in the beginning by keeping your legs low and not at maximum turn out. If you haven’t been active, start with simple things like brisk walking, swimming or gentle yoga classes. Pilates is always useful for core strength, flexibility and overall conditioning.

Prepare yourself mentally for the fact that you body may have changed, especially if you are a little older or if you’ve had a particularly long break. This is not a limitation however, but a positive change in a new direction and an opportunity to learn more.