LupusMelis

Dates are already on the website for next year.  We will be there!

 

Meadowblythe

Resurrecting this thread, hope you don't mind mods, to post my recap of Chantry Dance Company's 2014 Summer School:

http://skydancermel.com/2014/08/02/summer/

Meadowblythe, did your son make it back this year?

Here's a great interview with Natalia after teaching in the Ukraine:

Yesterday I did the Chelsea Ballet Summer school contemporary class. This was in a style I had never heard of before called "gaga" it's a very free form style with very little structure and loose movement almost like doing some aspects of scaravelli yoga on your feet!! Or like some aspects of five rhythms dance Going with the spirit of the moment I think. Anyway very enjoyable and my foot has survived it very well no adverse affects at all today which is good news but we didn't do any jumping anyway.

Hopefully next year will be able to take part in a lot more of the Summer school.

One group yesterday was learning a bit from Don Q .....the well known gorgeous music bit.......and was just dying to join in as music so inspiring!!

Lin how interesting that you found yourself in a Gaga class yesterday! Gaga is the dance language developed by Ohad Naharin of Israel's Batsheva Dance Company. Here's Naharin himself talking about it:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/OGPG1QL1vJc?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It's such a unique way of moving, all about connecting with the body and finding that inner 'groove'. Was your class Gaga/Dancers or Gaga/People, Lin?And who was the teacher? I've taken some 'dancers' classes with Natalie Iwaniec recently and I'm still trying to apply some of the things I learnt to my usual dance practice. It's great that you found that connection between yoga movement and Gaga since it is at its core a spiritual practice too (in the sense that the more you move the more you connect your body with your mind and shed your layers). Glad that you enjoyed it and I'm sure you'll notice some improvements after moving with a profund connection

I've just posted a quick interview with Chantry Dance Company on the site (http://dancemuse.org/) hope you enjoy reading! And if you do don't forget to subscribe to the site, I aim to bring fresh content 3/4 times a week so there'll always be something to read

Thanks for the support everyone! Since my whole point in doing this attempt is to raise the money I need for my training fees for Laban (over 12k) I would need to raise a larger amount in order to contribute to both MacMillan and the Cats Protection League. And I'm a crazy cat lady so I would prioritise CPL first I hope people will get behind me!

Just thought,Is someone from the Guinness Book of World Records going to be there monitoring you? 

Thanks thequays. I've already applied to Guiness Book of World Records and I will need to provide them with video footage of the attempt in order for them to verify it. I will also need a ballet expert present and a key member of the local community so that it's all above board

Does this count as 'doing dance'? mods?! Please remove if it doesn't

On Friday 22nd August I will be attempting to set a new world record for the total number of continuous grand battements at Hype Dance Company studios, Sheffield. I'm making this attempt to raise money for my own training goals as well as raising for my two favourite charities (Cats Protection League and MacMillan Cancer Care). This blog post explains more so please check it out if you can, and come and watch me as I attempt to break the record if you're in the locality at 4.30pm on the 22nd

skydancermel.com/2014/08/06/world-record-attempt/

Hello everyone!! So I've set up a little website (www.dancemuse.org) with the aim of interviewing individuals, companies and people who are generally in thrall to the art of movement, partly from my own interest in such people and with the eventual aim of being able to monetize it (if I get the readership!!). Anyway, I'm really excited that my first official feature for the site has been on former Northern Ballet/Bejart Ballet Lausanne dancer Jhe Russell!!

Here's the link to the interview: http://dancemuse.org/2014/08/06/jhe-russell/ I hope you enjoy reading so much that you want to share it with everyone He really is such an inspirational and creative individual, and hopefully that comes across in the post.

Ta!!

Mel x

Thanks Skydancer .......the first exercise on the link you put in is one of the ones that has been set by the Pilates teacher I have been seeing so have been doing this fairly regularly at home!! Will look at rest of video later!!

I'm moving into a small group of four for my next Pilates sessions as have been having one to one using various equipment for core and foot strengthening for the past few weeks now.

My partner now calls out "are you in the piano/library/gym room?"

 

Am off up to London in an hour to watch some of the Chelsea Ballet summer school that had hoped to be doing

I'll watch the contemporary today to see if I could cope with part of this class or not later in the week.

Did you get the chance to look at the rest of the video, Lin? The floor exercises that Kathryn suggests are key Pilates matwork ones, just goes to show how important good Pilates work is to strengthening a moving body!

How was the summer school? Shame you couldn't take part but I hope you do manage to get to the contemporary class later in the week.

I have a lot of admiration for Kathryn as from what I have read she has been through a lot in the USA with thyroid issues etc which impacted her professional career.

Yes, Balleteacher, Kathryn's illness really had an impact on her professional career but she's not given up! A gift like hers deserves to be shared with the world, and even if she doesn't make it back to NYCB I'm sure she'll find a new and better position somewhere else. If anyone's interested she gives an interview about everything here: http://balancing-pointe.com/65-kathryn-morgan/. It's an inspirational listen!

Here's a little light barre Fiz if it helps to have something you can do at home.

Kathryn's videos are great, she puts so much care and detail into them! As well as the barre videos she has released a video with pointe strengthening exercises (great to do whether you dance en pointe or not) and this Monday's video was a turnout focused one with Pilates-style exercises and things to do on turnout discs/slippery floor and socks. Fiz, maybe you'll be able to fit this in at home as well to keep things ticking over till you can make it back to class. And LinM, these exercises might help you in your recuperation from injury, strengthening your turnout will no doubt have lots of benefits to you when it comes to moving and jumping again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4JU12Mn4_E

Thanks Fiz. I should be clear that the card theft happened in Grantham's 24-hour branch of Asda, and was in no way associated to the summer school or its participants!! The bank are going to refund me, thankfully!

Fiz I'm so glad that you are happy with your dance school. Even though you can't make it over the next fortnight, at least you will be able to get stuck in properly come September. I'm sure you'll make up for the time you missed over the past year when you are able to take regular classes again

I've (just about!!) come back down to earth after attending Chantry Dance Company's Summer School last week! It was a fantastic intensive and provided the opportunity to develop contemporary ballet, contemporary and jazz technique as well as lots of time spent on improvisation. Although the other participants varied in age from 11 to 30+ we were all treated by Rae, Paul and Gail as a real company and the standards were very high indeed! Our presentation performance consisted of repertoire from the company's upcoming 'Happy Prince' ballet, a re-choreographed take on the 'helicopter bit' from Miss Saigon (took my right back to my teenage Musical Theatre days!!) and our own modern ballet creation 'The Harvest', which was inspired by Ballet Russes and Communisim. We also got the opportunity to showcase a contact improv session to the audience, which added in a new dimension (it was interesting to feel the difference in some of the dancers as they contact improved in front of an audience rather than the usual studio situation) I've blogged about my week here: http://skydancermel.com/2014/08/02/summer/, hope you can give it a read!

Even though the week ended badly with the theft of my debit card and subsequent emptying of my bank account, there was some good news when I returned home to Sheffield.....Trinity Laban have offered me a place on the 1-year Diploma course in Dance Studies, which was my first choice of course before I even auditoned for the Scottish School of Contemporary Dance!! I'm very happy, but quite daunted by the fact that I've still got to find quite a bit of money to self-finance the course, so, on that note if anybody visits this page and thinks they might be able to help (or needs a good freelance copywriter!!!) please do get in touch: https://tackk.com/kcy0ek

Well deserved ON ALL COUNTS.  

 

Nice to see ENB recognised as well in the latter (the Malakov Foundation outing) with Alina Cojacaru as a nominee for Best Female Dancer and Bob Ringwood for those TRULY STUNNING Corsaire designs.  

Indeed! But then Alina would naturally be a nominee for Best Female Dancer (all hell would break loose if she wasn't!) Bob Ringwood worked magic on the Corsaire designs and it is nice to see recognition for that.

I know exactly what you mean by loving the men's steps!!

 

When I was younger(sorry to keep harping on about lost youth etc) I too loved the jumpy grand allegro sections but especially the men's jumps and often used to practice them.

 

In fact I'm sure my current injury is partly due to this as on one of the Giselle workshops I attended in London I kept joining in at the back with the men's jumps bit .......which I didn't need to have done.....so probably set off this injury trying to man it up as it were......as if dancing from 10 till 6 wasn't enough already!!

 

Well I'll definitely have to let go of the tours en l'air for quite a while I think and just be very happy if I can at least do some nice delicate glissade assembles again soon!!

Well, allegro is definitely one of my 'things'! And it's nice to hear about your lost youth and know that I'm not the only allegro lover out there

I've have the strength and explosiveness needed for big dynamic movements like that, but as with anything it's hard to develop the correct technique in just a few minutes a couple of times a week. I think sometimes my body feels like it's still in hurdler mode (hence why my teacher literally barks at me to stop travelling so much with i jump) and I'm yet to truly develop my full ballon potential!

Well if that's how you did it at least it was a good way to set off your niggles! I probably would've done the same thing, in fact I would have been more likely to skip the female rep and focus on the male steps!! Keep resting and working your feet and legs properly and I'm sure you'll be jumping around again in no time

It looks like everyone on Twitter has heard the news, as usual I'm a bit late to the party!

Kenneth Tindall is one of the selected 20 (along with Azzurra Ardovini) for Dance UK's Mentoring Programme http://www.danceuk.org/news/article/dancers-mentoring-2014/

and...

He has been nominated for Best Young Choreographer award in the Taglioni - European Ballet Awards http://www.danceeurope.net/article/taglioni-european-ballet-award

Northern Ballet, Xander Parish, Yulia Stepanova and Nicolas Le Riche have also received nominations!

I'm so happy for and proud of Mr Tindall and our Northern Ballet to be recognised in this way (goes without saying that I'm happy too for Parish, Le Riche and Ms Stepanova!)

It does look interesting but not sure if I could take on two performance aimed classes in London as just about to send cheque off to LAB for their course!!

But this is great news for adult dancers and those who either live in London or not too far away .......and/or a little younger in years to have the energy to take on all these lovely projects!!

 

Sky dancer will you be in London all!the time then from September.......would love to meet up!!

From what I can gather the classes won't be performance-based yet and sound as though they are going to be 'class' class. It is really great news, though, and sounds like a good ballet training opportunity as much as a performance/dance one. One thing I really like about it is that it is going to be split into 3 different levels (like most associate programmes) so progression and development will probably happen much quicker. I'm also really interested as to whether the men's workshops will be opened out to female dancers like me with grand allegro skillsets, I find myself craving a 'men's class' sometimes (especially when we only get to spend about 15 mins per class on jumps) but as far as I'm aware there aren't any in the UK (correct me if I'm wrong!)

And in answer to your question, Lin I really do hope to be living in London from September. Although things aren't confirmed for Laban yet, especially on the funding front (see my website www.skydancermel.com for more info) I believe that moving to London will be beneficial for me in the long run and give me a much better chance of pursuing my dance ambition than hanging around in Yorkshire will. There's already a small company in London - The Crossword Ballet - that is starting to put on productions with 'warrior ballerinas' so I don't think my artistic vision will be quite so 'out there' in the capital, and may even interest some people! And I would love to meet up with you too

Fiz - I know it is such a shame! Is there any way you could create this opportunity yourself?

VBee you are so right about positive thinking! And I'm very happy for you about your pirouette success last night (breakthrough!!) and for not falling on your bum again

Slightly off-topic but I've just blogged about Crystal Ballet's Associates programme: http://jelterps.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/adult-ballet-associates-uk.html. Are any forum members signing up for it? I am trying to think positively about the next 6 weeks and hope that come September I will be safely in London, ready to start my course at Laban and maybe even joining CB Associates!!!

Hi Skydancer

Wow what a memory you have, I do vaguely remember that session with Chris and at least one girl after class doing some quite elevated jete en tournant’s, I wonder was that you? I guess you may well have been next to me when I was chatting to Chris near the piano when the class had ended, I really liked Chris as a teacher, I met him again later that week when he was teaching company class at the Grand Theatre.

 

Yes I did the BRB Aladdin workshop that seems such along while ago now.

 

I don’t understand your comment “ but IIRC you weren't actually dancing then”

 

Did you do the BRB workshop this year, I swapped emails with them but decided not to attend unless they were teaching a scene from one of the major classics.

 

 

I met another girl from the same Intermediate/Advanced class at Northern doing the City Academy’s Ballet Master Class at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden. This was November 2013, I was hoping to see her at Northern but never did. Its not often I can get to that later class unless my regulare class at English National Ballet are on break. They are today for just one week, and I had a trustee meeting in London, so unusually for me no ballet today.

 

I'm really sorry I didn’t stop and have a chat, I feel relly awful about that. I often meet people Ive done workshops or Intensives with, all over the place but I can never remember their names.

My memory is quite a freakish one. Important things tend to get lost in it, but I can recall photographic detail of the most random of events. That certainly sounds like me, and I do remember you chatting to him next to the piano (and Ian the pianist!) Chris is a fantastic teacher and has lots of advice to give.

Well, I remember that you participated in the ballet portion of the workshop but then you seemed to step out when we cracked on with the Djinn dance and the finale dance. I didn't go this year, it was a fun thing but quite pricey when you factor in train tickets. My focus this year has been on developing my classical technique and developing my own movement language. I'm really not that enamoured with classical ballet workshops as a whole, I will never develop the technique I need to satisfactorily pull off a 'classical' variation so I'd rather keep my focus on the things I can do really, really well. Anyway, the male repertoire seems more exciting to me anyway, and that never seems to get taught in workshops.

Speaking of workshops I've just come back from an awesome one with one of my teachers, Benoit Egloff (head of Classical Ballet at The Space). During the first portion we focused on this Felix Blaska piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3THkaro99Y Learned the main choreography, improvised on the theme of and then ran it through a few times. During the second half of the workshop we analysed the overture to Verdi's 'La Traviata', picking out instruments/themes/moods etc. We then choreographed a physical composition that literally was the music, our bodies were the orchestra and we made it come to life. It was a wonderful day, focused on developing different layers of musicality and rhythm and it gave me plenty of inspiration to keep pushing my own development further.

Anyway, back to topic! Don't worry about not stopping to chat, I'm sure our paths will cross again one day

One of my favourite dancers at ABT, Isabella Boylston, has been promoted to Principal Dancer Here's the link to my blog about her: http://jelterps.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/Isabella-Boylston-Principal-Dancer.html

I am sorry you will have to miss class this week. Had you been dancing I would have come to Sheffield this evening even though I have already taken a lunch time class with Fiona in Huddersfield. 

 

My problem with pirouettes seems to be that I can't stay on demi-point for long enough to complete a turn. I can just about prepare for one turn and then I have to stop.   That may be because my toes and ankles are weak but it is probably because I am too heavy.   Fiona has given me an exercise to work on and of course there are regular tendus,

In the 6.30pm class tonight with Fiona we concentrated solely on learning the new, revised choreography for the Chance to Dance piece. I expect we will be doing the same for the next 2 classes since the performance is on 19th July. We made more progress in Advanced, even though VBee and I were completely useless for the last half hour of it!

If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion, Terpsichore, with pirouettes you do need to relax your legs and feet into the floor before the plie so that you can get the energy to then press up onto demi-pointe. Trust your legs and your feet more during that stage, let them root into the floor so that you can really push off on your landing pad (with both feet) before bringing the other foot into retire. Pirouettes are all about centering and aligning those floors in your body: the ground supports your feet, your pelvic floor supports your level pelvis, your level pelvis supports your spine, your spine supports your balanced head! 

Hi SkyDancer

Terpsichore was under the impression we knew each other (ref post #1196  ) other than outside the lift at Northern. If we have met other than on the forum then I’m sorry for not recognising you.

Hi Michelle. You have been in class with me before on a couple of occasions, most recently at the Northern Ballet's Inter/Advanced class with Chris HL. My friend and I were the loiterers after class who managed to get extra time with him to cover the nitty gritty of grand jete en tournant (all in the hips!) And I think you were also in attendance at BRB's Aladdin workshop last year with Ruth Brill (or at least someone who looks like you was) but IIRC you weren't actually dancing then...Correct me if I'm wrong!!

It's so great to see Red & Terpsichore making the connections between presentation/performance and adrenalin in dance. Any action where you are using your body, face, voice, breath to communicate something is a performance in a sense and it does increase adrenalin levels and become addictive. Terpsichore was definitely still on a high today, boosted I hope by a lovely day spent mingling with amazing dancers, teachers and people from Northern Ballet.

Speaking of Northern Ballet, here's my write-up of the showing yesterday: http://jelterps.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/the-dance-did-go-on-northern-ballet.html

And Michelle, it was indeed me who you saw at the lift yesterday!

I want to acknowledge some debts to Skydancer. First, she helped me tremendously on Thursday in the way she described above. Secondly, she has contributed some wonderfully insightful and passionate articles to our publication. As I said before I can no longer monopolize the name Terpsichore because the publication is now as much hers as it is mine. Thirdly, she has encouraged me to venture outside my comfort zone. I would never have heard of Chantry Dance had it not been for Skydancer and it was the experience of appearing on stage with her and two other gifted dancers that prompted me to have a go today.

 

 

I took a lot of time off work over the last few weeks in order to make time for extra classes and I can't keep that up for ever.   After today I shall revert to no more than 2 hours a week.

There are no debts to acknowledge, Terpsichore! Although I am glad I was able to help you on Thursday, especially since this performance is a very special one to you personally. LinM is right when she says you'll want to do it all over again If anything I owe a debt to you for asking me to contribute to Terpsichore and for providing me with a platform where my articles do get read by an audience. Very few people read my blog http://skydancermel.wordpress.com/, even my friends (or if they do they don't comment or discuss the things I raise in my posts with me), so I am very grateful to you for the opportunity to write for an audience!

Even though I do recommend that you calm your schedule down a bit after the show I hope you will still be coming to Fiona's Monday night classes at Hype!

Good luck for the Northern Ballet show at the weekend Terpsichore and Michelle. I'm sure it'll be a wonderful experience. And Terpsichore I've seen you dance too on a few Mondays now (I was the one in the bright-ish blue leotard this week) and you don't need to worry! Performing is such a buzz and your passion and commitment will definitely show.

 

As the others have mentioned we can all be our worst critics and it's something that I struggle with all the time. After a bit of a tearful moment at the end of the advanced class one week, when I felt like I couldn't keep up with the others and was making a fool of myself, my teacher told me to stop being a perfectionist and getting upset when I couldn't do something first time. She said that I was better than I thought I was and if she didn't think I could cope she wouldn't have let me do the class.

Her best bit of advice was to think about why I was doing the classes, and that it didn't matter what level anyone else was at because what mattered was that I was there for me not anyone else. As long as I was enjoying myself, learning and improving then in didn't matter what anyone else could do. 

I remember that class! And I still think it was the combination of pushing yourself physically through 4 hours of ballet without re-fuelling as well as the general "arrrrgggghhh, what is this? what is this?" that we all get in Em's Advanced sessions You're still a silly-billy for being so critical of yourself, though, especially when you are so naturally suited towards ballet with dem legs and dem feet!!

I'm sure all the dancers performing at the NB Academy showing on Saturday will enjoy it and forget about their concerns once they hit the stage Terpsichore has put in some extra time with me today to make sure that she is well prepared for the performance! She already manages to communicate her love for dance and her sheer joy at being able to dance through her expressiveness and performance quality so in my eyes she really has nothing to worry about....I hope you are reading this, Terpsichore!!

Just to let everyone know a photo gallery for The Architect is now up on Dance Europe's website:

http://www.danceeurope.net/gallery/the-architect-northern-ballet

I was one of the privileged audience members at Company HQ last night watching the triple and the premier of Kenneth Tindall's The Architect (more on that in a second!) It was a truly special night, the Company are in superb athletic form and it was a real thrill to be able to see up close in such an intimate setting. For me, this programme highlights the gifts and strengths of the Northern Ballet and pushes them beyond the usual boundaries of narrative classical ballet. It also provided moments of real maturity for the younger dancers, particularly Kevin Poeung who clearly put so much GRAFT into his performance in The Architect. The performances I saw last night were just as thought-provoking as dance theatre but lost no amount of classicism or emotion. I feel so proud of our comapny 'oop narth', they really do belong on the world's stage. And they ALL look and move like Olympians (Mr Nixon really wasn't wrong when he compared his company to panthers!)

Concerto 6-22

I'm not personally much of a Lar Lubovitch fan, I find his movement language just a little too bland and elements of this piece in particular don't really grab and sustain a hold on my attention. It doesn't generate in me much of a response above critical appreciation of his work and of course the appreciation for the dancers. However, even though this piece isn't to my taste the company performed it with such lightness and carefree exuberance. It genuinely was a joy to see them perform, and Hannah Bateman & Dreda Blow were visions of springtime loveliness. Concerto is a natural fit for the elvish and sprightly Rachell Gillespie, she looked like she was having the time of her life dancing it. Matthew Topliss deserves credit for maintaing the energy and elevation in the Allegro/Rondo pieces and the Adagio PDD between Guiliano Contadini and Matthew Koon was my highlight from this piece.

Concertante

I'm a big fan of van Manen, NDT and Het National Ballet so I had very high expectations for the performance of this piece. Which, as it turns out were actually exceeded. Contemporary pieces like these are often hard for British ballet companies to master, its the subtlety of the intensity needed as apposed to 'mannered' performance that make the diffference between a piece that is well presented to a piece that is performed authentically and hits the mark. Watching Concertante last night I found myself being pulled in to the piece, so that I no longer had any awareness of where I was or even WHO these dancers were. It was a prime example of ability of art to be a catalyst for complete transcendence, and they carried it through into Tindall's Architect. The movement language in this piece is gorgeous, and very 'me', and my favourite moments were 'That' PDD between Tobias Batley and Hannah Bateman and Martha Leebolt's PDD with Giuliano Contadini. Bateman mesmorised me with her challenging, questioning eyes. Batley was everything that you love and everything that you hate about intense relationships. Leebolt, for me, is so much more than a dance actress and in Contadini she had the perfect partner to really express her true artistic ability.

The Architect

Anyone who follows me on Twitter will know that I have been raving on and on about this piece for weeks. Tindall is a true creative, his ideas and movement language are incredibly unique in the UK and the sheer facility of the Northern Ballet dancers gives him full reign for making his creativity a reality. It was everything I wanted it to be and more, I spoke about being pulled into Concertante, well with The Architect Tindall and the 9 dancers performing it reached out with their own hands and pulled me in to the piece from my insides. They didn't let go, either, I'm still having random conversations with myself about some of the themes and ideas that I've seen in the piece (I will cover these in a blog post) and I still feel that I was privy to a very great 'Becoming' last night (to borrow from Thomas Harris!). Movement wise Tindall threw so much into the piece, I've never seen the company dance, interact and perform like that. He gave them a truly 'meaty' piece of work, pushing them to their limits as atheltic dancers and as emotional creatures. The set and the lighting design (Chrisopher Giles and Alastair West, respectively) were spectacular, carving out space and increasing the intensity, and perfectly integrated with the movement language to holistically make this piece gobsmacking. Costume-wise, who knew a unitard could be so impactful and emotive?! The spinal designs on the backs of the male dancers really connected with me, and the visceral red 'wounds' or wombs on the backs of the female dancers' costumes provocatively hinted at what was to become clear in the piece. Brutal, ravishingly beautiful and completley immersive, Architect has really cemented Tindall's position as my favourite British choreographer and I hope that one day I will create and dance in works that have a fraction of his impact.This piece was a genuinely collabrative effort, TIndall sculpted his dancers into a new kind of living, breathing organism. All 9 dancers (Hannah Bateman, Martha Leebolt, Tobias Batley, Kevin Poeung, Dreda Blow, Guiliano Contadini, Joseph Taylor, Jessica Morgan, Nicola Gervasi) deserve special mentions, without them all it wouldn't have been what it was!

Now here is a good topic - who among the ballet dancers of the last few years should have received this title officially, do you think?

 

I shall now settle down and wait for the debates to begin! 

Sylvie Guillem, Natalia Makarova, Aurelie Dupont. I also see Marianela Nunez, Tamara Rojo and Sarah Lamb as possible 'candidates' for the title in the future.

For the male equivalent: Misha! Nicolas le Riche and Irek Mukhamedov. Steven McRae and Xander Parish are also shaping up to be future ballet 'gods'!