anondancer_15

i've just posted about a movement installation performance i was in 'swarm sculptures' : https://adancerblog.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/swarm-sculptures/ 

u dance 2016 : https://adancerblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/30/u-dance-2016/ 

talking of timings, if i get a recall for the place i'll have 3 auditions 3 days running... as if one isn't stressful enough:')

thanks for all the views guys!! i'm going to post a link on this thread every time there's a new post for those interested  

ah wow I forgot these existed - I insisted on collecting them all and was most upset when it was discontinued! highly recommend to young budding dancers

hey, I've started a new dance blog where I will be documenting my current dance experiences at uni, performance and workshop reviews etc! if anyone's interested:

www.adancerblog.wordpress.com

if I have a few regular readers I might actually keep it up

just to let you all know i've gone for Our Deepest Fear - DJ Phil Ty 

I performed in a piece to it a few years ago and really liked it - not so stereotypical lyrical contemporary but still works i think, it's something a bit different!

It's based around this quote:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world, there is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people do not feel insecure around you. We were all meant to shine as children - it's not just in some of us, it's in everyone, and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give permission to other people to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Which i think is really interesting, and appropriate for auditions!

Thanks for all your suggestions! Turns out I had the answer i was looking for all along.

Watch Ghost Dancers by Christopher Bruce. Some very good music and could help to inspire. I know it is popular as it has been a set study for A level and GCSE for over 20 years.

There are also numerous YouTube videos uploaded by people that may help. You could also look for videos uploaded by both schools to see the kind of style they like.

Have a listen to the Walbrook Road song as it is very good for Contemporary.

Happy choreographing

i love ghost dances! have used that for inspiration for previous a level solos  

i have also been living on the schools' youtube channels for inspiration the last few days i found that very useful actually  

and i'm listening to walbrook road as we speak i really like it!!

to answer a few things i left out of the original post - it needs to be between 1min and 1min30secs, last year i think i did exactly a minute. and it's a contemporary solo (for the place and northern)

When is your audition. DD has one on 12th December and is struggling to find time to choreograph her solo?

 my first one is on the 15th, i have another on the 7th jan! i'm surprisingly finding i've got quite a bit of time despite being at uni, but i keep booking the studio and then doing absolutely nothing with my time in there and just panicking about it instead 

Have you considered using the spoken word instead of music?

 

Heather

Aka Taximom

someone else mentioned to me using spoken word....I like the idea but I'm not sure how I'd find soemthing to use or where to even begin looking for it

i've been looking for music for weeks now and nothing is inspiring me it's so stressful :/ but i like having the music before i start choreographing so i really haven't got very far 

i think it's best to get the earlier ones tbh, i've gone for the earlier the better this year! as obviously the places are allocated in batches but if you have the last audition date they're going to have a large number of candidates that they like the look of already, if that makes sense?

Does anyone have any tips about creating an audition solo? i literally don't know where to start, anything i start putting together i then decide isn't good enough... i don't remember it being this challenging last year!

i'm also struggling because i don't have any music yet and i prefer to choreograph to the music, but i don't know what kind of thing i want so it's really hard to find....

to top all of this off my first audition is in less than 3 weeks  

Has anyone experience of their dc doing summer school focussing mainly on contemporary dance (not street or hiphop or the like!)? I know Rambert do one but dd is 17 and maybe would be older than most? She's mostly classical ballet but wants to improve her contemporary next year.

Rambert do an adult one which i did when i was 17 (as long as you have dance experience i think it's fine and there was a really mix of ability when i went) and it was fantastic, a perfect mix of ballet and contemporary! depending on your location i also recommend the hot house dance summer school and two thirds sky, they both mainly focus on contemporary but bring in other styles too! 

I thought the trailer looked great.  My dd wants to go see it and shes 16!!

i want to see it and i'm 18 hahah

had no idea gaynors could go in the washing machine??????? this would rescue the smell of them significanlty hahah

i love mine, got them when i got to the age and position where i was paying for my own pointe shoes and thought they'd be worth the investment!! i actually thought they were harder to get up en pointe in at first, they just feel very different but they're so comfortable and i haven't bought another pair since they're a right b*** to sew though!!

if it helps at all, i did a CAT satellite scheme (like a mini version, lots of people on my course then went on to do another full CAT scheme) so if you have any direct messages about that at all then feel free to message me

I agree taxi and here we reach the crux of the situation. Many dance degrees at non vocational institutions appear to really be a mixture of dance, choreography and related studies with not a huge amount of technical work. It sort of corresponds to the discussions we've had about GCSE Dance....

It's funny you should bring that up I actually compared what I'm doing here to GCSE the other day ????

I think this is a culture-gap thing. As a student you're asked to work out of class in two ways: first, you're given work to do that you'll have to check in. This could be a seminar presentation, an essay, a lab experiment. These have in common that one day, if you didn't do it, you miss a deadline and you get told.

 

You're also expected to work beyond that, though - to read into the literature of your subject, to care about new research, to hear from interesting people, to take an interest in other people's research. This doesn't have an immediate constraint, nobody is going to shout at you, but it's important, they can tell who's been reading/hacking/whatever, and it will show in your marks.

 

In my experience the dull students put more effort into the first. The brilliant ones put the compulsory stuff in a time box and made time for everything else.

 

Here's the gap, though. I don't think I get much benefit out of independent practice other than stretching. Obviously I can stick my hand on some structure and do tendus and pliés. But when I have the opportunity to crack a whole variation out of class I tend to be "....huh?" There's none of the tension or pace of a class. And of course, if I'm screwing up in some subtle way I probably won't know about it. On the other hand, if I was to re-read Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs or The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money I'm pretty sure I'd remind myself of something I forgot or notice something I missed the first (or fifth) time around.

 

I think there's a difference in the kind of learning involved. Pros have an angry BM. Sports people have a coach who leads training, and a conditioning coach who runs pure fitness training. Academics kind of expect you to work out of class...because you can, but I kind of think you need that structure?

i completely agree! i'm more than happy to work independently outside of my set hours in lectures and technique classes etc, i'm genuinely interested in the subject and therefore don't find it a chore to go and find books and journals and documentaries about other things outside of what i'm being taught in lectures. i also understand the importance of leading self directed dance classes, to practise alone and be able to construct some kind of personal training, but it's definitely not the same as having someone else to set new exercises, to teach you new movement you'd not considered before, give personal corrections etc. 

i'm meeting with one of my old teachers to discuss everything next week and think that will be the most helpful thing, however i love that on here you get everyone's different opinions and advice from different viewpoints that i wouldn't have thought of before. 

i'm in two minds as to whether to discuss with tutors here as i get the impression they'd be more interested in keeping me on the course and not sure they'd consider it from the other side?

and yes the teaching hours at uni i think are ridiculous for the amount of money that the course costs! i have up to 20 hours a week but some of my friends doing more academic subjects are only in for a few hours 2 days a week! and yes we are expected to at least double that with independent study.

Nothing ventured, noting gained - it is well worth you re-auditioning for the courses again, as you never know, and you still have your current place at uni as the default Plan B.

 

Have you been able to continue with your ballet training as well?

Ballet is pretty scarce currently!! I went to Graham fletchers class which was really good a couple of weeks ago but they're doing a show so can't join until the end of January. There's optional ballet on my course but I haven't been able to attend yet due to having other lectures, I'm also not sure on the standard of this but will be going next week to try it out! There's a couple of other local classes I'm yet to try as well. Failing all of that I'm gonna book out a studio and do my own ballet training I think!

I think you need to be prepared for the hard truth that - even for those undertaking conservatoire degrees at colleges such as The Place or Laban, for example - those graduates are unlikely to find full-time work in nationally-recognised contemporary companies (Richard Alston, Jasmin Vardimon, Rambert etc). Most of them will take on project-based work, supplemented by teaching, choreography, community-based dance work, and non-dance jobs to pay the rent. They'll also be travelling out of the UK for work - although post 2018 this will be so very much more difficult (I'd imagine politically very difficult in the years immediately post-Brexit).

 

You might see what is at the moment "Plan B" for you, is actually quite useful, as other aspects of your degree - the contextual studies - will help you apply and land jobs via research & writing skills - particularly as even a contemporary dancer's career is relatively short. Most leave dance as dancers in mid-30s to 40-ish with still another 30-40 years of work ahead!

I completely understand that not everyone in vocational training goes into massive companies etc, just that they are much more likely to than uni grads! And again I have nothing against the other pathways and jobs and know it is a very tough industry but I am determined to be involved with it in some way even if it's not in the ways I originally planned/hoped.

Yeah I know the degree will be very useful in my back up ideas and even open up new things I hadn't thought of, so I guess by reauditioning I'll know for sure?? There's just so much to think about and consider haha!

If you can't be a dancer what is your back up plan?

something else in the dance industry! i'm interested in choreography and know that can open up lots of opportunities, i'm also interested in dance development organisations and dance education