When I first started to dance I was the oldest in the class! In fact, throughout my learning dance I have always been the oldest in dance class (or at least one of).

I was 17 years old when I entered an audition for a dance showcase in high school and got in without having had any training! I was subsequently encouraged by my gymnastics teacher to take dance lessons. So when I reached the ripe old age of 18 and my parents asked me, “What gift would you like for your 18th birthday, money for driving lessons or for dance lessons?”, I gave an emphatic, “Dance lessons!”. I didn’t know then what a life changing decision this was.

I went to speak to Anna Kukurba who was one of the best teachers in Cagliari at that time, her background was as a Prima Ballerina in Kraków and Paris Ballet. She asked how old I was, and without even looking at my existing (or non existent) dance skills, she said, “Come and Join the adult intermediate ballet class.”. So I did.

It didn’t take long for her to realise I had not done any dance before and at the end of the class she told me I had to downgrade and join the academy classes with the 12 year olds! Ouch! That was a shock, but I listened to her and decided she new better, so I went. But I also listened to something else she said, “You’re already too old to be a ballet dancer.”. That was the first year.

The second year she offered me not only to join her as an assistant in her classes (my parents had funds only for one year of dance lessons), but she created a solo for me to dance at the end of year show at the Conservatoire of Music in Cagliari. That was a great encouragement and I realised I had to go and study dance full time, so I decided to leave Cagliari to come to London.

In London

Time and time again I noticed that my age appeared to be a burden, I was older (relatively) and the students in the dance classes I went to were very talented and very young. Every time I went to an audition I realised that I didn’t have enough training to get the job and I saw I was still a long way from getting to that level.

Three years into studying in London and working at the same time, I was encouraged by a teacher at The Place to take up full time dance studies. So I auditioned for various schools and having been awarded a local authority grant, went to study at Middlesex University, still with the desire to become a professional dancer one day.

Once again I had in the back of my mind the idea that I was the oldest in the classroom and no matter how dedicated I was I had the preconceived notion that there wouldn’t be much of a job for me once I came out of school.

Once I graduated I started to dance for independent dance companies and enjoyed this. After some time one of them offered work with older adults. Dancers received training to work within elderly care settings.

I began working with frailer older people with various medical conditions, but I noticed too that their carers reinforced the idea that old age and deficiency went hand in hand. “You are too old to________”, was the underlying thinking, and some carers kept the elders wrapped in cotton wool. They would often say to me “You can’t do this.” or “You can’t do that!” with them. The training I was receiving said the same thing, don’t do this or that. But in the back of my mind I had the notion that the elders I was teaching could be encouraged to explore or do more than what we were supposed to teach them.

A bit of rebellion…

So the rebellious side of me took over, I started changing the exercises, using my dance training to bring creative ideas in, to challenge, stimulate and encourage the participants to do more. We even played football (with a soft ball of course) and to my amazement their competitive side started to come out. There was laughter, there was vitality and the participants wanted to be involved in the activity much more than when they had to do standard “exercises”.

At that time, I was asked to teach a ballet class to Sadler’s Wells’ Company of Elders, little did I know that this would take me on toward a new direction.

As I taught the elders from Sadler’s Wells I started to realise a very important and new idea. I was teaching similar age groups of people at the Company of Elders as I was in care homes but in very different settings. One was the sedate day-care centre the other was in inspiring venues with active older people learning how to perform. So I asked myself, “Why is it that these people of similar age and abilities behave differently?”. And it was striking that in many respects it was their behaviours that seemed different rather than their actual physical condition.

The Company of elders were active, wanting to move and challenge themselves whilst the elders from the care centre were barely interested in taking part in a simple exercise class. There was clearly a difference in their mind set.

I was so inspired by them that I realised one very important thing (both as teachers and individuals). There is a need to shift our fixed ideas about ageing and being old. It was no longer a conversation about deficiency and inadequacy. It was a conversation about possibility! A conversation about what is present rather than what we imagine/preconceive to be present. Are we really looking at what is present? Do we really understand what’s possible even in the midst of deficiency or decay?

I was no longer looking at people as “old”, but as individuals and what they brought with them.

This meant I could no longer apply my (or any body else’s) idea of what it meant to “be old”. Now age became unimportant because it was each person’s current physical state and mindset that determined what they did/or were capable of. Yes it’s true that as we pass through the years of life there are parts of our body that decay, parts of our functioning system that simply stop functioning and many of us will also experience (more or less) some sort of damage along the way. BUT it is also clear that many of these changes do not stop us from doing the things we want to do.

I have students who “struggle” into class after multiple hip operations (yet turn up for a performance raring to go), students who continue dancing into the late stages of dementia and others who fight through various forms of cancer (some successful some not) while continuing to dance.

The new generation of dancers.

As a year went by I was asked to become Sadler’s Wells’ Company of Elders’ Rehearsal Director and there I made the decision to leave the care setting to focus on active ageing. A few years later I created my own dance company, Counterpoint Dance. I was very excited about working with a fresh slate, looking at developing a new mindset of the dancer’s potential.

At the same time I was introduced to the ITM school of Alexander technique. One of the first things the head of the course, Don Weed, said was: “All I want you to do is to change everything about yourself.”. I found that statement deeply unsettling! What did he mean? If I change everything about myself does that mean I won’t be myself anymore? There is nothing wrong with who I am am!

But as I went through the course I realised that who I was at that time was not who I potentially could be. All the learned behaviours, the fears, the preconceived ideas of how to do things, I realised where misplaced.

I understood that what society, school, parenting had taught me was limiting me. Only when I had let go of some of the preconceived ideas of who I ought to be, I was able to tap into new very powerful and life changing ideas.

The change I was making to my mindset helped me ask the questions: What does ageing really mean? Is it true that when we reach a certain age we move towards a state of being which is in decline and therefore we are no longer valuable to others or to society? Is that what we can expect and then we die! Certainly NOT!

When I realised that my psycho-physical condition was changing and that I was not only getting better physically but also my thinking processes were improving and getting faster, I realised that this tool was extremely powerful. I had reached one very important turning point in my life.

I felt I had to share how this life changing tool would uncover people’s potential and therefore I started to use Alexander’s principles during the dance classes I taught. I was no longer teaching “Dance”, I was teaching students how to challenge their preconceived ideas about learning, about dancing, about thinking and most of all about themselves.

Today I train older dancers to become better dancers, but along the way they also become different people. One of my long standing students and a member of Counterpoint Dance Company, Almeric Johnson, says, “It changes your mindset about your own potential in performance and in life.”.

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I’ve already mentioned previously the incredibly helpful short series from The Place and in today’s lesson we’ll be drawing on the 1st part in their mini series and making use of the idea that when we watch someone dancing, an “echo” of their movement is naturally created in our own mind.

Watch this video first and then carry on reading…

So today all I’d like you to do is watch someone dancing (it could be in person or something on YouTube). Perhaps find some footage of your favourite dancer and allow those movements you see to create an “echo” in yourself. Then respond with your own movement, taking inspiration from that echo and your inner dancer. Sometimes that might be as direct as exact copying and sometimes it might be completely different. Make it your own, it doesn’t need to be an exact match, in fact I wouldn’t expect it to be, as we all have different body shapes and skill levels. See what comes out, anything goes!

For the really adventurous and technically savvy, record yourself with your phone or iPod and then send me a link in the comments below to where I can see it!  And don’t forget, this is precisely the kind of thing we work on in Creative Dance Class, so if you’d like to learn more about creating your own dance movement, come along to Creative Class on Wednesdays.

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On Wednesday I spent a day at Middlesex University as a visiting lecturer working with their 1st year dance students, looking at my work with older people in dance and what’s involved in teaching and training people at a later stage in their life.

This is the third year running I’ve taught at Middlesex uni on the topic and I decided to talk to this year’s students in a very different way than previously. I’ve been thinking recently about my practice and work with dance and older people over the past few years. This time I wanted to share something about myself that made an impact on why I do what I do.

I spoke to them about my training years as a dancer and how I was always the older one in the various courses I took when I was training. During my developing years I was alway “reminded” by others of the fact that I was older and that I could not be what I wanted to be. I loved Ballet and wanted to dance as a ballet dancer but my teacher in Sardinia took care to explain that “one becomes a prima ballerina by the age of 16”, of course this immediately put me out of the picture as I was starting at 18. However this did not deter me from wanting to dance and perform.

As I arrived in London I felt very out of touch and what I had learned back home in dance, ballet and jazz were my favourites, was very different here! I decided to take up contemporary dance as I had a feeling that this approach and style was the right style for my body and I wanted to see what was possible as well as enjoying some of the things I saw people doing. Still the stigma of ageing was there and younger dancers were always favoured, getting the jobs often because they could be a lot more physical than I could.

Having got to the point where I felt incredibly discouraged, I resolved to have nothing more to do with dancing. And that would have been that if it were not for some very persistent encouragement from my now husband.

I found myself teaching young people and children and later on older people. The more I heard people’s stories about how much they wanted to dance and saw them having a go, the more I realised how much I wanted to help them achieve their goals while changing the world’s views of ageing and who should be performing.

What I do today will hopefully help people that are struggling to keep going or to simply get started, some who’ve lost hope or who have been listening to the “establishment” and already given up, or others that have put dance and performance off because someone suggested they would be better off doing something else as they were too old to be dancers. I certainly draw inspiration from my students, as they prove time and time again that if you take the first step (get started!) and are willing to do the work, there’s a very high chance of achieving something wonderful.

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In creative class
I teach various exercises and give tasks to get students thinking about how to create movement. One of the tasks that has a powerful effect for creating movement goes as follows. I ask students to listen to a piece of music and imagine themselves moving in response. This usually requires a moment of stillness until they “see” themselves moving in their mind. They might be inspired by the sound of a drum or a melody line or how the dynamics change or perhaps whether the harmony is “sad” or “happy”. Then, when the right time comes, whatever images and movements of themselves came to mind, they then attempt to recreate those movements with their own bodies.

It’s a fun activity requiring you to jump between different types of thinking, going from internal visualisation, to external, physical creation of that internal vision. (Don’t forget, if you want to look at visualisation in more detail, do check out my previous article “Do You Visualise?!”).

Once the students have attempted to dance what they’ve visualised, we discuss how well the sequence of movements work for them… And we soon realise that some movements don’t flow well in our bodies and whatever images we had created in our mind, we still need to rearrange them in order to fit both our bodies and match our internal ideas. It’s a refinement process that can take some time!

Today’s Task
Make sure you have space to move around safely or do it sitting on a chair and always consider your environment when practicing dance… knocking over your priceless Ming isn’t fun!

So here we go.

1. Listen to a piece of music that you feel drawn toward on some level (it could be the Chopin from this talk at 13min 10sec).
2. Next, imagine yourself moving in response to some element of that music (it could be the dynamics, a particular phrase, the rhythm, a particular instrument or sound, or something else you feel about the music).
3. Take some time with this and enjoy the freedom of your internal thinking.
   When you feel ready, begin to recreate with your body the shapes and movements you’ve created in your mind.

How did you do? Did you get close to what was in your mind?

If you’re like most people you’ll need to repeat this process a few times to see if you can get your physical movements closer to the internal ideas you have.

Once you have a clear idea of your movements, see if you can start to memorise through repetition some of those movements and next week we’ll start to look at organising those movements into something that flows.

When you’ve gone through this process a few times tell me what music you chose, what parts of it did you respond to? The rhythm? The emotion in the music? A particular instrument or sound? Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear from you.

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For some of us, enjoying dance more means remembering our steps, for others it means having a better sense of balance and for lots of us, being more fluid and graceful would mean a lot more enjoyment. But how do we get better at these different things? Do you have a plan? Do you know what specific thing you would like to get better at today?

In this article, I’m going to show you the one thing you need to do to improve your dancing and having more fun! It’s a simple idea that you’ve probably heard before, “Repetition”! Or to put it a little differently; If you want to have more fun dancing, you need to start doing it repeatedly.

But this is repetition with a difference, not just mindless repetition (where you wish you were somewhere else whilst doing 1000 repetitions of x) but repetition where you’ll aim to improve what you’re doing EVERY TIME you make a repeat. Not the rote repetition we were used to in school (for memorising facts) but the kind of repetition that’ll enable you to put your foot exactly where you want it, when you want it, or move your arm just the way you’d like it to move. Be warned though, this might be a simple idea we’re going to work with but it isn’t the easy option! It’s not for the lazy or those looking for a quick fix and I’m afraid there’s no magic pill but if you’re willing to put a little work in, keep reading!

Repetition is great for helping us gain familiarity, for memorisation and body conditioning, but today we’re going to look at repetition as an opportunity to raise your standard and get better at what you do (and this is where your mind will really go to work).

How to use repetition.

Here we go;

1. Choose one thing that you want to improve. (Is it balance? Perhaps it’s fluidity? Or something more specific?)
2. Choose a simple dance movement or motif to do.
   1. I’ve provided a video below of me doing a simple plié and relevé  (sorry about the boomy sounding room!). Choose a simple move you’d like to do or follow my lead.
3. Visualise. Do you remember this lesson on visualisation? Make sure you have a clear idea in your mind of what you’re going to do. If you’re using my video, watch it a few times first.
4. Now do the movement once.
5. When you’ve completed the movement, ask yourself these questions;
   1. How did I do?
   2. What went well?
   3. What would I do differently next time?
6. Now decide what you’re going to do differently.
7. Do the movement once.
8. Now repeat steps 5-7.

It’s that simple, but you need to go through the process many, many times.  Ask yourself the question “What would I do differently next time?” EVERY TIME you intend to make a repetition! And if you’ve got to the point where you don’t know what you would do differently next time, make sure you turn up to class for more input!

Tell me below how you get on. What did you struggle with? What did you like? Have you noticed any improvement? What did you find helpful?
Is there something that you’ve been able to improve using this idea?

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Imagining. Seeing in your minds eye. Visualising what you’re going to do BEFORE you do it is absolutely key to your success! It’s almost certain that if you haven’t got a clear idea in your mind about what your going to do, you won’t produce a physical result that you’re happy with!

So here’s an exercise for you to do that’ll help get your mind muscles working…

1. Choose a short phrase or motif from a video you’re familiar with.  You could use the one in the video at the bottom of this page, beginning at 3min 45secs (It’s approx. 20 seconds of movement).
2. Watch it repeatedly (I suggest at least 7-10 times). Most people want to get going “physically” to soon! You really need to have absorbed the ideas mentally before trying them physically, by repeated watching.
3. Just incase you missed that. YOU NEED TO WATCH WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO REPRODUCE MANY MANY TIMES BEFORE YOU ATEMPT TO DO IT.
4. Then as you start to become familiar with it, imagine the phrase in your head and play it along in your mind as you watch the video a few more times.
5. Now without the video, play it back in your head BEFORE you try to reproduce it physically.  Do this many times (at least 7 – 10 times). Are you imagining clearly how the movement looks?  What are the shapes and angles being created? What’s the tempo or pulse of the phrase?
6. Now it’s time to have a go!
7. Make some space in the room you’re in and be sure you’re not going to bump to anything as you swing your arms.
8. Run your mental “video” one more time.
9. Now start to move and see if you can recreate the section you’ve chosen whilst using your mental video as your guide.
10. If this is too tricky to start with, use the actual video and follow along after you press play but do attempt step 9. as soon as possible.

And that’s it! This is a challenging lesson, so don’t worry if you don’t succeed the first time (or even the second or third times!). But DO stick to the process and over time you will get improvements that you didn’t think possible… I promise!

How did you get on? What did you find difficult about this?

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The debate about what dance is is of course ages old, with some people feeling that Ballet or anything related to ballet is the ultimate form of dance, while others preferring a large dose of Hofesh Shechter.  To me dance is how I express myself, my thoughts, ideas and emotions through movement, whether with music or in silence, whether a slow and simple solo or a full-scale ballet or contemporary production.

So if you have an idea about what you think dance is, please share your thoughts in the comment section below.  Can you put it in a sentence or two? What dance classes have you taken or performance have you been a part of and thought “Now this is dance!”?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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