Disco dance class and Counterpointers at Whitecross Street Party

If you’re interested in taking up Disco Dance or maybe another dance style have a look at my other weekly classes here.

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Last weekend across the UK and in other parts of the world dancers of all ages and abilities came together to dance the Big Dance. It was a very special one this year because the Big Dance organisers are hanging up their shoes.

After 10 years it’s time for Big Dance to be put out to pasture but its legacy will carry on! Many people have been encouraged and have taken up dancing because of Big Dance and in the process become part of the Big Dance family.

Their message is that anyone can dance! And I think they are right, if you’re part of a supportive group, whether in a dance class or a performance group, anyone can learn to dance.

To join in, on Saturday Counterpoint Dance Company danced one of our repertoire pieces (first performed at Indigo2 in 2013) and it was wonderful to be able to dance with the martial artists again, like we did 3 years ago!

We danced at the Claremont Project with the White Crane King Fu martial artists from Islington who added a wonderful variety and richness to the dance piece with their particular style of movement. This piece I made (Jump) was designed to be as fun and uplifting as the song it is danced to (Madonna’s piece of the same name) and you can see in these pictures just how much fun is being had! Hope you enjoy these too.

Even though Big Dance may not be around anymore, we’ll all be carrying on inspiring, nurturing and dancing as we grow the wider dance family!

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This week… It’s been intense!

Dancers from various classes I teach came together to learn a new work for the Big Dance Project, produced by Sadler’s Wells & Cubitt Artists and led by Random Dance Company choreographers, rehearsing hours everyday.

One of the things I always notice whenever we work with the top professionals is how much they expect of themselves and others, mentally and physically. Of course this can create a problem when the pro’s come up against the keen amateur… Balancing expectations against skill and ability has been a great challenge this week but the result of that work has been astounding. (We’re probably on stage as you’re reading this if you’re not here with us!).

I’ve seen all the dancers involved this week step up to the challenge, with the first two days of rehearsals being the most difficult. The choreographers gave a lot of material to learn, some came from themselves, some was created by the dancers, all of it very challenging. And by the third day most of the dancers were pretty exhausted and to tell you the truth, I was not sure if everyone would make it to the end of the project! But the choreographers encouraged the dancers to keep on pushing forwards, certain that by the end of the third day they would be much better, even if they couldn’t see it in the moment!

And guess what?! In spite of some understandable anxiety and the physical challenge, they were! So the fourth and fifth day everyone was still tired but rehearsals started to flow, the piece was taking shape and everyone was more confident. Even through the tiredness the dancers were experiencing they had an energy that wasn’t there at the beginning of the week. Everyone was absolutely focused on the goal and committed to getting the piece right and the solos, duets and ensemble slotted right into place.

I am looking forwards to seeing the performance at Spa fields today and to enjoy the amazing piece that was generated by sheer hard work, sweat and some tears! And for those involved I know it’s been an immense learning curve finding out just how much we’re really capable of when we put the work in!

So I am looking forwards to the autumn classes as I now know how much students can and will do if encouraged to do so. Watch this space everyone!

If you took part this week, tell us what you found most challenging and how you managed to solve it!

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Today was a very special day.  Having spent 3 months preparing since being commissioned in the summer by A Million Minutes, the performance day finally arrived. A small team of people gathered at the Alsen Day Centre on a bright but chilly mid morning to get things ready.  The sound guy, the video playback gal, the producer, the venue managers, carers, cake deliverers and kitchen staff, photographers and ushers. Everybody coming together to make the event a success.

My interactive work explored journeys travelled and lives lived.  The 7 elders were to perform a seated routine to music from the 40’s to the 80’s, sharing short stories from their lives and finishing with an improvisation of hands with feathers.  So at 2pm we were ready to go, dancers in their places and the audience sitting tight.

The recording of a discussion about how we use our hands for so many different things begins the performance.  But no sooner had we begun than a local nursery school arrived and like a choreographed procession, 20 children, some as young as two, joined the audience.  They were a fantastic group of children who watched with fascination.  Taking the opportunity as the piece came to the improvised section, I brought some of them on stage to play with the feathers and join in with the elders.  Their joyful squeals of delight as they joined in couldn’t have created a more apparent juxtaposition between lives already well lived and lives just beginning.  I hadn’t planned for it at all but a very pleasing end to my work “Now and Then”!

I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures (courtesy of Seb Lynch) and our short video (courtesy of Laura Brankin) that we created as part of the work.

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Counterpoint Dance Company performed a new piece, which we created using Wayne McGregor’s approach to choreography and was inspired by the theme tune from the movie Stardust.  Here are some pictures which give you a great sense of the day.  Enjoy!

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Migrations is a collection of stories from older people sharing their emotional journeys of leaving one place to arrive at another.  The piece explores the stories of elders and their experiences of migration as well as the movement of people from one place to another.

Jane Judd and I have collaborated to create a 50 minute dance theatre production performed by Counterpoint Dance Company and Dare to Dream with adults from Bravo! and children from the local community.  Have a look at the pictures above from our premier in Barnet last week.

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