Photo credit: © Tony Nandi 2012

Compass is a compelling new work produced by Sadler’s Wells Creative Learning department, Connect. It brings together an impressive creative team with a cast of over 100 dancers, including the critically acclaimed Company of Elders, students from leading dance schools and community groups from East, South, West and North London.Set to an original score composed by Hannah Peel and Donna McKevitt and accompanied by arresting visual imagery by film maker Tal Rosner, Compass shows us that although we live in one city, within that city can be many worlds, and as many routes to ‘home’ as we choose.Choreographed by some of Sadler’s Wells’ finest associate and visiting companies, including Jasmin Vardimon Company, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Eastman and Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, this exciting performance promises to be a true reflection of the capital’s cultural diversity in its Olympic year.


Connect is the Creative Learning department for Sadler's Wells with a track record for producing innovative and imaginative projects. It aims to inspire and excite people about dance through its activities for individuals, organisations, schools and youth clubs.

Sunday 15 April 2012

Diary Entry, Jasmin Vardimon Company and the Company of Elders group, Mary

After the excitement of the Connect Festival last week we arrived in Studio B at Sadler's Wells on Monday morning to meet up with our choreographers Paul Blackman and Christine Gouzelis from the Jasmine Vardimon Company.  We had done an introductory workshop with them over a weekend at the end of February and were very touched that they had come to see our performance in the Connect Festival.

As part of the warm-up they introduced us to a flowing and spiralling sense of movement which would permeate the piece.  From there we quickly began learning two sequences so ended the day with a sense of achievement.  The next day these were find tuned by Paul and Christine before moving on to two more sections which at first seemed a little crazy.  We divided into three groups with two members of each group creating a series of doors which the others passed through to perform short solos, all done with little shuffling steps which we soon discovered we would be doing a lot of.  Paul and Christine then produced large maps and again in groups we played with the maps until a number of moves emerged which they liked and so two more parts of the piece began to take shape.

On day three we learnt that we would be working with a group of Columbian children from Gotitas de Sabor which is an organisation that aims to let children discover a different world through dance.  They will join in towards the end our part of Compass to link in with their part which comes next.  The link would take the form of a “tortoise and hare” race with Sybil being the tortoise and winning the race.  The men are the race stewards and the women are cheerleaders.  By the end of the day we had covered the full piece and knew the the running order.  It is funny and quirky and quite unlike anything that I have ever done before.  I really have to be very careful not to laugh out loud at times.

The next day we knew that Jasmine Vardimon was coming in to see what we had done so the morning was spent fine tuning with a couple of run-throughs.  We were able to move into Studio A which is the same size as the main stage so then we realised how much further and faster we had to travel.  Somewhat nervously we did the run-through in the LBS.  Jasmine Vardimon thanked us for what we had achieved and gave Paul and Christine some feedback particularly with regard to entrances, exits and transitions.  Throughout the week the composer Donna Mc Devitt had dropped in to watch our rehearsals and we are looking forward to hearing her final score. 

On the last day of this exhilarating, if sometimes exhausting, week Paul and Christine introduced small changes which they could see would tighten up and improve the whole piece.  Donna came with a nearly finalised version of the music and we met Costume Designer Annie Harvey.  As usual we all had an opinion on what the costumes should be, which Annie listened to very patiently.  We did a final run-through which some members of Sadler's Wells staff came in to watch.  We left with a very clear vision of the whole piece and look forward to working with Paul and Christine to make it absolutely fantastic.

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Diary Entry, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's Eastman with the Community Group, Rose

When I was invited to join the community group I had a rush of enthusiasm, ‘yes!’. No sooner had the word left my mouth, a wave of terror ran through me – what had I let myself in for?  Was I really wiling to dance in front of an audience?  I must be mad!  I spent the weeks waiting for the first rehearsal in a state of nervous anticipation.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but I had no reason to be such a drama queen!  The space created by Helder and Nienke from Eastman has been wonderfully supportive and encouraging.  Few of us knew each other at the beginning and over the weeks our relationships are growing through the dance; we’re getting to know each other through movement rather than words, and it’s creating a wonderful sense of trust and playfulness.

I’m loving the balance of structure and exploration that Nienke and Helder provide.  The structured choreography has given me the chance to explore the quality of movement through repetition.  As my confidence grows I’m not just remembering what movement comes next, I’m realising the subtleties of mood and how to define the rhythm of the moves.  The exploration of movement has felt hugely creative, and I’ve been amazed at what has grown from working together with Laura and Juliette, other members of the group.

For me the most challenging aspect of the project is accepting that I’m a beginner.  I watch professional dancers and I imagine that I could dance like them, I so want to be able to dance like them!  They make it look so easy and I don’t see the years of practice and training, I just see how I’d love to move myself.  But this project has proved to me that even though I’ll never be a professional dancer, dancing is still hugely rewarding and enjoyable, and a wonderful way to explore and express with others.

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Diary Entry, Jasmin Vardimon Company with the Company of Elders, Sybil

This has been an exciting week. The whole project is said to be going on a journey and this week has indeed been a journey for us at the Company of Elders. We had met our two choreographers Christina and Paul before and now we were going to see how they would develop their piece based on what they had seen of our dancing and our thoughts in that introductory weekend.
All the members of the group knew one another so there was the usual Company of Elders warmth and support. It was fascinating how Christina and Paul showed us bit by bit what we had to do, not necessarily in the correct order and then gradually evolved the complete piece as a harmonious whole. We are fortunate to have a contemporary composer for the music. She attended regularly to watch us and develop the music accordingly so that by the end of the week we had a complete work.
It was tiring but worth it. We are very fortunate to have such an opportunity. I am particularly happy that I have my own little moment of glory at the end of our piece! I now look forward to coming together with the rest of the performers in the project and see how it all fits together.

Youth Group Introductory Workshop

Community Group rehearsal 4/3/2012