CAT students and Gotitas de Sabor Rehearsal footage

A lovely review in Stuff - The Stephen Einhorn Blog

Compass At Sadler’s Wells, 24 April

Rehearsal images...

 While the film is being prepared for the screening of Compass in June, we thought we should share some rehearsal photos and footage. More coming soon!

Gotitas de Sabor

Community Group

Vocational Students

Company of Elders

Youth Group

 Centre for Advanced Training Students

Compass Film Screening, 16 June

Invitation to Compass Film Screening

Saturday 16 June at 3.00pm

Sadler’s Wells are delighted to invite all Compass participants to celebrate the success of Compass and to see the premier of the work on film.

Attendee’s must arrive at stage door at 3:00pm; the screening will start at 3.30pm and last approximately 90 minutes with refreshments and evaluation feedback groups and chats. 

We really hope you are able to join us for this special screening.

For further details, please contact the Connect Department.

Review in The Spectator

Celebrating Identity, 5 May

Diary Entry, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch with CAT and Vocational Student, Jack

On Monday 26th March 2012 I, with some other Centre for Advanced Training and Vocational students, performed on one of the biggest dance stages in the world under the direction of the Pina Bausch Dance Company. We had spent all of the second week of the Easter holidays (2012) creating the piece with Felix Bürkle and Pascal Merighi. Together they structured and created the piece, along with the help from us! At first I was doubting whether it was worth a whole week of my time, but after the very first day I knew I had made the right choice. I was especially pleased with this piece because I got picked to have my own little bits away from everyone else on the stage. So not only were we performing on Sadler’s Wells stage, we had our own changing rooms which had the mirrors with the lights down the side, we got provided drinks and snacks, and we had announcements for the half and five minute calls for when we were to go down to the stage. It just made the whole thing more believable. It made me feel like a professional dancer. Felix and Pascal were amazing choreographers, but at the same time they would joke with you, would play games with you, talk to you, and if we had any other choreographer I don't think it would of been half as fun!

The performance went really well, I could not wait to get on the stage. I was a bit nervous, but not as much as I expected. As I took my first step I looked out the corner of my eye to see thousands of people watching us! It gave me my first taste of being a professional dancer, at the United Kingdom's foremost dance venue and producing houses, and I hope it's not my last. I will miss everyone from Compass, but I will always remember Felix and Pascal!

Review on Londondance.com

Compass, 26 April

One week later...

Its been a week since Compass was performed on the main stage. Well done to everyone involved. We hope you enjoyed the experience. It was fantastic to see months of work come together.

There is an opportunity for all of you to watch your performance on 23 April at a film screening next month. Details coming soon.

 

Tweet from South East Dance

http://twitter.com/#!/southeastdance/status/194795607242706944

Centre of Advanced Training students rehearsal 10/4/2012

Gotitas de Sabor Introductory Workshop 10/4/2012

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.

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.

Vocational Students Rehearsal 5/4/2012

Vocational Students Rehearsal 4/3/2012

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

Diary Entry, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and Centres of Advanced Training and Vocational students, Esther

A short description of the first rehearsal for the educational project of sadler's wells with the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch

February 10am on a saturday morning,  22 dance students, from three different London based dance schools, were welcomed by a number of artists in the Ashton Studio at Sadler's Wells; Pascal Merighi and Felix Bürckle, two dancers from Tanztheater Wuppertal-Pina Bausch, the writer Yemisi Blake and the composer Hannah Peel. This group of artists represented only a small part of a group, standing at the beginning of  the Sadler's Wells project Compass, bringing together 100 dancers from all age groups and different levels of experience.

At the beginning of the workshop the students were full of nervous excitement and curiosity, everyone was looking forward to finally getting an idea about the forms, this project would take.

Two intensive days of getting used to new people and new ideas of movement, concentrating on urban life in a mega city like London, could not have passed any quicker and left the group with strong ideas inspired by personal experiences, that had been explored through different tools; In stillness or accompanied by music, movement, stories, words and imagination were at the center of the working process.

The tasks, given by Felix and Pascal, were precise and yet allowed freedom to follow personal interests and space for individuality. To point out the intensity of this weekend, it might be of interest that each movement task, leading to a short solo, was performed in front of the whole group, whilst a camera was recording the material, for future reference. The tasks were demanding and sharing the work in front of many unknown faces, made some people forget their material, but at the same time during these moments of sharing personal work, the studio was filled with spirit, which had been carried by the energy, sensitivity and alertness in which Pascal and Felix guided and witnessed the working process, and the concentration and commitment in which the students followed their ideas. The level of intensity made the group come closer together, in a very short amount of time.

From tape, pencil and paper, personal stories, about journeys through urban landscape, to creative partnering exercises, group improvisations and creating set material, inspired by the word Moloch, this weekend has been full of creativity, question marks, stories and new faces and a very exciting first glimpse on Sadler's Wells stage. It has been a very enjoyable time, promising many more unforgettable moments to come in future rehearsals.

Rehearsal Footage, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui - Eastman with Community Group