It's All Coming to an End

Well that's us almost done. The IDP shows were held last week 4th and 5th of May and both shows went great. I was lucky enough to be able to dance both nights in Carole and Magenta's choreographies. I also handed in my final copy of my written IDP, which was such a relief!! No more work to be completed now.... just have to await our results! Now we are into full show rehearsals for our end of year production 'Cross Currents' on Monday 6th June at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh. I am looking forward to working with a variety of different choreohraphers to make our last show spectacular! Been such a great year full of blood, sweat and tears but overall it has been AMAZING! :)

Back to Reality :(

Arrived back from New York City on Tuesday afternoon and I am on a bit of a downer as we had such and AMAZING trip!! New York is soo exciting and full of opportunities we got to experiences a variety of classes including; hip-hop, contemporary, gaga, lyrical/contemporary jazz, vogueing and runway as well as a private workshop with contemporary choreographer Peter Kyle. Peter Kyle was great and he was really keen to keep up a good workng relationship between the PASS dancers and himself. We visited many leading dance centres such as Broadway Dance Centre, Peridance Centre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and we also visited the Juilard Centre for a cheeky photograph outside the building. My favourite class was at Peridance Centre with Kristin Sudekis and it was called Contemporary Jazz. I loved her style of moving as it was lyrically inspired and you had to concentrate on your performance which was good to get into the routine emotionally. Throughout the class Kristin dimmed the lights and this really helped everyone's mood and spirit whilst performing the routine as you felt less exposed with the lights dimmed. The standard of dancing in New York was phenomenal and I must admit to begin with I felt a bit intimidated but once I got into each class I became more and more confident. Another of my favourite classes was Vogueing with Benny Ninja, his style was so intricate and you just had to go for it. I may not have been of Top Model standard but I still had so much fun strutting my stuff as if on a runway!

Now for sight seeing, we would have loved a bit more time to see more but we had so much other things to cram in! Some of us visited the World Trade Centre memorial museum and received a tour with some of the people who had been directly effected by the attacks. This was a really amazing experience as it made you truly think about what happened that day. We also went up the Empire State Building which offered so many great views of the City. We saw other sights such as The New York City Public Library, Central Park, The Lincoln Centre of Performing Arts, The Trump Tower, Bloomingdales, Grand Central Station and lots more shops! Our hotel was really near Times Square so we were close to all the hotspots, unfortunately it was too expensive to go and see a musical as I really wanted to go and see The Adams Family on Broadway but hopefully will get to see that another time!

Catriona and I were lucky enough to get to see Alvin Ailey's sister company, Ailey2 performing in the Ailey Theatre for only $10! They show was absolutely amazing with a variety of modern and classical dance pieces, I must say I do prefer The Alvin Ailey company but Ailey2's cast was full of young vibrant dancers that gave the show a modern feel. The show made me laugh, cry and I was so inspired by their performance! Seeing the performance and taking the variety of classes that we did pushed me to work even harder and hopefully one day head back to the Big Apple and train with such aspiring professionals.

Well after a great trip away, it's back to reality! Now to hand in our final written work and then we will be into show work.... really wish I could have stayed in New York... maybe one day! :)

The famous Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre

Busy busy busy!

Ok so lots happening just now. Had Jazz filmings on Friday, we had to perform a variety of different styles including ones choreographer by Becky Cameron a lyrical, technical/cheesy, and fosse style. We also filmed some hip-hop routines choregrapher by Ashley Jack. All the routines were really fun to perform even though I did find some of the 'funky' stuff a bit challenging! Ballet filming on Monday..... I say no more! Really not looking forward to that. Also filming a fast, dynamic conteporary solo on Tuesday! I have also been kept busy finishing our final essay for RP which is due on Friday as well as researching for my Independant Dance Project (IDP). I have chosen to so a written project as I am happy to go away in my own time and work on it, not having to worry about dancers with doing a practical project. I have decided on a question, now lots of writing to get on with... Here's a look at my question...

“Globalised popular dances prevalent in mass media culture, consisting of eclectic styles and decontextualised ethnic hybridity, may seem to be the most pervasive dance language at present; certainly the most visible”.

(Burridge, 2001)

Looking at dance in the 21^st Century has the prolific appearance of dance as a form of ‘reality TV’ become the catalyst in diluting the essence of the art form?

Discuss

Big Apple Update

Exciting news today! I heard back from theThomas Telford Trust (a funding body that offers help to students). I applied last week to see if they were able to help us out with the costs of our New York Trip. We are lucky enough to receive £1,000!! I am sooo pleased with this as I really wasn't expecting to receive any help from the college. This money will go towards the cost of dance classes, workshops, shows and any other dance related opportunities we come across. The New York dance scene has so many new dance techniques for us to experience and there are many that I am interested in trying, most of which I have never seen over here in Scotland.

Gaga Movement Technique

It was developed over 20 years ago by choreographer/dancer Ohad Naharin. He suffered from a back injury that restricted his movemet, this lead him to create Gaga technique as he aimed to used other individual body parts to move. Gaga is based on the use of imagery to encourage the dancer to explore isolated body sensations. It needs a lot of focus and really opens up your mind and imagination. "As a dancer, it’s easy to get caught up in wanting to be technically perfect and always in control of your body..you can’t take it so seriously. Connect the effort to the pleasure, the joy and the passion of dancing” (Holmes, 2007).

The class sounds a lot of fun, maybe it can teach me to let go and just enjoy my passion for dance, instead of worrying about the steps. Have a wee look at the video below and see what you think. Will keep you posted of any other classes I find... 3 weeks and counting!

Back to Technique Classes

Me, Carole, Magenta, Kim (Happy to be at PASS!)

So the tour is over, until our final show which is on 5th April in the PASS theatre. It is hard getting back into technique classes and focus for our up and coming progressive filmings that are happening in two weeks time. I am slowly trying to ease my body back into class and really concentrate on the material we need to perform. Slightly nervous for this as we have not one, but three ballet solos to peforrm. Ballet is a weak area for me as my body is definitely not made for ballet. I'm hoping my contemporary and jazz filmings will make up for my ballet one as both these styles are my strengths. I am really enjoying having choreographer Ashley Jack in each week, giving us plenty of experince in Hip Hop! This is great fun and challenging at the same time. I hope this will help me to become a more versatile dancer and give me the opportunity to perform in many different ways. Lots of hard work to come in the next few weeks and hopefully I have progressed since my first filming a few months ago. Being a dancer is never easy, we are constantly learning new skills each day and that's why I love it! :)

Day 5..

Well today was the fifth and final day of the tour. Everyone was exhausted but had to push through the fatigue to get some energy for another two performances. We travelled to St. Augustine's High School and Broughton High School, some of my friends had previously studied at these schools so it was nice for them to share what they have been up to since leaving. I think the cast were slightly nervous about performing to High School students, as we all know how mean teenagers can be! However we received great feedback from both schools who have asked for us to come back and teach some of the numerous styles we learn here at Performing Arts Studio Scotland. This is a great opportunity as we will all be graduating in the Summer and will be hopeing to gain as much teaching and performing experience as we can. Safe to say the final day of the tour was left on a high... Now off to relax and celebrate Kim's birthday with a Britney Spears themed party, will be nice to rest our bodies.:)

Day 4... off to Glasgow!

REID KERR COLLEGE

Today was the day I had been dreading, simply due to the fact we had to meet outside college at 6.45am to get the bus to Glagow. We were all a bit drained and we ha to prepare ourselves for two shows in two different colleges. I must adimit I was really nervous as we would be performing for dance students who I know would be quite critical! Once we arrived at Reid Kerr college we were led by Zoe and Yasmin in another warm up and then we had to get ready for the perfromance. The performance took place in their dance studio and this was really off putting for me as I had been so used to performing without any mirrors for so long. Also the students sat right in front of us so we had to try and aim our performance at them, but ignore the mirrors which was really difficult! We had a question and answer session led by Chris and Petal which allowed the students to ask any questions about the pieces or any questions relating to audition for the course. As a lot of the students were in the process of leaving their HND, of course all the questions were aimed at the BA course instead of the pieces. After the Q+A session Yasmin and Sean lead a workshop, while the rest of us  had a short lunch break then it was back on the tour bus to head to Anniesland College...

ANNIESLAND COLLEGE

A few of the dancers on tour came from Anniesland College so it was great for them to share what they have been up to at PASS. I made the tough decision not to participate in this show due to my lower back being really sore. I was able to organise everyone's costume and do the running during the show and assist with all the quick changes. This gave me a responsibility on tour that was not just a dancer, so I learnt a lot about the amount of hard work that goes on behind the scenes! We received a generous response from the students and lecturers at Anniesland and we were able to offer them a Q+A session at the end too. So after a VERY long day we all headed back to the bus to set off back to Edinburgh. Today was also a special day for my friend Kim as it was her birthday! We surprised her on the bus home with present and a cake, so this certainly cheered everyone up - especially the chocolate cake! So almost nearing the end of the tour and two shows left... roll on Friday...