Performances coming up!

Carole, Magenta, Becca, Kerry before Lisi's piece

We have been very busy rehearsing for many shows that are taking place -

Telford College Theatre - 31st January - 3rd February

Taking Flight tour (various venues tbc) - 7th-11th March and 5th April

These performances will showcase the BA group in both Contemporary and Jazz styles choreographed by Winifred Jamieson, Lisi Perry, Laura Proudfoot / Ashley Jack and some of the students' own choreographies.

Trip to Newcastle

On Wednesday 19th January the BA group travelled to Newastle to share some of our choreographies with both the Northumbria students and the Dundee (Space) students. We arrived early in the morning so we had some time to go and look for costumes fo Lisi Perry's contporary piece. We then went to Dance City where we participated in a Professional Ballet Class. I was a bit nervous before going into the class as ballet is not my strongest style and I was feeling a bit out of my depth. However I actually really enjoyed the class, I was able to relax as the teacher was friendly so that made me feel comfortable. I think I need to stoppanickng when it comes to ballet and this will help my confidence. After our ballet class we travelled back to the University to watch each others work and take part in a group discussion afterwards. It was a great opportunity to see a variety of work both dance film and live dance performances. I was able to discover new ways of devising work and what works on stage musically and chorographically.

Dance Company - Teaching Assessment

As part of our Dance Company Unit we must deliver a teaching workshop to a client group using some of the reportoire from our current tour. I chose to teach the Lighthouse Group who are a group of mixed age and ability, they also have different learning needs. I wanted to give myself the challenge of working with this client group and I felt I would benefit greatly from taking up this opportunity. I wasn't too nervous about the assessment as I have collaborated with the group before in the Cross Currents show last year. I had also gone along to participate in their weekly classes with teacher Pam at Dance Base in Edinburgh. This gave the group a chance to feel at ease with me and also allowed me to observe their skills and the way the worked with each other. The workshop itself went ok however I ended the workshop a little early as I was nervous and missed out a few things that may have been relevant to link the whole workshop together. However I had a great learning experience teaching them and I am considering keeping this type of client group an option for the future. I can only reflect and learn from the way I taught and hopefully progress with plenty practice.

Lisi Perry - Interpretation

After a long break over the Christmas period our class was back into full rehearsals for our tour and January shows. We worked with choreographer Lisi Perry all week to create our contemporary piece for the shows. This was a really tiring week and Lisi was a very tough choreographer with a really specific way of working!  However it was worth all the blood, sweat and tears as we were thrown right in at the deep end with her highly physical choreography and tasks. Her piece is based on interpretation and what you, as the dancer see when given direct instructions to create movement. This was such a refreshing way to choreograph as you had no time to sit and think about what to do, you had to go with your first instinct. Now looking forward to rehearsing the finished piece and eventually taking it on tour and performing!