Opportunity for artists!

Dance4 are offering a lively and enthusiastic individual a voluntary opportunity! We are offering you the opportunity to be apart of the Dance4 team to present springboard 2011 at The Core at corby Cube. The position is voluntary however, we can cover expenses! (yayyyy!)

This is a brilliant opportunity to be involved in the running of the performance entitled Springboard 2011.

Springboard 2011 is a popular annual performance platform showcasing innovative new dance works and presenting up and coming dance artists. Providing the ideal environment for dance artists to create, experiment, and present new work, Springboard attracts many exciting performers and choreographers and promises to be an exhilarating evening of dance.

The roles at the moment would be covering filming/photography, FOH for the foyer piece, sound technician, and company call. The person covering sound would need to be there all day from about 10-11 am and the others could come a little later. Refreshments, biscuits and fruit will be provided but you will need to bring a packed lunch and or cash to buy lunch and dinner costs. We are encouraging people with full driving licence so that you can travel independently to and from the venue.

Please contact Dance4 today for more information.

Graduate Training Programme 2011

Blog No. 1...26.05.11

Hello all GTP artists!

As intern of Dance4 I wanted to introduce myself and say a huge Congratulations to all artist that have been accepted on to our Graduate Training Programme 2011!

This our Blog no. 1 of many. Very exciting!!

I hope that we can use the GTP blog to communicate with each other and ask any questions that you may have leading up to the programme. We will also have a blog during the programme in Northampton that we can all update and be apart of!

Please contribute...even if it is only to say hi!

Many Thanks

Natalie/ Intern.

International Exchange Programme Dance4 and Dance Ireland Presentation

International Exchange Programme Dance4 and Dance Ireland

Mawson- Raffalt + Faulder- Mawson

) + ( = ao

Research Series: Silence and Activity 1-14 May 2011

With the residency at a close and the studio back to an open space awaiting artists to use the space creatively, I am going talk about the inspiring presentation that took place 12 May 2011 at Dance4.

During the Dance4 residency the artists focused on the EXPERIENCE of an art environment, with their main aim being 'to give, inspire and transform'.

And they certainly did...following on from the residency, a small audience was invited to an informal presentation to experience intimacy, direct contact, (self) reflection and dialogue.

The presentation lasted about 80 minutes long and took place in the Dance4 studio. From first walking into the studio is was clear to see that the artists were working on points in space, with focus on the shapes of a square and a circle. The artist also used lighting, projection of a video, sound, voice, grids made with tape, text cards and movement. All of these elements were used to create a presentation that offered elements of a performance, lecture and installation within the same presentation.

The artists quoted in a previous blog that their piece offered a 'dynamic power of silence'. As an audience member this became very clear. The piece aloud my mind to constantly question, discover and explore the points in space that the artists were using and traveling from. The use walking forwards and backwards in slow motion was brilliantly done. It allowed the eyes to focus on the in between spaces and the small details that maybe are not always obvious or made vulnerable for the audience to see.

I enjoyed the fact that the artists did not make eye contact throughout the piece and related to each other by strictly feeling and sensing the others presence. The artists eyes were closed at times which allowed this connection and relationship to appear even stronger.

The use of voice emphasised the strong connection between the two artists. I felt a sense of play within the words and the timing of each word spoken was crucial in order to work. The words spoken played a powerful part within the piece and allowed you to interpret them in your own way.

The energy within the piece made a huge impact on the audience which progressed through out the piece. An atmosphere was created and I left the room feeling inspired, calm and content.

It was lovely to have the opportunity to speak to the artist after the presentation and have insight into the creating of the piece as well as ideas that are to follow and be apart of the piece.

Where next?

Mawson- Raffalt + Faulder- Mawson ) + ( = ao will be in Schloss Broellin, Germany in June!

Definitely worth experiencing and being apart of.

Thank you for coming to Dance4 and bringing lots of lovely smells with you!

Natalie

Nottdance2011: Checking in… and out!

Hey guys, I’m Katie… probably the one and only Intern in Dance4’s history to not drink tea!

So… now the festival has been and gone here are just some of my first experiences, thoughts and reflections of the past 10 incredible weeks I have had here at Dance4.

First Day: Was quite daunting… Meeting the team, being given my own desk and to then discover that I would actually be managing my own projects, not just assisting! Looking back however I wouldn’t have had it any other way. The experience I have gained from being given the opportunity to get stuck in, use my own initiative and develop my skills has been invaluable, and from this insight I can gladly confirm that working in this field is something I could happily do for a long time to come.

First Month: Bumping in to the Youth Strategy Manager and the Artistic Director of the company on a night out in Nottingham in your first few weeks probably isn’t the recommended way to make your first impressions! However it was reassuring to know that the team all party too! &Everyone does leave the office to let their hair down, no matter how much the work is piling on! It has also been fantastic to have Radojka and Ben here in the same position, so we were all thrown in together and experiencing the same responsibilities and stresses (not that we were ever stressed, obviously!).

First Nottdance Event: The Launch Party. Some top quality entertainment went down at Antenna from swing band Benny Lee and The Whistle Stop Five accompanied by a swing dance demo from Hayley Guest and Terry Hallett, which after a few ‘Nottdance Cocktails’ got everyone up exhibiting their best lindy-hopping moves on the dance floor!

Behind the scenes...

• Confirming a venue
• Listening to numerous band demos to find someone to fit the bill!
• Hardcore negotiating skills to stick to the budget
• By far the most strenuous job of them all… sampling Champagne, Cocktails and Canapés in preparation for the evening… somebody had to go and make the difficult decision!
• Being reversed down the steps outside the Dance4 Office by a taxi driver with a car full of equipment after the launch party was definitely an experience too!
• One event down… 3 to go!

Glorious, Rajni Shah Projects: A simply inspiring performance from Rajni and her team, as their sumptuous new musical ‘Glorious’ took to the stage at The Nottingham Arts Theatre, Involving 12 local performers and musicians who in just days committed to performing in the project and assisted in making it the success it was.

Behind the scenes...

• Finding Musicians!
• Transporting the team to Nottingham
• Creating awareness, promoting and advertising the interventions happening in The Meadows, set to aid Rajni and team to scout the perfect performers to get involved in the show!
• Arranging a preview… of the preview of Glorious! At The Walk for Light Night
• Liaising with the most encouraging and Glorious team of artists, Rajni, Helena, Suzie, Karen and Lucille, to bring this show to Nottingham!

Street Martial: An open public event within The Broadmarsh Shopping Centre including performances from Ali Fekih, CDO Capoeira, Fresh 101: Sleaford Boys, Leicester Parkour and Paul Russ himself with the new ‘Spirit Dance’ set to take over Nottingham!

Behind the scenes...

• Enquiring with body-builders about the possibility of hiring a Boxing Ring
• Confirming acts and groups to perform
• Compiling risk assessments and contracts
• Transporting equipment and (trying my very hardest to be useful) setting-up the performance space!

The Closing Party: Having not overspent on the Launch Party (Wheeeeey!) …this permitted the Closing Party (Wooooop!). An evening of merriment occurred in La Gitane in which the Dance4 team, artistes &friends (minus Claire who was greatly missed!) partied in to the early hours to celebrate and bid farewell to Nottdance 2011!

Behind the scenes...

• Eating the delicious Mediterranean style buffet
• Drinking wine and definitely not ordering Jager-cokes with Radojka and Ben on ‘Paul’s tab’ (Definitely Ben’s idea Paul!)
• Throwing some shapes on the dance floor whilst admiring the shapes being thrown by others!
• Wrapping up the festival and beginning this blog with a slightly sore head the next day!

In my time here at Dance4 and over the festival I have met some truly genuine, talented artistes, and being able to help them out and make sure their work takes to the stage has been an absolute pleasure! As a result of everyone’s hard work I also had the opportunity to see some fantastic performances across the festival, which have just been inspiring!

I would be here all day listing the fantastic times I have had, therefore I will stop there! Keep checking the website to hear further blogs and to keep up-to-date with the latest and greatest events Dance4 have to offer across Nottingham and the East Midlands, and as I thank the Dance4 team for this amazing opportunity, I bid farewell… for now!

Katie Shipp

Nottdance Intern 2011

Nottdance through the eyes of Ben

So we are on the last week of this year's fabulous festival, and its been an amazing two weeks! I have seen two world premieres, a world first preview, a UK first and a host of other events. Not bad for my first Nottdance I think, plus add to that I am helping run it..

I came into the Dance4 team with a limited knowledge of what the whole thing was about, all i really knew was that we have some cool posters round the office from previous years.

But that all changed pretty quickly.

I was thrown into the deep end! Given some artists and told that I was the food guy, luckily for everyone I wasn't going to be cooking every night but it is always a last resort…

I was first handed Me and the Machine; two lovely artists, Sam Pearson and Clara Garcia Fraile, based in Brighton, who were so nice! They just took everything as it came to them and got on with it, which is great when trying to do a load of other stuff as well (like now I'm doing three other things at the same time).

So far their "When We Meet Again" has been my favourite piece of the festival, it was just a magical experience, a 1 on 1 performance where you are immersed into a new world and a new person, it created a lovely amount of positive feedback and a question you have to ask anyone else who had seen it about a strawberry. I will say no more..

The first weekend was a packed one for me, I had Friday and Saturday with Me and the Machine at the PlayHouse with When We Meet Again and then Sunday at the Dance4 studio with their work in progress "On Ways To Disappear without Leaving a Trace" which included a rather handsome Dance4 employee. (No David it wasn't you). Add to this we decided to show Sam the eventful nightlife in Nottingham on the Friday night and then I wasn't to sure how to get back to the office or the Playhouse in the morning as I had ended up staying the night with some of the Dance4 team who decided to lay in all morning! and leave me to walk miles and miles and miles… to a bus stop down the road, where yet again I met a nice old man (a different one to the guy at Episodes) who told me where i needed to go.

Skipping forward a few days now, I have seen the World Premier Premier preview night performance (or whatever it was known as) Glorious by Rajni Shah and now I am about to see a double bill at Lakeside. It's Matthias Sperling and Rachel Krische performing a world premier of their Superdance project and Coisceim Dance Theatre with Swimming with my Mother.

It kicked off with Matthias and Rachel bouncing onto the stage in a lycra costume representing a superhero, however they forgot the first rule of superhero costume design; as the Incredibles has told us all: No capes! We all know that they either get you sucked into a vortex or get them snagged on a missile fin. You can tell what we all talked about in the interval! The piece was a mixture of laughs and a serious competition to outdo the other dancer. I felt the best part of this piece was when they were listening to music through head phones and portrayed it through their movements and timings, a great idea which I would love to have a go at sometime soon..

Coisceim was a moving piece about a Mother and her relation to swimming and how it had shaped her life. I personally enjoyed the movement qualities of this piece and loved the simple ideas used to create a heart warming dance piece where David played both himself old and young and his father.

The World Premier of Tom Dale's I Infinite to me was a wonderful experience and the performance was great. Maria did a great job with Tom's choreography and to get the timing right with Barret Hodgson's lighting and sound which were both very impressive. I can't really say what I enjoyed most, the whole piece was a spectacle not to be missed if you get a chance to see, but the movement and performance by Maria made me want to ditch my cape and join in in the futuristic world. The lighting and use of haze made a beautiful image of clouds forming and moving around the lights and creating an image that has stuck in my mind since; yes it was that beautiful, at the time i found myself stood in awe.. just watching and wanting more. And finally a section where you could get up close to the action, Maria reacting to a tilting image on the floor and matching its every move, I could of quite happily stood and watched her play with that for an entire performance.

Ali Fekih is an amazing man! Seeing his show on the Saturday night was an experience as I had no idea what I was going to see, a thought shared by many I think. I saw a mad collection of movement, use of simple objects and sound timed to perfection, he is a little bit of a perfectionist from my time with him. This continued onto Sunday at our Street Martial event at Broadmarsh. We had a collection of great young groups, Leicester Parkour wowed the crowed with some amazing moves and many backflips off horses (gymnastic ones that is), Fresh 101 with their beat boxing and comedic street moves, Cordão de Ouro Capoeira Nottingham with their use of live music and singing and a show of basic to advanced Capoeira which showed incredible body control by all, Ali Fekih returning to his roots as a street performer and creating a sense of story time for us all their with more great body control and a little bit of showing off with his handstand press ups to warm up! and not to forget the Spirit Dance! which brought the crowd onto the stage to do the new dance to help promote the Spirit Campaign. Ali also helped us pack up which was nice but was mainly to show us up as he was a master of rolling dance floor and we were, well lets just say pretty bad.

And here I arrive to today, our little break before the final week, a chance to catch up on office work and for me to share a little insight. I haven't mentioned the craziness which is going on but im sure you can imagine what i said about episodes and times it by three weeks! Yet I'm still sane (I tell myself this on a regular basis) and loving the Festival and the sense of achievement after every show.

Be sure to come along to our final performances and see some impressive work by some of the best Choreographers from around Europe and even more UK Premiers!

I'm sure you lucky people will get another blog soon so keep your eyes peeled.

Ben Eagles
Events and Promotion Trainee, Dancer, Worlds Best Backstage Runner! (I feel..) Chef of the Year, IT Extraordinaire and Cookie Monster (Radojka thinks I eat to many…)

Even When You Are Dreaming: Nottdance2011

Image: Ali Fekih, Flamingos Credit: Sara Iskander

Standing in the queue for the bank counter, in my peripheral vision I noticed a young guy quietly practicing his body popping as though whispering to himself. His muted movements could easily have passed for the fidgeting and rocking motion we make when standing in queues. This was different; it was like he was waiting for that big moment when his whispers could become shouts when he might clear a space on the dance floor and blow people away with cheeky, chess like ‘impossible’ moves.

At this point I realised how true it is that everyone dances, we use our bodies every day to navigate our way through our houses, cities, villages and fields, each location changes the way we move. The busy London commuter, adjusts their walking speed when entering the city their body taught and straight, seemingly the form of abject professional but imagine that same method of walking in their home walking from the fridge to the counter to make a cup of tea.

We use our bodies to express ourselves and to communicate with others, from the ecstatic embraces after waiting for a loved one in the terminus of an airport or bus station or conversely the lingering of hands on hands when someone is Leaving. When we become angry or frustrated our bodies coil or curl up with rage, that makes you feel you might explode. Even when we are sleeping our dreams allow us to continue to move and to dance.

These minute performances go unnoticed to us, they pass us by as we choreograph our daily lives. What if these movements were amplified? Would they look or feel like dancing? If we were more aware of our movements would we do things differently?

This is the second time I have worked on the Nottdance festival, a collection of the world’s most exciting dance and future movement artists presented across the East Midlands region I grew up in. It feels that now more than ever its urgency is felt.

Projects like Rajni Shah’s Glorious, an unusual and tender musical, present a hopeful vision of our collective future against the sense of fear and uncertainty in light of debilitating climate change, political shifting sands and financial collapse. The musical will only be performed 10 times in the world, each time reconfigured with local musicians and performers.

Or the World Premiere of Matthias Sperling & Rachel Krische’s Superdance, clad in lycra and asking whether dance performance could indeed save the world and as if that wasn’t enough it is part of a Double Bill with CoisCéim Dance Theatres’ beautiful duet Swimming with my Mother.

For me the show I am most excited about is the up until recently Secret Show, now announced as Ali Fekih, performing Flamingos (Les Flamants Rose). A self-taught street dancer, Ali has developed his own dance language defined by the abilities and limitations of his body. Nottdance is Dance4’s festival that tests and challenges what dance is, who can do it and I would recommend a dose of dance to anyone.

Nottdance2011 takes place at various venues from 23 February – 13 March. http://www.dance4.co.uk/category/nottdance-festival-2011/

Mathew Trivett
Assistant Producer, Nottdance2011