#bestdanceintheNoughties

These are off the top of my head… in outrage at the Times List!

1. Akram Khan flew onto the scene bringing us brilliant contemporary fusion.
2. Mark Morris V in 2002
3. Matthew Bourne dominated the dance theatre world
4. Restaging on Merce Cunninghams Ocean for the re-opening of the roundhouse
5. Wayne McGregor for giving the RB a new direction
6. Hofesh Shechter amazing contemporary talent to watch
7. Blossoming of the Breaking Convention and all of Sadler’s Wells exciting festivals
8. 2009 Dance Umbrella – best festival in years!
9. Ballet Black – enough said
10. Rosemary Lee, Common Dance – only choreography to make me cry http://bit.ly/6w7ZKx

Exciting December!

December, December!  The lights, the rain, the shopping crowds.  But best of all the Nutcrackers!  Which ones will you be seeing?

The last few weeks in Dance

October saw the London Dance scene go into overdrive with back to back premiers. Here’s a few of my favourites!

Ye Gam Theatre Company, Jump, Peacock Theatre, 3 – 21 Nov 09 on Londondance.com

Rosemary Lee, Common Dance, Greenwich Dance Agency, 29 Oct – 1 Nov 09 on Londondance.com

Michael Clark Company, Swamp / Come, Been and Gone, Barbican, 28 Oct – 7 Nov 09 on Londondance.com

ACE Dance and Music , Switch, Rich Mix, 28 & 29 Oct 09

Mark Morris Dance Group, Prog1: Empire Garden / Bedtime / V, Sadler’s Wells, 27 – 31 Oct 09 on Londondance.com

Morphoses – The Wheeldon Company, Continuum / Softly As I Leave You / Rhapsody Fantaisie, Sadler’s Wells, 23 & 24 Oct 09 on Londondance.com

Levantes Dance Theatre, Room Temperature Romance, Barbican Pit, 13 – 24 Oct 09 on Londondance.com

African Crossroads, Royal Opera House, 9 – 10 Oct 09 on Londondance.com

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Wind Shadow, Barbican, 6 – 10 Oct 09 on Londondance.com

Reviews From 2008

The Cholmondeleys and the Featherstonehaughs, Russian Roulette, Royal Vauxhall Tavern on Ballet.co

Cloud Dance Festival, Trilogy, Cockpit Theatre, Dec 08 on Ballet.co

Royal Ballet, Voluntaries/The Lesson/Infra, Royal Opera House, 13 – 26 Nov 08 on Londondance.com

Birmingham Royal Ballet, Stravinsky Programme, Sadler’s Wells, Nov 08 on Ballet.co

Batsheva Dance Company, Mamootot, Riverside Studios, Oct 08 on Ballet.co

The Place Prize Finals 2008, The Place, 17 – 27 Sep 08 on Londondance.com

Deloitte Ignite Open Weekend, Royal Opera House, 12 – 14 Sep 08 on Londondance.com

Matthew Bourne’s Dorian Gray, Sadler’s Wells, 2 – 14 Sep 08 on Londondance

Various, Watch this Space, National Theatre, 21st – 25th August 2008 on Londondance.com

Factoria Mascaro , The Garden of Wonders , Trafalgar Square, 21-24 August 2008 on Londondance.com

Akram Khan Company, Bahok, Sadler’s Wells, 11 – 14 Jun 08 on Londondance.com

Jonathan Lunn, Reading Room/Self-Assembly, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Jun 08 on Ballet.co

Havana Rakatan, Peacock Theatre, to 21 June 08 on Londondance.com

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Myth, Sadler’s Wells, 16 & 17 May 08 on Londondance.com

Breakin’ Convention, Sadler’s Wells, 3 – 5 May 08 on Londondance.com

Springloaded, Mixed bill by Gary Clarke, Rashpal Singh Bansal and Sally Marie, The Place, May 08 on Londondance.com

Bounce, Insane in the Brain, Peacock Theatre, 27 Feb – 16 Mar 08 on Londondance.com

Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre, James Son of James, Barbican Theatre, 5 – 9 Feb 08 on Londondance.com

Sampled, Sadler’s Wells, 26 & 27 Jan 08 on Londondance.com

Rootless Company / Off the Map /Temporary Secret Event, Resolution!, The Place, 18 January 2008 on Londondance.com

New Adventures, Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker!, Sadler’s Wells, 13 Dec 07 – 20 Jan 08 on Londondance.com

Reviews from 2007

New Adventures, Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker!, Sadler’s Wells, 13 Dec 07 – 20 Jan 08 on Londondance.com

Strictly Come Dancing Semi-Final, BBC1, 15 December 2007 on Londondance.com

Renegade Theatre, Cage, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 29 Nov – 1 Dec 07 on Londondance.com

Jane Turner, Troop, Purcell Room, South Bank Centre, 6 Dec 07 on Londondance.com

Royal Ballet, Jewels, Royal Opera House, 23 Nov – 7 Dec 07 on Londondance.com

Michael Clark Company, Stravinsky Project, Barbican Theatre, 31 Oct-10 Nov 07 on Londondance.com

Carlos Acosta with Guest Artists from Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Sadler’s Wells, 23-28 Oct 07 on Londondance.com

Imagine: Bolshoi Boy , BBC1, 23 October 2007 on Londondance.com

New Art Club, The Visible Men, The Place, Oct 07 on Ballet.co

Isaac Julien & Russell Maliphant, Cast No Shadow, Sadler’s Wells, 3 & 4 Oct 2007 on Londondance.com

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Programme I: ‘Homage to Alvin Ailey ’, Sadler’s Wells, 4 – 15 Sep 07 on Londondance.com

Bolshoi Ballet, Class Concert/ Elsinore/ In the Upper Room, London Coliseum, 13 & 14 Aug 2007 on Londondance.com

Paco Peña, A Compás! To the Rhythm, Sadler’s Wells, 7 – 12 Aug 07 on Londondance.com

Trafalgar Square Festival, Inspired by India, Trafalgar Square, 12 August 2007 on Londondance.com

New Adventures, The Car Man, Sadler’s Wells, 10 Jul – 5 Aug 07 on Londondance.com

Trafalgar Square Festival, Inspired by India, Trafalgar Square, 2 – 19 August on Londondance.com

Stan Won’t Dance, Off the Wall, Southbank Centre Square, 20 & 21 July 2007 on Londondance.com

Sweetshop Revolution, Dulce et Decorum, The Place, 17 July 07 on Londondance.com

Falling Wide, Outsider Dancing, Toynbee Studios, 13 July 2007 on Londondance.com

London Contemporary Dance School, Graduation Performances 2007, The Place, 7th July 2007 on Londondance.com

Royal Ballet, Swan Lake screening, Canada Square Park, London, 31 May 2007 on Londondance.com

Dance Umbrella 2009

The Dance Umbrella 2009 festival officially opens today!

Dedicated in loving memory of Merce Cunningham (1919 -2009) it has made me think about the Dance Umbrella performances I’ve been to over the years and the pivotal movement, reached when watching Cunningham’s Ocean (Roundhouse 2006), which propelled me into a career within dance.

For me Ocean will be the piece I reflect on when watching new work – the benchmark for quality.  Although not to everyone’s liking, I for one couldn’t bare the thought of watching a Cunningham work during dance history lectures, this inspirational work was the result of thinking big, achieving the unachievable and placing dance in the centre (literally!).  With 14 dancers surrounded by 150 musicians who in turn were surrounded by an audience, this was truely a work of genius, with the reconstruction made possible by Dance Umbrella.

Dance Umbrella has also been key my dance education.  The programming of so many exceptional international artist has given me the chance to travel the vast world of dance and soak up the performances that are on offer.  The festival has given me access to some of my faverouite companies and choreographers such as Rosas, Jonathan Burrows, Mark Morris Dance Group, Scottish Ballet, Michael Clark Company, The Forsythe Company, The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs, Vincent Dance Theatre, Charles Linehan Company, Rashpal Singh Bansal and  Yolande Snaith Theatredance (to name but a few).

So as the 2009 festival kicks off I am happy to be attending the majority of performances on offer…

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre review

For more information on Dance Umberlla please see their website www.danceumbrella.co.uk

Conference

Conference, Exhibition and Reception

Continuity & Change in Dance Teacher Education

Saturday 24th October 2009

 

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of its Faculty of Education, the Royal Academy of Dance will be hosting a Conference, Exhibition and Reception at its headquarters in Battersea, London. The focus of the event will be on the histories and legacies of teacher education and training at the RAD and will provide an opportunity to reflect on past and present practices as well as speculating on the future of teacher education and training in the 21st Century.

Guest speakers include Miss Rachel Cameron, who is best known for her work with Tamara Karsavina and Professor David Carr (University of Edinburgh).  There will also be lecture demonstrations led by the Academy’s Faculty of Education.  Delegates will also have an opportunity to view a digital installation of previously unseen photographs from the RAD archives dating from 1949-2009.  A drinks reception will conclude the day.

Places are limited.  For more information and a booking form please visit our website or contact Clare Marie Thomas, Events and Marketing Officer on +44 (0) 207 326 8051 or email cthomas@rad.org.uk.

19th September 2009

Thank you to the Tweeters who’ve visited and RT’d my blog..  I will work on getting some interesting content up.

Libby