Rambert Intensive: Final Thoughts|Dreams That Glitter

I’d like to begin by saying I miss being at Rambert already, it felt really weird not going back again yesterday, I think I’d just got used to the hectic nature of it all and travelling into London every day. It took me about an hour on the train but it was a direct route so it wasn’t too bad, luckily my station is right at the beginning of the line so I didn’t have to fight for a seat, getting a seat was more of a concern on the way home though when I just wanted to collapse! Commuting is kind of exhausting but I actually quite liked having that quiet time on the train at the beginning and end of the day.

Since this was only my second summer intensive I didn’t have a whole lot to compare it to, and the one I did last year was a youth one for ages 11-18 so had a very different feel to this one which was an adult course, there was a much wider range of ages as I think the youngest was 16, all the way up to 30+. It was interesting how different the tone was working with older people of different ages although we did quite similar things as to last year. First off, there’s  a lot less drama with adults I think; there’s no whiney 12 year olds!! I think with a group of adults as well there tends to be more barriers put up with ourselves as the older you get the more self conscious you are and you have more fear of trying new things and being around new people, whereas younger people generally adapt easily and are up for trying anything they seem to just throw themselves into it. I’m not saying no one had any confidence or anything because that’s not the case at all and there were some very talented dancers in the group but it’s just a completely different vibe to a group of young people.

Another difference is with the youth group, the majority of dancers participating are there because they want to become professional dancers and go into a performance career, and there can almost be a sense of competition. With this course however it was such a mix – there was some people already in dance training, some doing A Level, some there for pure enjoyment just dancing as a hobby, there because they just really love to dance. Some had little dance experience while others had years under their belt; it was a diverse group it was really nice to work with such a range of people and we all helped each other through it.

This brings me onto friendships… Most people’s main priority on the course was obviously to soak up as much information as possible, to work on themselves as dancers and performers and improve as much as possible in the short space of time. A few people knew each other before and came in groups and others knew no one and sort of kept to themselves. Back to the confidence thing, why are adults so much worse at making friends and putting themselves forward than kids? Between that and being exhausted and very concentrated on food during our breaks, everyone was generally quiet and didn’t talk to each other a whole lot really. It wasn’t until the last couple of days when we started talking more, so I guess if the intensive had been longer we would’ve made more significant friendships! It was still nice to get to know everyone though and we’ll keep in touch through Facebook.

As I mentioned before – there was two groups an Intermediate and Advanced; ultimately it was up to the individual which path they chose but the Advanced was generally dance graduates, professionals or those in full time training, and the Intermediate dancers had not been dancing so long, there more for pure enjoyment and for themselves than working towards a career in dance. As with anywhere there was a clear divide between the two groups and we didn’t really mingle between groups a lot but I did manage to talk briefly with a few of them and it was interesting to hear about the wide range of backgrounds the dancers came from. Had I chose the Advanced route I think I would definitely have found it challenging, the material they showed during the sharing looked absolutely amazing, however I don’t think I would’ve struggled so much I’d have changed groups, although a lot of the dancers in that group were very technical and expressive I think I would’ve learnt a lot being with them and would have enjoyed the challenge, maybe I’ll do that next time? I imagine each group of dancers would be different though in terms of standard.

To conclude, if you hadn’t gathered by now I had an absolutely wonderful time and would jump at the chance to do a course like this again. The level of training we received was brilliant and it was a privilege to have the chance to work with Rambert company members; truly learning from the best. It was tough at times and definitely a challenge but I’ve learnt so much – I really enjoyed having classes with a range of teachers as you get to experience the variety of teaching styles and each of them has a different vision of what they want you to get out of the experience.

Finally, here’s my list of tips to take with you to any intensive:

1. Be open to anything! The more open minded you are, the more you can learn and the more you’ll take away with you. Don’t be confined to what you’re used to and respect different people’s methods of doing things.
2. Eat little and often. It definitely took me a couple of days to gauge how much to eat so as to feel full fuelled but not like you’re going to throw up in the class after lunch! You have to eat properly, food that will give you energy. Most days I had: toast for breakfast, some fruit in the morning break, pasta/rice and salad at lunch, a cereal/protein bar and mixed nuts for afternoon break, and a good dinner when I got home.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or put yourself forward. If you don’t understand something, ask. If you missed part of the phrase, ask. If you have an injury and need another option, ask. This is so important! Don’t just skip over something if you don’t understand it, the teachers don’t mind you asking questions as they want you to succeed and understand everything.
4. Drink lots of water! If you’re dancing for hours at a time, keeping hydrated is super important otherwise you’re probably going to pass out or get a horrible headache. Drink lots!!
5. Get plenty of sleep. If you don’t get enough you will definitely feel it the next day when you’re trying your hardest not to yawn at the barre. Your body is being put under a lot of pressure and a lot of energy is required, you can’t do your best and get the most out of every class if you only had 4 hours sleep.
6. Look after your body! I highly recommend you get a foam roller or a massage ball or something similar. I used the foam roller every evening for about an hour when I got home and it made such a difference to how my body felt. Listen to your body and look after it to prevent injury. I also found an ice bath for my feet particularly soothing half way through the week. Hot/Cold showers also feel really good afterwards!

I think that’s about it…. I hope this post wasn’t too long/boring, I just wanted to share everything in one go. I’m not going to lie I’m quite impressed with myself for keeping up with these blog posts all week, it’s been a really nice way to document and evaluate everything! If anyone else has done a course at Rambert I’d love to hear about your experiences 🙂

Rambert Intensive: Day 5|Dreams That Glitter

Final day!!

We started with contemporary with Kate again this morning; it was nice to have her back, all the phrases came flooding back…kind of!! We did all the phrases we’d learnt with her on the right and left in smaller groups once we’d done some warm up exercises. Trying to get energy out of us was proving to be a bit tricky by this point of the week… but once we warmed up we got back into it I think! We then learnt another new phrase and did a mini task – to take 12 movements from anything we’d done in her classes over the week and put them together to make our own phrases in groups of 2 or 3 which we then performed to each other. Fantastic way to start the day!

After our break we had rehearsals for the sharing that was this afternoon. We had half an hour on each – both pieces of repertoire and then choreography. We recapped and cleaned everything and set formations and ran everything start to finish with a few minor changes here and there. Estela changed a bit of the piece so that I didn’t have to do the section that hurt my foot yesterday, even though it felt a lot better today she said it was better not to take the risk which was the best idea.

At lunch there was a few nerves going around in preparation for the sharing, I went over to the National Theatre area to meet my friend Willa who I met at Bluewater 2 years ago (!!) and it was so great to see her! Even if I was extremely gross and sweaty! It was again finding the challenge of eating enough to fill my stomach without feeling like I would throw up when I starting moving again, I think I’ve just about got the hang of it! Plenty of smaller snacks throughout the day works much better than trying to eat a ‘meal’ with only 1 hour off dancing.

So before the sharing began we had about half an hour to do some final preparations do everything one more time. We performed The Strange Charm of Mother Nature rep first, then Terra Incognita, and finally our choreography piece which has a really happy, chilled vibe and is just really about enjoying ourselves, the music was quite upbeat and fun as well, I certainly enjoyed it (I hope that came across). I wasn’t really nervous at all as it didn’t feel like a ‘show’ as such, it was just sharing what we’d been working on over the week and considering we’d achieved all of that in just a few days was enough of an accomplishment, it didn’t need to be perfect.

We then had the opportunity to watch the Advanced group’s work, which was absolutely amazing. I will have to try and look up which pieces they studied because I really liked the phrases they did, and they seemed to have put a lot more together than we did I think! There were a lot of dancers who were either in the middle of their training or had dance degrees etc in that group so the standard was pretty high, they all did really well. *claps*

So that’s it!! The week has gone so quickly and I think I’ve just got used to the routines of everything and settled in, I think today everyone started talking to each other a lot more and seemed more relaxed and like we knew each other. I didn’t even ache that much today! I could definitely get used to doing that all the time! And I definitely want to do more Rambert Intensives.

Tomorrow I think I’ll do a general review post of the whole course and everything I’ve learnt!

Big Ballet |Dreams That Glitter

Ok so this post is a little late, I’ve been meaning to write it for a couple of weeks now but I’ve been distracted by dance and art deadlines (I probably should be doing art right now but writing this seemed more appealing). 

Anyway. Big Ballet was a three part documentary on Channel 4 a few weeks ago that was trying to showcase the fact that you don’t have to be small to be a dancer. Wayne Sleep bravely decided to explore the taboo subject and ventured into the world of overweight dancers. He auditioned men and women from all over and selected the best of them to be in his dance company, with his ultimate aim to produce a performance of Swan Lake, one of the most famous ballets of all time. 

I liked the idea of the program, of attempting to break down that barrier of strict rules when it comes to the professional ballet world, however I do think there are reasons for the specific qualities of a prima ballerina. It simply doesn’t look as aesthetically pleasing if a 200lb dancer in a leotard and ribboned shoes comes across the stage, I think the heavier you are it must be harder to be graceful. Having said that, considering the range of weights of the people that were shown at the audition stage, and looking at those who then got into the company, I think the ones that got in were considerably smaller, and maybe this defeated the object of the program slightly?

 

 

Now I’m not trying to be offensive but if any of those girls really loved and cared about ballet as much as they were making out to, they’d surely do something about their weight. Ballerinas need to look tall and elegant on stage and to do this you must have long, slim limbs. I’m not saying all ballerinas should be tall, but they at least give the impression of being taller by really extending their lines and pulling up through the body. A second thing, a ballerina can’t possibly be that much overweight with all the physical demands of the art form. It’s a very strenuous activity and part of the reason why most professional dancers are so slim and toned is because of all the work they are doing and the time they spend dancing in the studio rehearsing or performing on stage. A lot of preparation is gone into putting together shows and what you see on stage is the final result of that.  Professional dancers (and so aspiring ones probably should too) have a specific diet to satisfy the needs of their bodies. They would need sugary foods from time to time to keep their energy up as well as carbs for long term energy. The girls on Big Ballet always seemed to be eating rubbish around the camera or off for a McDonalds, and I think if you want to be a dancer then you have some kind of respect for your body and don’t want to be filling it with fatty horrible foods. 

My next point is how these women wanted to be referred to as ‘real women’ and not fat. Wayne initially called them fat in one of the VTs and that sparked off a lot of reactions from the bigger girls. He didn’t mean it to be harsh or mean, but at the end of the day that is what they are. In that kind of industry fat is just a word to describe people who are overweight, and that’s not healthy. I think the women did overreact and take a bit too much offense to that simple comment. It basically implies that women who are fit, healthy, slim or even just naturally skinny are not ‘real’. It’s the same as beauty campaigns claiming that they have ‘real women’ instead of models. Are models and dancers not real then? What are they? One lady on the show referred to dancers as being ‘robots’ which I found quite offensive and don’t see how that’s any more positive than calling them fat. Yes, dancers may work their bodies and do things with them that ‘normal’ people (excuse the term, as I feel that calling certain people normal is no better than what I’m trying to make a point about anyway but you know what I mean) probably wouldn’t, but that’s what dance has become and it does not mean that dancers should not be considered as real people.

Dance, and ballet in particular has evolved a lot over the last hundred years and like anything it has changed and adapted over time. It is now highly competitive and the standard is so high it’s almost ridiculous, but each generation wants to push themselves and be even more amazing than the last. At some point in the past someone decided (probably a man) that female ballet dancers should dance on their toes… however did they come up with that? As a dancer there is no slacking if you want to get anywhere because there is always people younger than you that are probably better than you and they are becoming the next generation of dancers behind you. Only the best of the best will get to be principal ballerinas at the top. 

I’ve kind of gone off on a bit of a tangent haven’t I… Back to Big Ballet. I thought a lot of the dancers did have a lot of talent, the majority of them had done ballet as a child and been told they were too fat to do it professionally or just quit in their own time or whatever, but many of them still had basic technique and there were a few pairs of definite ballet legs and feet in there. i did think it was quite sad how some of them had had years of dance training and never got anywhere but this was their chance to go somewhere with it. Throughout the dance classes they had you could see they were being pushed hard by Wayne and Monica Loughman and many of them rose to that and coped really well. 

They all developed quite rapidly and by the end they did have a full ballet and at times I’m sure they were doubting whether they would or not. it seemed to be quite successful and it was a brilliant opportunity for dancers who are slightly larger, and I think the company are possibly trying to take things a bit further and see what else they can do considering further projects. If you’re interested, go to @Big_Ballet_UK on twitter and follow what they’re up to.

In conclusion, I think that the ballet stereotypes are very unlikely to change, especially when it comes to weight. Unfortunate though it is that dancers on the larger side may never get the opportunity to perform in a renowned company and tour the country, some of the most important features of ballet are being able to dance everything with a perfect elegance, on your toes, have perfect technique and for the women to be lifted effortlessly by the man. This will always remain. 

I didn’t know this was going to turn into such a lengthy almost rant like post, but if you watched the show I’d love to know what you thought of it, or if you didn’t – what are your views on bigger ballet dancers? And lastly, I’m sorry if some of my comments came across slightly bitchy… 

You can find out more about the show and watch clips and exclusives including the full performance of Swan Lake here on the Channel 4 website: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/big-ballet

Dancer Project |Dreams That Glitter

After rediscovering the work ‘Dancers Among Us’ and the ‘Ballerina Project’ I managed to convince my dancer friends to pose for me so I could take some pictures of my own inspired by those photographers I’ve spoken about previously. We went up to the park and through the woods to take a few action shots and then went into the library, we did get a few odd looks here and there but I really like the results. Did I mention it was for my art project? We’ve started our exam projects now and I’m doing mine based around dance so after some artist research on dance photography, this was my next step. Thank you to my wonderful models Lauren and Maisie!

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Dancers Among Us |Dreams That Glitter

I’m pretty sure I’ve briefly mentioned this in the past, but I’m going to write about it again anyway. I remember coming across this website before but I didn’t do anything further than think the photography was pretty cool. But I was in art today and rediscovered Dancers Among Us which is a project of fantastic photography by the wonderful Jordan Matter. His blog is also really interesting: http://blog.jordanmatter.com/ 

He has a collection of photographs of dancers doing extraordinary things in quite simple settings and environments which is quite unusual but I really like the concept of it, that dancers stand out even in every day situations. The photos are beautiful and I’d really like to explore the ideas further and see if I can incorporate them into my own art project. 

A Night At The Movies |Dreams That Glitter

It occurred to me that I only posted about my solo (how selfish) last week, so I wanted to do another post as a general summary of the whole show. I’m pretty sure I mentioned that it had a movie theme in previous posts, but some of the other numbers included The Matrix, Jai Ho, a medley of about 10 different movie soundtracks including Grease, Chicago, Mamma Mia etc. There was also a James Bond routine, West Side Story and a Dirty Dancing finale (yes, they did the lift).

All ready in our Jai Ho outfits

All in all I think the show was a big success and I really loved doing it, even with all the stress of trying to remember everything.. It was so much fun and I really don’t think two nights was enough, I’d have loved to do it all week! I’m glad we had more than one though like there’s been in the past, because then you at least have another chance to do better than the time before and there’s not as much pressure to do everything to absolute perfection on the one night. I think everyone is five times more nervous on the first night too, and after that you can relax ever so slightly because you know it will go ok. 

We also performed the Matrix number in assembly every day after lunch to each different year group and I still haven’t really decided whether it was fun or embarrassing. Considering we were wearing rather unflattering disco pants which caught the lights in all the wrong places and displayed even minimal VPL, it was quite enjoyable and I would be willing to do it again… The worst one was definitely doing it in front of my own year group because it was people I knew and although we were hidden behind dark sunglasses we were pretty distinguishable when we turned up to last lesson ten minutes late and with our hair all slicked back into french plaits (I did mine and Maisie’s every day at lunch, I got rather pro at it by the time Friday came along).

I think that’s just about all I’ve got to say about that! On Friday and Saturday I’m doing another dance show which contains mine and Maisie’s ‘Two Pieces’ choreography and we’re doing Jai Ho with only 5 of us (there was 15 in the show) which I’m looking forward to I suppose, but I have to say I’m a bit gutted I’m missing the last ballet classes before christmas to do it.

Flashdance Solo |Dreams That Glitter

Apologies for my rather lengthy absence on here recently… I’ve come to the conclusion that blogging is just not my thing. I don’t have the motivation to write regularly enough or write interestingly enough to attract even a nearly significant amount of readers that aren’t my friends that know everything I’m writing about anyway. This isn’t to say I’m going to completely give up with this blog because when things happen I do like to sum it all up in a post and share it with whoever is willing to listen to me ramble on halfheartedly, but I’m not going to stress out if I haven’t done a post for a whole week, I’m just gonna write whenever a) I have something interesting to talk about and/or b) I have the time and patience to write everything out. It doesn’t help that I have a temporary phone at the moment so I don’t have the wordpress app and I had to delete it from my iPod because the memory on it is still getting progressively worse I swear.

Anyway. Moving on.

This is my solo that I choreographed myself for the school dance show ‘A Night At The Movies’. My teacher asked me if I’d do a solo quite a while ago and I agreed slightly hesitantly after a few seconds consideration, assuming that there would be at least a couple of others in the year above that would also be doing one. I found out on Monday at the dress rehearsal that it was in fact just me on my own, and all the other numbers were group ones. That did panic me slightly because I think it put more pressure on me because I was now ‘that girl who danced on her own’.

If I had got to it quicker and choreographed it a little earlier so that I had more time to practice it and make sure I definitely knew every single step inside out (I finished it last Sunday – cutting it a bit fine) then I think it could have gone a bit better but overall I’m quite impressed with myself because I got up and did it in front of everyone even though it was pretty nerve wrecking. There’s probably no way I would’ve done that last year.

Anyway here’s the video from last night, feel free to comment and let me know what you think…

Flashdance |Dreams That Glitter

Please bare in mind this is my first rehearsal and I hope it will look better than this when I’ve practised it for a couple of weeks! This is only a small section of what I did, probably the best part of the video as it went a bit dodgy towards the end. And sorry about the blocks piled up blocking the mirror, it was the only way I could record it… but I wanted to share anyway. Thoughts please!

What A Feeling… |Dreams That Glitter

My dance teacher kindly reminded me yesterday I was supposed to have choreographed my solo for the show by now and asked to see it, and of course I hadn’t even decided what music I was using really. I was really tempted to change my choice from Flashdance to El Tango de Roxanne just because I really like that music, but at some point I’d told my teacher I was thinking about Flashdance and she wrote it in the program, so I wasn’t going to be awkward and change my mind last minute. So anyway, she said I had until Friday to show her something, cue panic mode. How do you choreograph an entire 3-4 minute dance in just a few days?

Quite easily, apparently. I went in there today after school, I think it was just after 4pm, and mum said she’d pick me up at 5.30pm, which I didn’t think was a lot of time and didn’t expect to get all that much done, but I surprised myself. I only have 3 bars of 8 left to choreograph, and then a whole lot of rehearsing and perfecting. I started by watching the final dance from Flashdance for inspiration and copied the movement as closely as I could for the first 30 seconds or so, adapting it slightly to suit me. After that I just kind of improvised until I got something I liked, then kept going through the song over and over doing the same thing. I’ve got the whole start section that goes into the first verse, then the chorus and a linking section in the instrumental bit (which I sneakily stole – well not really since I half made it up anyway – from what we did in Dance at school). It then goes into the second verse where I did half of what I did in the first verse reversed on the opposite side, and then comes the bit I’m missing. Then it’s the chorus again followed by another little section, and that’s it! The dance is 3:19 altogether so I think I did quite well to get the majority of it done in quite a short time! 

I did record it but I won’t post it now because it’s not a great video… but when the choreography is finished and I have the energy to perform it flat out (it involves a lot of jumping and rolling on the floor – I have about a million new bruises) for recording purposes I shall do and will put it up here like I’ve done for others. 

I realise this is quite a lengthy post about one bit of choreography but oh well haha! I just wanted to write a little update and share that with you all. 

PS I’ve just decided I’m going to upload a short clip of the video baring in mind it’s not great but I just wanted to post it so I can compare it to the final piece later on. So that will be to follow shortly 😉 

Roxanne |Dreams That Glitter

So after a productive day choreographing (well, Maisie did most of the hard work really, oops) I’ve come home and watched Strictly and now I’m yet again sat wondering what I’m going to do for my solo. I have about 2/3 weeks to have it choreographed and perfected and that’s a tad scary considering I have next to nothing done… The only specification I have to meet is that the music has to be from a movie.

My initial idea was Flashdance… and I stuck with that for a while and decided I was going to learn the actual choreography as much as I could and just improvise on the bits that were too advanced etc, but I never actually started it. Then the other day Rule The World by Take That came on the radio and I started picturing choreography in my head and then I remembered it’s the Stardust soundtrack and that I could use it. Different from Flashdance – which I’d have to make really bright and bouncy and perform a lot – this was more ‘up my street’ and I’d probably find it easier and more comfortable to choreograph and perform a smooth, lyrical dance.

Earlier, I had my iTunes on shuffle and El Tango de Roxanne (from Moulin Rouge) came on and I was again picturing choreography in my head. I thought maybe I could do something to that, but I don’t really like the lyrics so I decided to find an instrumental version (this is the one I downloaded – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tadYB7Yp9_0&list=HL1384037247) and for the past half an hour I’ve been coming up with little bits of choreography for it in my head and in the little space I have in my bedroom (I’d have a little more if I felt productive enough to do some tidying). This track again is very different to either of the other two I was deciding between though, but I really like it because it’s so strong and distinctive, and it’s very varied meaning I could potentially have some smooth lyrical sections but there’s also a lot of staccato beats in there which stand out and make it more interesting. So now I’m leaning towards this song more and I really wish it wasn’t really late right now so I could go to the studio and get started on putting something together… I can’t really even go tomorrow because I have an entire art project to finish by Monday that I put off today.

The video above is my main inspiration for this dance now… even though I could probably never dance like her in my dreams. But hey ho.