20 minute read
Dance 497
International update
Performance across the planet
Our international representatives talked to students, teachers and performers to find out how they've been working to develop performance skills and opportunities in their countries.
North America
Astrid Sherman found it rewarding to hear of ISTD teachers and members in North America reaching out to their greater communities, creating opportunities for their students and using the ISTD syllabi as a launch pad for new ideas, new projects and new movement.
Chicago USA: Kathak Institute, Dancing Petals and Gurmeet Kaur Marhas
Dancing Petals imparts traditional Kathak education to students of different age groups. A member of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, the organisation is aligned with the ISTD syllabus and proud to follow a structured approach towards teaching students, training professionals, and conducting examinations.
Gurmeet Kaur Marhas, Founder and Artistic Director of the Kathak Institute, Dancing Petals,’ has performed internationally in London, Toronto and various cities in India, Mexico and the USA. In Chicago, her company has organised many shows and has participated in numerous events organised by entities like SEWA, ASHA for education, Vedic Cultural Society, See Chicago Dance, City of Chicago Summer Dance, LUMA8 and others.
Dancing Petals is honored to have participated in various See Chicago Dance initiatives with the Department of Cultural Affairs and the Chicago Park District over the past eight years. These events aim to bring free, professional dance performances to new audiences in the most accessible venues in Chicago neighborhood parks. The intention is to expose audiences unfamiliar with dance to the art form, as well as performers and choreographers in a relaxed, casual atmosphere in which they can network within the dance community.
This year, Dancing Petals and their ISTD students participated in On the Move at Chicago's Sherman Park, showcasing nature-based movements and some classical Kathak vocabulary interacting with the diverse audience. They shared storytelling with hand gestures, body movements and rhythmic footwork patterns. They also showcased Kathak at the Dance in the Parks event held at Jackson Park.
Vancouver Island Canada: Nanaimo Contemporary Ballet and Chantelle Norris
Chantelle has been teaching the ISTD syllabus since she moved from Alberta to British Columbia in 2006. “My new employer just happened to be an ISTD examiner, so I was fortunate to fall in love with and learn the syllabus from an incredible mentor.” And her future goals include completing the ISTD Licentiate in Modern Theatre. Before she knew the ISTD work, her focus was classical ballet, especially choreography. However, her dive into modern theatre ignited a new passion for modern/contemporary and opened her body and mind to a whole new world of possibilities. Chantelle started Nanaimo Contemporary Ballet (NCB) to give young dancers a platform for expression without the competitive angle, which is so prevalent in today’s studio teaching environment. She also wanted to connect real world issues and dance together, giving dancers under the age of 18 an opportunity to collaborate and inject their thoughts into the artistic process rather than having a teacher tell them what to do. NCB has dancers attend from all over Vancouver Island, and their annual summer intensive draws dancers from all over the West Coast. A lot of the dancers that come to NCB have ISTD training, which really helps them pick up a diverse range of choreographic styles.
Europe
There are numerous ISTD dance companies across Europe, many of which have dancers who trained with ISTD teachers, and some are directed by ISTD members. Carole Ann Watson shares some special post-lockdown performance experiences from Ireland, Italy, Malta and Portugal.
Cork, Ireland: Cork Youth Ballet Company and Sinead Murphy
Sinead Murphy, Artistic Director of Cork Youth Ballet Company, said of auditions after the long pause caused by pandemic: “The emotion felt when students gathered from a wide variety of schools was palpable.”
Due to the restrictions surrounding the pandemic, the independent youth dance company had taken a two year break. Local dance teachers requested that the company was re-formed and auditions were held in September 2022, which were the first since 2019.
Twenty-four dancers were chosen from six different schools across the region of Cork. Sinead explains how the company provides a great opportunity for the dancers to broaden their horizons, working and studying genres that might be outside of their main form of dance training.
“We are there to provide opportunities, to educate the dancers and to encourage them to be creative and expressive in their own individual way.”
Italy: Il Balletto and Susanna Plaino
Susanna Plaino explains how Il Balletto, Gruppo Junior Veneto, Italy, was created to allow young dancers to perform. With a classical repertoire including classics like The Nutcracker as well as a wide repertoire of neoclassical and contemporary dance, the company has had the opportunity to perform not only in Italy but also overseas; St. Petersburg, Miami, Giessen in Germany, Barcelona, New York, Paris and Berlin.
Susanna states “During the pandemic, the dancers suffered not just from an artistic viewpoint but also psychologically. Returning to the stage for the first performance, everyone was tense and worried, but the stage performed its miracle and everything started again.”
Portugal: Junior Company of the Dance Center and Teresa Viera, Artistic Director
Teresa Viera, Artistic Director of the Junior Company of the Dance Center, Portugal, says of the first performance after the lockdown “There is nothing like coming back to our home!”
During the pandemic, members of the Junior company decided to change their line of studies; many went off to university and consequently stopped dancing. Teresa Viera re-formed the company with 10 new young dancers between the ages of 15 and 17. Over the past year, their performance spaces have varied from theatre to outdoor, and even to a completely new surrounding within a concert setting, entirely lit by candlelight.
Malta: Moveo Dance Company and Dorian Mallia, Artistic Director
Dorian Mallia, Artistic Director of Moveo Dance Company shares the different aspects of their company’s work, one of which is the Culture Pass, working on themes that are of interest for educational schools, transforming them into performances and using them as a teaching tools. These tools are used to express problems and emotions through dance, transmitting to the young audiences and then talking with them afterwards. He mentions how they, as professionals, learn so much from the children.
Australasia
From student to teacher – Jessica Walker goes behind the scenes.
As we all know, what you see on stage during a performance is only the tip of the iceberg. The remaining parts of the iceberg including finding and editing music, choreographing an item, planning formations, rehearsing to performance level, sourcing or making costumes and much more.
I had the pleasure of interviewing three ISTD dance students, Dani, Samara, and Emma, who have been involved with dance performances for most part of their lives, but for the first time were involved in the creative team of a performance.
What role have you just completed from a creative aspect?
Samara: I have just completed being an Assistant Director for Geronimo’s season of Broadway Smash Medleys, which is a musical theatre cabaret style show. The previous year I was involved with choreography.
Dani: I have been involved in choreographing a musical theatre piece in the Geronimo Musicals’ Broadway Smash Medleys in July 2022.
Emma: I was a choreographer/director of an item in a musical theatre show.
What were your first thoughts when you were asked to join a production team and choreograph/direct a portion of a show?
Samara: I was very excited. As a performer I’ve always found the process behind getting a show to the stage fascinating, and being able to be a part of the creative process and learning the tough work that goes into it was incredible.
Dani: When asked to join the production team, I was slightly nervous but I felt confident that I could do it. I had help and support from the team, which made me feel more at ease. The environment I was in was so supportive. I began choreographing my number practically straight away and the nerves went away almost immediately.
Emma: I was excited to be a larger part of the choreographic process because I have grown up watching my teachers, and I have always wanted to have a go. I was a little anxious too, because I had a lot of other commitments at the time and I know how much work is involved! I have tendencies towards perfectionism and I wanted to do this to a high standard. However, I negotiated some deadlines with the directors, and decided that it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
Did you have a particular choreographic process that you went through? Was this something that you have seen modelled to you?
Samara: A lot of my choreography was tested with different levels, and I was able to learn what needed to change for the younger levels and what I could make harder for the older ones. This is something that I’ve seen modelled to me throughout my years of dancing. Every group of dancers is going to have different strengths and, sometimes, the vision a choreographer has doesn’t always translate to stage.
Dani: I listened to the song on repeat, getting ideas. I would play the music and dance along to see what would come out naturally. If I liked it, I filmed it and wrote it down to remember, and eventually I had formed the whole number. This choreographing style is something I had seen before and was inspired by.
Emma: My teachers tend to have two main categories of choreographic process: some plan everything beforehand, altering as required as they see it come to life; others start with almost nothing, and build the dance up on the spur of the moment. I tried it out on myself to see what flowed well, and forced my family to learn it too so I could see how it looked as a group.
What were skills that you have learnt, even subconsciously, from your own teacher that you were able to harness to achieve what you wanted?
Samara: A skill I’ve focused on learning from my teachers is striking the balance between learning, revising and breaks. Overloading the brain does no one any good but at the same time, maximising learning time is incredibly important.
Dani: I have noticed that a few of my teachers write down their choreography to not only remember it, but because it provides an easy resource when teaching.
I have also subconsciously learnt how often to do the dance with music, assessing when to add more choreography or break things down for the class. I ensured that I made sure everyone understood the movements they were doing, continually asking the class if they had any questions.
Did you have any difficulties transitioning from student to teacher and were there difficulties working with peers and students younger than you?
Samara: Some of the people I was teaching were my friends, so finding the balance was a challenging and often tenuous task, but I had to remind myself that inside the studio I had to have complete authority and outside I could go back to being a friend.
Dani: My peers and other classmates recognised that I was teaching and appreciated my choreography. The only challenging thing was teaching my own class with students who are older than me. I found that they treated me as more of a friend and classmate rather than their teacher. In the end, the class listened, knuckled down and learned the choreography to their full ability.
Emma: Luckily, most of the students in the class I was working with were younger than me already, and I’ve had other experience in a teaching/leading role, so I felt well prepared. However, it was definitely nice to have my teacher there to introduce me and as a backup to help with class control and discuss decisions when needed. Sometimes it can be challenging to corral a large class into doing something!
Is what you see on stage as an end product really just the tip of the iceberg?
Samara: The hours of work put in as a choreographer, teacher, and even the work put in by the students is so much greater than what is seen on stage. Performing a number is a showcase of effort but also not indicative of the time put in by those involved.
Dani: From the studio to the stage is a huge transition. During class, I was slightly worried as the energy was low but as soon as the cast stepped on stage, the atmosphere was so different. The lights, costume and makeup gave everyone a huge energy boost and it all seemed real and exciting.
Prior to being on the creative team, were you aware of how much is involved?
Samara: I had always had a kind of awareness that being on a creative team was hard work, however I didn’t
grasp just how much! The hours spent outside the studio, and even during the rehearsal process to choreograph, place and rework a number is massive and takes not only brain power but enthusiasm and passion.
Dani: When I joined, there were a few of us new to this experience. Lots of planning went ahead, making up choreography and formations and making sure everyone got a turn near the front and back and costumes as well.
Did being involved in a production meet your expectations?
Samara: Being involved in a production met and exceeded my expectations. The overwhelming support and enthusiasm from the rest of the team and cast makes putting in hours easy and rewarding.
Dani: Yes, and much more. This experience was amazing, it was the first time I have had this sort of opportunity and the creative team made this experience surreal.
Emma: I absolutely loved it.
What did you learn from the experience?
Samara: Compromising with other creative team members, with choreography and direction, happens so much more often than I anticipated. It’s so important to keep an open and positive mindset when joining a team.
Dani: I learned some new ways to choreograph. I perfected time management and organisation skills whilst preparing the classes I would teach. This opportunity also gave me a chance to build relationships with the cast members and production team.
Should more students have access to the production process or even shadow other production members?
Samara: I think giving students access to the production process is a key learning experience that fosters wonderful growth. But it’s important to be judicious and balance opportunity with quality. Giving students the opportunity is great, however overwhelming them or pushing a student if they aren’t prepared can be harmful to the process and to them.
Dani: As I have learnt throughout, it builds confidence and is an all-round amazing experience and something that they will treasure and benefit from.
Performance of African Footprint
Africa and the Middle East
Delia Sainsbury examines the influence of African dance in classical ballet today.
Having lived in South Africa for over 40 years and observed the political changes, which have of course affected dance, it is encouraging to see the growth of Afrofusion, as well as the amalgamation of classical ballet, contemporary dance and African cultural dance, which is producing something totally unique.
Transforming tradition
Debbie Turner, previously Director of the Cape Academy of Performing Arts, has been the Artistic Director of the Cape Town City Ballet for four years, during which the company has undergone dramatic transformation from a purely traditional classical company to a company that embraces an eclectic variety of styles and fusions. “Due to the political history of South Africa, pre 1994, when South Africa achieved the quiet revolution under the firm guidance of Nelson Mandela, black dancers rarely travelled outside of South Africa, and were therefore not open to the influences of Western dance forms.
Classical ballet was not part of African culture, and due to its colonial connotation, was treated with much resistance. The South African dance productions that were seen internationally were shows such as African Footprint, (pioneered by South African impresario Richard Loring, and toured worldwide), AmaMpondo and Ipi Tombi. Gradually, as South Africa began to open up after 1994, other influences became available. Dancers were able to travel and experience an exciting mix of dance forms and choreographers. And so, when they returned to South Africa, ballet and contemporary dance began to infuse into the African dance companies. Original styles were created. Companies such as Moving into Dance, JazzArt, and Vuyani Dance Company were introduced by dance practitioners, wishing to explore new ways of using the body to tell African stories and create something that was still uniquely African whilst embracing other genres of dance.”
The importance of cultural roots
I asked Debbie how her classically-trained company felt working on the new works that she has introduced, choreographed by African choreographers. The ballets are after all reflective of their cultural roots and past political struggles. The company recently performed the ballet Ingoma, choreographed by South African choreographer Mthuthuzeli November, who began his training at the age of 15 in a township outreach programme in Cape Town. He continued his training with Debbie Turner and joined Ballet Black in the UK, where he was commissioned to create two ballets, one of which was Olivier Award winning Ingoma Ingoma was recently performed in South Africa alongside the traditional Les Sylphides Artscape Theatre, which houses the Cape Town City Ballet, was established 50 years ago and has seen dramatic changes in both artistic development and policy. Debbie commented that “African styles made the classical dancers initially feel uncomfortable for several reasons; the work is often reflective of past political struggle and the movements are very foreign to a classically trained dancer. They found it difficult to embrace the freedom of movement necessary for African dance and find a different way of telling a story.”
The vision
Debbie’s vision is to retain the classical programme whilst including African works and to dispel the impression of Eurocentricity. If the most recent programme is anything to go by, which played to capacity post Covid, she has certainly succeeded. The repertoire consisted of a contemporary piece, Fallen Angels, choreographed by Jiri Kylian, originally from Prague, the traditional Les Patineurs, Polarity, by Kenneth Tindall and Romeo and Juliet. It was performed under the umbrella title of Ikigai, a Japanese concept meaning purpose, happiness, and peace.
To quote Debbie, “On 19 May 1971, the venue opened with a performance by CAPAB, the ballet company of its time. It is fitting that we use this opportunity to recognise not only how far we have come and the changes that have taken place, but also look toward the next 50 years of ballet on the artscape and how dance can lead the way in championing change and extending boundaries”.
Keeping it classical
I had a very interesting reverse view from Sefiso Kewyana, who was Artistic Director of the prestigious Cape Town company JazzArt for four years. He has introduced the dance genre the opposite way from Debbie Turner, bringing classical dance to an African dance company.
Sifiso was trained in traditions of African dance and now considers himself a “fairly well trained classical dancer in the traditional sense”. He feels that African dancers are now understanding the reason for classical training, and that classical dance must be adapted to “fit an individual body” in its training methods.
He introduced classical ballet into JazzArt in a workshopped format to explore how the dance form could be adapted to embrace the different body types in the company. He explained that African dance is “grounded”, working with flexed feet and bent knees. Depending on the tribal background, only in the Zulu culture do the men jump high. In other tribes, there are no steps of elevation. To introduce pointed feet, totally straight legs and elevated movements was a totally new concept. It is interesting to note, that in the Tswana culture, the dancers naturally use the equivalent of a ballet second, fourth ouvert and a third position of the feet.
Sefiso brought in classical ballet teachers to train the JazzArt dancers, realising that a strong technique would enable them to expand their repertoire, again creating a unique African fusion. He feels African dancers are now more willing to develop their classical training to enhance their technique. The new Director for JazzArt is Dane Hurst, South African born dancer and choreographer who worked as Artistic Director for the Phoenix Dance Company in the UK, and now brings a wealth of diversity to the South African company.
You can hear from other teachers and choreographers on our website at www.istd.org/classicalballetafricandance
Asia
Chua Zjen Fong shares his advice on how to prepare for a performance.
How can we help new dancers who are about to set foot into the world of performance? A performance could be traumatising for beginners if they have insufficient preparation. There are many things that we can do to ensure a smooth performance, and teachers are the best people to help.
Whatever or wherever you are performing, preparation is key!
• Do you know what type of genre of dance is involved?
• What type of music is suitable for the crowd and theme?
• What type of performance is required, is it a musical production, or a corporate or commercial performance?
• Find out the crowd’s demographic.
• The choreographers or teachers should create a shortlist of performers.
• Arrange and ensure that everybody commits to the rehearsal schedule.
• Have the music ready and assign someone to edit it.
• When the per formers, music, and details are set, the choreographers can get to work.
• Once the routines are fixed, the performers need to rehearse, fine-tuning the smallest details.
• Costumes play a big part in the performances, ensuring all performers fit the dance genre and performance theme. Turn to page 14 to read our feature about costumes for performances.
• Rehearsing on the actual site is very important because many things could go wrong without a proper rehearsal. This usually takes place on the actual day, or the day before.
Top tip
It’s always possible that some performers could pull out at the very last minute due to illness, so a few reserve dancers and a back-up plan is always crucial.
CONTACT
Delia Sainsbury, Africa and the Middle East dsainsbury@istd.org
Astrid Sherman, North America asherman@istd.org
Jess Walker, Australasia jwalker@istd.org
Carole Ann Watson, Europe cwatson@istd.org
Chua Zjen Fong, Asia chua@istd.org
