Category Archives: Dance

Interview Adeola Dewis “Art can allow new, creative ways of seeing the everyday to emerge”

June 30, 2016 Guy O'Donnell Leave a comment

Hi Adeola, You are currently a Visual Artist and Research Fellow at the University of South Wales. Is it possible to give our readers some background information on yourself?

Yes, I am actually coming to the end of my research fellowship. It was an 18 month contract with the University of South Wales and part of a large AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) funded project called ‘Representing Communities.’ I am an artist, researcher, a mother of 3 boys and a Caribbean woman resident in Wales since 2003. A lot of my work is informed by my day to day experiences.

You held a President’s Award scholarship for PhD research at Cardiff University, Wales and have received several grants from the Arts Council of Wales to develop and realise collaborative arts projects. Was there a moment in your career when you knew the areas you wanted to focus on?

When I was little I wanted to be movie star! (laughs) Drawing has always been part of my life from as far back as I can remember, and dance as well. I knew I loved art and always wanted to be an artist or arts practitioner. I have very supportive parents and they really fostered my love for culture and always believed in my art, what I could do and the difference art could make to circumstances. It was during my first degree in Trinidad that I actually became convinced that I could be an artist, that I could make art and have exhibitions. My lecturers were also great examples of successful practicing artists. Being Trinidadian, Carnival was always part of my life. It was during my MA at Howard Gardens that I became interested in Carnival performance as a way of engaging the ideas of integrated arts. This Carnival interest has evolved to include ideas around re-presenting self in public spaces and what that means for social issues around notions of belonging and un-belonging, visibility and how we react to social, political, personal situations through temporary transitory performances and rituals.

You mentioned your parents I wonder if there are any individuals or organisations that helped support you in developing your skills and knowledge?

I have a long list of individuals that have helped in the development of my work but again I think the core always goes back to family – my parents, my sisters, my boys, my husband and so on. When I moved to Wales I felt in some ways as if I had to start again, to prove myself, make new contacts and forge my own little space within this art world. It was a really insecure space to be in to be honest. I joined organisations like W.I.D (Welsh Independent Dace) and C.A.D.M.A.D both of which no longer exist. S.W.I.C.A (South Wales Intercultural Community Arts) helped a lot as well, providing a space to explore and meet other artists with a range of different skills. My first solo exhibition in Cardiff was in g39 when it was on Mill Lane which was funded by the Arts Council of Wales. I feel like an ole timer now! The Butetown History & Arts Centre was also a great support to help me show my work. They too have recently lost their funding. I think the key thing though is about meeting people, travelling, experiencing, talking about your work and interests and being true to what you want to do. As part of this current research I have developed connections with the Butetown Community Centre and individuals working with and in community.

Awareness of Carnival (which you have a great deal of personal experience and knowledge in) as an art form is growing. In your opinion what is needed to help the art form develop?

That’s a great question. Carnival can be seen as a public participatory celebration of a people. It is moving and fluid and reflects issues within a society through song, dance, costume and so on. Development is a tricky word, because what does that really mean and for whom? In some regards Carnival development needs an injection of cash and government support. But I would argue that a Carnival really belongs to the people and ‘development’ could also be about handing-over and seeing what emerges over time. I am still learning about this Welsh space and I think there are carnivalesque ’emancipatory’ performances that occur in spaces like stadiums and on the streets on rugby match days. Carnival to me, becomes meaningful if the people need it. It’s tricky when it is just another fashionable purely aesthetic street parade.

You are currently focusing on first generation Caribbean migrants associated with Butetown, facilitating ideas of community re-presentation. How did this project develop and what responses have you had to date?

I have absolutely loved being a part of this project! I had the opportunity to work with Elder Caribbean migrants and to be immersed within Butetown learning about their rich history and why the space was so attractive to people travelling from the Caribbean. The project has culminated in several exhibitions including one at the Cardiff Story Museum, one in the Butetown Community Centre that includes a series of photographs of the Butetown Domino Club members by local photographer Simon Campbell.

The other end-of-project exhibition is on the Network Rail wall opposite Loudoun Square on Bute Street. It is a series of portraits by different photographers who have made Butetown a focus in their work – Simon Campbell, Keith Murrell, John Briggs and Andrew McNeill. We even managed to get a photo by Bert Hardy.

This Bute Wall exhibition looks at Butetown, the diversity, the elders and ideas of community wellbeing and representation. Generally responses have been positive.

Do you think that arts and culture in Wales represents the diversity of the citizens and communities you have worked with?

Well I think if we look closely enough we will see people representing themselves in so many ways. I think representation is crucial and the diverse fabric of Wales has been actively engaged in places like Cardiff Story Museum and Glamorgan Archives. In my experience I am not convinced that the diversity is always reflected in the visual art world but again, it is about where we look, what is made visible and what inevitably becomes less visible. But I feel positive. I think there is good work happening, a lot of talent and room for alternative ways of engaging arts.

You frequently support workshop activity with members of the public, do you think this type of activity is important and why?

Yes, I think workshops are important. As an artist working with the public opens you up to different people and conversations and experiences which as I mentioned earlier are crucial to art development and relevance. Also, I think one of the aims of art is that it is for everybody. It can challenge, inform, educate and really allow new and creative ways of seeing the everyday to emerge. Workshops are an opportunity to share art with different people and it also allows you to think about ways of making art-making/doing accessible and relevant to a diverse groupings

What are the opportunities for those interested in carnival in Wales?

Carnival is huge! There is room for everybody. First there is the question of what aspect of Carnival interests you. I know the performance department at the Atrium are starting to actively use carnival as part of their teaching. Any formal art – music, costume and set design, painting, sculpture, dance can lend itself to Carnival. The main ingredient especially with performance is not the qualification but the desire and passion to want to do it. We have the Butetown Carnival on the bank holiday weekend in August. It is a great opportunity to create and explore the potential of a Carnival in Wales. Those interested can contact Keith Murrell founder of BACA (Butetown Arts and Culture Association) at the Butetown Community Centre.

If you were in charge of funding the arts in Wales what would be your priorities?

My priority will probably be informed by spending time with different artists and communities and seeing how their visions relate to the broader political agenda for the country.

When you aren’t involved in culture or research what do you like to do in your spare time?

I feel like I am always involved in one kind of culture or another. I love spending time with my boys. I love drawing. I love dancing and laughing and learning. I also enjoy watching world cinema.

Many Thanks for your time Adeola

Thank you!

Dance, Theatre

Review Billy Elliot The Musical, WMC, by Barbara Michaels

June 22, 2016 Guy O'Donnell Leave a comment

(4 / 5)

The wow factor is very much to the fore in this production of Billy Elliot – one of the most heart-warming of musicals, it tugs at the heartstrings from the moment it opens. Brought up in the tough environment of a small mining town in the north-east of England during the 1984/85 miners’ strike, young Billy’s passion for dancing leads him to follow his dream. Abandoning his boxing lessons, he secretly joins a ballet class. The only boy, Billy is the subject of much speculation and teasing – some of it malicious. On the home front, it’s even more so. Billy’s elder brother pours scorn on Billy’s dancing and does his best to nip the young boy’s emerging talent in the bud. Spurred on by his ballet teacher, who knows talent when she sees it, Billy is determined to carry on dancing.

Of the four boys who alternate in the super-demanding role of Billy, Lewis Smallman was the one chosen to open in Cardiff. His was a Billy that we all know – a schoolboy going straight to the biscuit tin when he gets home. But this Billy is still grieving for the loss of his mum, and Smallman manages this part of the role with an expertise beyond his young years, but it is his skill as a dancer that rightly steals the show.

There is star quality here. This Billy is equally at home in the comically camp dance number in which Billy and his friend Michael (Elliot Stiff) dress up on girls’ clothes to the elegant precision of a version of Swan lake performed with an older Billy (Luke Cinque-White)in a dreamlike sequence in the second half – not in the original film but blending in perfectly. Martin Walsh, as Billy’s Dad, struggling both with the deprivations of the strike with no money coming and the problems of a recently bereaved father trying to bring up a young son on his own, brings a depth of understanding to the role, displaying both toughness and vulnerability. As Billy’s dancing teacher Mrs Wilkinson, who knows talent when she sees it, Annette McLaughlin has the role off pat – under no illusions as to her own teaching, and generous in spirit, cigarette puffing when the opportunity arises and with the big-hearted generosity that characterises the north.

Peter Darling’s choreography for the tour differs slightly from the West End production, particularly in the foot-tapping number ‘Born to Boogie’ but most of the sensational dance numbers are the same – and pretty amazing they are, too, doing full justice to Elton John’s lyrical and swinging score in musical numbers that make you want to jump from your seat and join in. A small caveat –which seems almost invidious in the face of such talent – is that several cast members, including Smallman, have not entirely overcome the difficulties of the north east of England dialect.

The darker side of the story is the miner’s strike, and the stand-off between Thatcher’s government and the National Union of Mineworkers, with scenes played out at the pit face of one of the mines threatened with closure, and in the working men’s club where the miners hold their meetings, and the soup kitchen which is established there for the hungry miners and their families during the strike. Light relief is there, too, in the shape of Grandma – not always quite with it (she hides her pasty in the bedclothes much to her grandson’s disgust!). Andrea Miller’s Grandma is a great cameo, displaying a love and empathy for, and with, Billy and his dreams with which many grandparents will identify.

Overall, though, Billy Elliot belongs to the young, and the ensemble of dancers and singers more than do it justice. Bravo!

Runs until 16^th July at the WMC
https://www.wmc.org.uk/Productions/2016-2017/DonaldGordonTheatre/BillyElliot/

Writer: Lee Hall
Music: Elton John
Choreographer: Peter Darling
Director: Stephen Daldry

Dance, Theatre

Review Billy Elliot WMC by Gemma Treharne-Foose

June 16, 2016 Gemma Treharne Foose Leave a comment

(4 / 5)

Fans of the original Billy Elliott movie, also directed by Stephen Daldry can expect a little bit of extra magic from the Wales Millennium Centre’s hosting of the hugely successful Billy Elliott production.

Charismatically led by the mesmerising young actor Lewis Smallman, the show takes us on a pleasing detour from the original film script. We not only see brand new additions to the story but lengthier explorations in to the characters of Billy’s Mam, Nana and Michael (who you may remember has a penchant for his sister’s clothes and has a soft spot for his friend Billy). There are plenty of cheeky exchanges and gritty working class banter courtesy of the superb ensemble cast and the kind of unguarded and politically incorrect observations and comments reminiscent of drunk uncles or grandfathers at Christmas. This was the eighties, after all!

The show respectfully and tastefully contextualises a time of great fear and a sense of national panic about the fate of mining communities, punctuated by the innocence and childish sense of fun of Billy and his fiend Michael. The two battle with conforming to the unwelcome stereotypes and limitations placed upon them in the masculine mining communities during the miner’s strike. Throughout the whole production, the community is at war with the police on the picket lines and the sense of hatred towards Margaret Thatcher is palpable. There are sprinklings of ‘Maggie Maggie Maggie Maggie – out, out, out!’ chants, naughty jokes, insults, political Thatcher and Heseltine puppets and an incredibly designed giant Margaret Thatcher (milk snatcher) model emerging from the stage at one point, which will remind you of the ‘Spitting Image’ years. There is a simply spectacular scene where Billy and his ballet classmates are in the middle of a lesson while dancing coppers clash with picketing miners…the story telling in Darling’s choreography, use of pace and the physicality of the actors was a powerful highlight for me.

I loved the additional scene in the musical where Andrea Miller’s character Nanna paints a picture of what life was like for women when ‘men went out to mine’. For all the much-romanticised community spirit and camaraderie of the mining men…life was pretty shit for the women left behind.

Nanna’s rebelliousness and Joie de vivre as she literally gives the finger to gender stereotypes and misogyny is infectious and this nod to gender politics and male chauvinism was later echoed when Billy caught Michael trying on dresses. Michael innocently asks ‘What’s wrong with being dressed as a girl?’, as if dressing as a girl is worse than actually being one. There is a fantastically camp and cute scene where Michael and Billy deliver an incredible call to action during their energetic and playful dance piece: be who you want to be – dress and all!

While Daldry’s movie gave us pacy cinematic editing and a razor sharp script, it’s fair to say the script for the on-stage production doesn’t quite match the quality of the original film script. Some of the lyrics and exchanges are a little simple and at times clichéd. On the first night of its long run, some of the Geordie accents were a bit ropey and there were some sound issues with a creaking set BUT we are more than compensated with incredible choreography thanks to Peter Darling. This is a real shot of adrenaline in the arm and a classic feel-good show. Go see this show, take your Mam…wear a tutu, even – you won’t regret it.

Title: Billy Elliott
Venue: Wales Millennium Centre
Dates (15th June-16 July), PN 15th June.
Book and Lyrics by Lee Hall
Director: Stephen Daldry
Design: Ian Macneil
Technical: Costume by Nicky Gillibrand; Lighting by Rick Fisher, Sound by Paul Arditti.
Cast includes: Anette McLaughlin, Martin Walsh, Andrea Miller and Scott Garnham.
Producer(s) Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Jon Finn and Sally Greene.
Running time: 3hrs

Dance

Review Alternative Routes NDCW by Helen Joy

June 12, 2016 Helen Joy Leave a comment

(4 / 5)

Dance. In a space I didn’t know existed. I am not proud of this fact. I am not proud that I know embarrassingly little about dance too.

We are met at the door by Paul Kaynes and his team and they welcome us with huge smiles and enthusiasm. Everyone chats and enjoys the view over Cardiff Bay from the rooftop of this marvellous building. We are given an introduction to the evening and invited in to the auditorium.

The seats are packed with colour and youth. I become slightly obsessed with wanting to swap this audience with that grey-haired one at the Cathedral earlier in the week. And as the evening progresses, I want to do this more and more. I want the opera lovers to be here, with me, sharing this beautiful experience. Oh to pull it all together somehow!

I confess, I don’t read programmes before I see something. I don’t want to be influenced. I want it to speak to me and me alone. This is about Voice, after all.

It begins with a woman and a man dancing to what feels like Eighties rave music with strobes and UV and hoops and planets and they tell a little love story through dance and gymnastics and ballet and they are so beautiful, just so beautiful. Luminously lovely. And I want to be Degas – I want to capture their shapes somehow. It is not enough to watch them.

Darkness. A spotlight. A man dances through a series of emotions and I feel I am watching his collapse into sadness. He makes me think of the loneliness of communication – the struggle to be understood. It is a deeply moving performance. I am relieved when finally he stands in the centre of the light.

A woman prowls onto the stage. She talks to us through her movements and I am desperate to interpret them. The music is sweeping and classical and it is all very pretty and acceptable and then it changes in a moment, it swells to panther proportions and I am watching a wild animal and the movements become the language of the wolf. Her body is not her own – she is absorbed in her passions and she is perfect in her credibility.

And then we break.

And I sit with Daniella. A student of dance. She looks me straight in the eye and tells me how wonderful it all is, how all she has ever done is dance, she has danced since she was a little child, it is who she is. She is enraptured by the second piece but she has loved it all. In her face I see that the gift of dance is a good one. There is such power in using dance to communicate – no-one else’s story, just your own; no tool as messenger, just your thoughts sent out there through your body.

It feels so loose, so uncontrolled, so unrepeatable. What an ability these people have and what a task to choreograph and to make it seem so easy every time!

We are asked to stand around the stage. It is a big space but we are shoulder to shoulder forming a square around a Crossword of 4 dancers. Each performs within a square, a battenburg cake of dance. Singly, together, this is an argument, a joke, a party, a series of opinions agreeing and clashing. I want to see it from above, see the patterns they make. It is gorgeous to watch and to be so close. I can see that I am not alone in wanting to join in – we all want to be part of it, to be understood.

We return to our seats. What now? Well. We get more cake, we get Nigella. We get a menopausal woman breaking the bonds of housewifery – as well as a few eggs! It is quite the most unusual performance I have ever seen and it is brilliant. I laugh! It is me!

I chat to others as we leave – what did you think of that last one? Oh yes, I do that – well, I want to do that…

I have loved it. Every minute of it. It has been challenging, beautiful, sad and funny. A novel in dance. And I still want to swap those audiences – bring those different voices together somehow and we will all be the wiser for it.

Event: Alternate Routes
At: National Dance Company Wales
Production:                           WMC, RWCMD & National Dance Company Wales for Festival of Voice
Artistic Director:               Caroline Finn
Choreographers: Matteo Marfoglia, Camille Giraudeau and Josef Perou
Chief Exec:                             Paul Kaynes
Seen: 6.45pm, 9th June, 2016
Reviewer: Helen Joy for 3rd Act Critics
Running: 09 Jun – 11 Jun 2016
Links:
http://www.ndcwales.co.uk/en/what-s-on/alternative-routes-20161/
http://www.ndcwales.co.uk/en/about/latest-news/national-dance-company-wales-and-royal-welsh-college-of-music-and-drama-inspires-the-next-generation-of-choereograghers-and-designers-through-alternative-routes/

Star rating:                4

Dance

Review The Merchants of Bollywood, Peacock Theatre by Hannah Goslin

June 4, 2016 Hannah Goslin Leave a comment

(3 / 5)

Back again to the Peacock Theatre, one of the wonderful houses of dance in London. From my first experience in ‘the hood’ where urban myths unfold on stage, to a cultural, vibrant and full of life story of Bollywood vs Traditional Indian dance.

The story follows the relationship between a granddaughter and her grandfather and the distance caused between them with his want to keep tradition alive and her eagerness for fame and the Bollywood scene.

We encounter flashbacks vs the current storyline, emphasised by the narration of the progress of the story. With this and the occasional comical and melodramatic scene, we are given the sense of Bollywood humour; an almost Shakespearian technique of throwing in comic relief amongst serious storylines. There is also a slight hint of satire, not just at Bollywood, but of all films across different cultures – pointing out the basics of storylines and how underneath the differences that producers give to a film, they are fundamentally the same.

Majority of the storylines they pick on are girl meets boy romances; the obstacles they face but the ultimate reunion of the characters, conquering all with love. This is mirrored cleverly itself with the storyline of the production – the main character reuniting with her childhood sweetheart after being whisked away by fame and fortune. A cross-culture concept of tradition vs modernisation and the affect it makes on heritage is also picked upon by highlighting through dance and costume the current trend and the more traditional.

The Merchants of Bollywood is full of life and colour – the energy brought to the stage through dance is palpable; the music is catchy and enjoyable; the characters are well formed in their blocks of serious characters and the comical relief. Some of the more serious moments become a little hammed up and caused laughter rather than an emotional expression. I continued to think of this, comparing it to the rest of the production – from my little knowledge of Bollywood, it does have a sense of melodrama and the Soap Opera tint on its stories and characters. By adding these moments to that ideal and taking account of the audience members who this made a positive impact on gauging from reactions, it would seem that playing off the over dramatic Bollywood genre is well constructed by imputing this through these moments; another satirical but celebratory nod to the film genre.

Overall I love The Merchants of Bollywood. As westerners, we have this concept of India as a beautiful, colourful place, steeped in history and tradition, but also in some aspects moving with the times. The story and construction of the production emphasises all of this; coming away without having a good time is pretty impossible.

http://merchantsofbollywood.com.au/the-music/
http://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/2016/the-merchants-of-bollywood/

Dance, Theatre

Review Black Stuff Earthfall by Helen Joy

May 25, 2016 Helen Joy Leave a comment

(3 / 5)

It is late but still light in Cardiff Bay. I am rushing back to the foyer to regain my handbag from the cloakroom, when I am stopped by another member of the Black Stuff audience: what did you think of it? You want me to be totally honest? Yes. Ok, I am hungry and I was bored. Me too, she says, I was watching the audience to see whether it was just me. So was I, I say.

Why bored when there is energy – this unrelenting, grubby energy in the piece?

The manic desire of 4 performers to activate their audience in the filthy black, broken building of Cardiff’s coal black past begins with the usual introduction of the heroic industrial past, the rise of hateful capitalism and the loss of jobs. A facile, lazy, predictable position.

A loose plot of past characters all real and one still living, uncomfortably atop a wonderful, surreal story of miners and hangmen.

Hard to understand, hard to hear the words, hard to follow the perambulatory plot through the rotting rooms. Gratuitous fire and semi-nakedness with a moment of light with Anna Karenina and a cricket match in a corridor over rail tracks. Oh and some nervous amusement over the dining table. Smashing. Grim.

Let me just run over a couple of scenes.

One. A big dark room smelling of damp is lit by a flame at a far corner. 3 men mine lumps of dusty coal from a thick layer of the black stuff neatly carpeting the floor around us. They writhe in it, dance in it, they move it across the space like rocks in Bent. Their movements are assured; working hard and fast, balletic and athletic around our living, Spanish centrepiece and she is glorious in her command.

Another. That dining room with that dining table. Our coal streaked men of nations sit around a polished surface in high backed chairs. They philosophise. They are served soup slopped into their bowls by their opinionated lady. They eat and talk and slaver and drool their words and food dripping over them. Bowls are there for smashing.

So much effort goes into this production and it feels so cruel to be so cold about such a hot topic. But, sometimes theatre can be too clever, sometimes effects override a good story. The location is impressive, the ideas are sound and the performers are exciting – they don’t need to try so hard to impress us for so long. It is exhausting. It becomes monotonous, dull in its efforts to share that energy.

After the finale of rolling and crashing big blue drums around a collapsing ballroom of an office, the applause from the people backed against the walls is long and loud.

In the foyer, I ask another person what she thought: I am reeling, she said, it gave me so much to think about. She is happy and fulfilled by her experience. She is probably not alone. Not bored at all.

Theatre / performance art/dance
Black Stuff
Wales Millennium Centre, Cory building
Tue 17 May 2016 to Sat 28 May 2016
Directed by Paul Davies
Movement Director: Catherine Bennett
Design: Cadi Lane
Lighting Design: Ben Stimpson
Production Manager: Dan Taylor
Performers: Rhys McLellan; Neal McWilliams; Barbara Sarmiento Araña; Aled Bidder
Video: Erin Rickard
Original Sound: Adam Howell
Thanks to Betty Rae Watkins, Sarah Pace and the Josef Herman Art Foundation Cymru – See more at: http://www.volcanotheatre.co.uk/whats-on/black-stuff#sthash.45gW7ytc.dpuf

Dance

Interview Gwen Davies A young dancer with Ballet Cymru.

May 15, 2016 Guy O'Donnell Leave a comment

Our project coordinator recently spoke to Gwen Davies, a young Welsh dancer with Ballet Cymru.

Hi Gwen, can you tell me how you got involved in your area in the arts?

I started dancing after a nursery teacher suggested to my parents to take me to ballet classes, because I was always active and loved dancing to music. At the age of four I took up classes locally in Cardiff at Chapter Arts Centre and then at 11 received a scholarship to attend Elmhurst School for Dance in Association with Birmingham Royal Ballet where i spent a further 7 and a half years training. I suppose I was immersed from a very young age in the arts and was lucky that my parents would take me to go and see various performances of all styles of art, from this I had an avid interest at a very young age.

You are currently working with Ballet Cymru, can you please tell us more about your relationship with the company?

I first got involved with Ballet Cymru after taking part in their Riverfront Summer Dance at the age of 8. After that I haven’t missed a single one of their summer school to date! I also took part in the workshops in Abergavenny which the company hold. Once I was training professionally the company were also really supportive in letting me partake in company class during the school holidays. I found it really helpful to be able to have access to professional standard classes from the age of 15. Something which is quite rare and it has definitely been invaluable to me in my development as a professional dancer.

Was there a moment when you thought this is the career for me?

I don’t think I have had one single definitive moment which made me decide it was the career path for me, but more the unfolding of events and opportunities I was given. I have always loved to dance but I don’t think I seriously considered it as a career until after I started vocational school in Birmingham where you then begin to have an understanding of the training and hard work required to make it professionally. Even then I think there is always an element of doubt as to whether you are actually good enough to make it after all the training. I think my mind was totally made up after getting more professional performing opportunities with Birmingham Royal Ballet. After getting a taste of working with the company when I was 17, in La Fille Mal Gardee and later Romeo and Juliet, there was no going back really. I don’t think I could find anything that could replace the feeling of performing to an audience especially when it’s with a live orchestra.

When you aren’t dancing or watching dance what do you like to do in your spare time?

I love to watch rugby in my spare time and have been an avid supporter of Newport Gwent Dragons, and I make it down to Rodney Parade as often as I can to watch matches! I also enjoy going to watch live music and any other kind of performance art to be honest.

Are their any individuals or organisations that helped support you once you realised a career in dance was for you?

In Wales my biggest support came from Ballet Cymru. They were really helpful in giving me advice when I was auditioning for schools and companies and really valued the opportunities, and improved in their classes. I’ve also been really lucky to have some inspirational and supportive teachers in Birmingham which I definitely wouldn’t have succeeded this far without. I have also been very lucky in receiving funding from the Elizabeth Evans Trust towards my training and also Cardiff Council who also funded an invaluable trip for Ballet Masterclasses in Prague for a fortnight which I learnt incredible amounts from and was an amazing experience to work with so many other professional dancers from all over the world.

What are the opportunities for those interested in dance as a career in Wales?

There are many companies across Wales which offer workshops and have associate classes. Ballet Cymru being one of them for classical dancers, and also National Dance Company Wales offer associates which focus on contemporary dance.

How do we get involved in your dance projects?

We are touring Roald Dahl’s Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs across Wales this season, opening on May the 20th in the Riverfront, Newport and continue to perform until early July. It will be a really fun performance to watch and is great for all ages! The company will also be teaching workshops in some of the venues we are touring to so there are plenty of opportunities to get involved! We are also performing Romeo and Juliet for a small section of the tour in Portsmouth, Llanelli and Stevenage which will be a contrasting production to the more lighthearted Red Riding Hood.

Do you have any advice for anyone interested in following your career path?

To work as hard as you can but also to enjoy every moment of the process. It’s a career which requires a lot of determination and you will always encounter a lot of setbacks but the rewards always make every moment of perseverance worth it. I would also say to take every opportunity given to you, even if you think it might be relevant to what you’re interested in, but you would be surprised! I would try as many different styles of dance as possible but also to experience other art-forms to broaden your mind and experience something new. It’s always invaluable to have as much experience in anything you can, as you never know what will be thrown at you either in choreography or as a character in a production!

Thanks for your time Gwen

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEba85Bo2lq/?hl=en
http://welshballet.co.uk

Dance

Review Into The Hoods Remixed, Peacock Theatre, By Hannah Goslin

May 12, 2016 Hannah Goslin Leave a comment

Into the Hoods Remixed

Zoonation

Peacock Theatre

06/05/16

(4 / 5)

Audio file of review

Within current theatre, diversity is a huge conversation topic and issue in the industry.

When you hear ‘hip hop’, ‘street dance’ and ‘the hood’ our minds across the board think of stereotypical urban scenes, characters and storylines. ZooNation are a fantastic company – from difference in race, ability, gender, body types, the troupe of dancers range in all these aspects, and not to make a point but because they are talented, passionate and perfect for the roles.

It is refreshing to see that there is comedy played on the stereotypes that is thought of urban areas and ZooNation uses the ‘Into the Woods’ story to transform a once predominantly white European Grimm Fairy-tale–esque story into a modern and comical production.

As a former street dancer, I have noticed over the years the transformation of the industry. Coming from a popular era where street dance was fluid, to the past few years where popping and locking has become more common, ZooNation combine not only choreography that you cannot take your eyes off, but they introduce contemporary dance, break dance, even 1920’s flapper moves. This with the combination of a range of music from the more hard core hip hop, to 70’s favourites, the company creates a clever illusion of this fantastical world.

It is usual that a play has one main character, or a performer who stands out. Into the Hoods Remixed makes this decision hard. The concept of the story line – a fairy-tale land where we meet all our favourite characters from Cinderella to Rapunzel [Or in this case, Spinderella and Rap-un-zel] the principal characters are abundant – and so are the performers. Not a single performer is unable to embody whatever character they are, and this is implemented through their dancing, never breaking character. This troupe not only compete for the limelight, forcing us to love them all for each individuality, but also show that as a team and a dance group, they connect well and play off one another with great skill.

The set itself is fantastic – well constructed visuals of tower blocks, cartoon characters running through the backdrop and minimalist prop and staging helps us to create the scene. In addition to this, the voice over narrator occasionally setting the scene and the performers brilliant execution, Into the Hoods Remixed does nothing but leave you astounded and with a huge grin on your face.

Dance, Theatre

Review Origins – Animikii Theatre by Hannah Goslin

May 9, 2016 Hannah Goslin 2 Comments

(3 / 5)

In this darkened room at the bottom of the Southbank Centre, an intimate setting with a small audience feels like a secret space for a spiritual group. 4 poles lit up, one with a hooded robe draped on it and boxes that remind me of some form of religious set, there’s a serious feel to the atmosphere, cleverly set by this staging and lighting that we are made to feel anxious for the performance to commence.

A physical theatre piece, the biblical story of Abel and Cain is the premise for this beautiful piece of work. For those unknown to the story, as I was myself, these two brothers are the direct descendants of Adam and Eve. Eventually, Cain murders his brother Abel which is unclear in the bible as to why. Many have understood it as it was through jealousy and envy in God’s attention to Abel and not Cain. Unfamiliar to this story, a piece made of physicality and sounds and no speech, Animikii Theatre did a fantastic job in telling the story.

We are introduced to these shirtless characters, who play with one another using the space to give the initial build-up of the brotherly connection. Using laughter, sounds and imitation of actions through avant garde physical metaphors, the audience giggle along with the almost caveman-like attitudes and relationship. This is all set in the concept of Cain’s memory – switching from fun memory and obvious timeline of events, to Cain’s switch into turmoil at this reminiscence.

The movement and choreography of the piece brings us into mystical interpretation of what leads to Cain’s mental destruction. A wonderful dreamlike state, Abel’s loveable and fun character turns into a devil like character in a red robe, who tricks Cain into false sense of securities. It’s unclear who this character is until we return to ‘reality’. The performers do well to switch from positive to negative, to evil to innocent and while we know the final out come from the initial physical summary at the beginning, it is still a shock.

The lighting in this dark room is versatile, and while we should base physical theatre pieces of the movement, the contouring of the body and interpretation, the lighting plan highlights the men’s bodies in these states to render us in awe at their physical abilities.

Origins creates the right atmosphere and does well to use physicality and sound to bring this ancient story to life. We are pulled into the biblical story without a feeling that we are being forced religion upon us. We relate to the relationships and actions which is in your face but not negatively.

Dance

Review Sleeping Beauty Wales Millennium Centre by Patricia Stowell

May 9, 2016 Patricia Stowell Leave a comment

Patricia is part of the Time Credit network supported by Spice. She accessed her tickets through volunteering in her local community.

(5 / 5)

Many volunteers and Spice Time Credit users recently had an unexpected and very welcome trip to the ballet Sleeping Beauty. Wales Millennium Centre had generously offered tickets to be used by members of the community who could ‘pay’ with their well earned Time Credits. The tickets were quickly taken up and many had to admit that they had never seen a ballet and some had never visited the WMC before so what an opportunity this was to get close up and personal to a fabulous performance.

But this was no ordinary Sleeping Beauty. The Matthew Bourne production was full of colour, movement and energy performed to the well known music by Tchaikovsky. It was a gothic tale for all ages, a love story fraught with curses and spells. The costumes were outstanding, from the very first scene setting the christening of Aurora with a life-like puppet of the baby girl drawing in the audience from the beginning. We watched as the familiar fairy tale of a young girl cursed to sleep for one hundred years was enacted and danced through various scenes.

As Aurora grows up, we were taken through the fashions of the day, including a genteel tennis game followed by afternoon tea on the lawn, watching the antics of her suitors as they tried to gain her attention. Years later, when Aurora wakes up, we are in the modern world, still beset with many temptations and sinister goings-on.

It was an outstanding performance, full of magic, fairies, vampires, love and romance, danced by incredible dancers . There was certainly no falling asleep during this performance.

Thank you once again to the Wales Millennium Centre for giving us the opportunity to experience a beautiful and amazing ballet.

Creating opportunities for a diverse range of people to experience and respond to sport, arts, culture and live events. / Lleisiau amrywiol o Gymru yn ymateb i'r celfyddydau a digwyddiadau byw