Issue 8 by Garble

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THE INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION BY STUDENTS OF LONDON CONTEMPORARY DANCE SCHOOL

CONTENTS

Issue 8 | November 2012

LCDS Goes Forth - The Apprentices

The Place Prize Interviews - Rick Nodine and Eva Recacha.

14 - Dance and Dancing How much dancing does it take to make a dance?

The CDD Student Conference.

How To Lose A Loan In 7 Days - Dance Umbrella 2012

22 - Reviews:

Lost Dog, Cedar Lake, Rosas, Michael Clark and more...

26 - Garble Over Lunch, With Jonathan Burrow 29 - London’s Live Music for Students. 30

Everything Else - Dance fashion, breaking news and video corner.

What’s On? - In Dance, Art and Theatre.

FIND GARBLE ONLINE:

+ Read the full issue at WWW.ISSUU.COM/LCDSGARBLE + On Twitter - @LCDSGARBLE + On Facebook - WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/LCDSGARBLE + For Submissions, Email us @ LCDSGARBLE@GMAIL.COM

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Spartacus Chetwynd, Turner Prize 2012 - see ‘Whats On’, page 32

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Editor’s Note. Welcome to Issue 8 of Garble, our interview-tastic bundle of dance musings. If you are unfamiliar with our particular brand of journo-twaddle, then hello! Its lovely to meet you. Garble is the independent student publication written solely by students of LCDS. We are always looking to expand our repertoire of fabulous contributors, from first years to postgrads, so whether you are a first year of a postgrad and you are interested in helping out, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via the avenues below. In this issue we ask more questions than you can grand battement towards - Screw the meaning of life, what is the meaning of dance?

Editor

James Morgan

Contributors

Kit Brown Declan Whitaker Emilia Gasiorek Celina Liesegang Rosalie Spalls Sophie Morgan Jack Sergison Lena Krause

Special Thanks to

David Steele Mary Bullard LCDS

Book’. Above: Spartacus Chetwynd for the Turner Prize.

The Garble Team:

Cover Image: Eva Recacha & Alejandro Ospina,‘Bitácora’s

We have interviewed this years Place Prize Finalists, the current LCDS Apprentices and the marvellous Jonathan Burrows in ‘Garble Over Lunch’ - If you haven’t read ‘A Choreographers Handbook’, run to the library right now and bury your head in his infinite wisdom. We will also be talking a little about the upcoming CDD student conference, dissecting Dance Umbrella and as always, there’s a bit of irrelevence at the back. Enjoy!

GARBLE | 3

LCDS GOES FORTH

The Apprentices

Mari Colbert, Andrew Macleman and PJ Hurst. Interviewed by Emilia Gasiorek

................................... I had a chat with Rick Nodine, Finalist of the

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Place . . . . .Prize ................

LCDS Graduation Performance: Richard Alston’s Ceremony of Carols. Photo by Gosia Wilda

With the arrival of the first years it’s equally strange to see new faces as it is to not see the old; to mistakenly head off to a F1 class and to feel confused when you see Music is your next class. I caught up with some of the faces that we no longer see in the corridors and café. To put it simply the three I spoke to (Mari Colbert, PJ Hurst and Andy Mac) are doing fantastically – each on a different apprenticeship scheme organised by LCDS. EG: What’s it like being a recent graduate? PJH: I feel like a real adult now, which is strange because when I was studying I already thought I was. MC: Both terrifying and incredibly exciting! The Place is packed with some of the best teachers and while they do an excellent job, nothing quite prepares you for the professional environment. The trouble with training is that things becomes familiar and comfortable. There is a very high standard and variety out there with passionate dancers who want it just as much as you. You graduate feeling on top of the

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world and then you realise how much more there is still to learn. The dancers in DDT (Danish Dance Theatre) are so inspiring to be around and I feel like this new and professional environment has rekindled my desire to discover as much as I can! AM: Personally I found it almost comforting to know that I still had The Place to rely on; I go to the same building and see friendly faces around. I think that my peers had grasped the idea of having moved on quicker than I did. Its also great to be paid for performances; Alston treats his dancers and apprentices very well. I’ve managed to keep close to good friends in London and abroad. You simply make the effort to hang out with those you used to see every day or just chat over Skype. EG: Tell me how your apprenticeship works? Your average day? PJH: I was on the apprenticeship scheme with Protein but I got the job and am now a full company member! Our days are pretty irregular as it’s a touring piece. There’s always the standard show preparation.

But what with travelling to the venue and everything else it’s a pretty heaving schedule. MC: Every morning there is a choice of contemporary or ballet but the company all do ballet and then rehearsals begin. Apprentices understudy a lot, which is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do! But just from watching we’ve managed to learn the movement of two pieces, all just in case someone becomes injured. We’re now learning the piece that we will perform and tour with the company. AM: The average day starts with class leading into rehearsals. We finish at different times depending on the amount of rehearsing that is needed. If we’re on tour travelling will be taken into account and on performance days we’ll tend to start later and then do tech runs for each piece. EG: Any performances coming up? PJH: The tour is taking us to some pretty amazing places. We’re off to Columbia, Thailand and India. It’s from November to December – so I won’t be sleeping in my own bed for a month! MC: January – March all over Denmark and into Germany. AM: Our next performance is in Glasgow in November, then we perform in Cheltenham which is the first time I’ll be performing in Unfinished Business, so I’m quite excited!

and with relatively no experience of how to suss out what the choreographer wants. The experienced dancers have a natural affinity with Richard and Martin’s work which makes it nice to watch how quickly ideas and material are generated. EG: Any words of wisdom for the new third years hoping to find themselves in your shoes? PJ: Don’t worry too much. After all the hype of apprenticeships auditions you will find that work begins to crop up in September. It’s important that throughout everything you are human and happy for other people. My year were and still are fantastic in that there is so much support for everyone.

Andy Mac in the studio at LCDS

MC: It’s really hard to say, it is just so different. But I think one obvious thing is the independence, you have to become your own teacher. You have to start living and running your life effectively, finding ways of getting money to feed yourself and house yourself, no more student loan! But it’s so much fun, I promise.

MC: Learn how to learn from watching - how to truly understand how an individual is embodying movement. Class... Go to class every... single… day. Unless you are so unwell you can’t move, or you have something highly contagious. Its not only about getting physically stronger or building stamina, but about finding how to dance the way that you want to. Stay curious and open minded. Never, ever think that you have finished learning. If you stay inquisitive I think the harder days become less frequent and you continue to love what you do. Ok, enough of the clichés, now go to Mabel’s, buy yourself something nice, enjoy the good company and lose yourself in a good ol’ chinwag… Life’s far too serious to take it seriously…

AM: The biggest difference is the amount of people around me. I have the same 9 people dancing with me and the same two people choreographing or cleaning work. Theres the pressure of knowing that while you’ve been chosen for the way you move, you’re not a fully contracted dancer but an apprentice who has never done the touring “thing” before...

AM: Biggest words of advice? A few… But the main thing is to not allow yourself to be tainted by auditions. Continue to be very real about what you’re looking for and why you did or did not get where you wanted to be. Mock auditions can turn people sour but train yourself to own the mindset of “water off a duck’s back”. It really, really helps.

EG: Biggest difference from being at LCDS everyday to being out in the ‘big wide world’? PJH: I think I would say that I’m now much more focused on performance. I now spend my days concentrating on the show that evening more than anything else.

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PLACE PRIZE INTERVIEWS

Rick Nodine

Interviewed by Declan Whitaker ................................... I had a chat with Rick Nodine, Finalist of the Place Prize. He speaks to us about being a ‘Dead Head’, how he got into dance and his thoughts on The Place Prize. ................................... DW: First of all congratulations on making the finals of the Place Prize! RN: Thanks. DW: How do you feel about being in the final and how did you feel when you found out? RN: I’m happy that I’m in the final. I didn’t suffer too much with stress about the competition thing, I didn’t watch the last night, I just came down to hear the result. First of all they said they’d announce it around 11pm but they kept putting it off - that was quite nerve wracking. So I was in this sweaty theatre bar and people kept coming over to speak to me and I wasn’t feeling exactly sociable. I kinda just wanted to sit in the corner and have a beer! So it was somehow a relief that it was over - the tension was finished. DW: Obviously you’d always hope you’d make it to the final. Did you feel, based on how it went, that you would? RN: I was kinda surprised. The piece was um, kind of a straight dance theatre piece. There’s a narrative, it’s autobiographical and I’ve never made a piece like that before - that sits so neatly into a genre. So, I didn’t have a sense that it was something I knew how to do. It felt like new territory. I knew I had a good process and that I got a lot out of it but I didn’t know what it was as a product until I started speaking to people after the semi final. I didn’t know until then that it was reaching people, people were coming to me after the show and it seemed it it was communicating to people somehow.

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DW: The piece is called Dead Gig and it refers to your experience as an adolescent with the rock band The Grateful Dead. You mentioned that being a Dead Head influenced your introduction to dance. Could you tell us a bit more about that? RN: I suppose a lot of people come to dance by studying dance in a formal sense. It certainly wasn’t my introduction to dance and I think this has influenced how I approach dance, all the way through my career. My starting point was not so much about form it was really about pleasure - the enjoyment of dancing and in a situation where people are dancing together out of enjoyment. There wasn’t really a relationship to what you look like, in the way that...I mean people judge...People would say that I stood out - I had some qualities - but they spoke about things differently to how you and I would speak about dance in the terms of performance and contemporary dance. It’s more about people recognising that you’re deeply involved or having a good time. Perception is completely different. DW: So it’s an idea based on you dancing at a gig or rock concert? RN: Yeah, I mean some people come to dance through clubbing but I mean more about ecstatic dance rather than practiced dance. I guess the piece is a bit about that. But if you’re gonna put dance on stage, you need to pay attention to form and our audience and context.

Above: Rick Nodine, Dead Gig. Opposite: Rick Nodine in Place Prize Promo shot. Photos by Benedict Johnson.

DW: In your entry video you mention ecstasy vs aesthetic. Is that what you were referring to? RN: I think I used the word ecstatic rather than ecstasy as it’s specific to the emotion. I wasn’t trying to be puritanical and steer away from drug references. But the truth is the piece is about feeling ecstatic about dance not just a general feeling of ecstasy, ‘cause that could come from a number of sources. I was trying to focus on how that transformed itself into me taking dance somewhere else. DW: The piece is a solo. Obviously it’s autobiographical. How important was it that you found the line between nostalgia, that was for you, and something that was expressed to the audience. It might have been really easy to just gush about your favourite band. RN: I think it’s a great question and it was something I worried about. It’s important I was worried ‘cause I coulda really indulged in the nostalgia. But...It relates to the earlier questions about not knowing what I had until late in the process. What I realised after the preview is that the parts people responded to the most were the moments when I indulged in the nostalgia, that is what was touching people. Rather than it being

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”My starting point was not so much about form, it was really about pleasure” ...................................

a problem, I worked on finding more sense of nostalgia - it’s what gave the piece it’s power. DW: I guess it’s infectious to watch someone enjoy themselves on stage. RN: It’s a tricky thing to just say I’m gonna enjoy myself, how do you genuinely do that? Maybe you’re not enjoying yourself. But hearing people’s reactions it made me think it’s okay to indulge and actually the more formal aspects of the piece were weaker and were when people were losing touch. It was interesting reversal, from being worried: is it too selfish? But it ended up that’s what people wanted. DW: The score was made by Jamie McCarthy. RN: Actually no, in the program I credited him as helping to devise the piece. He’s a great person to collaborate with not just in terms of music. He was very sup-

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PLACE PRIZE INTERVIEWS

portive, asking the right questions and suggesting a way forward. The wording was quite specific, I think he was credited as something different to sound design. He felt he didn’t design anything - I don’t think that’s true. The music was taken from a series of concerts in 1969 (I didn’t go to any I’m not that old!) Jamie arranged these. DW: You used text and speech and music too… RN: Yeah Jamie helped arranged all that. His expertise is great.

a perfect world and they’re doing a good job. I don’t think there’s a situation where you’re not under pressure to find money… DW: Yeah, you’re always gonna be fighting for money somewhere, funding applications… RN: It’s not that I agree with competitions and voting but if you look at the big picture there’s always pressure. I’d much rather suffer the audience vote than have to write a report about the project afterwards! 6 of one, half a dozen of the other.

DW: I suppose it’s less about ‘This is a good piece, let’s throw money at it’ - in the sense of a value judgement - it’s more about enabling someone to fulfil their project. RN: Yeah. With the Arts Council it’s unclear whether they do it because they think a project is good. It’s one of the things I prefer about applying to the Place Prize - the system for applying with ACE is very little about the work. They’re incredibly bureaucratic, they’re oriented to Rick Nodine and a rather fetching veil. things that have nothing DW: The Place to do with art. It’s about budgets, targets, statistics - the Place Prize is much Prize offers quite a large sum of money more about the work, it’s superior in that way. to the winner. Other arts competitions like the Turner Prize have come under DW: One of the other things, reading reviews scrutiny over the competitive aspect of a subjective medium. What are your and looking on twitter and the response from that social media world, was that a lot thoughts on the competition aspect? of people were questioning whether the title RN: One thing is for sure. You’re always gonna is still relevant and if it should be amended to feel good about doing well in a competition. I the Place Prize for performance - not dance. can’t really speak from a neutral perspective but the theatre are commissioning 16 works that the One of the things that comes up was ‘how much dance should be in a dance piece’ and Arts Council aren’t. I mean obviously there’s no right or wrong They’re trying to strike a balance between makbut it’s an interesting thought that some peoing it popular and interesting for people, it’s not DW: Was it maybe a restraint for you to just think ‘Im just gonna pick my favourite song’ and dance to it? RN: Yeah...we didn’t pick any of my favourites, they didn’t seem right. Not that they were irrelevant but there were ones that seemed to fit better. It was more that we listened to the recordings and Jamie pulled out what made sense sound wise - some are half speed, some pre recording, sections…

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Rehearsing for Inner Orbit, LCDS Graduation show, July 2012. Photo by Rick Nodine.

ple think the title should be changed. RN: Difficult for me to comment. On the preview night, there was one guy who wasn’t primarily a choreographer. He did stuff with video, but of course, it depends what you think is choreography. You could say that his piece was very much about choreographic concerns. It was about space and a body in space and placing a body in space. Which is different to my piece which had a narrative. So you could say his piece was more concerned with choreography than mine. But of course mine had dancing, so nobody would question if mine was not: It was dance theatre, they saw steps, no one has an issue with that. I heard similar things about Dance Umbrella this year, there were similar debates. For me it’s more about if something’s good or not. I saw something I felt was there ‘cause it’s sort of in fashion at the moment to talk about dance and philosophy rather than actually dance. If the piece was good I probably wouldn’t mind, but it wasn’t a strong work. It’s possibly been programmed as it fits into this new genre but it hasn’t been vetted on quality. That bothers me,

I’d rather have watched a good dance. But you could take it so far and be so conservative that things would move backwards. DW: I think it was Joe Moran who posted on twitter saying ‘I thought we agreed fifty years ago dance could be anything’. RN: It’s interesting ‘cause he made such a traditional dance piece for the Place Prize. It’s true also, in the 60’s people made walking and standing pieces, talking about them as physical/choreographic concerns, and they were. Steve Paxton’s walking pieces, we’re dance pieces ‘cause they highlighted the specificity and detail of how different people walk. When you take movement and ask an audience to look at it closely to scrutinise then it becomes choreography. DW: Indeed! Thanks and we look forward to the Final! Good luck.

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PLACE PRIZE INTERVIEWS

Eva Recacha

Interviewed by Declan Whitaker It must be exciting to have the chance again - quite nerve wracking too! What are your thoughts on the other finalists?

I had a chat with Rick Nodine, Finalist of the Place Prize

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................................... Garble congratulates LCDS’ own Eva Recacha on her second time in The Place Prize finals. We caught up with her to discuss The Wishing Well and her creative and competitive experiences. Her new piece, Easy Rider (which was shown in an early state last year, in studios one and two), will be premiered in early 2013

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Firstly congratulations. This is your second time as a Place Prize finalist. How do you feel and how did you feel when you found out? I feel happy about it. It is a good thing for me and for the people that have worked with me in this project. It means more exposure, more people watching the work and talking about it, more feedback for us, a stronger profile, and the wonderful opportunity to have a two week run of the piece in London, that in particular is what makes me most happy; I love seeing the work on stage, that’s the reason behind the making.

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I am happy with the final programme (as I was the previous time I made it to the finals too). I love Rick’s work, I have been a fan for a long time and he knows it. Riccardo has been someone that I have been interested in since he was my student in school, and we have helped each other in different forms since. And H2 are a company whose work I have followed for quite some time too, because of their use of text and voice. I am happy to share the evening with them and to be able to see their work again and again. We all have a different touch, something unique to offer, and as an audience I value that. Yeah, it’s quite an interesting programme which will make the finals exciting. Are you more determined to win - is it even about winning? I am quite careful not to get into the competition aspect of the platform, although it is impossible to fully alienate yourself from it. I think this is a personal choice, you do what works for you. For instance, I make sure I do not see any of the entry videos of the other semifinalists until the first round of shows are over, I avoid reading stuff about the “competitors” on facebook, and I focus on making the work I have a desire for, being as removed as possible from the context of the competition. This is what I need; focusing on making rather than on competing. For me the competition has to do with marketing the platform and getting loads of people interested in coming and engaging with the new works. One of the great things I have found about doing the Place Prize is that I have been able to follow a simple and useful application process, I have been given the means to do the work, and I haven’t had to worry about selling it, marketing it, promoting it, etc. I have been able to focus on solely making the work. This is a luxury for a choreographer.

Problems Made Pointless rehearsing in studio 8 Above: Eva Recacha & Alejandro Ospina, Bitácora’s Book. Opposite: The Wishing Well by Eva Recacha Dancer: Martha Pasakopoulou. Photo by Benedict Johnson

What are your expectations? My expectations? That this work will contribute to make the next work possible and that Martha will be able to perform it many more times. The piece is called The Wishing Well and seems to concern itself with ritual, dreams and the idea of expectations from faith or perhaps religion. What was your stimulus for creating the piece? There are several seeds and sources blended in The Wishing Well. I wanted to make a collage, juxtaposing different fragments of memories all related to the ideas of hope, dreams, and desires. I chose to have a fictitious character as a vehicle for these memories to emerge, and to portray the activity of wishing. Are these ideas related to personal beliefs or observations and perceptions of others? I had to choose which specific memories to deal with, and I used as a primary source memories of my own, not necessarily about me. I was interested in the idea

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“The wonderful opportunity to have a two week run of the piece in London, that is what makes me most happy.”

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of wishing as a motor for life, how our wishes materialise and what they become or turn into as time goes by. What do we seek? Do we hold this important or banal? What’s the difference between one system of belief and another? What item/idea/experience/belief holds our ‘ultimate desire’?, Does this change? Do we change? Do we betray ourselves? Do we fall into traps? These are questions that matter to me because of the particular history I have lived and the context and culture I was brought up in.

Continued over the page...

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Easy Rider - Eva Recacha. A new work to be premiered in Spring 2013. Current R&D mentored by Rui Horta.

You’re being mentored by Rui Horta. You’ve said that “I wanted to bring something from my history and culture into the piece, and found this concept of the constant need of a third party intriguing”. How impactful was Rui’s presence in regard to this? Rui was key in this. Up until meeting Rui in 2011, I was more focused on reflecting upon the ‘otherness’, that which I experienced because of my upbringing in a different culture than the one I lived in. After a week’s workshop with him I drafted a solo that used my personal history as a subject. It was a very difficult thing for me to do, I felt almost ‘obscene’ using my own emotional landscape and registers. Nevertheless, I did something that held integrity, that was very powerful and had a huge potential to be developed. I knew it, he knew it, he told me, and that was the beginning of a year long introspective line of work that so far has produced two different works: Bitácora’s Book and The Wishing Well.

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“I knew it, he knew it, he told me, and that was the beginning of a year long introspective line of work...” ...................................

The piece weaves text and movement. Why was this important for you? A lot of my work revolves around the idea of seeking meaning. I have invested in using mainly two different mediums (movement and text) in order to be able to use one to translate, interpret, illustrate, or dialogue with the other, as a form of questioning conceptualisation. It is a game I particularly enjoy, since it shakes the very pillars of my understanding. I also use this dialogue as a form of allowing the audience to access the way in which the materials of the

PLACE PRIZE INTERVIEWS

work are used and played with, it is like providing a key to unlock the compositional rules. In this particular work the voice-over is also ‘the third party’, that which oversees, governs, dictates, interprets our actions, it can be your own conscience, or something external, the important thing about it is that it very quickly gains power and it is easy to be subdued by it. It is a god-like figure, if you are not alert it will shape your reality. The Wishing Well is a solo made by you on another dancer. Were you ever tempted to create something on yourself and explore your own physicality? Yes I have been tempted, and the first work I made following the original thread discovered with Rui Horta was performed by me. And I will get back to that because I am not done with it, and my team is not done with it either.

The Place Prize offers quite a large sum of money to the winner. Similar arts competitions like the Turner Prize have come under scrutiny for their competitive nature in a subjective medium. What are your thoughts on this? As you say, to compete in a subjective medium seems an oxymoron. And it is. That is the reason why I try to forget about the competitive side of the Prize. The Prize is the engine. An engine that serves different purposes: production, marketing, validation, dissemination. I respect the work of the judges very much. It is very difficult, and it obviously requires subjectivity, but this subjectivity is very well informed. As a participant I need to understand that the jury may or may not share my opinion on what is best, but I can learn from what they have to say. Anyway, it is a competition, it is not an oracle. Nothing is infallible.

Is the title still relevant as The Place Prize for Dance? There has been The Wishing Well - Eva Recacha. Photo from her How do you think debate that it should Place Prize entry video. it would have be changed to the Place changed this piece Prize for performance. or the narrative aspects of the work to perWho’s to say how much dance should be in form it yourself? a dance piece? Making the piece on Martha Pasakopoulou was challenging because I needed to find the same sense of truthfulness and integrity through another performer, but I knew Martha was the right person to do this. She had certain traits and a stage presence that I knew would suit the character I had been working on. I have learned a lot from this experience, and I think all of us in the team understand better where we want to go next. That is one of the beauties of making work; solving one problem, then you find the next.

Everybody can have an opinion on this. Makers, audiences, experts, academics, journalists, promoters... one only needs to understand who says what, what is their background, what is their knowledge, what are their interests, and then one can form one’s own opinion about it. Ultimately, I personally believe the decision is that of the organisers. They make The Place Prize for Dance. They will know what they are seeking to promote and to encourage and how they want to call it. I am happy with the Dance word in it, because that is what I do, dance. +

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HOW MUCH DANCING DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE A DANCE?

| Text and Doodles by James Morgan |

I have been forced to ask myself specifically, dance can be a noun or a verb. this question a LOT recently. With the I love to dance. I do it in the studio, the Place Prize finalists chosen, and Dance Um- shower, the club. A dance is more tricky to brella having drawn to a close for another pin down... year, many have questioned the program- In September I turned to the ever-reliable mers choice to favour more conceptual social media bitching ground and tweeted: works; where “Anyone else was the dancthoroughly bored ing? What do of people comyou expect when plaining there you show up for isn’t enough an evening of ‘dance’ in ‘dance’? dance? What I for one could should you exdefinitely cope pect? Surely the with less...” I amount of dancsoon felt the twiting in a dance tersphere erupt in piece shouldn’t a fiery pandemoChoreographer extraordinaire Chris Brown, breaking boundaries as usual... determine its nium of passionvalue? How ate debate. Well, many ‘steps’ a few people reshould there plied. Then we, in be in a piece of New Art Club - Quiet Act of Destruction @ Soho Theatre a very respectful dance? wholly unSurely the amount of dancing and predictable manin a dance shouldn’t These are ineviner, made some determine its value? tably very difficomments about cult questions to arts critics and answer, and certainly require careful un- producers and blamed it all on them. picking. What is maybe most problematic is the definition we give to dance and its Many have pointed out that the The Place apparent interchangeability with the word Prize selection favours a particular type of dancing. They are very different. Or more work. It seems that they are surprised there

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FIND THIS ARTICLE: ‘What Strictly Come Dancing can teach Dance Umbrella’, The Telegraph (duh). Fun game - read it and see if you get as angry as we did. On ‘Cheap Lecture’ and ‘the Cow Piece’ by Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion: “There was a lot of philosophising about dance, but hardly any movement, let alone actual steps”... See Kit Brown’s, ‘How To Lose a Loan In 7 Days’ for more on this article.

wasn’t much ‘pure’ dance. I don’t quite understand however, how you can claim all of the work fit into one of two boxes - pure dance, and everything else. The approaches and styles of work were actually incredibly diverse. Having said that, it is difficult not to find yourself judging works on their ratio of ‘dancing’ to ‘other’. My own personal reaction is often: “For a pure dance work, that was amazing”. There, I said it - we all have our hang ups. This really isn’t cool though, and I feel quite certain that the style of a work shouldn’t dictate its value. Just because there weren’t discernible ‘steps’ in either Ben Ash or Mamoru Iriguchi’s works doesn’t mean they were at all alike, or that they weren’t dance for that matter. The idea of a contemporary dance competition confuses this further. It is a simple yet somewhat problematic conception - 200 applicants, 16 commissioned works of very different natures and one big prize lump of money. I feel that when all of the works are so fundamentally different, it is easy to ac-

cidentally judge the type of work before you judge the quality. With our art form inching its way further into the public consciousness, taste becomes ever more important and factions tend to emerge. ‘Contemporary dance’ has emerged, phoenix like, from postmodernism’s black and white unitarded corpse, but these two words don’t actually mean very much on their own. We decided dance can be anything 50 years ago. Want to have a wank on stage? Cool, its been done before, fire away! However, this does leave us in a certain kind of vacuum, where there is a lot of disparity; taste can be more of a driving force than artistic innovation. Dance by its definition is an art form, and like the other visual arts, should be moving forwards; to try and pin it down can only hold it back. Tino Sehgal’s recent work, ‘These Associations’ comes to mind. His recent installation in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern saw 30+ performers (apparently even I struggle Continued over the page...

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HOW MUCH DANCING?

to use the word dancers), running, singing and flocking around the space, entering into conversations with the audience before dissolving, invisible, back into the crowd. It was an extremely moving piece of work which highlighted both the superficial level with which we normally engage with the people around us and the power we possess when unified. A very different company, New Art Club also frolicks on the dance/other border. Though this time packaged as a comedy show (the venue being the clue - Soho theatre), Roden and Shenton typically perform at dance venues and undoubtedly fuse stand-up comedy with elements of contemporary dance. Though this was apparently not dance, there was movement and a perceptible choreographic voice was present throughout. These works are not so obviously dance, but they certainly reference it and derive from a similar set of values, which shines through in

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their execution. In this sense, I wonder why it is that we need to call these things dance? Why is it important? In a time when everything is stolen from and influenced by everything else, it seems problematic to get hung up on these labels. It occurs to me however that dance comes with its own set of baggage; expectancies, cliques and dusty tendus, which are in some way separate to the other arts, coming from a time when different art forms were not so integrated. Maybe the label we give to any piece of work can merely represent the artists approach to an artistic problem; it marks a starting and not a finishing point. Maybe it is the acknowledgement of what has come before that determines whether what you are doing is dance. Want to call it dance? Do it, why not? It is after all, up to the programmers to decide where the workâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relevance lies. Now can we all agree that dances with, and dances without dancing can be shit? +

‘COLLABORATION’ AND THE CDD CONFERENCE | Text by James Morgan and Celina Liesegang | Every year in January, the staff from all eight Conservatoire for Dance and Drama (CDD) schools pop off to one of their prestigious constituent buildings for a frenzied day of keynote speeches, hilariously unresolvable problems and endless urns of tea and coffee. We thought it was time us students gave it a shot, and this Sunday at LCDS we finally will. As much as we’d have loved to invite everyone from the affiliate schools, squeezing into studio 1 may have been an issue, so we limited numbers to 4 from each institution. Not to worry - a video of the debates will be available to stream online from next week, on the CDD website. Our aim for the day is to stimulate debate and discussion between the students of the CDD, and get them thinking about some of the issues at the core of their industry. Hopefully in bringing the attendees together, we will do the same with their respective institutions, helping begin a move towards more robust and meaningful artistic relationships and a reflection on the unexplored opportunities that can arise from our affiliations. In the past, inter-school collaborations have been criticised for merely going through the motions and being in practice, merely superficial and compromised get-togethers. We are attempting to break this cycle, the day in itself being an open collaboration of ideas which will hopefully leave a lasting impression on those involved. The topic of the day felt natural to be ‘collaboration’.

The day will focus around a discussion on this enigma of a word, with a diverse panel of speakers: Wendy Houstoun, dance artist; Emma Gladstone, producer at Sadler’s Wells; Lyn Gardner, arts correspondent at the Guardian; Theron Schmidt, theatre and liberal arts lecturer at King’s College London, Simon Ellis, dance artist and lecturer at Rohampton University; and Peter Farley, theatre design artist and lecturer at Wimbledon College of Art. Previous attempts to connect arts institutions have flopped. The ALCA (Association of the London Colleges of the Arts) is an organisation which aimed to create a platform for student artists to meet, socialise and eventually collaborate. Beginning with a facebook group, a cross-arts event was organised at The Old Vic Tunnels, intended to be one of many. With a fantastic venue, music and dance performances, art installations, and a huge DJbooth, it was a very promising event. The result however, was missing 500 or so students! Although many did attend, it really needed triple the attendees. Now the association is reduced to the original facebook group which is pretty much only used to sell used bikes, with the occasional post asking for collaborators for a project. It is a shame, but maybe opinions at the conference will provide answers to how a group like this could be useful. If you have any thoughts on the conference, pelase get in touch via the usual channels. +

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HOW TO LOSE A LOAN IN 7 DAYS | Text By Kit Brown |

Today we mourn the loss of my student loan. I propose a minute’s silence and a toast to money wellspent. It’s missing in action, frittered away in a lavish week of nights out and wild entertainment. Not Soho or Shoreditch nights out but a little closer to home: King’s Cross nights out. It all began quietly on a Saturday in October. After an evening at The Place watching RADC (in particular the fantastic new apprentices) I sprinted across to a new and unassuming venue tucked

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behind St Pancras - the Platform Theatre, the home and hub of the 2012 Dance Umbrella festival. Here, in a lecture, Rudi Laermans provided an insightful and often mind-boggling discussion of the label ‘contemporary dance’ raising issues that framed the week’s events. My next encounter with Dance Umbrella was the following week in yet another unassuming venue: Islington Central Library. Here I was confronted by a man claiming to be a book, JG Ballard’s ‘Crash’, which he recited from memory for half an hour. Those of you familiar with the

ART AND CULTURE

work will understand why this was possibly the most awkward experience of my life. I had tried to book ‘Aesop’s Fables’. Instead I was treated to an eternity staring into the eyes of a man describing the sexual thrills of car crashes in as much explicit detail as he could manage. I imagine hell is similar. Never have I been so painfully aware of my own reactions during a performance; or so painfully aware that the performer was also painfully aware of my reactions. Then that evening was New Yorker Beth Gill’s ‘Electric Midwife’. 6 dancers moved slowly in near-perfect symmetry. Again I sat with excruciating self-awareness, urgently willing my seat not to creak in the silence.

Dance Umbrella has been commissioning and presenting contemporary dance from the international scene since 1978. Sadly and despite its success, it received a massacring last year in the wake of austerity measures and 43% of its budget was cut. The director, Betsy Gregory, and this year’s co-curator, Jonathan Burrows, have successfully re-evaluated Dance Umbrella’s contribution to London’s dance scene and put together a more focussed festival with very particular propositions.

In the past the festival has blended into the contemporary dance calendar. Whilst important for bringing a huge range of work to London- from Cunningham to Emmanuel Gat to RoseAbove - Wendy Houstoun, 50 Acts. Photo by Chris And there was more. Nash. Opposite -‘Jonathan Burrows mary Lee- the festival After a brief interlude and Matteo Fargion, Cheap Lecture. Photo wasn’t focussed like it seeing Cedar Lake by Herman Sorgeloos. is now; not that vaat Sadler’s Wells and riety is a bad thing. Avant Garde at The Place I was back for Dance Umbrella 2012 felt like a real festival Burrows and Fargion, Noé Soulier, Wendy complete with a central hub, irregular timHoustoun and Nigel Charnock - to whom ings and a condensed running period. the festival was dedicated. Not forgetting Continued over the page... the mercifully free installations and work of Rosemary Lee, Tim Etchells, Lucy Cash and Becky Edmunds. There was more still but I didn’t have the time.

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Betsy Gregory speaking on opening night. Photo by Gorm Ashurst

The Platform Theatre base was a buzz of activity with speedy interviews, installations and performances. Looking around I couldn’t help but feel a little too unimportant. All the big names were there including Simon Callow, various dance chiefs, executives and choreographers, and not to mention Mansoor Ali, who I’m certain never left the building. The irregular timings and short running times of the pieces meant they didn’t dominate an evening and I was able to pop by after work or after seeing a performance at a different theatre. Probably under the influence of co-curator Jonathan Burrows (who also con-

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tributed work) the festival showed a very particular kind of dance. It has been accused of being too inaccessible but I was glad that it exposed a different side to the UK and European dance scenes. It was a festival of acquired tastes but not exclusively for the dance-initiated. Of course Saturday night Strictly Come Dancing viewers may have felt a little uncomfortable watching Burrows speak his dance or Rosemary Lee’s cohort of men drop slowly to the ground. Of course experienced dance professionals interested in the thrills of pacy, juicy, larger-than-life dancing may also have found the festival a little too dry for their palettes. That’s not the point; dance is a diverse scene

HOW TO LOSE YOUR LOAN IN 7 DAYS

and this year Dance Umbrella represented a portion of it rather than the whole thing. It was a festival you could love, like or loathe. Despite its name, Dance Umbrella didn’t only consider dance. It questioned what is relevant to dance and where dance is relevant. The work shown- abounding in theatre, voice and visual art and often lacking in recognisable steps- retained a distinct choreographic consideration. When Burrows and Fargion sat motionless and pokerfaced uttering rhythmic combinations of ‘running’, ‘turning’, ‘breathing’, ‘thinking’, ‘rising’ I experienced choreography though I may not have seen it danced. In ‘Ideography’, far less successfully, the ballet- and philosophy-trained Noé Soulier attempted to choreograph ideas rather than their expression. I’m not certain he succeeded but it was certainly an interesting sentiment if not an impossible task. In an article for The Telegraph (‘What Strictly Come Dancing Can Teach Dance Umbrella’) Sarah Crompton suggests that ‘If it [Dance Umbrella] is to survive it needs to find its own Strictly factor. And that, dare I say it, might just include a little bit of beauty and joy.’ I’d first like to point out that Dance Umbrella does have its own ‘Strictly factor’ in the form of rather out-of-place patron Arlene Phillips (who I’m now informed lost her own Strictly factor about 4 years ago). Further, Dance Umbrella 2012 has provided ‘a little bit of beauty and joy’ to those people

‘Meltdown’, Rosemary Lee’s free outdoor work on the steps by Central St Martins and Regent’s Canal.

who enjoy a different kind of beauty and joy. As with all tastes there should be progression and variety. There must be somewhere to start and something to progress to, or not; something to sink your teeth into and something to spit out. As I looked around the Platform Theatre I didn’t see swathes of empty chairs but an audience appreciative that the show hadn’t sold out like the seats. My mum has Strictly. Can’t I have Dance Umbrella? + What did you think of Dance Umbrella 2012? Tweet @lcdsgarble with your opinions. Also see our interview with Dance Umbrella cocurator, Jonathan Burrows on page 26.

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REVIEWS. ‘Panorama’ is a retrospective sketch-show featuring the remastered ‘greatest hits’ of French choreographer Philippe Decouflé. It’s a bizarre assortment of extracts. In one scene- an aerial pas-de-deux on a pulleyhe takes the boy-lifts-girl scenario to the extreme. The male hoists his partner high into the air by throwing his weight to the ground and letting the rope do the work. In another, Decouflé mimics arcade fighting Kit Brown games complete with novelty characters and repetitive sways as they wait to strike or be struck. A third vignette features the cast dressed as microbes and highlights Decouflé’s consideration of costume. Designer Philippe Guillotel puts them in stripes with tentacles, flippers and three fingers. Other costumes in the show include antlers, drill uniforms and pastel suits. The evening is all camp and kitsch and often intentionally naff. Decouflé aims for accessibility and entertainment and achieves it. Toward the end, Matthew Penchinat claims that ‘science has proven the world is bizarre’. I might argue that it is in fact Decouflé who has done that. And perhaps the most unexpected part of the evening: he cites Cunningham as an influence.

Panorama - Philippe Decouflé Company DCA @ Sadler’s Wells

‘Mono’ is a brilliant debut of the first full length work by Israeli choreographer (and recent father of twins) Itamar Serussi. Although none of the material itself has been sculpted on Serussi’s newborns, the intuition of being a father imprints itself on the movement; the only consistency is the promise of constant change. The dancers move so blindingly fast and precise, the actions take on a mercurial quality, gestures flashing into space and melting away so fast it can nearly be regarded subliminal. Some of the more exaggerated and staccato movements, like the head-down skipping and the damn impressive back arches we see repeated have a distinctive and stylised child-like quality saturating it. Although fractured and sporadic, off-the-cuff segments of unison (and the frequent nods of acknowledgment) glue the different performers together; even in break-away solos there is a feel of counterpoint as each Jack Sergison body onstage reacts across the space to another. With an equally impulsive music score, deafening percussion melts away to distorted bass throughout the hour-long motif, sometimes deviating to a much softer palette, like the resonance of wind chimes. Throughout all of this each dancer has an individual journey throughout the performance, a diverse range of characters colliding in one space. The tone is manic as atmospheres are found and torn down, a constant state of flux being shown in a fractured story arc and the percussive music. In all, Mono is a highly enjoyable collection of vignettes, and is well worth a watch; especially to see more of what Israel’s highly physical style of choreography offers.

MONO - Itamar Serussi @ The Robin Howard

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ART AND CULTURE

Michael Clark @ Barbican

Stepping into the Barbican for the first time (shame on me) I felt comfortably certain I was going to enjoy the next hour or so. Sexy people, doing sexy things, to sexy music always sounds like a recipe for delight and although I enjoyed the double bill by ballet’s curveball Michael Declan Whitaker Clark, I couldn’t help but feel a tad underwhelmed. The first piece, set to music by Scritti Politti, was satisfyingly geometric, excellently executed and displayed the astonishingly proportioned, technically fabulous dancers to their utmost. The vocab resembled elements of a technique class, danced in perfect time to the music. But since WHEN has that ever been Michael Clark’s thing?! Even the 2009 tour of ‘Come Been and Gone’ harked back to Clark’s youthful rebellion but felt more grown up, sleeker, refined. I felt that I was contextualising the piece against the idea of Clark’s previous work, and, on its own, lacked merit. A brief cameo by Clark himself giving the ‘V’s ‘ to a dancer seemed slightly disingenuous and reminded me of the shambles of a piece by Karole Armitage at last year’s Dance Umbrella. The second piece proved exciting, sexy and more current - everything the audience wanted. Relaxed Muscle provided the accompaniment with Jarvis Cocker (ex - Pulp lead singer) at the head of this synth rock trio. As Cocker traversed the stage, the graphically costumed dancers thrusted, the rock and roll played and I was figuratively fed MDMA – the lighting, music, and fit-inducing projections created a spectacle that left me buzzing.

‘It Needs Horses’, Lost Dog’s Place Prize-winning piece of dance theatre stole the show in this double bill. Featuring two dishevelled circus performers who have little with which to entertain their audience; it carries us on a journey of extreme emotions as they madly improvise in their efforts to keep the show going. While it is definitely a comic work and had almost all of the audience laughing out loud at the performer’s superb comic timing, it is also dark and provocative, with moments that cause you to look away in revulsion as the duo stoop to new lows in their desperation to satisfy. It is these awkward moments which are most profound, provoking a sense of compassion toward the performers who have just exhausted themselves in their attempt to create a viRosalie Spalls able performance. Please go and experience this for yourself as it is an almost indescribably powerful work.

It Needs Horses/ Home for Broken Turns Lost Dog @ The Robin Howard

The second piece, ‘Home for Broken Turns’ is a sequel to the first and although enjoyable, it lacks the same sense of completion that It Needs Horses offers. The work elaborates upon the poverty-stricken back story of the female character Anna in It Needs Horses and touches on themes of womanhood, matriarchal culture and female sexuality, although the highlight of this work is a series of passionate solos in which the performers use voice and movement. Viewed together both pieces demonstrate Lost Dog’s ability to conjure up a rawness of emotion and animalistic sense of humanity.

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MORE+REVIEWS. Following our technology issue, we questioned the role of technology in dance, and whether or not it has the power to move dance forward. We also looked at when it enhances a piece and when it overpowers it and when seeing Chunky Move’s ‘Mortal Engine’ I couldn’t help but question this balance. In collaboration with interactive system designer Frieder Weiss and laser artist Robin Fox, Gideon Obarzanek created a Celina Liesegang visually transcendent piece, in which the “limits of the human body are an illusion” and where the audience are taken on a fluctuating journey. The dancers’ roles change throughout, on one hand appearing and reacting as humans affected by the live interactive system which responds to their movement, and on the other as amorphous entities creating relationships and structures within the space. The technology involved, was certainly the most striking aspect of this piece, however without the human bodies traversing the space, I might have thought I was on a different planet entirely. Being inundated with smoke was a small price to pay, in order to experience the illusion of the space around us turning inside out, upside down and around. A definite must see if they ever tour this piece again!

Mortal Engine - Chunky Move @ Queen Elizabeth Hall

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet @ Sadler’s Wells

Sophie Morgan

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In their debut UK performance, New York’s Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet company captivated the North London audience at Sadlers Wells. In a triple bill with pieces by Hofesh Schecter, Alexander Ekman and Crystal Pite, the brilliantly powerful company performed three diverse choreographies and impressed the viewers with their strength, artistry and ability to adapt to different styles. Despite their contrast in style, all three creators focused on an important and compelling use of light and sound design. Schechter’s ‘Violet Kid’ had the dancers move vigorously through a dark and smoke filled space whilst three string musicians played his own tribal composition. The floor-bound movement, alongside his heavy yet energetic contemporary style was captivating to watch. In a contrasting piece ‘Tuplet’, Ekman’s comical and inventive use of light and sound touched on the rhythm and musicality of the Cedar Lake dancers. Continually switching between live sounds and pre-recorded music the dancers managed to establish a personal connection with the audience members as they hissed, whistled and hummed at them from the stage. In collaboration with lighting designer Chandra Shaker, projections were used in a pre-show whilst white light was used to create a focus on the sharp and powerful movements made by the performers. Pite’s ‘Grace Engine’, explored a narrative perhaps relatable to the person watching it. Using pedestrian movements combined with a common work suit costume design the dancers represented an average civilian who becomes caught in a tragic and/or natural disaster. This was a fantastic and diverse show for their first UK tour.

ART AND CULTURE

Cesena - Rosas @ Sadler’s Wells

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s ‘Cesena’ produced a huge split in opinions. The piece began and didn’t stray too far from almost complete darkness, lit only by a complete circle of sand. We are therefore forced to work hard for our illumination, searching for the shifting figures as they move in this light of the break of day. For some this was perhaps too much; there were many muttered ‘I wish I could see what they were doing’ and others who simply couldn’t stick out the whole hour and fifty Emilia Gasiorek minutes. And yet in this semi-darkness we do hear the voices of the singers/ dancers, we also hear the movements of their bodies, their feet and even their breath as they break the sand circle. The performance is like a very tightly linked chain of movements; sometimes the performers dance/ sing solo and at other times appear as a tableaux, paintings captured at a moment in time. The archaic images evoked by the sound of Bjorn Schmelzer’s graindelavoix ensemble are hauntingly beautiful. Undoubtedly, if seen in its original venue and at dawn the experience would have been altogether different and perhaps less of the audience would have left their seats.

Charlotte Vincent’s most recent offspring is a thought-provoking and arresting dissection of the female gender, with all its pressures, painful dichotomies and bodily fluids laid bare. Driven by the captivating presence of a young girl, Leah Yeger, the females around her present fearfully strong, but ever more confusing images of womanhood to her questioning mind. It is a mixed bag of performers, the men, women, young, old, musicians and dancers, seamlessly woven together to make this contemplative yet pleasingly strange work. Andrea Catania’s performance was unforgettable; the highlight of the piece being a solo in which she darted around the stage, with cheer and exasperation, convincing the audience, “I am a tree... I am a woman... I can be sexy”. This was full to bursting with personality and also possibly the most succinct and affecting comment made in the piece. The work is episodic, with scenes repeating and evolving throughout the work. This is mostly satisfying to watch, apart from the excessively long running James Morgan time: 2 hours, with no interval. I heard it described as ‘endurance dance theatre’, which couldn’t be more true; the average childbirth is shorter than that, right? (JOKE). The most visually and conceptually powerful images were spread too thinly, mostly saved up until the second half, meaning the work lacked the momentum to maintain itself for such a long time. I also couldn’t help thinking, even with all the fake blood and dirt flinging, it was being a little polite. Not that it necessarily needed to go kicking and screaming, I just failed to get fired up; forgive me for wanting a piece about the female experience to have a more outwardly feminist voice. Maybe that was just the men’s recurring presence - I have to say I wanted to shoo them off the stage several times.

Motherland - Vincent Dance Theatre @ Robin Howard

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JONATHAN BURROWS | Interviewed By Declan Whitaker |

................................... Jonathan Burrows - co-curator of Dance Umbrella 2012 - talks to Garble about his work, collaborators and transition from Royal Ballet to royal brilliance. ...................................

For anyone who is unfamiliar with you or your work, where did your dance career begin and where has your journey in dance taken you? You could say my dance career began by accident when I followed my sister to The Royal Ballet School at age 11, which I did mainly because it seemed an exciting thing to do. When you make this kind of move at such a young age it takes a while before you finally reach the moment when you must revisit those decisions and try to make an adult choice, whether this is something you really want to do or whether you’re just continuing because it’s all you know. I reached that point about thirteen years ago and almost stopped, and then when I started again I changed how I was working and cut down to this series of collaborations one to one with other artists. 26 | GARBLE

The Royal Ballet as an institution has a very distinctive identity in dance. How much a part of this did you feel? At school or in the company did you ever feel like there was more in you - that you wanted to be rid of any limits the Royal Ballet may have presented? To be part of an institution like The Royal Ballet is to be in the midst of something that’s a bit overwhelming and you can’t really follow or control. It’s only when you leave that you begin to unpick the positives and negatives, and I must say as I get older I feel more affection and pride for that work, and I see more the influences it’s had on me and the choices it’s given me that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. You left the Royal Ballet to find a new home at The Place. How pivotal was your introduction to Rosemary Butcher? Did these things coincide? In fact I got to know Rosemary Butcher not so long after joining the Royal Ballet, because while I

GARBLE OVER LUNCH

was still a student I’d started as a volunteer in the box office at Riverside Studios and at some point Rosemary became the first Choreographer in Residence, so we knew each other by sight. And then both of us had small kids which we took to the same playpark, where we got talking and it was out of this kind of occasional chance meeting that she asked me to work with her in 1985. She wanted to recreate two pieces she’d made in the 1970s with Julyen Hamilton and Maedee Dupres, called Landings and Space Between, which I performed with Maedee. And after that I worked on and off with Rosemary until 1991, and actually The Royal Ballet gave me time off to tour with her, which was pretty remarkable really and did show a certain understanding of my situation and how I was also interested in other things than the ballet.

whether you find people who you can collaborate with in this way. It’s never a static thing, because you change as time goes by and you have to go on negotiating and accommodating new perspectives and viewpoints between you. It’s not as simple as just leaving room for the other, you have to enjoy disagreement also, otherwise there’s no necessary friction to keep the thing alive. A Choreographer’s Handbook is the handiest book! What was the intention behind writing? Personal ideas that you needed to express, or for the benefit of dance-makers? It often takes a rhetorical tone. Perhaps it is more about thought provocation than finding answers?

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“I decided to do it the way I’d make a piece, starting at the beginning and continuing step by step until things started to connect...”

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In 1989 you met Matteo Fargion. How much did this introduction change your ideas on Dance and Performance? In A Choreographer’s Handbook, you mention an incident where the collaborative process between you and Matteo became so insular and personal that it didn’t read to the audience. For our third year students who are currently creating for their Collaborations module, what advice would you give? I met Matteo in 1988 through a mutual friend I’d met on the Gulbenkian Course for Choreographers and Composers. I’d heard a string quartet he’d written and liked it, so I asked him to write some music for a dance piece and then we kind of kept on working. After that Matteo recommended I study a bit with the composer Kevin Volans who had taught him, which has given us a lot of common ground, plus we both liked the work of Cage and Cunningham. I think it’s a matter of luck

Above: The Stop Quartet. Photo by Richard Dean. Opposite: Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion in Counting To One Hundred and One Flute Note, Photo by Herman Sorgeloos

Well I’d noticed there was no book which dealt with all the different ways we now work as choreographers, and I’d been leading a long series of discussion workshops where I’d heard and collected all these perspectives that weren’t only coming from me, but from a whole range of people from different backgrounds, and I took the risk to start writing it all down. My thought was to put these ideas together as something you could dip into or read, that might open things up, particularly for someone just starting out. That’s why a lot of it is framed as a question, so as not to pretend to anticipate what a younger person might need or think. I mean it has GARBLE | 27

GARBLE OVER LUNCH Burrows and Fargion. Photo by Chris Nash

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“Its interesting to consider why such a city has been slightly cut out of the loop of current international dance work.”

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my opinions in there, because otherwise there’d be nothing to kick against, but I did try to keep it open as far as possible outcomes might be concerned. And because I didn’t know how to write a book I decided to do it the way I’d make a piece, starting at the beginning and continuing step by step until things started to connect. And I had a lot of help from other people around me, who looked at what I was attempting and made useful comments or corrections, or suggested more stuff that could go in there. This year you co-curated Dance Umbrella. How much responsibility did you feel you were taking on? I’m aware that Dance Umbrella’s future has been threatened by financial cuts, so taking on the cocuration this year was a big responsibility. At the same time I was aware there were wonderful smaller scale performances touring internationally which hadn’t made it to London, despite there being such a strong audience for the work - almost everything at Dance Umbrella was sold-out. In a talk with Betsy Gregory, you address the idea that very successful work often doesn’t make it to 28 | GARBLE

UK audiences. Is this a taste issue or is it the ‘island mentality’ of the UK Dance scene? Betsy Gregory and I decided to use the opportunity of a revamped festival to try and re-connect London to this larger dance picture. It’s interesting to consider why such a city has been slightly cut out of the loop of current international dance work. One reason perhaps has been funding policies prioritising access and education, which have made it trickier to justify less familiar types of work, and on top of that there are the arts editors who employ critics interested mainly in ballet or large spectacle, who write often in opposition to new approaches and so erode the confidence of the audience. And the irony is that much of their writing is negative and a bit dull for ordinary readers interested in the arts. Dance Umbrella invited both established and younger artists. Dance can seem to be in a race with itself to push forwards. How important was it to find the balance for this years festival? I do look forwards to a time when a younger generation of editors and writers comes through and we can read articles about popular contemporary performance the way we do now about the visual arts. It’s such an exciting time at the moment in dance, with this sudden interest from art galleries and a new generation of choreographers who are working so confidently across borders, styles and references, and whose work is so buoyant and generous towards audience. +

LONDON’S LIVE MUSIC FOR STUDENTS

| Text by Sophie Morgan |

‘The All New Adventures of Us’, at The Bull & Gate - Monday 19th November http://www.clubfandango.co.uk/

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As students living in Central London we are exposed to some of the world’s most incredible forms of culture. However these often come at a cost which is not always possible for a dancer on a budget. Live music in London has become one of the most popular ways to enjoy an evening out with friends in a cultural atmosphere. Often free to the public, pub gigs and club events are idyllic for dancing students to let off some steam and relax after a long week.

................................... The Lexington Pub

96-98 Pentonville Road Kings Cross N1 9JB + The Lexington Pub offers live music in their upstairs area above a cosy lounge bar. With up and coming bands playing every night, it is a great place to find new and alternative music in a buzzing atmosphere.

Barfly

49 Chalk Farm Road Camden NW1 8AN + The Barfly in Camden hosts bands from a variety of genres including rock, pop, soul and many more. Always able to entertain whoever attends, the pub/club venue surprises you with its eclectic taste and enjoyable atmosphere.

Notting Hill Arts Club

21 Nottinghill Gate Nottinghill W11 3JQ + In an underground, lively venue the Notting Hill Arts Club is a great place to sit round the circular bar and listen to live bands and DJs. It famously mixes art with music and puts on unique and entertaining events.

The Lock Tavern

35 Chalk Farm Road Camden NW1 8AJ + The Lock Tavern is constantly filled with people watching a range of emerging talent in britpop and DJ sets. All about the music, this pub is elaborate in style yet has a cosy atmosphere.

The Bull & Gate

389 Kentish Town Road Camden NW5 + Playing some of London’s top local indie/ rock music, the Bull & Gate pub has been part of the growth of British bands including Blur, Coldplay and Muse. A place to go and discover something new that is destined for huge success. GARBLE | 29

It’s always one of the first questions ‘non dancers’ ask when they come to The Place: “Why do they have one trouser leg up and the other one down?”. To which we will quite often reply “Erm. I really don’t know!” This is however, just one of the distinguishing trends we dancers sport so convincingly as style choices.

Going Down Bright colours What with the winter weather rolling in fast go for muted, tonal colours and brighten with a splash of colour with your socks or legwarmers. Flip-flops and socks Lose the holiday blues look, it’s no longer summer. Stick to thick woolly socks and stop there. Ballet bun all day We’re at a contemporary dance school guys! Lose the bun and adopt a more casual barnet. Try a loose plait or hair half up/ half down.

WINTER FASHION STAY HOT IN THE COLD...

EMILIA GASIOREK WRAPS UP

Why It Works:

The hair swept back off the face exposes the neck and looks effortlessly chic.

Scarfs, shawls and snoods. In these cold winter months why not keep your scarf on for class. Get those knitting needles out (Stitch and bitch, knit and natter - go for it girls!). Why not experiment wearing an electric blanket around your neck?! Layering long tees Put tops that are long in the body underneath your average top. They break up the body and add a hint of colour. Layers in general are key this season creating the perfect je ne sais quoi look. Mesh harem pants revealing your skimpiest shorts These are your perfect twist to the regular warm up trackies. For your inner Goth!

Old worn out tees are always the best, they scream comfort and personality. Zip up hoodie with no hood. Pick them up cheap from charity shops and car booties. Left unzipped they reveal the graphic tee beneath. What? The Pret coffee is missing from her hand? Tis a staple item for budding dance students...

On The Up

SONIA SAYS: When you stumble, make it part of the dance. It’s not who you are that holds you back, its who you think you are. 30 | GARBLE

What do you have to say to Garble readers for your LAST issue, oh wise one? :(

Pair with this season’s hottest Slazenger trackies for the seamless combination of darker colours and a dancer’s individuality.

VIDEO CORNER

State of the Arts 2011 Panel: Reimagining artistic innovation

A very interesting conference from 2011, challenging traditional notions of the “new” and innovation. Search ‘State of the Arts Conference’ in Events on www.thersa.org

Taboo: Bagel Heads, National Geographic: YouTube

You have to see this to believe it. Not for those with weak stomachs.

“DAS ME”, Brooke Candy: YouTube

She’s the new Kreayshawn. Don’t tell me you’ve not heard of her either? Its trashy, white, lady-rapper goodness. (NSFW OBVS)

NATIONAL DANCE AWARDS: The nominations have been announced and its a massive pile of ballet. To be frank, the suggestions are dull, with a rather high brow nod toward contemporary dance and even then it’s underrepresented and aimed at spectacle. In a way, the idea of awards lend themselves to this type of work, where value judgement can brandish it’s objective brush over subjective art. Yawn. The only pleasant surprise was Wendy Houstoun’s nomination for outstanding female performance. And of course, we’d also like to genuinely congratulate Liam Riddick and Hannah Kidd for their nomiations! BETSY GREGORY has announced she will step down from the post of Artistic Director of Dance Umbrella next autumn, after the conclusion of the 2013 festival. THE BATSHEVA PROTESTS: Batsheva, one of contemporary dance’s leading companies have found themselves at the centre of an intricate and highly-strung political row. Back in late summer at the Edinburgh fringe festival, the company were subject to protesters, demonstrators and interruptions. Audiences sat uncomfortably, people were dragged from their seats and the dancers were forced to stop. The catalyst for this furore comes from the idea that Batsheva is considered part of the “Brand Israel” campaign to improve cultural and economic growth in Israel. As a result, the company’s international tours are funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Currently the Israeli government hold controversial power over Palestinians on the West Bank and in Gaza - demonstrators have been informing attendees of this. This is a government which is invested in “Israeli arms companies and the racist Jewish national fund which works openly to dispossess Palestinians and replace them with Jewish immigrants”. As cultural ambassadors for Israel, Batsheva are in effect, either agreeing to or turning a blind eye to the controversies of their funders and it appears the dancers are taking the brunt of the situation. On one hand allowing these performances to go ahead is to look the other way and pretend that there isn’t political upset, and on the other, this isn’t really anything to do with dance. Anyway, if you want to get a front row seat to see it kick off again, performances are at Sadler’s from 19th-21st November, though its nearly sold out + GARBLE | 31

What’s On? Our Top Picks...

DANCE

20th November - 1st December: Forced Entertainment - The Coming Storm @ Battersea Arts Centre - With anarchy, black humour and startling poignancy, Tim Etchells presents a new work of love and death, sex and laundry. The six talented performers create an epic and unstable performance. 27th November: Julyen Hamilton and Jacky Lansley - Crossing Borders @ Siobhan Davies Studios - In conversation, these two choreographers will explore some of the practices and evolution within Julyen’s work and his current thinking as a choreographer and teacher. Every Monday in November: Seke Chimutengwende and Rebecca Mackenzie - Late Night Solos @ Hen and Chickens Theatre, Highbury Corner - Two solos at 9:30pm every week, featuring stand up, storytelling, dance routines and musical numbers. 17th-18th January: BELLYFLOP - Belly of the Beast @ the Lilian Baylis - In Sadler’s new ‘Wild Card’ programme for young artists, the group presents eight works over two nights, with 2 triple-bills plus late shows in the bar. Expect conversation, mermaids, moustaches, improvisation and there will be dance. 23rd-24th January: Ballet Boyz - The Talent @ Richmond Theatre - Featuring Russell Maliphant’s ‘Torsion,’ Paul Robert’s ‘Alpha’ and ‘Void’ by Jarek Cemerek, directors Nunn and Trevitt fuse these pieces of work together with their own use of film from backstage footage. 26th January: Mansoor Ali - Medievil Minstrel @ Resolution! Robin Howard Theatre - Its an LCDS alumni-fest as the recent graduate presents a new work in the triple bill, with dancers Tim Clark, Oihana Vesga & Ellen Johansson. It imagines a medieval world where knights summon a woodwind instrument that vanished in the 15th century. Expect witch-hunts, murder, marriages and medieval torture scenes.

THEATRE

18 October - 17 November: ‘The River’ by Jez Butterworth @ Jerwood Theatre Upstairs - ‘The River’ is one of the best productions of the year, a haunting 80 minutes that again confirms the potency of Butterworth’s partnership with ‘Jerusalem’ director Ian Rickson (Tickets released at 9am each day). 13 December - 24 December: Julien Cottereau - ‘Imagine Toi’ @ Purcell Room, Southbank Centre Using only the potent powers of the imagination and a startling variety of vocal sound effects, former Cirque-du-Soleil star clown and mime artist Julien Cottereau creates a magical world from nothing. 6th - 24th November: ‘All that fall’ by Samuel Beckett @ Great Newport Theatre - A radio drama directed by thespian Trevor Nunn. This 75 minute London premiere charts the journey of old and unwieldy Mrs Rooney as she drags herself to a railway station on a Saturday lunchtime to meet her blind husband. 17th November - 6th Jan: ‘STICK MAN- live onstage’ by Sally Cookson @ Leicester Place Theatre. Adapted from the book by Julia Donaldson, this is a delightful tale about a stick-man’s misadventures as he is mistaken for an ordinary stick and used as a flag mast, cricket bat, snowman’s arm and firewood.

ART

2nd October - 6th January: The Turner Prize @ Tate Britain, Pimlico - The annual art competition features 4 diverse artists, with mad puppet shows, elaborately satirical pencil drawings and immersive video installations. Make sure you stick around for Spartacus Chetwynd’s performance work. 4th October - 3rd March: ‘Rain Room’ @ The Barbican Curve Gallery - Artists Random International have created an installation comprising of falling rain that responds to the viewers movement and sound. It will also be accompanied by monthly performances from McGregor’s Random Dance. 20th October - 27th January: ‘Hollywood Costume’ @ Victoria and Albert Museum - This exhibition celebrates over 100 of the most iconic film characters from Hollywood filmmaking between 1912 to the present day. A must-see for lovers of Audrey Hepburn! 5 December - 27 January: Jonas Mekas @ The Serpentine Gallery, Hyde Park - This Lithuanian avantgarde artist presents a remarkable 60 year retrospective of his poetic work in film and photography.