Have I Hit a Wall???

I have to say that rehearsals have been tough over the last week or so. I feel like I've hit a wall and im trying to get over it, but a combination of tiredness, frustration, loss of choreographic insight and momentum and also the fact that I've realised just how much i need to do to get this off the ground hasn't helped!
It is very hard to motivate your dancer's when you have lost your own motivation. I know I just need to give myself a kick up the arse and get on with it which is what I will do, I am just feeling slightly overwhelmed by all of it at present.

I also think that I may need to be a bit more open and positive in the way I put things forward as I am very direct in the way I am and work. If i think something is great I will say so but If i think something is bad or needs work I will also say. This may sometimes come across as a negative thing but in my way of thinking Im just saying it, how I see it which doesn't always work well with other people.

I counted up rehearsal spaces yesterday and we only have 13 left until the performance. We have a lot of work to do, but I have very capable dancers so know we won't have a problem. Im also on the look out for a lighting designer and we trying to figure out the best way forward with costumes as we don't want to wear the bog standard contemporary ballet look of shorts and mesh top............it's becoming a bit of a cliche!

Im off to Wales this weekend as my husband is running in some barmy endurance run through bogs and sand and goodness knows what else. Im going to spend my time working through movements and trying things out and hopefully clearing my head and starting rehearsals afresh. Im sure anyone who creates art of some sort must go through these same feelings of "can I really do this or am i a bit deluded". I know im not deluded and i know im capable, I just need to stop whinging and get on with it!!!!!

Whoops

At my rehearsals last night my dancers pointed out that some of their bio's read a bit strangely. This is my fault as it took me so long to get the photo's in the right pace that I didn't check the wording properly so my apologies. I'm not incompetent just a bit busy at the moment........
I've also realised that although there is all the dancer's information there isn't any about myself or David so I will get that up later.


Again rehearsals went well last night but I have to say that panic is setting in a bit as the 22nd Jan doesn't seem that far away what with Christmas and New year in the way and we have only managed 3.30 minutes and we have another 12.30 minutes to do of the piece. I know we are going to be fine its just that I don't want to compromise on anything and I don't want to rush the last bit as it would ruin everything we have worked so hard on. On the plus side I am really really happy with how its looking and feel that all the dancers are now starting to work really well together and pick up each other's styles and way's of working.

I do find my mind wandering a bit though as im always thinking about the next step and where to go from here and how to get the company known and respected. I am going to enter some more work into the Brighton Fringe Festival and also Edinburgh Fringe Festival and im also looking at platforms abroad. This means though that all I ever think about is choreography at the moment.......I think about it lying in bed, I think about it on the train, I think about it cooking dinner, I even dream about it. It has taken over my mind. Im currently thing about a duet, quite classically based, to Mozart as he is my favourite composer and has been since I was a child. It feels like it should be a very melancholy piece of work, I may start researching some Greek Myths and see if there are any suitably depressing ones!

If anyone has any good Greek Myth suggestions, feel free to email or comment and let me know!

The Remaining Dancers

See below for the bio's for Alexandra and Delle.



Alexandra Wood
Alex was born in Swindon and trained locally in North Wiltshire and with the Royal Ballet Junior Associates. She also trained in Birmingham and Bordeaux while studying for a degree in Law with French. She completed her dance training at London Studio Centre, graduating in 2008. She was a member of Intoto Dance Company in her final year at LSC, working with Ben Duke, Martin Lawrance, Kerry Nicholls, and Michael Popper in the creation of the company's national tour. She has since performed with Sebastian Rex Dance Group, H2 Dance, and E-Dance, and also appears in the BBC4 film 'Margot'. She is currently working with Rhiannon Faith O'Brien, as well as Antique Dances, and in April 2010 will be performing at the Oslo Opera House with the Norwegian company, Moving Art.

Delle Allen
Delle began her dance training at the age of 8. She subsequently attended the Legat School of Dance in East Sussex and studied primarily Ballet and Contemporary. In 2008 Delle successfully completed the Laban BA (Hons) in Dance Theatre and in 2009 the Masters in Performance whilst being a member of touring company Transitions. Transitions Dance Company 2008/9 toured three diverse pieces nationally and internationally enabling Delle to tour to Amsterdam, Norway and Japan providing a deep insight into contrasting audiences and cultures. Following her performance as the White Lady in Laban’s reconstruction of Diversion of Angels in 2007, she attended the Martha Graham School in New York in order to further study this discipline and enhance her own technique.

During her studies in London Delle has taken the opportunities to perform both within and out of Laban. In 2007 she performed in Geo-Metric with Odette Hughes and Darkness Cycle: Ago Pro Obscurum, choreographed by Marie-Gabrielle Rotie. Outside of Laban, Delle is member of Big Beef Dance Theatre, which performed throughout London and Brighton and tailor made pieces for specific events. She is also a member of Eventz Dance which has most recently toured in the Grimsby area, introducing dance to young audiences. Most recently she has joined Antique Dance, which is performing in upcoming Resolutions 2010.

As I promised at the end of last week below is a bit of information about my dancers. Below are the bio's for Marie, Maria and also Christina. I have a couple more to post but that won't be until tomorrow as im waiting for them to be emailed over.

I've also got some footage from today's rehearsals which im going to put up tomorrow but you can also view these on facebook at the Antique Dances group page. Im pleased to say that rehearsals are really coming along and we have set out the spacing for the first two and half minutes of the piece, only another thirteen and a half minutes to go!!

Anyway, read more about my wonderful dancers below

Marie Ronold Mathisen was born in Stavanger, Norway and started my training at the local ballet school. In 2006 I moved to the UK to train at Northern School of Contemporary Dance and graduated in July 2009 with a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Dance. At NSCD I worked with choreographers Hagit Bar-Fleming, Andile Sotiya and Antonia Grove and danced with Balbir Sing Dance Company in 2009 as an apprentice dancer.


Christina Lysanne Robinson was born in Lancaster and began dancing at my mums dance school. I held a British Ballet Organization Jazz scholarship for several years but then found a love for Contemporary through GCSE Dance. I pursued this by beginning on the foundation course at Northern School of Contemporary Dance and continued on to gain a First Class Honours Degree. I then joined the NSCD Postgraduate Performance Company ‘Verve09’. As a dancer with Verve, I performed works by Filip Van Huffel, Glenn Wilkinson, Milan Kozanek and Leanne Pike and toured the UK and Europe. In the Summer of 2009 I trained in Israel with Batsheva Dance Company and have since moved to London and begun working with Antique Dances.


Maria Cassar put on her dancing shoes at the age of four. She studied up to Advanced2 Cecchetti Method at what now is called the Johane Casabene Dance Conservatoire, whilst also keeping up her training in jazz, contemporary and hiphop. In 2006, Maria got accepted into the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in London to further her knowledge in contemporary dance and art. She has recently just graduated with a BA(Hons)Dance Theatre. Maria has worked with various established choreographers including Tom Dale, Kerry Nicholls,, Dam Van Huynh, Susan Sentler, Lizzie Kew Ross. She also toured London with two commissioned works by Laban. She has also performed two installation pieces Ok So... and Semblance choreographed by Nadine Doran- Holder Artistic Director of Tangerine Dance Company. Maria has performed in various prominent performances in Malta including; 007 The Bond Show; Dance PowerIII; Malta Arts Festival and Malta Song for Europe. She has also appeared on several local TV Shows including, Bailando and Showtime. Maria is also very interested in creating her own work. She has staged her choreography Haphazardly Centered at the Bonnie Bird Theatre. Last year she teamed up with Maltese Dance Artist Christina Camilleri to direct RedTapeDance Company. Productions so far include The Medium of Perception(2008). This was also a collaboration between British dancers; independent film maker Josef Cauchi and renowned composer Ruben Zahra. This year they were commissioned by Notte Bianca Malta to create site specific work to be performed in the streets; Excuse Me...May I?(2009).

Early Starts!

Well I was up at the ungodly hour of 5.30am this morning because although all my efforts are going into Antique dances i still have to work and earn money so this morning I was filming the BBC Review of 2009 in which I was playing a reporter.........it was good fun even though I did have a very early start. Although, I have to say that London at that time of the morning is still on of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Anyway........I digress

Im just waiting for all the bio's from the girls and I will put them up over the weekend. We also have rehearsals on Sunday so im gonna post some pictures and also maybe some rehearsal footage so you lovely people reading this blog can see what we're doing and how its all coming along.

The dancers

Later on today im going to post some short bio's and head shots of the dancers. They are five extremely talented girls who im really excited to be working with. Im also more than grateful to them because at the moment they are doing this for no payment as we are in the process of trying to get funding, so the fact that they are giving up their time to rehearse ready for January's performance is hugely appreciated by myself and David.
I should explain what it is we are doing in January.......

On January 22nd we will be performing in Resolution! at The Place in Euston. Most dancer's have heard or know about Resolution! but its basically a platform for emerging choreographers to show their work. People like Wayne McGregor have shown work at Resolution! at the beginning of their career's so it can be a really important stepping stone for up and coming choreographers. Places are given by selection process and we were lucky enough to be given a spot. Three companies perform per night and I think we are the last company to go on for our night.
Im so excited about doing resolution as it could be the start of something great, at the same time I am also absolutely petrified that its going to be a complete and utter disaster.....im hoping it won't. The thing is Im putting my idea's and thoughts on movement out there and people may not like it but then again they may love it and im so worried about getting a bad reaction to the work. Its bloody scary and a big challenge but I do have fantastic dancers and a hugely talented co-choreographer! Oh its also going to be reviewed by National Dance Critics, i think that's the bit that scares me the most.

If you would like to know more about Resolution! go to www.theplace.org.uk and have a look around the website. Tickets go on sale in December so i will be making sure everyone buys a ticket as then I can at least pay my dancer's some money.

So im jumping ahead a bit here before explaining how these photo's came into being and why but these are some of our press shots for our upcoming performance in January. The dancers in these photos are Maria, Marie and Delle but I will put short bios about the dancers on the blog later on this week.

How It All Began

So, after years of training as a classical dancer, fighting my way through auditions, being asked to all manner of weird and wonderful things whilst in auditions and watching the younger generation coming up behind me ready to push me out of the way i made the decision to found my own company and put forward the type of dance that I love.

In theory you would think this would be a fairly easy thing to do and I suppose to a certain extent it is, you choose a name for the company, have an idea of the dancers you would like and the style of dance you will be predominantly working in and then you try and put it in to practice and that's where the hard part comes in.....

There's a lot of research involved in starting a company, also there aren't that many female choreographers of note, not in regards to the amount of male choreographers that there are currently and trying to find platforms to show the work you've created is not all that easy. There are platforms but I have found that a lot of well established choreographers are given precedence over us new ones which is a bit frustrating. Also funding is a massive issue and is almost non existent in London especially for a company that at present has just started and doesn't fit with the criteria that the Arts Council want.

So basically these are all the dilemma's that I'm facing, well a few of them anyway. On the plus side I have found five great female dancers and we are working on a piece at the moment in a joint choreographic piece with my friend and dancer David Ogle. This piece will be shown in January but more of that in the next post.....