Flying Camels [Anna reviews]

We've got a new thing going at ProDanceLeeds: weekly reviews! Most Mondays, you'll be able to read a review of the class that's on that week, written by someone who isn't part of the ProDance team. We're thinking this will help when you want to decide whether a class sounds like it might be for you or not! We sneakily started this already last week with Anna Cabré-Verdiell reviewing James Finnemore's class. She's back again this week with a review of Humanhood. Enjoy!

Rudi Cole and Julia Robert-Pares, the founders and members of Humanhood, work in absolute tune, passing the leading role of the class from one to the other in a smoothly synchronised way.

The lesson begins with all the participants gathering in a circle. We get absolutely immersed in a meditative practise before we even realise, bringing up the awareness towards collectivity while working on the individual inner focus. Using breath as the main engine for the body to start warming up, the meditation involves at first continuous and sinuous movements reminiscent of Tai Chi, waking up the joints and the skeleton structure. Then, more dynamic sequences increase the muscle involvement, still using breath as the movement promoter.

Later on, with the bodies already warm, the bounce takes the room. Julia guides the dancers into an almost unconscious state, where the aim is to bounce the body trying to loosen all its parts while working in crescendo, speeding up the tempo and the dynamics.  It feels like camel riders racing in the desert. The body gets physically excited, but Julia insists in keeping the calm inside, as a way of reaching inner tranquillity even when the body gets explosive. Music wise, beautiful Arabic music helps the jockeys to achieve their purpose, with the accurate accompaniment of the Cole brothers, Azizi and Rudi, playing drums and flamenco clapping at once.

The last bit of the class focuses on repertoire from the piece “Zero”, recently premiered by the British-Catalan couple. The grounding nature of the material gets blown away by the light quality in which it is executed.

Report from class: James Finnemore

Photography: Danilo Moroni

We get into the “James Finnemore” mode through a guided improvisation that takes the dancers to the beach. Using an imagery of textures, like 'sand in between your toes' or 'the sun melting your skin', James Finnemore aims to transform and expand the density of the body. He lets the dancers explore their own curiosities while pushing them to avoid the comfortable strategies of recurrence.

Once we are warm, we play puppets. The image of invisible elastic strings joining the extremities with the pelvic bone frames the next corporal exploration. From there, the class moves into more specific exercises, developing the explored qualities into some repertoire phrases. To finish, we combine improvisation with set material crossing the space in pairs.

The session challenges not just the traditional use of weight, for instance creating empty spaces in the pelvis, but also the sense of connectivity between limbs and torso, creating a global sense of asymmetrical mobility.

Finnemore's class is definitely recommendable for those who chase a versatile range of qualities while escaping the structure of more traditional practises.

Anna Cabré-Verdiell

Autumn Launch

Happy autumn everybody! Although it seems like summer has finally made it to Leeds weatherwise, ProDanceLeeds is celebrating that calendar wise autumn has arrived - and with that the launch of our Autumn Programme. EXCITING!!

As always, we are bringing you an eclectic mix of olden goldies and new adventures, local talents and treats from afar, hardcore pliés and feel-good somatics - at ProDanceLeeds we love them all. We will be kickstarting October with five days of James Finnemore. James taught for us in April and all of you who came to his classes will remember how good it was. Check it out here:

Other teachers we are pleased to welcome back are Ian Garside, Katie Lusby and Toby Fitzgibbons. Humanhood (Rudi Cole and Julia Robert-Parés) came to teach in October last year in the interim period when NSCD were hosting the morning classes, so we say welcome back to them too. And don’t worry - Natalia Iwaniec will be here in December so that you all can get your tri-monthly dose of Gaga that we like to provide you with.

Part of what makes Leeds so fantastic in terms of dance is the wealth of amazing freelance artists you can find here. It’s pretty great that we can invite artists like Vanessa Grasse, Jennifer-Lynn Crawford and Gianluca Vincetini, basically from just around the corner.

Of course it wouldn’t be a ProDance programme without a few new faces arriving on the scene: Gloria Fuson, Lewis Wilkins and Anthony Lo-Giudice are all coming to share their knowledge with us for the first time and we look forward to getting to know them. This term we haven’t programmed any ballet classes, but Gloria will be doing a FloorBarreTM class that moves into the centre, mixing ballet, contemporary and releasing techniques.

Before all of this fun kicks off, don’t forget that we still have two weeks left of the Summer Programme. Martha Pasakopoulou is here this week with a class that uses improvisation as well as athletics to heighten awareness and explore physicality. And next week Anthony Middleton is back with his excellent physically challenging class that takes influences from floor work and acrobatics.

What can I say, we like to treat you guys. Happy autumn!
Rebecca

Workshop with Lola Maury

Hi ProDancers,

Photography: Laureline Richard

Summer is gone and we'll be looking forward to seeing you all in class again, ready for the autumn. Although the end of summer is always somewhat bittersweet, I think autumn is a great time to think up new ideas, and get new projects off the ground.

Some of you have noticed that there isn't anything yet on the calendar for the coming few months. Don't worry - there will be class. We have a really exciting line-up of teachers running (almost) all the way until Christmas, which will be launched in the next week. With the autumn launch we will also be doing some changes to the website to make it a little easier to navigate. So watch this space!

While waiting for these exciting updates, we have an autumn treat for you: a workshop with Lola Maury and her long time collaborator Alberto Ruiz, sound artist and composer. Lola and Alberto are coming to Leeds in October to lead a workshop where participants will practice listening to each other and embodying precise dynamics to create intricate rhythmical journeys together.

When? Saturday 8th of October, 12pm-4pm

Where? Northern School of Contemporary Dance

How much? £15

As always with workshops, we only do pre-bookings so please book a space early to avoid disappointment. You can find all the information you need HERE.

Lola came to teach for us earlier this year and did a lot of work on joining movement with sound. Check out this short clip from her class. I'm really looking forward to the autumn and I hope you do too! See you in class.

Rebecca x

EXCHANGE

Two independent producers: Melanie Purdie and Anna Turzynski, are initiating a program called Exchange, which sounds pretty exciting for any arty types living in Leeds. They are wanting a wee bit of help with filling out a survey to collect some data. I know how much we all like surveys, but they can be SO HELPFUL! So if you are feeling generous or like this is something you should probably support, give them some feedback HERE.

A little more info for the keen ones:

'Exchange is a program that aims to improve access into Art for potential artists at the very conception of their careers. We want to focus on the city of Leeds and retaining its potential talent. As artists and producers who have recently forged a career in the creative sector in Yorkshire, we want to introduce future Artists into the culture of living and working as professionals. This is a new program, run by two independent producers with a keen interest to make thing’s happen in our city.

We have a full programme of ideas, and we are ready to get started! The final stages is filling out the Funding Applications in order to fund our activity. We have created a short survey in order to collect data for our application. We would really appreciate it if you could spare 2 minutes of your time to fill out the survey! It's short, only 10 questions and your answers will contribute to the development of the Exchange Pilot Programme.'

BEND IT

Hey guys,

So 'Bend It' is happening on Friday at Yorkshire Dance in the Loft; a night of subversively wonky dance that sets queerness in motion. 'Bend It' is Yorkshire Dance's annual celebration of dance and film work that explores gender stereotyping, sexuality and the queer aesthetic - pretty cool, right?

This year Amy Bell is curating the night and it is promising to be rather spectacular, with a line-up of inspiring short pieces and experimental work in progress, including works by Eve Stainton & Michael Kitchin, Matthias Sperling, Connor Schumachera and Liz Agiss. You should probably all get down there! And all of you that have a ProDanceLeeds Friends card - remember that you get discounted tickets!

Want to buy tickets? Want to know more? Find out about it here.

Summer Launch

Ok it is the middle of June so it is officially SUMMER which means that the date you have all been waiting for is finally here… drumroll please…. the ProDanceLeeds SUMMER LAUNCH. I know you have all been dying to hear about what great teachers we have got lined up for you for the next few months, so be my guest and READ ON.

We’re kicking off this summer celebration with Stuart Waters. Stuart has worked with, amongst others, Motionhouse, Panta Rei and Protein... I know!!

The two weeks that follows are promising to be particularly exciting: Azzurra Ardovini and Phil Sanger, who have both been incredibly supportive of us and this project since it’s inception, (the latter also proud winner of the second AND the first raffle prize at our Dance Culture Gathering in May – I’m hoping he is sporting his two tote bags accordingly…) are running GRIT.  GRIT is a two week dance intensive held at Yorkshire dance, including a program of artist development workshops, networking and scratch performances centred around the principles of fulfilment coaching and growth mindsets. Wendy Houston, New Art Club and Lea Anderson will all be sharing some wisdom as part of the program. Sounds fun? Apply by e-mailing callumholt@yorkshiredance.com. Deadline is 3pm, June 24th. The morning classes will be running as normal on a drop-in basis, in conjunction with ProDanceLeeds. Looks like they're gonna be fun, challenging and FULL of dancers. Whoop whoop! We love a good collaboration here at ProDanceLeeds! (Have an idea? Get in touch!)

After some feedback from you guys, which is always appreciated, we have brought in Pat Durham and Nathalie Leger for a few days of ballet. Rosemary Spencer will be teaching Skinner Releasing Techniques. Andwe are also giving you a one-off treat by bringing in Issy Slingerland for two days of yoga tailored for dancers. Don’t forget your discounted yoga classes at Yoga Hero though. Buy that Friends Card today!

As always, we are inviting in some new teachers so that they get to meet all of you lovelies who reside in, and pass through, Leeds. Tess Letham, Elise Nuding, Giulia Montalbano and Martha Pasakopoulou will all be bringing their special skill set so that we can get a taste of what is happening elsewhere. Let’s make them feel welcome!

And of course we are bringing back some locals as well, because we like them so much and because they are great: Matt Lackford, Antonio Boriello and Anthony Middleton.

To finish off, there will be two weeks of break at ProDanceLeeds. Between Monday the 15th and Friday the 22nd of August there will be no class, so book your holidays!

Much love from the ProDance team

Reflections on workshops

We had two workshops this spring, one with Ian Garside and one with Tomislav English. For all of you who didn't make it, have a look at what was going on! We still have some budget to get a few more workshops in before December, so do get in touch if you have someone particular in mind that you would like us to invite!

'The first day of the workshop with Ian Garside was an immersion on voice work. The session flown through a series of games that used voice to create connection with others, to explore physical boundaries and to research movement. The class was delivered in a very playful way; the perfect strategy to break the fear that sometime dancers have to use voice. Furthermore, the fact that we were a small group helped creating a lovely atmosphere, perfect to explore the tasks in a kind of intimate way. That also left space to talk and reflect about the material, but without getting into “to much blablabla” as Ian says.'

Anna Cabré

'Tomislavs workshop was the perfect mix of mind and body stimulation with a clear focus of learning about the body. The contrast between fun games and being pushed to your physical peak really taught me a lot about the way we work as dancers and gave me plenty of tools to use in my own training. I have learnt an amazing amount in such a short time and cant wait to do it all again!'

Seamus Condon

Men & Girls Dance

This is happening in Huddersfield on Friday and Saturday, and it looks really interesting. Get tickets here. Hannah can tell you why she thinks you should go see it:

"I was first made aware of the Men & Girls Dance project by dance artist Robbie Synge who had been involved in the research process. He told me about the project because I am currently developing my own work S/HE which started with a concern for men and the questions 'do men need feminism?' and 'does feminism need men?'. As soon as I heard about Men & Girls Dance I was 100% behind the project - when thinking about the notion of men and girls dancing together I noticed a tightening in my body - fear. This really saddened me and its exactly why this work feels vital, the simple act of bringing men and girls together is political, provocative and needed. I really wanted to connect with Fevered Sleep in some way so I emailed them expressing my joy that they were doing this project and they invited me to become a 'community catalyst' and help to spread the word about the upcoming performance in Huddersfield. I met Fevered Sleep associate artist Luke Pell recently and it as really interesting to hear about his experiences of the project. I can't wait to see the work live."

Hannah Buckley

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Interested in reading more? Fevered Sleep associate artist Luke Pell reflects on the project here.

Or just go and see it yourself!!

Jo Fong is back!

Hey, ProDancers - guess who is in Leeds this week? Jo Fong, the one and only, is back for four days, after teaching for us in April last year.

 Jo has a few years of dancing experience behind her, with some various people – DV8, Rosas, Rambert – need I say more? I enjoyed her classes immensely last year so I was pretty excited to have more Jo Fong in my life, when I joined class yesterday. What’s very special about her class is the humour, playfulness and warmth that she brings into the studio. She reminds me that dancing is about pleasure, which I funnily enough tend to forget when walking into the studio at 9am.

 Last year, her classes started with led improvisation, which moved into set material towards the end. Warming up with your own way of moving, to move into exploring somebody else’s movement pattern, was a concept that I found very interesting and also helpful in some ways. The start up of improvisation games and pathways was like telling my body that: ‘chill out, we’re in the comfort zone’. When continuing into unknown territory (i.e. the set phrases) I found myself relaxing into a movement language that wasn’t mine, in a way that I scarcely do when jumping straight into exercises in a more conventional class setting. It was a sort of revelatory experience.

I ask Jo if she is planning on doing something similar this week? ‘Oh yes, we did that last year, didn’t we?’ she says and then continues: ‘I had never tried that before!’ Each Jo Fong class is apparently a unique experience, so I think you all should come along this week to try it!