London III

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My 2nd Week in London



This week has been far less touristy and filled with much more dance. My 1st week was my 'explore historic places you crazy Tudor nut week' and this week was focused on getting back in touch with my body by taking different dance classes and by watching a variety of different dance shows for inspiration. So a chunk of this blog will be filled with my class experiences and my thoughts on several shows. So if this is not your cup of tea then feel free to skim read 😊 



I am writing the 1st half of this blog from my little 'cubby' on the boat. My room since my cousin William got back from Holiday and moved back into his room where I was staying. The cubby has no window and fits a double sized bed and tiny shelf for storage. It's almost like an oversized coffin, but oddly very comfortable. Only issue is when the tide gones out in the night I roll down one side of the bed and hit the wall because of the angle.




Monday

Professional class at The Place with Moreno Solinas, for only £4 ($6.95)!! Professional classes here are very well priced. In fact it costs more to take the tube to and from class then it does to pay for the actual class. I had a look at other level class prices and it turns out they are normal prices much like at home. Only the professional classes are so cheap, which is a supportive way to take care of everyone in between jobs. 
The class was very freeform and Moreno started off instructing us all to yawn as much as we could, starting fake and then feeling it morph into a real yawn. We then walked around and around the room (not in circles, as any contemporary dancer knows not to fall into the trap of a big circle) and started following Mareno's cues of follow a leader and copy their movement, walk feminine, walk masculine, perform as many silly walks as possible and as a group stop or start walking together. We then were taken through a number of odd strength building exercises of endurance, the worst being squat for 10 mins with our arms straight in front shoulder height with hands flexed. This exercise seemed to cause no real purpose other then hurt every ones arm muscles and bore us shitless. (Shitless, it seems so much Aussie slag is about shit… ‘shit for brains’, ‘going to the shops and shit’ ‘You little shit’ etc.) The remainder of class was spent working on a small phrase of movement that we had to perform whilst singing a rhythm song. It was fairly simple and surprisingly most people in the class struggled to perform it to the left when asked. I think being school holidays there might have been a few students in the class which dropped the quality of dancers in the room considerably. 



Tuesday

Today I caught up with a friend from Melbourne, Patrick Meessmann. He is one of my best friend Rachel's friends from VCA. When I lived in Melbourne he and I never had much to do with each other except chatting at parties or gathering. But here in London, if you know of a Aussie friend or acquaintance it's like 'HEY! We must catch up!!', so that we did. Paddy took me to a small New Zealand cafe near the 7 Dials in Covent Gardens for a really good coffee. I enjoyed it so much! Coffee is really rotten here which has stopped me from drinking it, swapping it for tea. So this good cuppa was really special. Catching up with Paddy was so nice. He and I are both in the same situation at the moment. Both of us have left our partners behind in Aus to pursue our dancing. Both of us realize that we are at that point when we are getting 'old' for dancers so we need to give it a good shot, put ourselves out there, and leave nothing to regret later on. It felt good to talk to someone who is also dealing with a long-distance relationship, starting out trying to build new dance networks and is learning where to take good professional classes. Somewhere in the conversation we got talking about what English cuisine is. We came up with Pies, Roast dinners with Yorkshire puddings, Fish & Chips and a huge number of cakes and deserts. Thinking about the food quickly made us hungry for lunch so we set off for a pub fish n chips meal with a beer. How very English!



At night I went to the famous Sadlers Wells theatre to see Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's 4D, four duets from several works as well as a filmed duet. As I was walking into the theatre I looked near the stage door steps and saw Akram Khan smoking! I arrived at the theatre an hour early for extra entertainment that the theatre organised as part of the Sadlers Sampled program. I saw several short dance films, listened to music from a DJ and watched an amazing ex Cunningham dancer talk about his life and views towards contemporary dance. The show itself was beautiful. Previously I have watched different Sidi Larbi duets on DVD or youtube but seeing them live was like all dance, SO much better! Watching ex WAAPA dancer perform Faun alongside his partner Olivia Ancona was easily my favourite work. It was so fluid and exquisitely danced. 



Wednesday and Thursday 

Professional class at Greenwich Dance with Annie Lok. I really enjoyed this class. It started off with contact improvisation. Walking around we had to make a brief moment of contact with someone else and then walk on towards another body. It then quickly moved into partnered contact work with one person leading the other by manipulating and guiding their body from their feet up to to their head and then swapping rolls. I normally dislike contact improvisation because it is not one of my strengths, normally enjoying solo improvisation practice. However in a new country with new bodies and people, I felt far more confident and more willing to push myself into situations I would normally have found challenging. Perhaps because of this mindset I really enjoyed the contact work. The 2nd half of the class was focused on two phrases. The first phrase was taught rotating round in a giant circle. It was not broken down step by step and was more about just keeping the momentum of the circle going and having a greater group awareness of each other, following along. This proved tricky without music and when people started to feel dizzy from spinning around. After a recent endurance work I did in Canberra for Stella Electrica where I had to spin on the spot gradually building speed for an hour alongside five other dancers really helped me to spin without feeling queazy. 

After class when I was stretching a girl came over to me to talk. Her name was Agense. She is from Italy but has lived in the UK for 5 years when she came to study at Laban. She was so friendly and invited me to a performance she was doing in a small independent dance performance called ‘Agony Art’ for Friday night. Because I had nothing planned for Friday night I quickly accepted her offer.

On the Thursday night I went to dinner with two of my friends from Taiwan, Kai Wen (Karen) and Jim who I met when on exchange. Kai was a 2nd year student who I danced with and was always so kind to me. Jim was not a dance student but helped me learn a little Mandarin in return for helping him with his English. I always remember him as shy and quiet. Both of them have been living in the UK for a number of years, which has really helped improve their English and to build their confidence. They were bubbly, fun and very talkative over dinner. They took me to a proper Chinese restuarance (not a westernised restaurant) and ordered a few dishes to share. I love going someone new and having someone else order, ordering things you would never normally pick. It was truly delicicious! One dish, boiled fish, was covered in tiny peppercorn like things that when bitten into made my tongue and mouth tingle to the point that it felt like my mouth was dancing!

Friday
Agony Art @ The Chisendale Dance Centre. Chisendale Dance was a very small space that is used for community dance, independent artist renting and for intimate performances. Tonight there were four different works on. The first work Sonambulas by Justyna Sochaj a work about dreams to a live accordion was filled with ‘fluff’ where the dance really said nothing to me and I couldn’t help wandering off into my own head and thinking about a solo work to create. The 2nd work was a duet Inter Pares Project by Agnese Lanza (who invited me) and her friend Julie Havelund. This work was really intelligent and about being open to your surroundings and audience during a performance. They recorded the sound of the audience, drew our picture, described what audience members where doing or how they were fidgeting in their seats. They used lots of live recordings during the performance and would play it back and respond to it later in the performance. It was very interesting and clever. Next came a very odd solo 3 Sided Man by Danai Pappa that was just strange and confused everyone, not my kind of work. I guess I’m less abstract and like to understand a work or have enough information to put things into some sort of idea but this work just seemed like pieces thrown together at random. The last piece Tracing Gestures by Stephanie Schober & Dance Company was amazing. Dancer Richard Court danced around the space whilst multi-media artist Mamoru Iriguchi filmed different body parts of the dancer and then projected them in a collage on the back wall. The set was lined with brown butchers paper that was needed as Richard danced improvised movement whilst Mamoru traced and outlined Richards body with charcoals on the wall. There was a playful vibe to the work shared between the dancer and multi-media artist as they observed each other, remembered and interpreted information. A very clever work that ended with paint being thrown down on the floor in response to Richards last solo phrase.

Saturday
Folk and Beer festival. William, Robyn their other housemate Anna and I all set off in the car to go to a small folk festival where we were meeting my Aunt Janet, her friend Sara, and Maren the German exchange student. The festival was very small and quite frankly pretty terrible but the company was really lovely. I tried a few English ciders, which all happen to be very flat. Supposedly that is how they like their cider here. We watched some Morris dancing. English folk dance that is said to be one of the oldest styles still in practice. It was a bit of fun, dancing with their sticks and scarves. I couldn’t help noticing that the dancers where not the usual lithe and athletic build but somewhat overweight. I voiced this concern to my cousin Robyn and she laughed saying that most Morris dancing groups dance for 20mins and then head off to the pub together. I had to leave the festival early and catch a train back alone because I had booked a ticket to see Playlist at Sadlers Wells.

Playlist was another show for the Sadlers Sampled season and consisted of 7 different works, and styles of dance. I didn’t really know before arriving at the theatre that Playlist would be such a diverse program and was happily surprised. Throughout the show there were some technical difficulties that was surprising for such a renowned theatre. At times music skipped, music started and then cut out to be reset, and worst of all the house lights were put on before Daniel Proietto’s solo. People had started walking out and standing, some missed the solo while others had to quickly and quietly find their seat once the solo started.

The first work by ZooNation Dance Company was a mini musical theatre show that had only been two weeks in the making and development process. It was themed somewhat like the Truman show with its main character living on the set without knowing anything about the real world. There was singing and the dancing was really edgy street dance, brilliantly executed with only two weeks rehearsals. Once finished it will be a fun show to see. Next came two Argentinean duets by world champions German & Gisela. When reading the program this was the piece that I paid little attention to, and what a mistake! The couple completely stole the show. They moved like liquid and at a speed so fast the eyes couldn’t really take it in. I almost wanted to have a remote to rewind and look back at their tricks again clearly. The Birmingham Royal Ballet performed excerpts from Don Quixote. This couple were both very shaky and looked extremely nervous. It was the first time I have ever felt really uncomfortable watching ballet, seeing the dancers struggling and wobbling about in their meant to be held poses. It didn’t help that the music cut out for a second, throwing them slightly. Daniel Proietto then performed a seamless solo to Nina Simone’s Sinnerman. Which anyone who has heard the song will know know it is epically long! 10:19. Proietto performed in a diamond glittering body suit that reflected the lights beautifully. At times we lost sight of his body and were left mesmerized by the glittering sparkles jumping, twirling and moving through the space. It was a solo of endurance and executed with an unlimited amount of energy. After interval the National Youth Dance Company performed a new work by Akram Khan. The students were all very strong both technically and in presence. It was a dark work to an errie buzzing flies soundscape. Using impressive formations and pathways the entire company filled the stage and danced with power and stunning unison. To end the show Jasmin Vardimon Company performed an extract from their repertoire Tomorrow. The work was really beautiful. Dancers swept across the stage dropping down feathers in huge quantities, filling the stage with what looked like white puffy clouds. The dancers floated through the feathers using breath and movement that puffed the clouds around the space. Each dancer was very unique and there were so many different body shapes on stage, each slim and fit to their own shape. I had been really excited to see the work because I had been a fan of the company for some time. I was not let down and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sunday
My first day feeling homesick. Pathetic I know, being here only a month. I think staying on the boat with a housefull of couples caught up with me and made me really miss my other half, McGee. I think I had been feeling this way for a few days lowering my mood but it was almost like I had my parents in my head saying “you are not sad, you are just lacking endorphins, go exercise!, so I had taken to running laps around Battersea park to start my mornings. Something that normally helps. Today instead of wallowing I set off for Brick Lane and the Spitalfield Markets. I had already been here last weekend but I didn’t really get to spend much time there. I enjoyed pooteling around (what my cousins call walking around) exploring different hand made stalls and so many vintage clothing stores. The food market was incredible! Filled with all sorts of cuisines and packed full of people. It was almost a nightmare to choose a dish but I was happy with my decision of two types of gnocchi: Oxtail ragout and blue cheese.
Coming home to everyone on the boat I felt better then I had in the morning. We ate dinner together and shared some delicious cup cakes I had purchased from the market. It was a nice way to end the week.

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