Thursday 30 January 2014

From the Artist: Katie Green

Made By Katie Green have worked with artsNK/Terry O’Toole Theatre on the development of new work for several years now, premiering the full version of Matters of Life and Death at the Terry O’Toole Theatre in October 2011, and our most recent piece, The Imagination Museum, in November 2013.

Both of these productions have gone on to be very successful, and this is due to the support we have been given by artsNK/the Terry O’Toole Theatre in the earliest stages of research and development.
The team we work with at artsNK/the Terry O’Toole Theatre are very experienced, and invest a great deal of time in learning about their audience and their local community. This means that when we begin discussions about a new project, we are able to have an open, constructive dialogue about how we can make our residency work, how we can open up our activity to the local community (e.g. through open classes and sharings of work-in-progress) and how we can develop our audience for example. The team offer support and advice, and in spite of already having a very full workload, they are always incredibly generous with their time.

The Performing Arts team understand the requirements of a small-scale dance company, and they provide in-kind resources that are essential to the rehearsal process, including space and technical time as well as help at the funding application stage and support marketing events. I always enjoy the time I spend in rehearsal in North Hykeham and Sleaford more than anywhere else that we rehearse, as we are made to feel so welcome. We are given freedom to go about our business without any external pressure, whilst also feeling there is someone available to give feedback if we need it.
The Performing Arts team support our interest in engaging new audiences for dance in Lincolnshire. We aim to create accessible performance work, and also to provide opportunities for all individuals to participate in workshops so that they can have an insight into the working process, which we hope gives them more confidence in their own interpretation of a professional dance performance. In spite of this commitment to engaging audiences, which we know is shared by all of the Lincolnshire One Venues, dance, and particularly contemporary dance, continues to be a hard sell in this particular area. artsNK/the Terry O’Toole Theatre are not afraid of this, and they include dance of all kinds as part of their diverse programme of events. I am hugely thankful for the great faith they have shown in my ability, as a Lincolnshire-born choreographer, to create new work, and perhaps in doing so to shift local attitudes to contemporary dance in whatever small ways I can.

Photos from The Imagination Museum in rehearsal at the NK Centre and Terry O’Toole Theatre Theatre and open company class with Lincolnshire-based dance artists.

Sunday 26 January 2014

My Week.

Week beginning 20/01/2014

Monday (20/01/14)
Chestnut Street Primary School
Going into my second session I was feeling very excited and motivated to see all the children again after witnessing such great potential from the previous session. The children greeted me with glowing smiles and attitudes that expressed a readiness to work. We began as we always do with the ‘name game’ allowing the children to focus on how they move across the circle, the importance of clear direction and clarity whilst obviously giving me a brief chance to learn names.  Prior to stretching we developed a warm up game in the first session which focuses on Greek (the sessions being themed around Ancient Greece) Gods/Goddesses/Heroes and Villains. The children again responded very well, giving all their effort and energy in what was being asked of them. I then facilitated a stretch sequence working all areas of the body, particularly the neck, shoulders, spine and legs.  The creative task set for this session was looking into the concept of ‘flocking’ and ensemble work. Using ‘The 300 Spartans’ as a useful resource I showed the children several pictures of ‘The 300 Spartans’ and asked them to comment on what they noticed.  Great words started to emerge such as “formation”, “closeness”, “together” and “as a group” it was delightful to hear such clever and accurate responses.  After a few minutes we worked with the concept of being a unit but having the potential for one leader influencing the group. We then went on to creating a small movement sequence.  The sequence itself displayed a variation of gestural and specific movement actions and was received highly by the pupil learning it. Without my aid, they performed with enthusiasm and energy I might add.

Tuesday (21/01/14)
Swinderby All Saints Primary School
This was my third session with the pupils at Swinderby and the children were very energetic to begin working. Pleads of “can we do this…” and “can we go over that…” rung around the hall. I was delighted to be greeted by such determination. The session started (as always) with our usual ‘name game’ similar to that which is done at Metheringham, however this game involves saying our name loudly and clearly whilst also performing an individual action. It’s very surprising to witness year 5/6 children performing such extravagant actions such as the splits or crab, none the less the actions are a reflection of their personality and so it’s a good chance for them to show off a little bit. The previous two sessions were mainly focused around building a relationship between me and the children, getting them working with imagination and creativity, rather than me just giving directions /instructions all the time. Groups of up to five created short freeze frames centered on the theme of ‘getting ready for school’. As well as this, we also created a short movement sequence based on the action of putting on a tie. Within this session we successfully managed to create a strong start point integrating all the children which then naturally allowed us to lead into our ‘putting on a tie’ and into our group freeze frames.  Overall a fantastic session.

Wednesday (22/01/14)
Metheringham Primary School
I have to say that even though it is an early start, I do enjoy the prospect of going to teach at Metheringham. The school itself does not have many male representatives and so I really do feel it’s important for them to see and interact with a male facilitator, particularly one who leads sessions with the focus of dance. I have two sessions one with year 1s and another with year 2s. Although the children are very young and perhaps do not have a great deal of dance experience both classes are always ecstatic to see me and to start working. Each week I try to deliver something different just so the children stay interested and don’t become bored by repeating the same thing each week. Our theme is ‘Up  Up  and Away’ we have developed movement related to a Spitfire along with the growth of a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly but this week was looking into creating movement based upon the flight of a kite and projection of a firework. The children worked with patience and precision which ultimately produced stunning movement. We always end the session with a well-deserved high five for appraisal and effort.  

Thursday (23/01/14)
Rauceby Primary School
This was only my second session and I was feeling very excited about working with the children. Sessions with Rauceby are themed around ‘high energy dance’ and the previous session was centred on seeing how mobile, fit and healthy the children actually were. We held relay races which started to introduce various movement actions – rolls, running, turns and balances to warm up the body. Although the children were more focused on finishing as quickly as they could it was still a joy to see them attempting each move as best as they could. This session however allowed us to go over our small routine which we started to do as a group the week before. The routine was dynamic, sharp and got the children working quite hard. I encouraged them all to push through and just enjoy what they were doing and they did! It was only the second session and I could really start to see the children’s perception of dance starting to change. Finally, due to their wonderful dedication shown throughout the session I decided it would be a fun way to end by getting the children to explore the notion of ‘monkeying’. Giving clear instructions and demonstrating the correct way to travel through the space it was time to see how the children would get on. To my delight they seemed to respond really well. They were really enjoying this new found way of moving and they adopted the technique better than I had hoped. They've even requested to do it again next week!
All in all a great week of teaching. I’m thoroughly enjoying my time with artsNK and it is such a pleasure to witness children and young adults engaging with dance. I have every confidence that my sessions of present and those coming my way will continue to surprise, excite and inform me further. Be sure to check out what the other team members are getting up to with daily updates on the blog and our other social networking sites. Have a great week everyone!
James.


Thursday 23 January 2014

Dance Factor!

With only 3 weeks to go until the final, the pressure is hotting up! Groups from around NK and Lincoln, have been working tirelessly for the past 7 weeks to create a piece which they shall perform in the Dance Factor final taking place on 8th February.

Groups taking part include....
*Apocalyptic from North Hykeham Youth Centre 
*Clique from Birchwood


*Eclipse from Billinghay
*L.E.D from Sleaford


*Respect Your Elders from Bracebridge
*Rewind from Priory Witham


*Rhythm Beats from Branston
*Rhythmix from Ermine



*Rock Revolution from St Giles
*Xscape from North Kesteven Centre




With it being such a big competition, we needed some top judges. So introducing this years Dance Factor judging panel.

*Gareth Woodward from Nottingham
*Anna Olejnicki from Hype Dance Company,
*Caroline Hoyle from last year's for Dance Factor
*Gareth Chown from Addict Dance Studios!

So we have the groups and judges but what about some special guests? Introducing from Impact Dance we have Fully Functioning Individuals! Fully Functioning Individuals (FFI) is Impact Dance's flagship company. It is a semi-professional dance group made up of young people aged 14-20+. The primary focus is to provide young people with all the tools they require to reach their full potential in life, whilst giving them the opportunity to hone their dance technique and establish outstanding performance skills. The company creates narrative/hip-hop theatre style pieces which are performed throughout London and the UK.



Presenting the show shall be Hakeem Onibudo, who formed Impact Dance. Hakeem is a performer, choreographer/director, mentor, British Council ambassador and professional host who began teaching dance in 1995, forming the company Impact Dance. His vocation has enabled him to work with young people, amateurs, semi-professionals and professionals in projects varying from school workshops, TV performances, film premieres and theatre productions, from London to many global communities.



Among his portfolio of work he counts a number of prestigious organisations he has worked alongside such as the Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bothers, Columbia Pictures, BBC, Nickelodeon, CH4, Endemol, ITV, The Cosmopolitan Show, The Duke of Edinburgh Awards, The Royal Ballet School, The Royal Opera House, Sadler’s Wells, British Council, and Peacock Theatre to name but a few. Hakeem is the artistic director and host of LIVE VIBE, a performance platform created 10 years ago which has been a resident production at Sadler’s Wells, Peacock Theatre and Rich Mix. The concept was taken to Hong Kong in December 2010 and 2013 and created and produced in partnership with the British Council in Zimbabwe February 2012.
Hakeem regularly hosts Red Carpet Movie Premieres and his credits include: Iron Man 3, The Hobbit, Men in Black 3, Rock of Ages, Fast and Furious 6, The Amazing Spider Man, The Dark Knight Rises, Star Trek, Teen Beach Movie, Man of Steel and The Wolverine.

So with the final approaching, there is a lot to get excited about! Tickets are now on sale from your tutors so don't miss out! Tickets cost £3.







Friday 17 January 2014

Coming up!

Even though it's only the start of 2014, we have lots of exciting things fast approaching!


On the 31st of January, we shall be holding our annual and newly named artsNK Youth Dance Programme Showcase. Taking place at the Terry O' Toole Theatre, artsNK's Youth Groups shall take to the stage to perform pieces which they have been working on. This shall include some very exciting new work from our dance companies redXco, kNacKer'd and all new male company, JumpStart. With performers ranging from 4-18 years old, there shall be a range of styles on show so there is something for everyone! Tickets are selling out extremely fast so book yours now by calling the Terry O Toole Theatre on 01522 883311. Tickets cost £3 and £2 for Children (Under 16s).



Going into February, the Dance Factor final shall be taking place at the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre on 8th. Ten crews from across NK and Lincoln shall come together, battling it out, one of them shall be crowned best dance crew of 2014. With only 4 weeks left working on pieces, the pressure is hotting up!


We shall then be holding our annual Spring Primary Dance Showcase. With two shows in one night, it's set to be hectic but fun! Local primary schools are currently working on creating dance pieces for the showcase. Based on the transition from Primary to Secondary School, the showcase is a celebration and a chance for the children to perform in front of a big audience!

Whilst all that is happening, we are also planning more for the coming months including aerial workshops and other exciting things! It's a busy time for the dance team! To keep up to date with everything that is going on, check out our Facebook page by clicking here and follow us on Twitter at @artsNKDance.

If you also want to see what other team members are up to, we each have our own Twitters @HollyartsNK, @EmmaartsNK, @MichaelaartsNK, @AliceartsNK and welcoming the newest member of our team James, @JamesartsNK.

If you want to find out a bit more about James, click on the 'About Us' tab above.


Monday 13 January 2014

From the Dancer: Effie-Mae

Effie-Mae is one of our young dancers here at artsNK. Currently she is undertaking Arts Award and as part of the award, Effie Mae has written a number of reviews about shows she has been to watch and classes/workshops she has taken part in.

So why did Effie-Mae want to get involved in Arts Award?

"I am doing the Arts Award because I enjoy coming to the different dance classes at NK and this is a good opportunity for me to learn new things about dance. I can also use the Arts Awards on my CV later on to help me get a place at college or university."

Here Effie-Mae talks about her experience watching The Imagination Museum by Katie Green, which took place at the Terry O' Toole Theatre in November.


On the 7th of November 2013 I went to see a dance show named The Imagination Museum at the Terry O’Toole Theatre. It was a contemporary dance performance – the art forms that were involved were dance and drama. I hadn’t really seen anything like it before, but I have seen a contemporary performance recently but they weren’t the same at all. This was because the Imagination Museum was interactive and included a lot of audience participation. After the show I spoke to Katie Green who directed and choreographed the piece she explained that usually the show is performed in museums and this was the first time it has been shown in a theatre.


The performers were very funny and got the audience involved all the time such as: at the start when we walked in Harriet (one of the performers) gave me and my friend Annie-Mae a sticker and said you are mammoth one and you are mammoth two. We felt a bit scared that we might have to go on stage in front of everyone when we were given the sticker. We didn’t know why we had the stickers but we soon found out!

As we went into the auditorium to take our seats our seats at the back one of the performers, who was called Henry, called us over to help set up the performance.  We had to move some boxes over to the other side of the stage. Later on in the performance Henry said that the boxes needed to be on the other side of the stage ready to be collected.  He made the audience pass the boxes from one side of the stage to the other, passing them through the audience but once the boxes had been passed all the way through the audience he realised these boxes had just been delivered and he made us pass them all the way back again.  The audience groaned a little as they passed them back again but it also made us laugh because he had got it wrong.

At the very start of the show Mildred called out that all of the mammoths had to hide behind their seats! We did this giggling as it made us laugh; once we had hidden we were allowed to sit back down again. Mildred was another dancer in the performance and she liked everything squeaky clean she made Henry and Harriet tidy everything up. Whilst they were cleaning up Mildred came up to me and Annie-Mae and started cleaning our shoulders. This made me feel happy that she was interacting with us. Throughout the whole performance the dancers were really interacting with the audience which I enjoyed and liked because it made me feel part of the show. I didn’t dislike any part of the performance because I thought that it was all really creative and well performed. It was a bit disappointing because there was hardly anyone in the audience and it was such a great performance! I would definitely recommend this because I think people will enjoy watching it. At one point we had people crawling along the bottom of our legs, this is something which would normally happen during a show and it made us laugh.

I learnt from the show that with a short amount of time you can still create a huge successful performance.  Katie Green was talking to Amy at the end of the performance saying that loads of people dropped out, this meant she had to change the whole performance at short notice.  I still think she did a great job, it was a fun evening and I enjoyed seeing something different.
To read more of Effie-Mae's reviews click here.

Friday 10 January 2014

kNacKer'd Residency

Before breaking up for Christmas, artsNK’s kNacKer’d undertook an intensive day residency with Chantry Dance Company. Chantry is a contemporary ballet dance company based in Grantham and London, led by co-artistic directors Paul and Rae Piper.





The dancers were very lucky to have the opportunity to work with both Paul and Rae for a full day of contemporary ballet. The dancers started with a warm-up using the ballet barres, which the majority of the group found to be a new and exciting experience. The group also worked on corner work, repertoire from one of Chantry’s pieces and also had a chance to work with different choreographic devices.





kNacKer’d found it a big challenge, as for most of them it was a style completely out of their comfort zone. Holly Arnold (Artistic Director of kNacKer’d Youth Dance Company) told us that “It was very nice to see the dancers trying something new. It is also great to see them challenge themselves to go out of their comfort zones.

It will definitely help with their technique development within class and for performances as well”.   It was a long day but the dancers gained so much from it, and really appreciated the help and support from both Paul and Rae. Holly and kNacKer’d would like to thank Paul and Rae for coming to work with them and hope that they get to work with Chantry again in the future.