Good afternoon.
Today I write from my Friday afternoon work place which actually has nothing to do with dance at all. It's an antique shop and I work here some Friday afternoons for some extra pennies. It's freezing and my toes and fingers are about to fall off, but it's easy and I have time to write.
I went to see Rambert Dance Company at the Festival Theatre last night. It was the first time I had ever seen the company live on stage. Until last night, I had never been interested in what the company were doing, but I took a masterclass with someone from the company earlier in the day, and so I thought I would take a look just to see what all the fuss was about.
I have to say that it was not my cup of tea at all and I spent most of the performance feeling quite tense and understimulated. The Dancers however are quite incredible, and I can always appreciate Dancers who have such skill, with bodies that can do many things.
Jonathan Goddard, previously with Richard Alston Dance Company, is now dancing with Rambert, and I have to say, that I was quite taken with him as a Dancer. He showed such skill when dancing and it seemed like you could actually see all the knowledge that he had acquired in his dance experience whilst dancing on stage. I found this to be really impressive and so it made me watch him, regardless of the movement or how good the piece was.
Understanding how to use the body effectively is quite a skill, a skill that, I suppose, we are all trying to find. It takes a long time however, and I often find myself feeling unsure about how to use my body effectively because I don't fully understand it yet.
Yesterday was quite a good day for dance. I took two classes in the morning. The first was a Cunningham class, it was free because it was an open company class which was part of Ross Cooper's residency at Dance Base. Every week there are two companies in residence there and each of them offer one free class each. So generally there are two free classes that you can take in a week, which is very very nice indeed.
Anyway, the class was good and I am beginning to find focus again having not danced for a few months while I was living in France. I'm beginning to enjoy the focus of little things in technique class, the little things that I'm always trying to make better.
Second up was the Rambert masterclass. It took me about two days to deicde wether or not I would actually do it because like I said, the company had never intruged me in anyway before. It was £6 and I knew some others who were doing it so I thought "why not?".
It was good. Class was an hour long, quite a simple but effective technique class with a very calm and quite gentle teacher.
Following the class was an hour of repertory from the Company's current tour of 'Eternal Light', a new piece by the Company's AD, Mark Baldwin.
The material was fine, quite technical and full of steps from a technique class, so it felt like familiar territory. I expected this, so I wasn't disappointed with the lack of interesting material, which allowed me to enjoy it for what it was, instead of grumbling.
Today there is a studio showing at Dance Base as part of Nux Company's residency. I'm disappointed because I think it could be pretty interesting but I'm here working instead :(
Dance Base is a wonderful place for this kind of thing. With two free classes a week, two free studio showings a week and everything else in between, there is always something to see or do.
I'll finish up here for today.
Have a good weekend!
Jack :)
