Guest Workshops
Helen Parlor
Sunday 23rd September 2007 1pm-4pm
Helen's classes are very physical working the whole body in a grounded and powerful manner. The class will explore floor based work leading through the spirals of jumps and turns. Helen's vocabulary enjoys keeping a musicality at a challenging pace. The class will be followed by a contact and character workshop with skills of how to create movement for yourself and others,
especially when you feel you have run out of ideas!
Helen has worked with choreographers Scott Ambler, Yael Flexor, Jonathon Lunn, Nikky Smedley and Mark Bruce. In 1999 she joined Motionhouse and stayed with them to tour 'Atomic','Fearless', 'Volatile' and 'Perfect'. During this time Helen co-choreographed site specifics in Witley Court, 'The Big House' and Polesworth Abbey and became dance captain and rehearsal director. Helen also works as a choreographer and regularly choreographs on youth companies.
Helen was artistic director for the all male dance company "Full Force" run
through Hampshire Dance. In 2006 Helen went to Oslo to join 'Panta Rei' and toured Norway, Sweden and India with work made by Anne Ekenes and Jamie Watton. Helen currently works as a freelancer working with many different organisations as a performer, facilitator and choreographer.
Kompany Malakhi - Kwesi Johnson
Sunday 7th October 2007, 1pm-4pm
Kwesi Johnson, Artistic Director of Kompany Malakhi and self-styled ‘Griographer’, is part of a new generation of artists who are bringing their eclectic experiences to dance. A graduate of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, he has performed with some of the most prolific international companies and choreographers from Phoenix Dance Company, Lloyd Newson, Black Mime Theatre, Company Duroure, CandoCo Dance Company, Hittite Empire and IRIE! dance theatre. Since creating Kompany Malakhi in 1994, Johnson has grown from strength to strength by pushing creative boundaries and developing fresh and sophisticated ideas.
New Art Club - Tom Roden
Sunday 21st October 2007 1pm-4pm
"New Art Club was formed in 2001 by Tom Roden and Pete Shenton. The duo's inimitable combination of dance, theatre and comedy has been experienced by many through their repertoire of comedy dance shows. New Art Club believe that choreography is an easy, accessible artistic discipline that can be practised by all. They create a safe, supportive environment for artists to work in and with an inclusive and demystifying approach to skills-based sessions, their work aims to have a memorable and important effect on the creative and physical development of artists." Cost : £6/£4 (discounts for MMU 3rd Year Students)
Venue: MMU, Alsager Campus www.cheshire.mmu.ac.uk
Places are limited. Please call or email, to reserve your place. Payment is needed in advance to secure a place on these workshops.
Filip Van Huffel, Retina Dance Company
Thanks for a great workshop on 13th May 2007! Filip Van Huffel, choreographer and Artistic Director of the Anglo/Belgian Retina Dance, will start the workshop with a technique class that focuses on the process of movement, exploring the flow of energy through the body, emphasising efficiency and freedom. Fast paced and quirky, his class uses continuous flow, weight and breath to energise movement through the space and body.
The choreographic workshop will incorporate taught material, improvisation and an opportunity for the participants to work with choreographic devices Filip uses within his own work. Incorporating solo and partner work, the content will focus on the process of movement rather than shape, and the internal motivation of movement to produce physically vibrant movement material.
Julia Griffin
Thanks to Julia who delivered a workshop in February
Working from an anatomical base, participants engage the interior landscape of the body through visual imagery and anatomical information and progress from deep breathing phrases to more complex movement sequences that develop the body's natural weight moving through space. The class is structured to allow the participant to engage in a deep sense of release of tension through articulation of the body's skeletal framework. Class consists of standing, floor and travelling phrases.