Lift Off Dance Festival is well under way and BCDCY have performed two works by Resident Choreographer Luke Brown, this week.  On Wednesday the company performed ‘All Of Us Here’, a piece about ‘connection’ and last Saturday they performed ‘The Ground Beneath Us’ choreographed for the Afrovibes Festival last year.

For many this festival marks their last performance in the company before moving on to pastures new as they turn 18 and head off to full time studies.  Make sure you don’t miss them perform on 9th May where they will be performing ‘Don’t Blame Me’ created by James Cousins and ‘Pandora’s Box’ created by Artistic Director, Lena Dee.

Join Facebook.com/liftoffdance to be kept up to date with events and ways to be involved.

BCDCY are looking to recruit new dancers this Summer and application forms are now ready.

If you are interested in a career in dance, would like to train alongside professional choreographers and companies and are aged 13-21 then contact lena.dee@southhillpark.org.uk for an application form and more info.

The company have been in intensive rehearsals leading up to their 4 performances as part of Lift Off Dance Festival at South Hill Park.  Over the half term the company worked with  James Cousins, ex-Berkshire Youth Dance Company performer and rising star of the Contemporary dance world following his win of the Matthew Bourne New Adventures Choreography Award.  James worked intensively with the group to produce a work based around partner work – a theme common to his most recent work for his own company.  BCDCY will be performing this new work on 2nd May at the first Lift Off Gala.

Mary Mannion, 80collective dancer (Resident Dance Artists at South Hill Park) took BCDCY through a Yoga class working on stretches and poses to build both strength and flexibility for dance.  For many it was one of their first Yoga classes and really opened their eyes to the importance of having the control over the body as well as the flexibility.  Mary will be working with the company again as part of a programme of workshops to build core dance skills as a performer as well as looking after their bodies for a career in dance.

BCDCY had a 2 hour masterclass with Charlotte Pook, dancer with 80collective (Resident Dance Artists at South Hill Park) where she put them through their paces working on their contemporary technique and performance skills.  Charlotte also works as a freelance dancer and teacher working with companies such as Ballet Boyz and National Dance Company Wales.

BCDCY had the honour of performing the curtain raiser for ‘Biko’s Quest’ on Halloween, at South Hill Park as part of their Afrovibes Festival.  The work, ‘The Ground Beneath Me’, created by Resident Choreographer, Luke Brown, drew on the themes from ‘Biko’s Quest’ and centred around the idea of having strong beliefs that you do not want silenced.

Before the curtain went up, the company were invited on stage by the professional dancers to take part in their company class as warm up to the performance – a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the style of the company and perform alongside such great dance artists.

BCDCY performed ‘The Ground Beneath Me’ (by Luke Brown) at the Rhoda McGaw Theatre as part of the Woking Dance Festival platform ‘Innovate’ for youth groups and invited guests.  The group received a great audience reaction to this tender but powerful piece by the company’s Resident Choreographer, and very much enjoyed the experience of performing outside of South Hill Park.

Luke Brown, Resident BCDCY choreographer, started rehearsals today with the company to create a curtain raiser for ‘Biko’s Request’ being performed as part of the Afrovibes Festival taking place at South Hill Park this Friday.  A huge amount of work has already been created around the themes of the show and the company look forward to performing alongside the professionals.  Book your tickets now!

http://southhillpark.org.uk/18260/shows/bikos-quest.html

BCDCY worked with Eryck Brahamia, ex-Rambert dancer on their contemporary technique and choreography.  Eryck has recently joined a new dance company and he taught BCDCY some of the ideas behind their new ventures and some repertoire from the company as well as getting BCDCY to create sections themselves.  It was fantastic to see the company so pushed physically and to see the dancers happy but exhausted at the end of the session.

BCDCY enjoyed working with the Dancespinners at last weeks session to try and ‘unlock’ new ways of choreographing.  Dancespinners are boards that have ‘spinners’ on to dictate what body part you move, which direction and how you move, as well as more intricate instructions such as what level, how long for etc.  The idea is to take the dancers out of their comfort zone of just creating dance sequences using the moves they are familiar with and always fall back on for choreography.  The result were some amazingly detailed and unique dance sequences that pushed the dancers creativity and was a valuable exercise in thinking in new ways about choreography.