Heart-pounding music, passionate romance and intimate choreography make Dirty Dancing a timeless movie and the classic story is returning to the stage later this year. Milton Keynes Theatre will welcome the as yet unannounced cast when the touring production gives fans the ‘time of their life’ in October and I was treated to a sneaky preview of what is to come at the Dirty Dancing press launch. View Post
Having carved out a niche role reviewing the dance productions at Milton Keynes Theatre, a writing opportunity at choreographic showcase, Cloud Dance Festival: Showtime, was too good to miss.
I have been a dancer and a writer for as long as I can remember. Ballet classes are a necessity in my week (not forgetting jazz, contemporary – any excuse to have a bop) and writing has always been my ‘thing’ – from excelling at essays to reporting for Milton Keynes’ favourite newspaper.
Hopefully, regular readers enjoy my reviews but I am always keen to improve and broaden my understanding of both dance and writing. Imagine this journalist’s excitement, then, to be selected as an emerging dance writer for Cloud Dance Festival: Showtime, held in London over three days (Friday 15th to Sunday 17th November). This thrice-yearly gathering allows groundbreaking choreographers to share their work. As part of this latest festival, Cloud Dance held professional development workshops in dance writing, dance photography and dance filming, led by industry experts.
So, on Friday, I joined four fellow wordsmiths with a keen interest and background in dance at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in North London for a four-hour writing workshop.
CREATIVE VISION: Dancers rehearse Jo Meredith’s Chimera (Photo by Chantal Guevara)
As an enthusiastic writer, journalist and dance reviewer, I am always seeking out opportunities to write about dance, theatre and the arts, participate in dance classes and learn more about my favourite things (unsurprisingly, dancing and writing!). So, upon discovering Cloud Dance Festival and seeing that organisers were offering selected dance writers the chance to attend a professional development workshop, I applied.
Cloud Dance Festival is a thrice-yearly platform showcasing the best in new and emerging contemporary dance. It was founded in 2007 by Chantal Guevara, a freelance dance producer, manager and photographer. She is passionate about helping artists to raise their profile and build the connections they need to further their careers.
For the first time, this month’s event – Cloud Dance Festival: Showtime (15th – 17th November 2013) – included the opportunity for promising dance writers, photographers and videographers to attend masterclasses led by industry experts. I was thrilled to be invited to participate in a half-day workshop on dance criticism before watching the mixed-bill evening performance.
“Dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble education. Dancing with the feet, with ideas, with words, and, need I add that one must also be able to dance with the pen?” – Nietzsche.
The year 2013 hurtles on and, as we welcome in the autumn, the elves are already busily getting to work on Christmas plans at Milton Keynes Theatre. Nothing says Christmas quite like the wonderful British tradition of pantomime and this year’s seasonal merriment will come courtesy of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
I was lucky enough to be invited to Frosts Garden Centre in Woburn Sands for the official media launch of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This was the first chance for the stars to meet, be photographed together in costume and be interviewed by showbiz journalists from across the region!
The cast: Prince Charming (Shaun Dalton), Snow White (Kate Stewart), Wicked Queen (Jennifer Ellison) and Warwick Davis as ‘Prof’
