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or maybe just a thought to share?
Contact rowena.price@southeastdance.org.uk and tell us what's up!
Why aren’t more boys in Hampshire dancing?
By Celia Moran
Girls lined up chattering, stretching, fussing over ballet buns. These are my overriding memories of dance classes as a child. No budding Nureyev’s or Baryshnikov’s competitively comparing their quadruple pirouettes or jumps that seemed to travel to infinity. But has this changed? Surely, the arrival of shows such as Strictly Come Dancing with strapping sports men expressing their respect for dancers’ skill, or ultra-cool dance groups such as Flawless, must have altered the perceptions of what it means to be a male dancer? One should hope so; The Dance Review of 2007 by Tony Hall demonstrates the gaping hole in dance participation. ‘The biggest challenge for dance and the area where the biggest impact could be made with most speed, is the transition through the “cool” teenage period by children, especially boys.’ So, how can we achieve this in Hampshire? I interviewed dance students across Hampshire to try and find out. To read the full article, click here.
Brighton Dance Flash Mobs
By Ali Adolph
Sometimes things need to be done just because they need doing. And sometimes it becomes apparent that you are the one to do it! This is what happened to Ali Adolph when she first became interested in flash mobs involving a dance routine. Here we meet the producer of Brighton Dance Flash Mobs. A flash mob is a random occurrence involving a group of people rapidly assembling in a public place, doing something creative and then dispersing – as if nothing happened! For the full article, click here.
Dance-Epic, A 24 Hour Dance-a-thon to raise money for the Red Cross Earthquake Appeal.
An interview with Katie Dale-Everett by Laura Jones.
The Brighton and Hove Youth Dance Committee are working hard to create a large scale event set to take place in early September to raise money for charity. I interviewed one of the members to find out more. For the full interview, click here.
Dance Epic
By Kelly Addison
Starting my 13 week placement in September at South East Dance as a volunteer project administrator, the lovely staff supported and trained me through my responsibilities so I could be of some help towards the fast approaching event, Dance Epic. Organised and run by Brighton and Hove Youth Dance Committee members, the fundraiser for the Red Cross’ Haiti and Chile Earthquake appeal was getting ever closer with the members needing administrative & communication support from volunteers such as myself based at South East Dance. With the original members, particularly Katie Dale Everett and Charlotte Smith having planned and budgeted the event and found workshop leaders of various dance styles, it was a team effort to promote the event and raise as much money as possible towards the £200 target. For the full article, click here.
Takeover Day
By Angelina Sorokina
Moving Voices- Moving On!
By Melanie Steer
On the Saturday 26 March 2011 the Lighthouse building in Brighton was definitely the place to be. South East Dance volunteers from all over the region came together, along with friends and family, to celebrate the success of moving Voices, a three year project, planned and delivered by the volunteers and exceeded all expectations. To read the full article, click here.
Dance Epic: How Dance can be a Uniting Force for Good
by Dance Epic organiser, Charlotte Smith
It was February 2010 and it had only been a month since an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter Scale had devastated the island of Haiti, killing thousands of civillians and leaving millions homeless. Thinking about the amazing work moving Voices had already done in welcoming local young people to organise, share and develop their artistic and administrative skills through dance activity, we wanted to reach further afield and help those in need.Bouncing ideas off each other, Katie and myself proposed inviting moving Voices volunteers and all members of the community to participate in a sponsored danceathon, which would include workshops and performances by some of Sussex's top dancing talent. Following on from meetings with the Brighton and Hove Youth Dance Committee and South East Dance, Dance Epic was born. For the full article, click here.
Review of The Canterbury High Dance
By Rebecca Wise
On Saturday 16th October 2010, having led the parade through town, Canterbury High Academy dancers showed off their talent by performing a series of short dances to formally open this year’s Canterbury Festival. moving Voices is a big project to involve more young people in dance in the community and to perform dance to more people. South East Dance has supported the Canterbury High Dance Academy with choreography workshops and costume making.For the full review, click here.
Laban students set to
Improvise to Earl Brown's Score: 'December 1952.'
By Adam Gillick.
Final year students of the BA (HONS) Dance Theatre Course at Trinity-Laban (Conservatoire for Music and Dance) in London, including Brighton students, Sam Jordan and Cara Richardson, are currently undertaking the rigorous and professional task of working with internal choreographer, performer and dance artist, Lizzie Kew Ross, in their interpretation and recreation of the visual score, 'December 1952', a work composed by leading American, avant-garde composer, Earl Brown. Read the full article here.
Moving Oxford
By Kelly Addison
Moving Oxford was a large scale dance event delivered by moving Voices volunteers who underwent some fantastic training to become an Event Management Team. Made up of twenty six volunteers, the team had only six weeks to learn skills they described as invaluable, around planning, budgeting, creativity tasks such as designing posters & flyers, writing press releases and leadership. For the full article, click here.
Moving Oxford-Event Management Team
By Hayley Irwin
Follow Hayley Irwin and the rest of the event managent team who are helping set up the Moving Oxford event which is taking place on the 7th of November! Check out the blog here!
Interview with Flavi at the Big Dance event on Brighton sea front
By Joanna Szczepanowska, interviwed by Emma Tiri
Review of Jasmin Vardimon’s 7734
By Kelly Addison
As a perk of being a moving Voices volunteer at the South East Dance offices, I was invited along with staff to the premiere of Jasmin Vardimon’s latest work, 
7734 at the Dome in Brighton on Thursday 23rd September. Jasmin Vardimon is a Brighton-based company and the piece was co-commissioned by South East Dance as well as the Dome & Sadlers Wells.
Click here to view full article!
Dance Project:6 Wows Wycombe
By Kirsty Maddock.
FOUR professional choreographers, ten rehearsals and ninety performers equal one spectacular dance show.
The show Dance Project: 6 contained five genres of dance: ballet, jazz /tap, hip-hop and contemporary.
The stage was filled with performers whose ages ranged from 12-20 and they performed to a full house after almost selling out tickets for all four performances.
Click here for the full article!
moving Voices Podcast by volunteer
By Amanda Luis.
Please see the right hand column to listen and view the podcast and tell us what you think:
An Innovative and Inclusive performance from stopGAP at Big Dance
By Maxine Robinson
“StopGAP is a dance company with a difference,” explains Hannah Sampson, their newest apprentice. “I began in the youth groups but now I train with them. I’ll be going on tour soon which I’m really excited about.” Hannah has Downs Syndrome, and while other dance companies may have rejected her, StopGAP saw past her disability to her talent, and now her dreams of becoming a dancer are coming true.
Click here for the full article.
‘Grooving Participants Guaranteed Dance-A-Thon Success .’ – An interview with DANCE-A-THON organiser, Emily James
By Maxine Robinson.
Event Organiser Emily James explains why she is so thrilled with everyone who took part.
" The South East Dance DANCE-A-THON was part of Open Weekend activities taking place across the UK. Open Weekend is an annual UK-wide celebration counting down to the Olympics and Paralympics Games. It featured hundreds of sporting, arts and culture events right across the UK and this year, the theme was to create a challenge for the audience - to try something new or take an existing skill to a new level!
We felt that challenging the public to take part in up to eight hours of dancing in eight different styles was a fantastic way of being part of this nation-wide event whilst raising the profile of dance and raising money for our Building Communities programme which includes moving Voices. "
Click here for the full interview.
‘A diary of Big Dance South East England.’
By Erica Cheung
I attended two dance workshops on July 7th 2010 that were part of Big Dance South East England, one of the UK’s most important dance programmes running this summer, with opportunities to experience, participate and engage in dance for thousands of people. For the full diary, click here.
A Day Dancing With Brighton’s Community; One Not Easily Forgotten
By Georgina Evenden
As a young moving Voices journalist, I was invited to come a long to free workshops taking place across Brighton and Hove between 1 – 10 July as part of Big Dance South East in the run up to the main dance event on 10 July. South East Dance were the regional facilitators and lead organisation for Big Dance 2010 in South East England.
These workshops; free to the community, were lead by professionals in the dance world are an opportunity for those who would otherwise miss out on the joy and exhilaration that dance can provide. My role was to investigate the nature of the workshops and the impact they had on various sectors of Brighton’s population; what influence does dance have on the community? To my delight, the answer was resoundingly positive; excitement and encouragement was at full flow in the areas touched by South East Dance.
To read the full article, click here.
Get Up and Get Dancing!
By Emma Tiri
Big Dance South East England landed in Brighton on the 1st July. Its aim? To encourage the importance of participation and engagement in dance for the community.
A red double-decker bus was among the sights to see in Brighton, as Big Dance South East England kicked of its campaign to get the community involved and engaged in dance. A dance floor was set for performers who were ready to perform their different contemporary dance compilations, and get the audience on their feet by leading various workshops. Click here to read the full article.
Success of Festival Stage -
Dance Volunteers ensure performances are
‘A walk in the park!’
By Adam Gillick
The seven strong ‘A to G’ team, (Advance to Go), organised by South East Dance and supported by ‘V-involve’, the national charity recruiting young volunteers between the ages of 16-25, alongside their events management coach, Hilary Price and members of the South East Dance team, were on perfect form in their meticulous running of the Community Dance Stage and Workshops at this year’s ‘TakePart’ International Festival of Sport, held in Preston Park, Brighton, on Saturday 19th June!
The team, who had undertaken a rigorous and intense Arts Events Management Training course over a period of six weeks, held at The Werks in Hove and The Lighthouse, Brighton (home to South East Dance), held the responsibility of representing the community led dance stage and workshops’ timetables, performances and planning that culminated in the success of the dance based activities at the festival upon the day!
To read the full article, click here.
Interview with Maria Forbes from Loop Dance company by Kirsty Maddock, Youth Dance Journalist, at Big Dance South East England launch.
After an energetic workshop and a brilliant contemporary dance performance Maria Forbes from the Loop Dance company spoke about the Big South East Dance launch.
That was a great performance, how do you feel about the reception you received?
I’m really pleased with how many people are here. The performance went well; we chose a song by Muse to appeal to the age group [16-25] that this project is aimed at.
Lots of people were getting involved in your workshop, which must be great to see?
It shows all age groups can get involved. The school children seemed to really enjoy it. This is what it is all about.
What was the purpose of the launch today?
Big Dance South East want more people to get involved in dance basically. My workshop today was getting people to learn our flash-mob routine which was choreographed by Carrie Whitaker and will be taken across several regions and performed to the public to get them involved, just like today.
Where else will the routine be shown?
It’s not just the routine. There will be loads of opportunities to get involved in dance in a variety of ways. The individual hubs are Oxford, Portsmouth, Buckinghamshire, Brighton and Hove, Surrey, and Kent.
What else will you be doing as part of these events?
From next Sunday to Saturday we are having an Olympic Torch relay in Kent which will go from Maidstone to Dover. What happens is we will be passing round a different photo for each person which will inspire the type of dance they do to the next person.
What are you hoping to achieve?
It will inspire people and open dance up to the general public. It is a celebration of dance.
A Flash of Inspiration- Youth Dance Journalist, Kirsty Maddock’s response to the Big Dance South East England launch.
Arriving at Brighton beach on a sunny Thursday afternoon I was delighted to see a small crowd gathering around the dance floor. A big, red double-decker bus caught the attention of the sunbathing public. They were all gathering to watch the launch of Big Dance South East; little did they expect to be up on the dance floor showing off their funky moves.
The event kicked off with a workshop by Maria Forbes who got a whole class of school children on their feet along with adults of all shapes and sizes to perform the soon-to-be famous flash mob routine. This was followed by a stunning performance by the Loop Dance company. Next it was the turn of Congolese dance performer Flavi who got the audience on their feet with his sleek moves and a fun workshop.
It was nice to see so many people smiling and enjoying the entertainment.
The event came to an end with a funky workshop with the compare, who got everyone on their feet, even an elderly lady over 70 took part and loved it.
Overall the day was a great success and would have inspired the public to take part in all different forms of dance. So a job well done by the South East Dance team!
Review of Ted Stoffer's
Rencontres Des Imeciles
Written by Dario Gabriel Mincioni
23rd May 2010
3/5 rating
In conclusion; Under Erasure is a beautiful and culturally relevant piece of theatre that has challenged and inspired me, but I personally feel that theatrically is it challenging to sit through due to the show length and pace.
Photographer: Catherine Long
