Beginnings - Response to Adesola Akinlaye’s blog 28/01/2019


Beginnings

Response to Adesola Akinlaye’s blog 28/01/2019 

 

Reading Adesola’s blog on beginning’s made me reflect on the beginning of my teaching career in 1980. It was at a school that was a private school during the day and a dance school in the evenings and at weekends. Effectively it was managed almost like a performing arts school or stage school.

There was my interview with a strong and quite intermediating principal! That was the official beginning. The energetic beginning was the first class that I taught. A group of wonderful children all eager to soak up the knowledge of Greek dance. The first show I was involved in as a teacher there was in the first term of my starting. The show was basically a showcase of the performing arts subjects taught in the school. Ie children playing musical instruments, reading poetry, singing and of course dance. It was performed in a professional theatre and started at 7.00pm and finished 10.45pm! There were no links to any of the pieces just a random collection of pieces.

Moving forward to a performance that I created last year, 2018. I still used students from my own dance school, and it was still what one might call a showcase for our school, but I used a theme of a Fair ground/circus. Each piece was linked with a poem or vocal arrangement to set the scene for the next piece. I wanted the audience to feel as though they were being taken on a journey rather than just watching a series of dance pieces waiting for their son/daughter to appear on the stage!

One of the professional dance pieces that I have enjoyed the opening of is Emancipation of Expression. If you have not seen it, you can find it on the Blue Boy Entertainments page.www.blueboyent.com One of the stimuli of the piece was to express oneself through movement. The opening act is called Genesis. It begins with dances laying on the floor and one dancer standing underneath a series of blue lights. The piece begins and the dancers lying on the floor begin to move in jerky sudden moves as though ‘hatching’ from an egg. Finally, they grow until standing and expressing themselves through individual movement. This beginning had an impact on me for two reasons. When I read about the genre of piece, I wasn’t excited by the fact that it was hip hop/contemporary piece. I’m afraid I had a preconceived idea about what it would be like. The opening section blew away any previous thoughts that I had that I would not enjoy the piece. I felt in that opening that my mind was beginning a journey of awakening to a form of dance that I had not yet appreciated as an art form. Perhaps it would be classed as an effective beginning. The moment when thoughts are shifted and changed?




Comments

  1. Agata Lawniczak28 January 2019 at 13:53

    Hi Debbie, I really like the thought, that a new beginning can mean looking at something known or "old" through new glasses or seeing something in a new light. I can relate to the experience you describe. Looking forward to looking at the video link.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debbie3 February 2019 at 04:13

      Thank you Agata. Lovely to 'meet' you here and looking forward to speaking to you in the future

      Delete
  2. Jade Nunn29 January 2019 at 01:47

    Hi Debbie, thanks for sharing your beginnings with us all. I liked the idea of your 'fair ground' performance I too like to take the audience on a journey. We have done such theme's like 'around the world in 80 minutes' (days would certainly be a long show) Also thank you for sharing the link to 'Blue Boy' It's not my genre but you can appreciate the concept and talent for sure.

    Many thanks
    Jade

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debbie3 February 2019 at 04:14

      Thanks Jade. Love the sound of the 80 minutes show. Hope to speak to you again soon.

      Delete
  3. Tanith Waldie30 January 2019 at 03:17

    Hi Debbie
    Thank you for such an informative read, it has really help me reflect more on my teaching. I have had similar experiences by taking old familiar works such as 'Mary Poppins' and the 'Nutcracker' and reinterpreting them, creating something new and therefor encouraging people to view something familiar from a different perspective.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debbie3 February 2019 at 04:17

      Hi Tanith. Thank you for that. It's so interesting to hear what other people have done with their professional careers. Something that I didn't realise would happen on this course. Lovely!

      Delete
  4. CatIngebrigtsen31 January 2019 at 04:37

    Hi Debbie,
    I am a big fan of showcase performances that are themed or have a storyline, and try to do that whenever I can but I never tried using poetry or vocal arrangements to link pieces together. I think the idea is fascinating and I might try it myself in the future.
    As to the videolink, it was really interesting. It is not a style of dance that I work with but I have two fabulous hiphop instructors and a young teacher who specialises in contemporary improvisation. I think I will share this link with them as it might inspire them to do a creative collaboration which could produce something magical.
    Thank you so much,
    Catherine

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debbie3 February 2019 at 04:19

      Hi Catherine. Thank you. So glad you found EofE interesting. I'm not sure if I said that it is on the GCSE Dance list of professional works, so lots of info can be found on it. Looking forward to hearing more about you and your work in the future.

      Delete

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