Summer Dancing 2010 is a festival of new dance and movement practice with master classes, intensives, discussions and curated performance in Coventry over 25 June – 3 July

The festival includes three-day intensive workshops with artists such as Charlie Morrissey, Adrian Russi and Jacky Meredin; Lucia Walker and  Gill Clarke; Helen Poynor; and Florence Peake, as well as one-day specials and morning classes lead by Cecilia Macfarlane; Chris Crickmay, Sylvia Hallett and Eva Karczag; Andrea Buckley; Gaby Agis; and Joe Moran. There will also be daily ashtanga yoga practice with Ervin Menyhart; and one-to-one somatic body work with Kerstin Wellhofer.

The performance series includes Eva Karczag, Sylvia Hallett and Chris Crickmay in the Lanchester Gallery, Tom Marshman for the city centre
Gaby Agis brings Peripheral Landscapes to the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery, Florence Peake will be resident at Unit One, Lily Hayward-Smith brings her choreography to Coventry Cathedral and there will be an evening of solos performed by Joe Moran, Amy Voris and Fiona Millward.

Six graduates will also have the chance to have their work showcased on 30 June as part of  Moving Out. For more information and to download an application pack, visit the website at www.summerdancing.co.uk/movingout or contact movingout@summerdancing.co.uk.

Here’s a heads-up about a series of Flamenco worskshops with Chanta La Mui’s Anna Garcia during International Dance Festival Birmingham.

Rehearsals at The Link Dance Space in Digbeth courtesy of ACE Dance and Music.

Sita Popat and Scott Palmer will be talking about their research projects into the relationship between dance and technology at ‘Digital Dancing Partners: Collaborative projects between performance and technology, academy and industry‘ at the Institute for Creative Enterprise (ICE), at Coventry Technology Park on Monday 8th March 2010, 5:30pm-6:30pm.

ICE is pleased to welcome Sita Popat and Scott Palmer, to talk about their collaborations with KMA Creative Technology Ltd. Popat and Palmer will discuss how the relationship between the performance academics at the University of Leeds and the commercial digital artists has created several research activities, including Dancing in the Streets (2005) and Projecting Performance (2006-8). These projects explore the interactivity between dancers, computers and operators, bringing together the fields of dance, scenography and digital art.

Sita Popat is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds, developing her interests in dance performance and choreography in a variety of digital and new media contexts. She has choreographed on dancers, robots and digital ‘sprites’, and is fascinated by the interrelationships between performers, operators and computers. She is also the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media.

Scott Palmer is also a lecturer at the University of Leeds  and his research focuses on scenography, lighting design and the interaction between technology and performance. Scott has written several books on Stage Management, Lighting and Sound including his current work A Lighting Reader for the Palgrave Macmillan Theatre Practices series.

To book a place at the free seminar event please contact Katie Law on 02476158381 or klaw@cad.coventry.ac.uk.

Dancescape are hosting a Youth Dance Network meeting at Warwick Arts Centre for teachers, artists and youth dance leaders in Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire before its Boys Dancing performance ‘Evolutionary Moves’.

The meeting is on Wednesday 17 March from 5.30 to 7pm and will have a focus on developing boys dance activity, and give you the opportunity to catch up on current youth dance opportunities and news. The Evolutionary Moves performance starts at 7.30pm and a free ticket is available to those who attend the network meeting.

To book your place at the Dancescape Youth Dance Network Meeting, please email Hayley Duffield, Youth Dance Contact, hduffield@solihull.gov.uk or call 0121 704 6309.

This year, Smash Bro’z won the “Battle Of The Shires 2010 – Midlands Qualifier” for a place in the UK Hip Hop Championship Final, where they gained a 1st place ranking in the preliminary round, and then secured a first place victory overall. But now they need to raise funds to get to the World finals in Las Vegas.

For those of you who don’t know already – The smash Bro’z were hard at work  fundraising to go to Las Vegas and compete at the World Hip Hop Championships 2009 against 50+ other countries. Now, unfortunately that time round we couldn’t make it happen, but this year is going to be different – you wanna know why? It’s because we’re: another year older, another year wiser and another year STRONGER!!!

They are trying to raise £7,000 to be able to represent the UK at the finals, so if you can help email AundreBrown_1@hotmail.com. Meanwhile, here’s a video of their winning routine:

Professional dance artists have the opportunity to learn repertory from Akram Khan Company’s latest group piece bahok in a masterclass led by Khan’s company members.

Akram Khan’s distinct contemporary dance style draws upon principles of Kathak (Indian classical dance), such as its gestural detailing, rhythmic patterns, precision of line and focus, extremities of speed, and its tradition of story-telling. Exploring themes of home and cultural identity within contemporary society, the movement material in bahok is inspired by Kathak, as well as the dancers’ individual styles.

The masterclass costs £5 per participant, including a free ticket to Akram Khan Company’s performance of bahok on the Saturday evening. To book your place contact Sarah Jassal at Dancescape by Friday 12 March on sjassal@solihull.gov.uk or 0121 704 6747.

For more information about bahok at Warwick Arts Centre, go to www.warwickartscentre.co.uk and for more information about Akram Khan Company, go to www.akramkhancompany.net.

A couple more dance jobs for you this week, check them out.

Firstly, Coalbrookdale & Ironbridge Primary School are looking for a drama and dance practitioner to help them explore creative approaches to improving writing skills.

We have chosen dance and drama as the starting point and would like to explore the possibility of using these approaches as a different route to developing literacy skills, particularly writing in Yrs 2 & 5.

Closing date for applications is Monday 15 March 5pm with interviews taking place on Wednesday 23rd March.  For a full brief and application procedures email Iain Armstrong at iaincp@phonoscope.co.uk quoting Coalbrookdale.

Meanwhile, the National Dance Teachers Association is looking for a Director:

The National Dance Teachers Association (NDTA), recognised as the national voice for dance in schools, is seeking to appoint a dynamic and visionary Director to take overall responsibility for our programmes and provide strategic leadership to the organisation at an exciting stage of its development.

The successful applicant will be a pro-active and highly experienced dance/arts manager or teacher in a school at a senior level with passion, enthusiasm and commitment to dance for children and young people, a
strong understanding of the dance/arts sector and the ability to lead, advocate and represent the NDTA at a national level.

For an information pack and details of how to apply, email office@ndta.org.uk or tel 01543 308618 or download from http://www.ndta.org.uk/news/NDTA-Director-recruitment/. The closing date is 31 march and interviews are set to take place on 5 may.

There are up to 12 free places available for professional dance artists to attend Motionhouse’s latest multimedia show Scattered at Solihull Arts Complex on Tuesday 16 March, 7.30pm. The performance will also be followed by a post-show discussion with the company, which will be open to all audience members.

Scattered combines Motionhouse’s trademark highly physical dance theatre and mesmerizing aerial imagery with film and graphics, to create a unique visual performance event. Performed on a huge curved floor, which disappears skywards upstage, Scattered uses projection technology to create a world in which the dancers move in, on and through the image.

Here’s a video preview for the show:

To book your place, contact Sarah Jassal at Dancescape asap or by Friday 12 March at the latest on sjassal@solihull.gov.uk or 0121 704 6747.

For more information about Motionhouse and Scattered go to www.motionhouse.co.uk.

Here’s a couple of videos of the Hollie Victoria masterclass I mentioned a few weeks ago. These are from Sticky Toffee dance and Tru Streetdance.