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April 20, 2008
practically perfect and worth the wait
The first time the train stopped I wasn’t too bothered because I had allowed an extra thirty minutes to get to the lesson at Expressions Studio in Kentish Town. When the train stopped again I still had lots of time but when we stopped again my spare time had run out. I called the studio and left a message to tell them all that I would most likely be late. I arrived at 12:00pm, quarter of an hour later than I’d arranged and at exactly the time the lesson was scheduled to find the lesson in full swing.
Anton and Wendy
(c) Carole Edrich, 2008
I was there to cover the lesson given by Anton du Beke to Wendy, who had won the lesson from Dance Today some ten months earlier and my first impression was the happy positivity of everyone involved. A natural cynic when it comes to live TV, I often wonder about the extent to which on-screen jokes are scripted but Anton's real-life warmth and jovial playfulness could not be faked. The man was every inch as charmingly cheerful and flirtatious as he is on TV and whilst being very precise in his dance instruction he was encouraging, engaging and empathetic as well.
Anton and Will
(c) Carole Edrich, 2008
They had started early so that I could ask my questions at the end but Wendy and Will were enjoying themselves so much I let the lesson run on. Anton’s overriding concerns (as always, he says) were about waiting, weight, posture and position. When asked to give one point to remember for each of his pupils, with a glint in his eye he said that Will should learn new things slowly before speeding them up. “And for Wendy?” I asked. Anton grinned cheekily; “Wendy? Wendy’s practically perfect”.
Both she and her partner will were understandably nervous when I arrived, but by the end Anton had them relaxed, happy and wanting more. It was great to be party to such a wonderful day. Wendy told me that her lesson had been worth every minute of the ten month wait and that she’d treasure the memory forever.
Wendy and Will
(c) Carole Edrich, 2008
Wendy invited Anton to visit Leamington Dance Centre where she is a ballroom teacher herself. He said he might. I hope that he does and that I can get there to cover it.
April 12, 2008
.. lies have short legs
It was an interesting audience; young arts student and dance types punctuated by older people who looked like they really knew their stuff. I sat between my friend Gavin and an engaging and terribly elegant woman whose grace in movement was well matched by a beautiful voice, perfect diction and a wonderful turn of phrase.
Gavin’s a designer friend whose comprehensive knowledge of art, art history and photography combine with a stunning level of creativity and open expressiveness that sometimes makes me feel that I’d be better off returning to university for a refresher course or two. He too was unimpressed by some of the works of the evening, declaring at one point that he had seen graduation shows that were more deserving despite not having had the benefit of arts council grants.
partial shot of PR literature on No Heaven
(c) Sadler's Wells, 2008
We each preferred different parts of the evening which is normal as far as I know. While Gavin declared that the highlight of his night was the banana cake he ate at its end, his favourite part of Live Screen was FILM. I most enjoyed the first of the Clod Collective performances and our new friend seemed to enjoy everything that contained recognisable dance.
Between us we represented a good range of perspectives. The articulate and well-dressed lady to my right is an ex high-level professional dancer who, while retired, is obviously still very much in touch with the scene. Gavin really knows his stuff if it’s art and design and if you put aside my specialisms I sit right in the middle. In view of the differences in what we preferred it is interesting that we agreed on what we disliked. That was most of of Step Two!
A written review should be concise, provide an accurate general impression and be easy to read. It can’t just include what we enjoyed or the live performance, and a discussion of carrot cake is right out of scope. It can't include a rant against everything we didn’t like either, as that would make the piece unbalanced, unreadable and far too long.
Since I believe that artistic interpretation should be up to each participating individual I described what happened and left the readers to make their own mind up as to what the pieces might have meant.
To be true to that approach I couldn't say that FILM subverts conventional ideas of movement, the factory floor and dance and plays on our preconceptions with humour and patterns and couldn't justify saying that while I enjoyed DUBUS I'm not sure about the extent to which it qualifies as dance. There was no space to say that I thought the true stars of the Clod Collective were stage and light designers, that their use of light and reflection was a wonderful art in itself and that I felt many of the pieces could have been shortened would have detracted from the overall message, especially since they’re all fairly short already.
So I’ve done it here instead.
You can find some of the film shorts on youtube:
Gavin couldn't find FLICKER, but this is Christinn Whyte's showreel
SHIFTWORK
April 02, 2008
Lucia... Thank you
I don't really know what to say here, but it's important to get something down.
Lucia was released from prison this morning. I don't know the details but assume that it's pending a retrial or similar investigation.
I'm taking the fact that she has been released as an indication of the likely end result of the next steps and want to say thank you to everyone who signed the petition.
We're not out of the woods yet. But things are looking good.
Thank you
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