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Dance Sansaar – Punjabi Folk Arts

ianravenscroft — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 09:30:13 +0000

Dance Sansaar posted their first tweet the other day, cryptically referring to a Dancing for the Games project they were working on. From what I can tell, the project is called Lawk Naach and is focused on providing training for dance trainers.

Here’s a bit more about Dance Sansaar:

Dance Sansaar, meaning “dance world”, is a non-profit organisation based in Birmingham, which was founded by Jagdis Kumar in 2004. The organisations philosophy is to preserve and promote the history and heritage of traditional Punjabi Folk Arts.

We specialise in Punjabi Folk Dance, which is known as Lawk Naach. This encapsulates several kinds of dance and supporting music and song – it is a fundamental part of Punjabi culture. The dances include Bhangra, Giddha, Jhumar, Luddi, Julli, Daankara, Dhamal, Sammi, Kikli, and Gatka.

To find out more about Dance Sansaar and what they do, visit the Dance Sansaar website here. You can follow them on Twitter here.

Matthew Lawrence’s blog

ianravenscroft — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:58:29 +0000

Birmingham Royal Ballet principal dancer Matthew Lawrence is blogging over on ballet.co.uk giving his insights and behind-the-scenes comments on working for the company. Here’s an extract from his latest post ‘Why I Like Nutcracker?’ to whet your appetite:

I’ll rewind the clock a month, to Christmas pudding and Nutcracker, and answer the question ‘Why I like Nutcracker?’ Which may prompt the question, ‘Who doesn’t like Nutcracker?’ I’ll ask you to place yourself into a ballerina’s satin pointe shoes for a moment. Nutcracker for most ballet companies is an annual event, a season of around 3 weeks, around 20 shows packed full of matinees, with at least 3 roles per dancer per night, every night and/or matinee. With the added bonus of having done the same roles, with the same company for possibly 10 years more or less. Talk about ground hog day! So maybe you can excuse some dancers for feeling all ‘Nutcrackered’ out.

To follow more of Matthew’s thoughts, take a look at his blog on ballet.co.uk.

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hrwaldram — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:00:06 +0000

And the Customer Service/ Crisis Management/General Superhero Award Goes To ..

fionah22 — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:29:05 +0000

… DanceXchange; for being total troopers in the midst of a ‘dance injury an hour before curtain-up’ nightmare.

This is perhaps a general muse as well as a review of the latest Bare Bones show for 2 reasons; which are, really, the same reason. Not long before the start of the show a dancer had to pull out; which, due to the complex relational nature of the pieces in the show, was nothing short of a crisis. However, the show must go on – and so it did: re-worked in little more than an hours before curtain-up. Reviewing is thus rendered a little tricky as a) I’m not actually reviewing the show that was programmed and b) the most striking element of this performance is actually the fact that it was performed at all..

I’m not sure that I’d have ever known that this had all happened backstage; had we not been kept informed by David Massingham which was both well-appreciated customer service and a credit to the company’s professionalism and dedication. This was a slick, creative and entertaining quartet, drawing on all the wealth of form of contemporary dance.

The first piece, Rui Horta’s ‘Container’ had the audience quite literally holding it’s breath along with the dancers: testimony to it’s engaging sense of anticipation. Simple, but effective, it involved the dancers moving around a strangely defined space and made the most of the up-close-and-personal approach. The audience was positioned practically on the dance floor itself in a round; which maximised the intensity and sensory nature of this piece: walking, running, breathing, shapes, lines, space.

Image: Johan Persson

Australian choreographer Garry Stewart’s ‘Magnification’ was possibly the night’s favourite. The interplay between the dancer’s movement and the biological-sounding soundtrack (bones cracking, fluid squelching etc) was outstanding and one of the cleverest noise/movement combinations I’ve experienced. Again, particularly outstanding was that this should have been a trio, but due to injury was a duet. A still perfectly, intricately timed duet. With just an hour of rehearsal as such. Respect.

After the interval; Robert Clark’s ‘Straight Talking’ was a funny and slightly odd poke at the world of dance; it’s imprisonment to aesthetics and image. Clark subverts this to provide an unusual, somewhat awkward (but purposefully so) piece that felt slightly uncomfortable to watch – but I guess that’s the point ..

Finally, Mr Massingham himself had a moment to shine with ‘Hinterland’; his own creation in collaboration with the dancers. It was a complex, relational piece – with elements of gender politics, interaction and disorientation that involved the mind as well as the senses and was a suitably thought-provoking end to a compelling, multifarious evening.

Image: Johan Persson

Instead of being a potential flop, Bare Bones demonstrated an enormous tenacity and ingenuity that made this a thoroughly enjoyable experience for the audience. For this, they have my utmost respect. And it has not gone unnoticed: see News

Well done, DanceXchange.

- Fiona Handscomb

No Body does it better than Luca Silvestrini…

sister45 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:30:29 +0000

Did you know that it’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open? Or … That three hundred million cells die in your body every minute? Yes the human body is a fascinating marvel, capable of some pretty exciting and disgusting achievements. To celebrate the human form in all its wobbly, stubbly, glory then why not come to Protein’s performance of their hit show Dear Body at The Patrick Centre on Thursday 22 – Fri 23 January at 8pm.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary, Luca Silvestrini’s Protein presents a witty satire on our society’s obsession with body image and body care. Dear Body follows the story of an insecure and rather timid central character (played by Sally Marie, Dance Europe’s Best Female Performer 2007) as she struggles to mould herself into the “perfect shape”. Watch as fitness instructors, plastic surgeons and weight watchers put her through a gruelling aerobic, stretching and detox routine to achieve what she believes is the perfect body.
“A rib-tickling dissection of the quest for the body beautiful.” Metro

For tickets, more information or to watch a trailer click here

Skin on the Arts Council Review

Chris Unitt — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 22:18:26 +0000

A visual from ‘Skin’ by ACE has been used to illustrate the Arts Council’s Annual Review 2008:

Meanwhile, Nicky Getgood has uploaded this video of ACE Youth performing ‘Ubhuntu Bam’ at DanceXchange’s Raw Energy 08 from earlier in the year:

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2CHhLpK0ybs]

Welcome to West Midlands Dance

Chris Unitt — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:09:24 +0000

We’d like to see this site grow into a strong resource reflecting the West Midlands’ strength in dance of all types, covering the performances and festivals taking place in the region and reporting on important bits of news.

To start with, this blog will be looked after by Chris Unitt (of Created in Birmingham) and Paul Burns of DanceXchange but there’s a good chance we’ll get others involved once it’s up and running.

If you’d like to get in touch with us then use the comments box under any of the posts and we’ll get back to you.

WMDance might start slowly but bear with us and feel free to throw in your suggestions for improvements. In the meantime, if you’re interested in dance in the West Midlands, please bookmark this site or add our feed to your RSS reader.