Our wonderful dance students performed in works by choreographers including Johnathan Morley, Rose Payne, and Debbi Purtill at the ARC in Stockton yesterday.  Judy Hume took some gorgeous photos of the event! 

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Rheannon Davies, a recent graduate of Teesside Unviersity, is leading on a new dance project for people living with dementia. The work is funded by Comic Relief Sport for Change and developed by Nouveau Wellbeing. The project was launched March 31^st at the Jury’s Inn in Middlesbrough. It will include exercise classes and reminiscence activities for people living with dementia as well as weekly dance/fitness sessions for the public with a dementia friends session once a month.

She even got some coverage on BBC tees http://ift.tt/2nkEavI

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The dance students had great fun exploring new movement in the Kung Fu Masterclass with Bob Beagrie.

Bob holds a 5^th Degree Black Sash in Lau Gar Kung Fu and has been studying Chinese Martial Arts for 25 years, he is also a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at TU.

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Our third years are performing at the professional choreographic platform Moving Frontiers onTuesday 21st February, at 18.00. They will continue their tour of the piece ‘As She Passes By’ choreographed for them by Debbie Purtill from Ballet Lorent.

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The Dance Department worked with Occupational Therapy this autumn on a day of inter-professional learning for students and staff. The day provided an opportunity for dance and OT students to understand how several physical limitations might affect a person’s movements. Workshops took place at Teesside University’s Mercuria Studio and were the result of several months of consultation between the two teams in an effort to use inter-disciplinary learning to provide students with a diverse skill set.

Students wore glasses that partially obstructed their vision, bands to mimic the effect of a missing limb, and suits to help them understand the restriction of an arthritic body.  Movement exercises were then delivered by staff to help the students consider how the restrictions might affect people physically, mentally, and psychologically.

The result was a rich discussion and increased understanding for both staff and students. One student commented the day “made me aware of how I should use empathy within practice for ALL clients”. Another said the session made them think about “how limb restrictions/amputees will be affected not only on the physical level, but mentally and psychologically. The tiredness and overall strain would be overwhelming to begin with.”

Staff are currently working on developing ideas for larger-scale collaborations.

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Bethany Brownless, a 3rd year student on the BA honours Dance degree at Teesside University got the chance to put the skills she learnt in second year module Dance For Camera to the test this year working on several exciting professional projects. Beth has an interest in becoming a Videographer, creating screendances, and documenting different projects through film.

Over the summer period she completed a professional work placement as a videographer with Jennifer Essex, a senior lecturer at Teesside University. Beth documented Jennifer’s project Replicas, an interactive dance performance influenced by the evolution of communication and intimacy in relationships. Beth’s role as videographer involved creating a series of short films, documenting the rehearsal process, and performances at Stockton International Riverside Festival.

In October, Beth worked as a videographer for Lorraine Smith, a senior lecturer at Teesside University, Annie O’Donnell, an independent artist and Peter Heselton, a music producer documenting their performance of Elizabeth and the Three Sisters which was performed as part of Nightfall 2016.

Beth says:

“These experiences really challenged my skills as a videographer. I had to use my own initiative, allowing myself to experiment with camera angles, positioning, storylines, music choices and, editing abilities. I have had the opportunity to expand my knowledge as a videographer and this has enlightened my passion to take this further, gaining a future career from this. “

Watch one of Beth’s films:

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By Teesside University Dance student Jessica Gibbs

On the 3^rd of November, the student company Diverse@tees from the BA dance degree at Teesside University had the amazing experience of travelling to Amsterdam with senior lecturer Jennifer Essex. It was a great experience that gave the students a glimpse of what it is like to be a professional dance artist.

They had the incredible chance to see the premier of ‘Humpback Runner’ at Zuiderstrandtheater, choreographed by Jiří Pokorný’s and performed by Nederlands Dans Theater. Then to further their knowledge they were privileged to take part in a modern jazz class by Erick Bacon and an afro-fusion class with Avalon Brown.

‘An amazing trip that allowed me to see the dance sector in a whole new environment and experience the culture of Amsterdam.’ -Stacey Thompson (Member of Diverse@tees)

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The dance students were thrilled to collaborate with the BA Fashion Enterprise students for their final show in May. The Fashion students designed costumes based on the concept of  Abandonment. The choreography was performed to a full house in the Hazel Pearson Theatre in May 2016.

BA Fashion Enterprise & Dance students working together to finalise contemporary fashion garments for the level 6 dance performance in May.

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We were excited to host an edition of the Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema as part of the Tees Dance Film Fest Open Air screening on Tuesday 10th May, 6-7pm, at the campus heart, School of Arts & Media: Teesside University

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We’re looking forward to welcoming several guests to Teesside University this spring. Kimberley Harvey of Subtle Craft Company is returning to work with our first year students at Mima.  We’re also welcoming Zubaidah Saebu and Louise Masters as guest teachers.

For our upcoming performance at the Hazel Person Theatre May 24th we’re also welcoming several guest choreographers. The students are very lucky to be working with Jack Webb, one of Scotland’s leading choreographers and teachers with a decade of experience in the UK and internationally. We are certainly looking forward to having his bold and distinctive artistic voice back in Teesside.

Ana Baer from Texas State University also returns to the University to create a new work for the students.  Ana’s work emphasises collaboration and brings a global perspective – she has previously presented work in Chile, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Guatemala, Greece, Spain, France, and multiple venues in Germany, UK, Mexico and USA.  See some of her video dance work here: http://ift.tt/1pKjidB The performances are May 24th at 4 and 6:30pm at the Hazel Pearson Theatre.  To book tickets please contact  arts@tees.ac.uk or 01642 384019

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