Hello beautiful people!
Buckle up because today's episode is a real lesson in business ethics, pricing our services as dance artists, making a difference in the world, and how the performing arts can benefit corporates and vice versa.

Our guest today is Graham Alexander.
I had the pleasure to be one of Graham’s teachers at London Contemporary Dance School (The Place) where he studied dance after having graduated in Physics from Oxford University… is a vice president at the De Beers Group, one of the biggest mining diamond companies in the world, with over 20,000 employees working in 28 different nations.

Prior to that, he worked for nine years in various consultancies such as PwC, Javelin Group, OC&C Strategy Consultants, primarily working with clients in the retail and consumer goods industry, such as Superdry, Selfridges, and Heineken, as well as in a number of other industries, like the cabinet office, Brussels Airport, or First Group.
After that, he was employed by the Lego Group to implement their marketing plans.


In this episode, we discussed:

• The relationship between major corporations and the performing arts.
• How one of the largest mining diamond companies in the world's vice president was once a dance student
• The benefits and drawbacks of working in the business world
• The big corporation's bias as the cause of all evil.
• Enhancing physical health and mental performance
• Cons of the dance business
• A set of principles, a way of life, and deeds to improve the world
• The dance industry's model of scarcity and the going rate for working with corporations

A very pragmatic, profound and useful episode.

Enjoy it!!!

This season is brought to you by:

- Choreography Online (https://choreography.online)

and

- Ground Grooves (https://www.groundgrooves.tv)

Support the show

Support the show HERE

It has been a lot of fun to put together this podcast... I had to stop a lot to put aside important bits to create the sound bites because everything they said was so relevant and easily applicable to everyone. There are a lot of wise words in this episode, so get your notebooks ready because you are in for a treat.

Alleyne Dance (AD) is a UK based company with an international reach, founded in 2014 by award winning dancers and twin sisters Kristina and Sadé Alleyne. The choreographic aesthetic reflects the sisters diverse background in athleticism and dance training. Within their abstract contemporary construct, Alleyne Dance blend West African, Caribbean, Hip Hop, Kathak and Circus Skills, delivered as fast paced and dynamic movement. They infuse lyrical and fluid motion, layered with rhythm and textures in physically powerful, yet graceful performances.

Alleyne Dance strives for high quality and excellence as the Company delivers its three main objectives: performance, participation and development.

In this conversation we also talk about:

• Emotional states right after two big premieres
• What are the coaching and the mindset support that the Alleyne twins count with
• How mindset is connected to the body
• Studying psychotherapy to protect others and lead safe practice
• How sometimes is important NOT to have a non-negotiable practice
• Exhaustion and states of consciousness

And of course, we talk about their

• Their intensive and mentorship programmes

IMPORTANT LINKS FROM THIS CONVERSATION:

Alleyne Dance Intensive Training Week 2022:
https://www.alleynedance.com/event/alleyne-dance-intensive-training-week-2022/

Alleyne Dance Mentorship Programme
https://www.alleynedance.com/mentorship-programme/

This season is brought to you by:

- Choreography Online (https://choreography.online)

and

- Ground Grooves (https://www.groundgrooves.tv)

Support the show

Support the show HERE

Welcome to the 1st episode of this 3rd season.

Our guest today doesn't need much of a presentation. He is mainly known as the Artistic Director of the UK-based Hofesh Shechter Company, formed in 2008. His dance company tours the world constantly and is a reference for many people!!
Shechter has also staged and choreographed works for leading international dance companies including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Batsheva Ensemble, Candoco Dance Company, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater 1, Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet Flanders. He has also choreographed for theatre, television and opera.

In 2016 he received a Tony Award nomination for his choreography for the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof. Grand Finale was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production. In 2020, Hofesh Shechter Company was named the winner of the Fedora – VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Prize for Ballet for LIGHT: Bach Dances, in collaboration with Royal Danish Opera and co-directed by Hofesh Shechter and John Fulljames. In 2018 Hofesh Shechter was awarded an honorary OBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for Services to Dance. In 2020, Hofesh Shechter Company was named the winner of the Fedora – VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Prize for Ballet for LIGHT: Bach Dances, in collaboration with Royal Danish Opera and co-directed by Hofesh Shechter and John Fulljames.

We just talked to him a few days after he finished his surfing holidays in the north of Spain… so that’s where we started, from there we went on talking about:

• Surfing
• What is Hofesh’s mission
• How dance gives us the opportunity to experience life for what it is
• The whole point of dance in a fucked up world
• Transference of consciousness
• How the dancers that work with Hofesh achieve a state of flow through the sense of togetherness
• Does Hofesh's experience flow? What challenges does he encounter?
• Maturity and healthy approaches to difficult jobs

And so much more. A very complex, down-to-earth and pragmatic conversation.

We referenced: Jiddu Krishnamurti

Remember that at the end of each episode, Bridget will also offer a brief summary of this conversation as well as a simple exercise designed to help you take away the best bits of the episode and try them out for yourself.


This season is brought to you by:
- Choreography Online (https://choreography.online)
and
- Ground Grooves (https://www.groundgrooves.tv)

Support the show

Support the show HERE

In a world where governmental support to art, public health and education is being reduced every day. In a moment in time where environmental policies are barely scratching the surface, where dance consumers are in decline, a moment in human history where another conflict of potential nuclear proportions is closer than it has been in decades.

In a time where dance might seem unimportant or unnecessary, I am going to make every possible effort to spotlight dance as a key contributor to the evolution of human consciousness.

And given the circumstances… that’s a big task, therefore, I'm not going to try to do it alone… I am inviting world-class dance-makers, performers, scientists, scholars and philosophers in order to deconstruct and speculate if and how dance can be a vehicle to develop human consciousness.

What do I mean by that?

...

Also

Also, coming in at the end of each episode, Bridget will also offer a brief summary of each conversation as well as a simple exercise designed to help you take away the best bits of the episode and try them out for yourself.

Check the 2nd part of this episode to know more about it



This season is brought to you by:
- Choreography Online (https://choreography.online)
and
- Ground Grooves (https://www.groundgrooves.tv)

Support the show

Support the show HERE

Fantastic conversation with the one and only Pippa Duke.

We talked about her experience as a dancer with Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Nacho Duato. How Montessori pedagogy informed her teaching...

And how teaching discipline and thorough technique can not only co-habit with the development of self-worth but actually is inseparable.

You can also read more about her most recent projects:
- Weekly classes at Laughton: HERE
- Dancers' talking: HERE
- Laughton Lodge residencies: HERE

You can email Pid directly at pippaduke@yahoo.co.uk to enquire about booking the space.

Support the show

Support the show HERE

Gabi is a Chilean dance artist. She moved to London in 2011 for a BA (Hons) degree at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and then went on to gain a MA (Hons) degree from London Contemporary Dance School as part of an apprenticeship scheme with Ballet Lorent.

She trained in Flying Low and Passing Trough with Leila McMillan and then with David Zambrano in Madrid, Brussels, Athens, Ecuador and Thailand. She moved back to Chile in 2017, working in companies such as Jose Vidal y Cia and teaching in dance, theatre and circus venues across the country.

Her classes are a chance to explore some of the principles of Flying Low and Passing Through, within the conditions of a confined space. Warming up with a Chi Gong practice, focusing on a different element each day (Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, Fire), we then use our voice to guide our energy, looking for pathways with and within our bodies. We try, play and rave with the possibilities of virtually interconnecting with one another, on a physical, emotional and energetic level.

Support the show

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Leticia Silva was born Born in Havana, Cuba.

She began her studies at the Fernando Alonso National Ballet School in Cuba, graduating as a dancer-teacher, and later completing a degree in Dancing Art Studies at the University of the Arts in 2019.

Leticia has been a professional performer working for international companies such as the National Ballet of Cuba and Acosta Danza over the last thirteen years. She has developed her practice in classical ballet, modern, contemporary, and Afro-Cuban techniques. During her career, she performed works by choreographers such as Alicia Alonso, Carlos Acosta, Christopher Bruce, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Pontus Lidberg, Justin Peck, Goyo Montero, Juanjo Arques, August Bournonville, George Balanchine, Jorge Crecis and Miguel Altunaga.

Throughout 2021 she is preparing to be one of the ten international artists certified to teach Towards Vivencia methodology.

As an artist, she is intrigued by the artist's experience during the performance, the ability to be present and fully live in real time. Silva is passionate about the idea of ​​awakening and transforming minds, freeing them through movement and full awareness of their actions.

Support the show

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Throughout this term, all of our guest teachers have talked about the importance of training performance presence. This is at the core of TWV, so for the last week of term, Jorge will be teaching class, sharing practical and concrete tools to train performance presence...

Join his classes on the w/c 22th of March 2021 as part of the TWV Academy
https://twvonline.academy/

And as a special treat, for the final episode of Season 2 of the podcast, we are going live with Jorge and 3 special guests:

-Bridget Lappin: TWV’s Assistant Director, co-author of Designing Presence, and veteran of TWV1
-Nathan Johnston: Long time collaborator with Jorge and rehearsal assistant for 36
-Molly Danter: Veteran of TWV2 and dancer in Jorge’s piece Agonal

Join us as we chat about our experience with Designing Presence Training, the core of everything TWV does. Learn about how all these artists utilise the training across different areas of their lives, how its impacted them creatively, and how they can continue to develop their presence through TWV.

Plus, we’ll chat about a few opportunities where you can experience TWV’s signature training method firsthand.
Stay tuned for how you can join in.

Support the show

Support the show HERE