EXTEND IT AT THE BARBICAN – THE THINKING BODY

BY MARIE FORBES

Hello! I’m Marie, one of the SDD Primary School Programme Dance Artists. I mainly work on Extend It which is our professional development programme for teachers. Our approach offers teachers creative methods for advancing and enriching the learning and engagement of their pupils. We use movement and choreography to open up lines of enquiry in other curriculum areas, incorporating the ‘Philosophy for Children’ approach

http://www.philosophy4children.co.uk/

Choreography is at the heart of our workshops and we always use the professional work of Siobhan Davies Dance as a starting point for our planning. Last term I delivered a number of workshops for Primary PGCE students at the Institute of Education and London South Bank University. These workshops used sculpture and senses as a theme and provided solid links to the Art & Design and Science curriculum. These inquisitive and reflective students were an absolute pleasure to work with. I was inspired by their enthusiastic and curious approach to the workshops and am excited that these teachers of the future are so keen to celebrate kinaesthetic learning both in the classroom and the hall space!

Yesterday I delivered an Extend It workshop called The Thinking Body at the Barbican. This was part of Siobhan Davies Dance’s new work material / rearranged / to / be, an installation of live performance, film projection and sculptural objects exploring how the body and mind work together to communicate through action and gesture. 14 teachers from a variety of primary schools across London attended the twilight workshop and all arrived with a burst of fresh, joyful energy.

The workshop started with a visit to the installation where I gave the teachers a series of tasks to complete such collecting gestures and finding particular images and text. They came back to the dance studio with a thoughtful and questioning state of mind. We discussed their experience and I was encouraged to hear about all of the connections they observed between mind and body and non-verbal communication. I explained that the work is inspired by the art historian Aby Warburg’s practice of gathering and arranging images to reveal new meanings and the works featured in the installation inhabit an ever-changing arrangement, so their experience of the installation will be different with every view. We then did a two hour practical workshop that explored The Thinking Body practically. We used all of the collected gestures and explored the images and text through a clearly structured lesson using the Siobhan Davies Dance methodology. We also looked at some sensory and curriculum based activities.

I was amazed by the teachers energetic, open-minded and creative approach to all of the activities and the work produced as a result was so rich. I am looking forward to hearing about their experiences of trying the activities in their schools and am hoping that the experience inspires them to continue to investigate with their pupils the fascinatingly complex world of the body and mind.

WHAT IS DANCE?

BY SARAH POEKERT

Sarah here again! Back again for my second week of the term at Charlotte Sharman Primary School. Had a very interesting discussion today with the Year 5 students that still has me thinking!

In a quest to evaluate the students learning in new ways this term, I have been asking the students to question their own learning a little bit more closely. Asking questions like ‘what did you learn about your body today?’ and ‘how is movement helping you learn?’. The answers are varied in both focus and sophistication depending on the year group and student – but today I wanted to try simpler and yet a whole lot more complicated. With it being the beginning of term I thought it might be useful to ask the all important question at the beginning and then ask the students to see if they still agree with their answers at the end of term.

So, I asked: ‘What is dance?’

I wanted to pose them with a simple question that has been debated extensively in the dance world both physically, philosophically, and intellectually.

The first and most poignant answer I got, straight to the point: ‘Movement’

We then carried on to have a discussion about then….what movement is? Answers being ‘actions’, ‘rhythm’, ‘feelings’ and ‘flexibility’ – resulting in some heated debate as to whether you needed to flexible to move or not. Ultimately, they decided that you didn’t.

I then encouraged them to keep this in mind throughout the lesson – remembering that any movement response they had to the tasks given, was dancing. Because they were moving. This conversation still has me thinking as I was blown away by their ability at a young age to have such a focused, clear, and sophisticated discussion about the question I posed. I am excited to see if, at the end of the term, they have any more insights.

WELCOME TO THE YAAG BLOG!

BY CLAUDIA TONIETTO

Hello! I’m Claudia, a member of the Young Artists’ Advisory Group and a placement student at Siobhan Davies Dance from the University of Surrey. I have worked with Siobhan Davies Dance since September, and I will be for a few more months, to then go back to university for my final year.

My very first encounter with the Young Artists Advisory Group involved minuting the first YAAG meeting of the year. My fingers never moved that fast since I last played the piano years ago – so much the Young Artists had to say!

The Young Artists Advisory Group has been created as a continuation of the Next Choreography course, and it is now formed of two generations of ‘graduates’ from Next Choreography plus a couple of Young Artists who approached Siobhan Davies Dance through other projects.

If I had to describe what the group is in one word, I would say EXCHANGE, be it between the members or between the group and the organization. Siobhan Davies Dance provides the Young Artists with a space for sharing ideas, offers them opportunities and supports them in their professional development, while the group offers an insight into the needs, ideas and expectations of Young People who aspire to develop a career within the arts.

As a Dance student myself who is hoping to find a place in the dance industry, and who is also working with Siobhan Davies Dance for a few months (work placement), I can say that I sit on both sides of the group at the same time. From this unique position I have the opportunity to witness how much the two parts benefit from each other. And this is, I would say, the main reason why I have decided to work with this group for my main placement project and look at how YAAG can develop in the future – and the SDD’s Youth programme, reflecting on that.

YAAG is now doing a big step: organize the first Young Artists Feedback Forum! The event, curated by the group members with the support of Siobhan Davies Dance, will take place on Sunday 5th March. First tested at last year’s Next Choreography Festival, the Feedback Forum will see Young Choreographers present their work in-progress and get feedback from the audience in a supportive environment, using the Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process.

I am really excited about putting up our first YAAG event, as I am sure all the other members are! At the moment, young choreographers are applying to share their works in-progress; applications are open until the 25th January. Follow this space for updates on how the event planning proceeds, and to find out more about the Young Artists Advisory Group and its members!

SIOBHAN DAVIES – MATERIAL/ REARRANGED / TO / BE

BY DANI KOLANIS

We’ve been fortunate enough to have various artists leading workshops exploring their own creative practice. In November, we saw a sneak preview of material / rearranged / to / be at Siobhan Davies Studios with an invited audience.

Siobhan Davies is a well renowned dance artist and the artistic director of Siobhan Davies Dance. Her work has been described “as less theatrical than most of London Contemporary Dance Theatre’s pieces, less musical than Alston’s, less narrative than Spink’s.” Davies’ work is multidisciplinary, and Davies is interested in the cross over with dance, film and visual art.

Davies’ current work is entitled material / rearranged / to/ be  and takes the form of several individual artists each co-commissioned to create a piece of work linked to the original exploration. This is a multi platform walkabout piece exploring gesture, posture and how it is interpreted on different bodies. I won’t divulge too much because the performances will premier in January.

Siobhan Davies led a two and a half hour related workshop exploring the research process behind the piece. Davies said that the starting point involved taking inspiration from poses in portraiture. We attempted to embody many of the initial research images. At first glance, this task seemed quite manageable, however embodying these traditional poses proved very challenging. We discovered that this is a very difficult starting point for movement as these images are static. This difficulty led to finding either the movement before, or directly after these poses.  We explored these gestures in smaller groups and gave feedback to one another. It was interesting to note how very small differences in the placement of the hand, the turning of a head, or even eye contact can greatly alter the perception of a scene. Naturally, these small movement segments seemed theatrical and to tell a story.

Even though the original images used were very antiquated, the task of attempting to replicate imagery resonates as a very contemporary issue. As humans, we learn by mimicry. With the advent of technology, this has drastically altered how we learn and perceive the world. For example, there is rise of image based social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat. A user can upload a photo and edit using filters and we as consumers attempt to replicate these images. It makes it seem as though these images are easily attainable. From this workshop I gained more awareness into the images I am consuming. I also gained an insight into the starting point for Davies’ exploration. Interestingly, the impetus was inspired from another art form. I will attempt to take this knowledge into my own practice. It is also fascinating to note the different perceptions of the same posture, gesture and movements from people of differing body types, ages, genders and ethnicities.

I’m looking forward to see the full performance at the Barbican Centre in January.

See more here:https://www.siobhandavies.com/whats-on/performance/siobhan-davies-dance-new-work-premiere-material/