Stories without words

DISCLAIMER: I am not and have never been a dancer myself (excluding the odd reluctant school performance), and so I am in no position to comment on the technical aspects of Kizuna Dance's Cultural Exchanges performance. But anyone in that audience will have recognised the amount of time, effort, and love that went into their choreography.

Through three dances, Kizuna brought fluidity and creativity to a range of subjects, from Buddhist sins to the struggles of 21^st century life. Using only their bodies and expressions they told story upon story with no words.

Most interesting to me were the choices in music and sound. House music flowed into Japanese folk songs, then transformed into sections of monologues and stand-up comedy routines. Though these choices were worlds apart, they seemed to culminate in a whole new world of Kizuna's own creation; a world that, in that hour and a half, made complete sense.

The complexity of the choreography was overwhelming, with many instances in which each dancer was delivering a different performance to those around them. However it became clear that every single step was calculated, with the smallest of touches, balances and moments of eye contact keeping the dancers together as one moving organism.

But above all this, seeing the dancers' sweat and bandages, hearing their breathlessness, and watching the unwavering concentration on their faces was perhaps more moving to me than the dances themselves.

Check out Kizuna's website here

Araminta Jürgen-Romrig

A Businessman, Buddhism and Break-Dancing

Kizuna Dance offered three unique and absolutely mesmerising pieces of exciting choreography on Wednesday 28th February.

The male dancers in the first piece 'Koibito' were on point. Their timing and energy never dropped and the emotion was believable the whole way through. The narrative of "a businessman struggling to balance his drive to succeed with a desperate desire to rediscover intimacy" was powerfully depicted through the blend of contemporary, hip-hop and house. 

I don't know how the company was able to feel so personal and understandable while they explored the three sins of Buddhism through their piece 'Three Poisons'.

As a dancer I was blown away by their levels of energy and strength through all three dances! I particularly loved the way they slipped into the breaking and house dance.

Kizuna are a company to watch out for. Don't miss out when they next come back to DMU! Come back soon, Kizuna! 


Bethany Shirtcliffe

Kizuna Dance Company are coming to DMU!

All the way from NYC Kizuna Dance, led by Cameron McKinney, are coming to give an exciting and exclusive performance in our PACE building at De Montfort University, Leicester. The performance will include the European premiere of their latest dance piece Koibito and Hitsuzendo, a piece inspired by Zen Buddhism and Japanese calligraphy. 

McKinney founded the Kizuna Dance company in 2014 with the aim of creating works that celebrate Japanese language and culture. Hip-hop, house, and contemporary movements create an original blend of physicality, humanity, humour, and intricacy.

You don't want to miss out on this amazing opportunity to see the Kizuna Dance company wow us with their "compositionally fascinating”, “beautifully crafted”, and “intricately detailed” work (Stewardship Report).

There are still some tickets left but get them quickly, before they all go!

Book your tickets here! 

Bethany Shirtcliffe

Meeting an idol

I've loved dance for as long as I can remember. I've studied it academically for the past four years, pre-university, and I'm sometimes sad that I've traded in one art for another.

When I first started studying dance, Siobhan Davies was introduced to me, and she was completely away from the disciplines that had made me wary of dance in the first place.

When I first entered the room and saw her, I was starstruck, which is hard to understand if you're not a lover of choreography. Professor Ramsay Burt was conducting the conversation, and it was clear from his smile that I wasn't the only one who was excited. Siobhan has been awarded a CBE  ("I didn't wear a hat!" she adds) for her innovative choreography, contribution to the dance field, and also her constant moving forward, and pushing the art form.

She's funny and kind, openly honest about her past. Feeling very nostalgic as she opens up about her move into a world with no contemporary dance, just discipline in the UK. She talks about why she was so open to new techniques - "I was a blank canvas, I really felt what it meant to move. I was hungry to absorb the information."

She talks about raising a family and still keeping her thriving career at the top. She mentions her year's sabbatical in America, inspiration (although she hates that word) and the meaning of the word imagery in dance.

Something which caught my attention was her mention of "If artists can truly create conditions where neither can deviate, then unorthodoxy between knowledges could be thrilling." I can apply this to my writing, by working with new people and creating something different.

She was a true pleasure to listen to, and I hope that one day I can return to the same art form.
 

Abigail Barter

Experiments in sound

This evening I was presented with a unique experience, in the form of Sally Doughty and Craig Vear's Archipelago. I had never attended any kind of performance art before, so I really didn't know what to expect.

I was bewildered at first, confronted with strange mixtures of French sound clips and erratic, unnatural dancing. As the show went on, I became more engaged with the piece, often finding myself thinking about the nature of the sounds and visuals I was presented with, and what they may have represented.

At last I found myself really engaging with the performance. There were genuinely funny moments too - a fake beard, a monologue about drum solos, and clarinets all drew humour from a place I didn't know existed.

As a fascinating exploration of narrative form, and how audio and image can be manipulated, Archipelago has to be experienced to be understood.

Gabsy Davis-Marks

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Sally Doughty

Sally Doughty's solo dance performance showcased a beautifully choreographed contemporary story which initially reminded me of swan lake. Sally, a dance teacher at De Montfort University, danced elegantly in an all black number. It was up to her to connect with the audience and she held their attention throughout.

 

I began to feel I was part of the performance.  I made me want to get up and dance, even though there was no music apart from Sally's singing - was it in Latin?  I also enjoyed her humorous interpretation of 'hockey pockey', as she repeatedly said "now you see me, now you don't" whilst elongating her legs in a perfect ballet position.
 

I loved every minute of Sally's hour-long performance and l was pleased I had booked to see her with Craig Vear at 6pm on the following day.



Georgina Walters

I am the magpie

Andrew Davies is coming to Cultural Exchanges! This is the event I am most excited about for Cultural Exchanges. He wrote the screenplay for one of my favourite films, Bridget Jones's Diary, with Helen Fielding and Richard Curtis and then he wrote the screenplay for the sequel with Helen Fielding so of course I’m going to go and see him talk.

Screenwriting interests me anyway, so going to hear someone talk about his adaptations of Bleak House and some of his other classics is like dangling some shiny jewellery in front of a magpie (If you haven't guessed already, I'm the magpie in this scenario.)

I may not be looking forward to everything that Cultural Exchanges has to offer, but that's just as well.  I couldn't attend everything and some of the events aren't really my cup of tea. Dance, for instance - but Sally Doughty's dance performance was the first event to sell out so there's plainly an eager audience. I suppose some other people probably aren't as keen as I am to hear Andrew Davies.

Cultural Exchanges probably has a little bit of everything for everyone, which is probably what it was designed to do.  You can book your tickets HERE.


Charis Wakeford

Tick box - which box?

Sonia Sabri first engaged the audience by showing off her skills as an acclaimed dancer with a short video. After it had finished she asked the simple question of "What box did that tick?" vocalising in one question all of what she stands for as an individual, a dancer and a choreographer.

Growing up in an Asian family in Birmingham, Sonia's Father wanted her to complete the dream he himself did not succeed at - becoming a famous Bollywood face. This, she said, was the main influence that got her into dance. Having been rejected from a Kathak dance group and told to come back a year later, she returned as asked. She was eight years old. Although she appeared confident, combating shyness was a struggle. Once it was conquered, Kathak became her life.

Wanting to break the perceptions of 'Exotic dance' as a heading covering every type of Indian dance we see, Sonia has gone as far as exploring links between Kathak and Hip-Hop, uniting dance forms and broadening scopes as she goes in her latest tour KathakBox.

Sonia's one big aim is not to abolish 'tick boxes.' While she admits that sometimes ticking the right box can open the door to new opportunities, she's determined to show that dance is not something that can be put into a certain box or category. Sometimes in life it is "safer to just choose 'other'" as an option to avoid confining yourself.

Celia Wilding

Hiraeth/Saudade

The spotlights switch on. It is perfectly still in Studio 1.

A group of young people enter the space. People, whose hometowns are spread over two continents. Only one of them speaks English as a first language. But there is something that unites them.

A harp starts playing and they start to dance. Slowly, beautifully; quicker as the harp sounds get enriched by singing and samba beats; energetic, as it changes into a clogging.

But all the time powerful, moving and in entire harmony.

Showing a melting of different cultures. Showing a story of time and distance, question and answer, Welsh tradition and Brazilian capoeira, contact and togetherness.

We wanted to explore the collaboration of music and dance”, explains Angharad Harrop, the leader of this international project. Rehearsing across a distance over 8000 km was anything but easy - even the internet has its limits: “We tried to work via Skype, but there is always a delay of two or three seconds, so it was nearly impossible to put the piece together.”

Angharad Harrop is a Dance Artist born in a small fishing village in the North of Wales. She left her home to study at De Montfort University and to do research in Brazil, but she has always returned. And that, finally, is what the Welsh-Portuguese title of their performance means: a feeling of homesickness, nostalgia, wistfulness and longing, something that's in your blood, something that always draws you back home:

Hiraeth/Saudade.


Katharina Maria Kalinowski

A need that is wordless

As the performers broke into the dance which I later learnt is called Capoeira, I was amazed by the use of their bodies as they entwined using graceful 'martial art' moves - always with eye contact, and always with a visible, natural enjoyment. Both male and female performers combined beautiful balance with heroic muscle strength to conjure a vision of graceful gymnastics.

As the performers sat to sing, the music that surrounded me took me to a different place. I was no longer in a dark studio but in a hot and serene setting that brought a genuine smile to my face. I let their voices drift over me.

There was time for questions and answers at the end of the performance and this was equally enjoyable. We met each performer in turn (including Angharad Harrop - formerly of DMU). Some spoke through a translator but all were filled with talent and love for the project they have embarked on. They described the ideas behind the project which expresses the sense being physically apart from somewhere or someone while a wordless need keeps drawing you back. And that is exactly what the performance conveyed to me.


Celia Wilding

Getting me some culture, innit?

When I tell people I'm going to the Cultural eXchanges festival, those unacquainted with it often respond with a bemused look and a comment like, "Cultural what? What liiiiiiike... art and s**t?"

Well. Sort of. When I explain that actually, it's a whole week of dance, literature, poetry, films, with appearances from celebrities like Jamal Edwards, Murray Melvin, Gwyneth Lewis and Hustle's Adrian Lester for little or no money, people's expressions change.

Being a newcomer myself, I'm excited for next week. I've never been to a festival quite like this one, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when lots of creative types are thrown into one place at one time.

In a world where students are constantly told it's near impossible to get a job in media, art, writing, and so on, it will be interesting to see a group of successful people in these fields who have got these jobs, and to figure out how they did it.

To book for the events running Monday 27th Feb - Friday 4th March click here.


Natalie Beech