Friday 20 April 2012

"CONSTANTLY SURPRISED!" Jack Jones on The Residency.

The residency with Magpie was as much a process of discovery for me as a teacher as it was for them as participants. We weren't quite sure of what to expect and so were obliged into keeping an open mind regarding how the workshops would progress.

One thing that arose during the first day was that it probably would have been useful to have gone through some of the details of leading the Magpie dancers beforehand, as it had been a few weeks since the artist exchange. Things like placing the hand at the back of the neck when looking upward, not pointing with the finger but with the whole hand, small things like this that we don't tend to do out of habit.

On the second day, we divided the group into their families and had a Magpie facilitator in each group. This approach seemed to work very well and sped up the process of creating the piece considerably. It was a great help to have facilitators in each group as we could then go around and take care of the "bigger picture", without the groups loosing their focus. I found that quite a few of the participants became very engaged with the character work, more so than they had been the previous day on some of the more abstract ideas. The group of three girls, who were the Fashion Family, particularly came alive at this point and worked very well together in creating some fun and interesting scenes.

Once we began running sections more than once I was consistantly suprised at how the participants added details every time, constantly fleshing it out and finding new moments to add. This is very much how we tend to work professionaly too, starting with the main landmarks and allowing the details of the scene to evolve with the piece.

One aspect that was of the most use was the live music. It is something I wish we could use elsewhere though I doubt it would be possible. I didn't realise before how useful it can be in not only guiding the participants but also in maintaining focus. The fact that it is live also allows it to be adaptive in a way that recorded music can't, and especially with the character work, gives the participants a feeling and atmosphere to work from.

I very much look forward to finding out how the piece has evolved when I return in June and what details the participants had added to their characters.

Jack Jones, New Adventures Artist

"A Valuable Journey" - Residency Feedback from New Adventures Artist Michela

"I just wanted to... say how much I enjoyed working on the residency. It has been a real pleasure and a really valuable journey.  On this new project, I felt straight away how much I learnt from working with Magpie so I am very thankful for that. I am really looking forward to seeing how Edward will evolve."

Micela Meazza, New Adventures Artist

Thursday 12 April 2012

3 day residency - WOW!!!

With the three day holiday residency finished, the Magpie dancers are bubbling with enthusiasm! 

Video footage and photos to come...watch this space...but for now, here's a snapshot of what the dancers and parents thought of the 3 days...

Receiving smiley faces and thumbs-ups on the feedback forms, it would seem we are off to a good start. At the end of day 3, the Magpie dancers displayed all of their hard work to parents, friends and staff from Magpie and New Adventures.

They gave us a sneaky peak of their upcoming performance…from the making of Ed, to him discovering the fractious (and funny) families in his newly found community and trying to fit in...but the dancers left us all hanging by not revealing the final scene!

In their reflective journals, the Magpie dancers stated that they “always have fun” and that “Big Dance rocks!” They also fully enjoyed the use of music and meeting new people through this collaboration. These comments, as well as expressing the experience as “tiring” and being “hard work” suggests just the right amount of work and play happening.

Parents stated that they “were amazed at how much work had been created in such a short space of time.” Some of the other comments made about their performance were:

“Imaginative, inventive, & fantastic!”
“Mindblowing!”
“Great teamwork!”
“Love the use of props!”
“Lovely jubbly”

Receiving guidance from the Magpie facilitators as well as the Re:Bourne artists, the dancers  have had new challenges and experiences.

In addition to the visible hard work in the dance studio, parents also noticed changes in the dancers at home. Everything from sleeping in a little longer, to being more confident and expressive in their dance – some parents felt that all this can be attributed to their experiences on the 3 day residency.

The musicians, Hans and Jenks, have expressed huge appreciation and gratitude to the dancers and choreographers for staying focussed throughout, making the process feel effortless and most importantly, enjoyable.

We look forward to following their progress throughout the summer term towards their final production in July!

Reflections on the February artist exchange days

Back in February, Magpie and Re:Bourne spent 2 days sharing working methods, teaching approaches, creative tasks and practices with each other.  Both companies found the exchange extremely rewarding and agreed it was essential before embarking on such a big project together...here is a snapshot of the feedback...more to come so keep watching :-)

Magpie facilitators commented on the Re:Bourne led session
Reflecting on the Re:Bourne led day, a Magpie facilitator commented that "being participants in the session, I felt that Magpie staff were able to bond more as a team".  The facilitatators said  "It was good to experience the creative tasks and consider how the Magpie dancers will find the work".  They experienced "a wealth of new exercises and creative/choreogrphic ideas" and said "it was good to learn more about their work such as use of narrative".  One artist noted that they will "look into using character work at times for different responses"

Magpie facilitators commented on the Magpie-led session
"I realised how much we do at Magpie"

Re:Bourne artsist commented on the Magpie led session
Artists commented that "watching the Magpie leaders and facilitators teaching a class and putting into practice the tools talked about in the morning" was one of the most useful aspects of the day.

They said they had learned "the importance of asking the dancers questions and giving them responsibility in the creative process"

In terms of how the artist exchange has impacted on future ways of working, one artist commented "to always challenge my expecations of the participants and to never make assumptions"

Talking about the project, Re:Bourne artists said they "would like the dancers to have a fun time and be able to enjoy the 'story telling' style of New Adventures"

Further exploration...
Artists were asked what they would like to explore further on the project?

"How deep can we take the character work?"

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Welcome to our blog!

Coming soon...check out photos and videos from the artist exchange and the Easter residency!  See what happened when Magpie and Re:Bourne joined forces in February...and how the Magpie dancers have explored the enchanting Edwards Scissorhands story in their 3-day Easter Residency.

Its the start of magical collaboration...keep watching, and feel free to post comments on what you see.

Thanks!