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Solo work is much like being an entrepreneur and running your own business. You are the business and are thus responsible for everything that happens throughout your performance. The choreography, the training, the level of rehearsals, the music choice, the costume etc. Each of those aspects contribute to the final work as employers would contribute to the various tasks that it takes to run a business. Through experience, I know many dancers who would prefer to be told what to do and how to do it. This is similar to people who don’t have that entrepreneurial voice inside of them, they are happy working really hard for someone else. Although I love both, I do find that there are many benefits to working alone and being the chief decision maker. Let’s have look at a few similarities of solo dance work and business. (more…)

For those of you that don’t know, I am a professional dancer and choreographer who works mainly in contemporary dance. I am working, as a performer, on a project at the moment that is portraying existing art such as paintings, sculptures and pictures as embodied art. What I mean by embodied art is how we, as performers, or as choreographers creating on other bodies, see the image art work in real life on real bodies. How can art be received in a completely different light when it is right in front of you on real bodies, as oppose to the original work itself? Being a chorepgraher in pole dance too, I can’t help but wonder how many subjects could be embodied through pole dance, or if it’s possible with what is being taught in the pole dance industry today. (more…)

After doing some online judging for Yorkshire Pole Dance Championships I have been inspired to write this post because of how these girls really show themselves through movement. I haven’t met any of them and I don’t know if we have anything in common, other than dance, but I feel like I know each of them in some small way because of the movement I have seen them perform. Their song choice, how they engage with the audience, how their movement expands or closes. Dance is very personal, especially for us solo performers who pour out our thoughts through our dance works, we show how we see the world and we make decisions on how we would like the world to see us. So I have to agree with Jiri Kilyian, choreographer, who says that “dance is the most personal art form”. (more…)

Stillness in pole dance is something that we rarely see and I wonder why this is. Why do pole dancers feel the need to move at such a fast pace as if a pause would slow them down? I’m a fan of varied dynamics and I think slowing the movement down and taking some time to stop and let the audience understand your work is generally a positive thing if it is delivered naturally. Stopping in the middle a dance work at a random points is very different to finding the natural pausing point where it is still very much part of the performance. Some choreographers argue that a pause can be stronger than any other part of their work if happens in the right place. Furthermore, a pause allows both physical rest and mental rest for the performer. If the movement is so fast paced that is becomes chaotic it can seriously effect performance quality and the way the movement is received. (more…)