#big dance 2012

[kaffinengrand]

The first weekend

Where do I even begin? Too many activities, too little time! (too many dumprings, too rittle time...HI stace!)

Well, I thought I really missed Parisian food, (Gusto Italia beside KP's apartment: the improved Theresa's)

but I was wrong! Discovered that outdoor markets are really the way to go. Ventured out to the Portebello road market on Saturday morning despite the heavy rain, and found myself in Notting Hill. And it really is what they portray it to be in the movie, except even prettier and daintier!

Quirky too!

Then, I found myself being pulled to Trafalga Square by intuition. And with my luck, came upon the Big Dance 2012 grand finale. The Big Dance is like an organized flash mob that randomly pops up in spots around the UK. It just so happens that their last HOORA was in Trafalga Square, where hundreds of dancers, young and old, grooved to the music. The screens flashed between their dances and clips of historical Olympic moments, which made my hairs stand up to see the beautiful and inspiring flashes of pride, happiness, and failure... There were thousands of people surrounding the square, but luckily, I got VIP standing with my research media pass! 

Continuing to push through the rain, I met up with my Greek friends, Stavroula and Arionas, for dinner and drinks. They introduced me to one of their go-to Italian restaurants by Paddington, and the gnocchi really pushed me over the edge. It's funny to me that although we're from far corners of the world, and from very different cultures, we can relate to each other easily because we share the same problems with money, family, academics, you name it!

Jumping to more fun free events (LIMITLESS here), I listened to a Paul Simon concert in Hyde Park with another Princeton student. He may be THE luckiest person alive, landing himself a FREE Bruce Springsteen ticket yesterday but just standing in front of the ticket area. The sun finally showed some love today, and it was so enjoyable to just chat about American/Canadian in the park. (Although he NAILS the BBC British accent, which will be making a special appearance on my blog soon!)

Oh and to preview the Olympic village folks, here it is! It is completely closed right now except for contractors and security. When I visited today, there was nearly a hundred military personnels on site...I'm not sure if you guys have heard, but G4S, the private security company, came up short with their staff TWO weeks before the Olympics, so 3500 extra British troops were called in to fill the gap.

Lots more on Olympic stuff tomorrow!

[scannersinc-blog]

Get Down - its this weekend

Get Down ... the name of my first solo event. I was awarded a Big Dance 2012 Micro Grant this summer. Big Dance was London's project developed with support from the Legacy Trust. Big Dance 2012 will be the UK’s biggest celebration of dance. Thousands of events will take place across the UK in all sorts of locations, in all dance styles, as part of the London 2012 Festival, the culmination of the cultural Olympiad. Big Dance was such a success its gone National this year with activity also happening in Beijing and Rio!

So what is Get Down? Well its a breaking (break dance) and social dance workshop and party. The concept is to bring people together to share dance and have fun together. Simple. So for professional dancers its a chance to jam socially with others, for young people and non-dancers its a chance to learn some steps and give it a go. So it is the sort of event you can bring your friends to or even your mum!

Pervez from Live 2 Break crew is an old school London B Boy and undeniably the most active B Boy of his generation in the UK today. He's my teacher, but I'm not being biased. Check out this mini documentary made by his friend and fellow B Boy, Bret Downroc Syfert

Pervez: Live 2 Break from Bret Syfert on Vimeo.

Pervez will be taking you through the basics of Breaking (break dance) and social dances from the 70s right through to the 90s in two workshops that start at 12:00.

Photo by Paul Hampartsoumian

This will be followed up by a funky social party DJ'd by the one and only DJ Billy Biznizz. Billy was a founder member of Live 2 Break crew in the 80s and still dances today. He also is part of the world renowned London DJ crew, Tha En4cers ... they always play a good party!

It's going to be a really nice little workshop and social dance party. My first event independently of all others, I've not been asked to do this for an organisation. It's something I'd like to see more of in London. Regular social dance parties with the community, young people, dancers, older generations all having fun together. This is what I experienced in Brazil back in 2010 and its been on my mind ever since. A community that enjoys and dances together is a healthier community.

Wish me luck and I'll see you at the studio for a little social jam!

[scannersinc-blog]

Shhh ... It's a secret!

Well its not a secret any more! As part of the launch of Big Dance 2012 on Friday 18 May 2012, two secret pop-up performances happened in Westfield Stratford City and Westfield London. My good friend and former colleague Laura Harvey was the lead dance artist on this project. Am proud of her an the 200 dancers, aged 9-90 who were involved. It was a project developed by East London Dance and English National Ballet and directed by Andre Gingras (Dance Works Rotterdam). Andre Gingras made a work on Rambert when I was there a few years back. Was a good vibe having him in the building so I can imagine this was a nice project to be a part of.

Watch the short promo of the event, Shh ... It's a secret! here

[davidjwatson]

JustDance: part of the Big Dance 2012 festival

What is Big Dance 2012?  Big Dance 2012 is a dance festival in and around the UK showcasing the diversity of dance styles in the capital and across the country. The festival was initiated by the Mayor of London in partnership with Arts Council England and the next festival is from 7th to 15th July 2012. It also includes a 7-week countdown period starting on 18th May 2012 as part of London 2012 Festival - the finale of the Cultural Olympiad.

and what have I got to do with it?… I previously tried to get involved with the Big Dance festival but was a little late getting in touch with the organisers to do anything. I decided that this year I unquestionably wanted to get involved – in any capacity. After a little bit a research and a few conversations it seemed like the appropriate and ideal opportunity to develop my own project for the festival.  I spent several weeks planning the event and speaking to different people and ended up with my own event called JustDance. I have teamed up with Islington Arts Factory and together we are developing an exciting two day event that takes over their building. 

On 14th and 15th July 2012 the JustDance project will hit Islington Arts Factory. JustDance will completely take over the spaces within the building for two entire days of pure dance – even transforming their exquisite art gallery into a dance and performance space. The JustDance programme includes plenty of opportunities for everyone to get involved and experience the very best of dance our capital has to offer.   

So What’s Happening?  We will be hosting dance classes in Contemporary, Ballet, Street, Salsa, Zumba and African for young people and adults and parents. For those more experienced (such as dance students) – masterclasses and creative workshops in Contemporary, Ballet, African, Zumba and Street taught by some of London’s most exciting teaching talent, dance company animateurs and choreographers. 

To compliment all this wonderful activity we will also be hosting ‘Tea and Cakes with…’ sessions. These are mini discussion events that will see some of the finest dance artists, directors and choreographers discussing their careers as well as answering questions from a live audience and via Facebook and Twitter.

And there is more! The art gallery will host four performances by established and up and coming artists and companies covering Contemporary, Street, Hip Hop and Ballet. The gallery space will be transformed from its traditional exhibition style space into an open, light and new dance space especially for this weekend. 

One of the priorities is to bring in new audiences to participate and partnering with Islington Arts Factory is an ideal opportunity to fulfil this aspiration. Surprisingly, Islington is the 8th most deprived borough in England and 4th most deprived in London. 42% of young people live in poverty and Islington has the second highest child poverty rate in London. 32% of Islington residents live in social housing. All these factors often exclude young people from accessing the arts and this event aims to open up access to the arts for these groups in particular. 

Did I mention that it is 100% free to get involved? We will be launching a registration process in 2012 where you can sign-up for free places for everything that is happening. 

Producing an event like this takes an enormous amount of time, commitment and energy as well as finance. Although this project is small it still costs. JustDance qualifies for a Big Dance 2012 Micro Grant of £1000 but the project is going to a bit more than that to realise. I am spending time at the moment fundraising through Trusts and Foundations and local businesses in partnership with Islington Arts Factory where possible but I need a little more help. 

I have created a JustTextGiving by Vodaphone appeal to hopefully to raise a more money towards this amazing weekend. I would like to raise as much as possible and I hope with the help of all my friends, colleagues and acquaintances this will be possible. I really would urge you to support this project and donate if you can. Every little helps! And please pass it on to your friends and your colleagues! 

You can donate £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10 via text. If you are a UK tax payer we would also be really grateful if you respond to the Gift Aid declaration you will receive so that we can make your donation go even further.  

TO DONATE

Text IAFD00 £10 to 70070 Please replace the £10 with £1, £2, £3, £4 or £5 (including the £ symbol) depending how much you wish to donate. 

If you would like to donate more than amount above, you can of course do multiple donations via text. However, if you would like to make larger donation you can always drop me a line and I can arrange for this to happen through a secure web link with JustGiving. 

We will also be producing a beautiful 12 page, full colour sexy weekend brochure that will be distributed around London in advance of the event as well as throughout our weekend. We are offering limited opportunity to advertise in our brochure (full or half page A5 advert) as well as a medium rectangle (300px by 230px) ad on our website that will be launched in 2012. If you are interested in any of these advertisement opportunities then please do get in touch. Also, if you know anyone that might be interested then please forward them my details. 

Thank you in advance for supporting this project and please do get in touch if you have any questions or comments. 

Email: [email protected]

Useful Links Big Dance 2012  Islington Arts Factory