Seven days, 24 Participants from both sides of the Tasman Sea, four Touch Compass tutors, one amazing dance studio – what an incredible way for Touch Compass to kick off 2015!
To have that much creative energy in our Touch Compass home is always a delight to experience. The Touch Compass Summer School was born out of two purposes – to engage disabled and non-disabled dancers in a week long workshop and to audition new dancers to join the company. Thanks to a huge effort from the team at TC – management and dancers alike – we created a highly successful Summer School, enthusiastically enjoyed by all of the participants. Without a doubt, we could not have asked for a better response to our very first Summer School.
"Best workshop ever. Met amazing people, it changed my life. Never been in a room with so many talented people before." - Participant
The week was fairly focused on the company’s latest work “Watching Windows”, which premiered at Acquisitions ’14. The work comprises of three duets, set in and around various sizes of wooden boxes. As there was a dual purpose to this workshop, the participants had been assigned to groups to learn a duet from “Watching Windows”. My group had a slightly different approach as they didn’t have to stick entirely to choreography. First they had to learn my 'hand solo' but from there it was up to them what they created. The result was three unique duets from one solo.
All of the participants had sessions together exploring tasks such as ‘tableaus' and ‘flocking'. Tableaus are where pictures are created against a wall with people adding themselves one at a time. Flocking involves everyone following the movement of a leader or whoever is in their view, leading to an eventual combination of numerous leaders as well as followers.
To wrap up the week the TC team of tutors created a score for the participant to improvise with. Various sets and props were arranged in the space and the score was mapped out on the whiteboard for reference. It was a brilliant hour filled with solos and duets from the week.
Connections were made. Beauty was created. Fun was had. Thanks Touch Compass for kicking off 2015 with such a bang.