A Saturday with Artspark! and Rubicon Dance
03 Feb 2016, Posted by in Artspark!, Commercial, Out & AboutHeya everyone,
As promised, here are photos from Artspark! at Rubicon Dance. It was yet another inspirational session to be involved with this project, and I know everyone enjoyed finding out about another community organisation to be involved with in the future.
GB. WALES, Cardiff. Rubicon Dance in Adamsdown. Artsparks! from the Caerphilly area travel to Cardiff for a workshop at the community project. Providing dance for people of all ages and abilities in a variety of community settings, Rubicon Dance aims to provide consistent access to high quality dance activities within a policy of equal opportunity and open access. Here, the group is introduced to the history of the organisation by Director Kathryn Williams. © Kate Mercer (2016).
In this particular session, the Artsparks! were there to try their hands at Ballet. Shown around the building and introduced to the organisation by Director, Kathryn Williams, the Artsparks! were then taught by Rubicon Dance tutor Kathleen Rylands. For many it was their first experience of ballet, the most formalised dance they have tried to date. It was clearly enjoyable yet challenging for them, and very much mesmerising to watch as they whirled across the floor. Followed by a contemporary dance session led by dance leader Lauren Campbell, the Artsparks! then explored a more experimental and creative way of dancing, performing their routines to the rest of the group.
GB. WALES, Cardiff. Rubicon Dance in Adamsdown. Having now mastered the basic positions of ballet, Rubicon Dance’s Kathleen Rylands Artsparks! a routine from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’ putting all they have learnt into practise. © Kate Mercer (2016).
GB. WALES, Cardiff. Rubicon Dance in Adamsdown. Having now mastered the basic positions of ballet, Rubicon Dance’s Kathleen Rylands begins to teach the Artsparks! a routine from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’ putting all they have learnt into practise. Here, Kathleen is showing the Artsparks! how to hold their arms correctly when they turn. © Kate Mercer (2016).
Delivering sessions across Cardiff as well as Newport, their programme has continued to expand to include the full-time preliminary dance training courses, international exchange programmes, dance apprenticeships and work experience placements, all generating appropriate progression routes for dancers of all ages and abilities to access higher education vocational dance and performance training.
GB. WALES, Cardiff. Rubicon Dance in Adamsdown. Having now mastered the basic positions of ballet, Rubicon Dance’s Kathleen Rylands begins to teach the Artsparks! a routine from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’ putting all they have learnt into practise. © Kate Mercer (2016).
More photos from this session will be available to view at the shiny new up-and-running Artspark! website this week, where you can find out more about what else the project gets up to this year.
From myself, I’d like to say a huge thank you to the team at Rubicon Dance for making us feel so welcome on the day – this is a completely worthy project to support, so if you or anyone you know is interested in dance, recommend they get in touch with Rubicon Dance. (Obviously, other dance organisations are available; I’m just vouching for how lovely these are).
That’s all for now,
K x
GB. WALES, Cardiff. Rubicon Dance in Adamsdown. Led by tutor Lauren Campbell, the Artsparks! are taught a contemporary dance routine based on creating shapes representing the letters in their names. Compared to the formalised positions of ballet dance, the Artsparks! are encouraged to think creatively, how they can use the movement of their bodies to create their dance. To complete the routine, they must then work together in teams to teach each other their ‘letters’, appropriate and recreate a new dance from their favourite parts to show back to the rest of the group. © Kate Mercer (2016).
