Spring Workshop Series for adults this March!

Adults let's get moving....to Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge, Co. Kildare!

Did you dance as a child? Always wanted to be on stage? Want to keep fit? 

Then come join us! Learn contemporary dance technique, methods to develop choreography and re-ignite your creativity all in a relaxed and social environment. 

Throughout the series you'll gain physical fitness, flexibility, strength, balance, and co-ordination. All levels welcome and no experience necessary, all exercises can be adapted to suit your physical ability.   

Bring your creativity and a desire to move! 

When:  Wed 9th March / Wed 16th March / Wed 23rd March / Wed 30th March

Where:  Riverbank Arts Centre Main Street, Newbridge, Co. Kildare

For Whom:  Adults over 18
Time:  7pm to 9pm

Cost:   €15 per class (Series of 4 classes only €40)
Suggested Attire:  Comfortable loose fitted clothing

Bookings:  

http://www.riverbank.ie/workshops/expandance-spring-dance-series 

or ring the Box Office on 045 448327

For further information or queries on the series contact Alicia@expandance.com

Note:  On street parking available

ROCKIN' your OM - Next NYC performance March 6th!

To all you New Yorkers, this is your chance to get rocked by Rachel's newest piece!   

If you missed us at Webster Hall in November, Rock Om is back, this time performed as part of SITE Fest 2011, a featured event of Armory Arts Week.

Choreography: Rachel Wynne & expandance
Performance: Clare Cook, Hunt Parr, Erica Frankel, Megan Kennedy, Krista Racho-Jansen.

When:  Sunday, March 6 · 5:00pm - 6:00pm

Where:  Bushwick Starr

              207 Starr Street

              Brooklyn, NY

(A bit far for us Irish residents, but we hope to feel the ROCK from across the pond!)

L train to Jefferson St
Tickets at the door, $5 suggested donation
Late-comers will not be admitted.

SITE Fest is a 2 day arts festival in Bushwick. For info on the other performances, installations, and exhibits during SITE Fest, follow them on Twitter or check the website.

Twit twit twit! @artsinbushwick @expandance #sitefest11

http://artsinbushwick.org/site2011/

Check it out!

- Alicia

In Retrospect...NACHMO 2011

Every day in January I choreographed new material as the expandance member taking part in the New York initiative NACHMO! this year.  
January was a busy month overall.  The commitment to 31 days of creating new material was a huge undertaking for me on top of my general work load of daily practice (meditation and improvisation), teaching, completing proposals and applications, planning new programmes for our community dance initiatives, and general administration.  The biggest challenge of the month was not finding studio space or organizing rehearsal schedules for other dancers, but was just having the energy to get creative and moving.  But, I’m proud to say I DID IT!  Most days I was able to work in our Wicklow studios and other days I choreographed where I could; in the shower, on our front porch, or with my son while he ate his lunch choreographing a ‘finger’ dance, which was just that, my fingers dancing while my body sat calm and still beside my son.  
At the start of the month I had posed certain questions for myself:

• How do I feel when movement phrases change from set choreography to improvisation;  when I move from ‘knowing’ to ‘not knowing’ ?
• Can an audience member distinguish between when a dancer is dancing set choreography or improvisation?
• How do the dynamics, timing, and spacing of the movement series change when I’m dancing set choreography as a posed to improvisation?

NACHMO!  presented an opportunity, a gift in the new year, a little nudge up the stairs into the studio. As I look back on the month, I realise I’ve only just begun this research and that these are ongoing questions for me as a dancer and for us as a company.  Throughout 2011 I hope to research these questions more.  Below is a short clip of set choreography and improvisation developed over the course of the month.  
- Alicia

Next Over 60s 8 week session starts tomorrow!

Tell your aunt and uncle! Tell your Mum and Dad! Tell your grandparents! Or, just remind yourself!

After a wonderfully successful first semester, Alicia's expandance Over 60's group is back at George Bernard Shaw Theatre in Carlow for another 8 week run, which will culminate in a performance in the theatre on Wed 16th March. Watch the last performance here -

Classes are every Wednesday starting tomorrow Wed 26th Jan from 11am - 1pm and cost 5 euro. 

For more information contact alicia@expandance.com or click here.

Our thanks to everyone at George Bernard Shaw Theatre for supporting these workshops so enthusiastically.


 

'Celebrity' review in the Irish Times...

...Is here. Good work, Peer to Peer Productions!

'Celebrity' runs at Project Arts Centre to the end of January, catch it while you can.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Zlata, winner of our tickets to see Celebrity this week at Project Arts Centre. Enjoy!

Celebrity runs today until 29th January - you can book your tickets here.

WIN! Tickets to Celebrity at Project Arts Centre

We're kickin' it in 2011 with our first ever blog giveaway! 

Our very own Laurie Schneider choreographs 'Celebrity', a new play by the incredibly talented Jody O'Neill, this week at Project Arts Centre Dublin. Jody, you might remember, was one of our dancers in 'Sephiroth' / The Forest Piece in LD Dance Fest 2007.

Written by Jody O’Neill, directed by Carl Kennedy, and performed by Matthew
Ralli and Jody O’Neill, Celebrity gets deep beneath the glossy veneer of the media,
examining one couple’s struggle to live a ‘real’ life. Through text, dance, music and
more it seeks to express the current times in the fractured way that we experience
them. Celebrity looks at the construction of identity and the invention of character
in a world where fame equals power equals love equals worth- in a world where
you could be the next big thing and you’re only a Facebook page away from a
better, prettier, more popular you.

We have one pair of tickets to give away for this Thursday's (Jan 13th) performance at Project. If you're interested in going, please e-mail info@expandance.com with the subject line: Peer to Peer - Celebrity tickets! by 5pm (Irish time) on Tuesday and we'll pick an address at random. If you like, you can also say something lovely about us in the body of your e-mail - it won't help you get the tickets, but it'll make us feel fabulous :)

Big hugs and Baby steps

Alicia just ended a note to me on Skype chat with 'Big hugs and Baby steps!'

I wanted to share this with you as it's the perfect encapsulation of how we expandance company members decided to approach the work this year: Be kinder to ourselves, and take each thing one small step at a time.

The administration and day-to-day running of a dance company, even one as small as ours - writing funding & grant applications, updating blogs, websites, twitter, facebook, editing video footage, hiring space, ongoing research into performance platforms, not to mention choreographing! - can be overwhelming at times, with to-do lists that reach the floor. (Add onto that the day job and you've a nice full workload.)

So we were delighted to find out about NACHMO (thanks Erica Frankel.) It stands for National Choreography Month, and in 2011 it's this month. NACHMO's aim is to build a community of dance artists who commit to creating new dance work every day for the 31 days of January - even if it's just 20 seconds of new choreography. We encourage you to check out their blog, and ours, for videos and updates over the next few weeks.

The expandance daily technique, as many of you know, is rooted in meditation followed by improvisation, and we're utilizing NACHMO to take this one step further - to commit to creating set material on a daily basis as well. Thanks for the inspiration, NACHMO! Alicia is the company member committed to the project this year - here are a few video stills from yesterdays session in the Wicklow studio.

Happy New Year from a snowy New York!

-Rachel

Go raibh math agaibh / Thank you all

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO SUPPORTED OUR WORK THIS YEAR, IN YOUR MYRIAD AND HEARTFELT WAYS - BY ATTENDING PERFORMANCES AND WORKSHOPS, WITH YOUR FEEDBACK, AND BY SUPPORTING US ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND THE BLOG!

What an expansive year it’s been!

expandance had a full and exciting year in 2010 and we're looking forward to 2011! This year we performed a total of five new works in two countries, launched two new studios (Dublin and Wicklow, supporting our continued Skype rehearsals with New York) and even found time to have a baby (nice work Laurie.) We also brought three works made in the U.S. home to Ireland. Rachel's Tributaries was presented as part of Illuminating Artists New Works festival at TADA! Theatre, NYC and 3 months later we brought it home, performing it at 'Some expandance evening...' in Dance Theatre of Ireland. Christina's Chi'il Bel Sogno was also shown at DTI along with Making Change, now developed into a trio. Alicia and Laurie's duet little Time / little Space was performed at the Riverbank Theatre, Kildare, and at 'Block T' in Dublin. Rachel's Rock Om, with five new dancers, was shown at Webster Hall, NYC as part of their Quarterly Arts Soiree. And Alicia performed her solo 12 Steps at The George Bernard Shaw Theatre in Carlow. It was a busy year of teaching too, with workshops for adults in New York, teenagers at Shawbrook and Riverbank Theatre, and Over 60s at VISUAL. We are so excited about everything 2011 has in store - see you there! In gratitude - Rachel, Alicia, Laurie & co.