Edinburgh Festival

This year's Edinburgh International Festival dance events are:-

Telesquat
DANCE
Mon 14 - Sat 19 August 8.00pm
The Hub
Scottish Ballet
DANCE
Fri 18 & Sat 19 August 7.30pm Sun 20 August 4.00pm
The Edinburgh Playhouse
Alarmel Valli & Madhavi Mudgal
DANCE
Mon 21 & Tue 22 August 8.00pm
Royal Lyceum Theatre
H2
DANCE
Tue 22 & Wed 23 August 8.00pm
The Edinburgh Playhouse
Balanchine's Don Quixote
DANCE
Sat 26 - Tue 29 August 7.30pm Matinee Sun 27 August 2.30pm
The Edinburgh Playhouse
Nederlands Dans Theater
DANCE
Thu 31 August - Sat 2 September 7.30pm
The Edinburgh Playhouse

Janis Claxton Workshop

This was the last in the series of improvisation workshops organized by Janis herself. Despite the terrible weather which cancelled trains, closed airports and blocked roads to the north, 14 brave souls reached Dancebase (paying up front might have something to do with it!). It was another eclectic mix of backgrounds from a clown through professional dancers to Janis’s osteopath experiencing firsthand what dancers’ bodies do. I liked the idea from the start of decluttering the studio of the usual bits and pieces leaving just the sound system and the necessary water bottles.
What followed was a brilliant workshop involving release work and improvisation. The time just flew by (5.5hrs). (The only part I didn’t like was head contact with floor – makes me dizzy!) There were gems like the ‘Crocodile Dance’ which really frees movement from the pelvis. Working in duets and trios produced some lovely movement; it was interesting to see the exchange and blending of movement vocabularies. For instance my final partner came from a more lyric tradition / capoeira whereas with my background in Nikolais and Cunningham styles, my dance tends to concentrate on direction/line. Fortunately Janis will be teaching next term so look forward in anticipation.


www.janisclaxton.com

More Funding Uncertainty

News via the BBC (acknowledgement) just in:

Dramatic changes for arts funding
Major changes to the way companies are funded by the Scottish Arts Council are set to be unveiled.
There will no longer be automatic core funding for the 100-plus companies currently on the organisation's books.

From next March, some will be eligible for long-term "foundation funding" while others will be offered "flexible funding" for up to three years.

The Scottish Arts Council is itself being merged with Scottish Screen to create a new cultural development agency to be called Creative Scotland.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/4764834.stm

Published: 2006/03/02 00:50:38 GMT

© BBC MMVI

How this affects dance funding will no doubt become clearer later.