Latest News
London Dance Theatre Autumn Term dates
London Dance Theatre are now taking bookings for the upcoming Autumn term 2010, commencing at 12pm, September 19th at the Urdang Academy, London. As always you can book on the website or pay on the day.
Workshops priced at £25.00 per session.
Autumn Term dates as follows:
September 19th
October 17th
November 14th
December 12th
Full details and further information is available at www.londondancetheatre.co.uk
New Directions Report now available to download!
On Monday 24th July 2010, DCD, The Clore Leadership Programme and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation hosted the 'New Directions' Symposium at the Southbank Centre. A total of 80 delegates and speakers attended the event which brought together dancers, arts managers, company representatives and many successfully re-trained dancers.The report outlines the key issues that emerged from the symposium, drawing out significant points that may inform future provision and development for the dance sector. A short film of the event will be available soon!
New Directions ReportIsabel McMeekan is holding adult ballet classes and is availlable for private tuition for adults or children through her company 'Everybody Ballet'
Isabel was a professional dancer for 14 years, dancing with Birmingham Royal Ballet and spent six years with The Royal Ballet, where she was a first soloist. She now runs 'Everybody Ballet' which runs ballet classes for adults and is also available for private tuition for adults or children. The Autumn term dates are as follows:
Tuesday evening Ballet classes at Westbourne Studios, Acklam Road will start from the 21st September, 6.15pm until 7.15pm and 7.30pm until 8.30pm and run for a course of five breaking on the 19th October and then resuming on the 2nd November for a course of six until 16th December.
Thursday morning ballet classes will now start at 11am until 12pm from 9th September until 21st October for a course of seven, and recommence on 4th November until 16th December for another course of seven.
Private tuition for adults or children! These are 60 pounds for an hour excluding studio hire. Am happy to go to a home and happy to have privates at my home in my studio upstairs.
Please contact Isabel at: isabelmcmeekan@yahoo.com for more information.
Congratulations Isabel!
DCD Sucess Stories!
DCD would like to congratulate Monica Zamora on the continued sucess of her studio, Golborne Place which has been open for a year. Monica received a buisness start up grant in 2007 from DCD. The Notting Hill studio offers classes in Pilates, Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis, as well as therapeutic treatments including acupuncture, osteopathy, reflexology, massage and cosmetic medicine. They also offer a reduced rate to professional dancers!
Tom Sapsford, a professional dancer for over 13 years, spending 8 with the Royal Ballet, received an award from DCD in 2007. Tom recently advised DCD that not only did he obtain a First Class Honours degree in Classics at Bristol University but he also won the department’s Latin prize. Tom is presently learning ancient Greek before he starts his Ph.D. at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles at end of August 2010. His research interests are broadly on gender, performance and ancient poetry. Congratulations Tom!
News from the very successful 'New Directions' Symposium!
DCD, The Clore Leadership Programme and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation hosted the 'New Directions' Symposium on Monday 24th May, 2010 at the Southbank Centre. A total of 80 delegates and speakers attended the event which brought together dancers, arts managers, company representatives and many successfully re-trained dancers. A full report of the event written by Susanne Burns, Development Consultant, will be available to download soon, but please see below for some photographs. For more information please contact the DCD office.
Jan Francis and Cherry Gillespie, DCD Development Committee Members. Photographer: Geoff Wilson
Kenneth Tharp, Sir John Tusa, Siobhan Davies, Aletta Collins, Kevin O'Hare. Photographer: Geoff Wilson
Kenneth Tharp, Paul Bronkhorst, Sir John Tusa. Photographer: Geoff Wilson
Etta Murfit, New Adventures. Photographer: Geoff Wilson
Colin Poole, DCD Awardee. Photographer: Geoff Wilson
‘Bloomsbury Boys’ win Silver Grenfell Medal at the 2010 RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Mark Welford and Stephen Wicks, both DCD awardees, in collaboration with Kit Kemp, Designer/Owner of Firmdale Hotels, have been awarded a Silver Grenfell Medal at the 2010 RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The award was presented for their installation ‘Potting Shed Dream’, based on the brief Afternoon Tea Extravaganza.
Mark, formerly a dancer with Birmingham Royal Ballet and Steven, previously with the Royal Ballet, were both awarded business start-up grants from Dancers’ Career Development in 1994. This aided in the setting up of Bloomsbury Flowers in December 1994, in Covent Garden, a catalyst for a continued relationship with the Royal Opera House.
Mark Welford said of the win ‘It was very exciting to work at such a prestigious event and all of us were very proud to see a Silver Medal on the stand on the morning of May 25th’.
Congratulations to Mark and Steven on this wonderful achievement!
DCD invites applications for 2010 Bursaries
Dancers' Career Development is currently inviting applications for its annual Ned Sherrin Bursary, Maude Lloyd & Rudolf Nureyev Bursary and Wallace Potts Bursary.
The Ned Sherrin Bursary is the most valuable retraining bursary DCD is currently able to offer to independent dancers. This bursary is worth £4,000.00 and it is awarded in memory of DCD’s late Trust Chairman Ned Sherrin CBE. It was made possible by generous donations from various organisations and individuals to honour the late Ned Sherrin’s memory.
The Maude Lloyd & Rudolf Nureyev Bursary and the Wallace Potts Bursary are worth up to £3,000 each and are awarded for outstanding retraining applications from professional independent dancers.
The late Maude Lloyd was a board director and great supporter of Dancers' Career Development. Maude was also a dancer and muse of choreographers, a dance critic with her husband Nigel Gosling and devoted friend to Rudolf Nureyev. Wallace Potts was a film director, screenwriter, and the research archivist for the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation. Both bursaries are funded by generous grants from the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation in memory of these outstanding dance personalities.
All independent or commercial dancers are welcome to apply if they have been a professional dancer for at least eight years and have performed a minimum of five of these in the UK, or earlier if they had to retire due to injury or illness. The bursaries are aimed to finance a personal retraining plan for a professional dancer, which leads to an accredited career or business start-up inside or outside the dance industry.
DCD is unable to accept applications from dancers not fulfilling the minimum criteria or to fund dance training. The application deadline is 5pm on Wednesday 1st September 2010, and the proposed retraining project should begin only after this deadline and within one year after the award has been granted.
There will also be Acting for Others bursaries available.
Once completed a hard copy of the application form should be sent by post to DCD. For further information on the bursaries or general enquiries please contact DCD on 020 7831 1449, e-mail admin@thedcd.org.uk. Please follow the link for the bursary application form: more
New Directions - A symposium to discuss the career progression of dancers
Dancers’ Career Development, The Clore Leadership Programme and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation are delighted to announce ‘New Directions’, a symposium to discuss the career progression of dancers.
The event is designed for dancers who are considering the future direction their career might take and for dance companies who are supporting dancers as they move out of the studio. Drawing on almost 50 years of shared experience, the symposium will be chaired by Sir John Tusa and will include a panel discussion with Kevin O’Hare, Siobhan Davis, Kenneth Tharp and Aletta Collins.
Paul Bronkhorst, the Executive Director of the Retraining Program for Dancers, based in the Netherlands, will be a guest at the event. Paul will be speaking about the international context to transitioning dancers, drawing upon his experience as President of the International Organization for the Transition of Professional Dancers (IOPTD). The IOTPD is an umbrella organisation involving seven countries; Great Britain, the Netherlands, Canada, the United States of America, Switzerland, Korea, and France and is working with emerging countries Germany and Poland. The IOTPD aims to find solutions for dancers who work internationally through member countries working together to contribute to the retraining process.
The symposium will take place on Monday 24th May 2010 at the Royal Festival Hall. This is an invitation only event but check back for follow up information!
New Adventures joins the DCD Company Fund
We are delighted to welcome Matthew Bourne's New Adventures as a new contributing company to the Dancers’ Career Development Company Fund! New Adventures is the UK’s premier contemporary dance/theatre touring company and its repertory includes some of the most successful dance productions of the last two decades. The company was launched in 2002 to create and perform both large and small-scale work by Matthew Bourne.
New Adventures thereby becomes the first short-term contract based company to join the DCD Company Fund. Those New Adventures dancers, who perform regularly in its productions can now gain DCD Company Fund eligibility and thereby will be able to take full advantage of DCD’s retraining support package, which includes practical, psychological and financial services for dancers.
As well as being able to support more dancers with targeted and individual retraining advice and funding, New Adventure's Fund membership also means more flexibility for the already existing Companies as their dancers can move amongst the DCD Contributing Companies without compromising their eligibility.
The other DCD Contributing Companies include: Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Northern Ballet Theatre, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Rambert Dance Company, Richard Alston Dance Company, Scottish Ballet, Siobhan Davies Dance Company (since 2005) and The Royal Ballet.
DCD works continuously to enable and encourage more companies to join the DCD Company fund to extend and enhance its support system for dancers with those companies. We are delighted that New Adventures have collaborated closely with DCD to make a Contributing Membership possible and are looking forward to support New Adventure's dancers in their retraining projects.
For further information please contact DCD on 020 7831 1449.
UK - DUTCH Collaboration Agreement launched
Dancers' Career Development and the Dutch Retraining Organisation are pleased to announce the launch of the first European Dancer Retraining Collaboration Agreement. Under the new agreement company dancers who have performed with both UK and Dutch companies but are not eligible to either scheme alone can now combine the years danced in each country to gain eligibility.
The first dancer awarded DCD eligibility under the new agreement is Clair Thomas, who performed with both English National Ballet and the Dutch National Ballet. Clair is now taking the RAD Professional dance Teaching Diploma.
Please do not hesitate to contact the DCD office to learn more about the Collaboration Agreement.