Dance at Fuse

Fuse Medway Festival 13 to 15 June 2014 programme is now live.  There is an exciting programme that you can view on www.fusefestival.org.uk, with some great opportunities to get involved in free dance workshops with well-known dance companies.

Southpaw  Dance Company - Hip-Hop and break dance workshop (all free)
Thursday, 12 June 3.30pm, Sun Pier House, Chatham
Friday, 13 June 3.30pm, Gillingham High Street
Saturday, 14 June 3.45pm, The Anchor, Chatham High Street (After their Performance of 'Faust' at 2.30pm)
Sunday, 15 June 2.30pm, Boley Hill Car Park in Rochester (After their Performance at 1pm)

 

C-12 Dance Theatre - Incorporating circus skills, parkour and dance
Saturday, 14 June 12noon and 4pm, Chatham High Street (opp Argos) workshop 15mins after 1st performance at 12noon)
Sunday, 15 June 12.30 and 3pm, Castle Gardens in Rochester workshop 15mins after 1st performance at 12.30pm)

 

There is also some Big Dance 2014 activity coming up which also includes free dance performances and workshops. 

Sunday 6 July 12pm at Medway Park in Gillingham

Saturday 12 July 12pm at Sun Pier in Chatham

As soon as more details appear I'll let you know!

Street Dance and Hip Hop half term classes in Gillingham

Medway Council Arts Team is offering some free workshops with award-winning hip-hop dance company, Boy Blue Entertainment, during the February half term. They take place at either Mid Kent College or Woodlands Youth Centre in Gillingham, and aim to provide professional and aspiring dancers a unique opportunity to improve dance techniques and train with the award winning hip-hop dance company.

Classes are open to dance artists, teachers and tutors and young people aged 13+ years.

Advanced Master Class for Artists and Tutors (11am - 1pm)
This session is designed for Dance Artists and Tutors to improve dance skills and techniques with advice from the Boy Blue Entertainment Company.

Dance Workshop (2pm – 4pm)
This workshop is open to both Dance Artists, Tutors and aspiring dancers aged 13+ and will involve Street Dance techniques and choreography.

Professional Development Master Class (4.10pm – 5.30pm)
This class will focus on choreography, transitions, rhythm and musicality and is suitable for Artists, Tutors, the R’enc Arts Dance Group and aspiring dancers aged 13+.

If you are interested, available and want to come along, please book your place via arts@medway.gov.uk or call 01634 338319.

Monday, 17 and Tuesday, 18 February
Mid Kent College, Medway Campus, Medway Road, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 1FN.

Wednesday, 19 February
Woodlands Youth Centre, Lower Woodlands Road, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 2BX.

All sessions are FREE and run over all three days.

The tutors:

Jason FM Hull began dancing when he was in secondary school and has never looked back since. Contemporary dance classes were his first experience in the world of dance, moving into Street Dance and eventually, b-boying.

Theo 'Mr Godson' Oloyade's unforgettable Krumping saw him whizz straight through to the live finals of Got to Dance in 2013. He has been dancing since he was 15 and has already performed alongside Plan B, Tinie Tempah Rita Ora and Stooshe, to name a few.

Boy Blue Entertainment is an award winning hip-hop dance company founded in London by choreographer Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy and composer Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante. As joint Artistic Directors, they work together on the creation and development of all of Boy Blue Entertainment’s productions and projects.

The company are critically acclaimed and in 2007 won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre for their full-length hip hop dance theatre work Pied Piper. Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy has created choreography for a wide range of artists including Rita Ora, Plan B, Dizzee Rascal, and Leona Lewis.

Dance dates for your diary!

Three big events coming soon:

In March, join the Dance Movement at Olympia, where Move It will once again be moving its collective feet to occupy it over the weekend 7-9 March. Dancing royalty appearing include Darcey Buseell, Sisco Gomez and The Waacktitioners.

The Interview Sofa is back, along with live performances and dance classes. New for this year is a sister show happening alongside Move It, for aspiring and professional performers interested in acting, singing and performance. PERFORM is a must if you're looking for a career in the performing arts industry. Entry is free with all full price tickets to Move It.

Find out more above Move It here and Perform here.

The UK Hip Hop Dance Championships take place in The Great Hall, 327 Mile End Road, London (an old haunt of mine, no less - probably get lost now) on Saturday, April 5th. Prelims at 3pm; Finals 7.30pm - not an awful lot of other info on the website - and the ticket site showed as as a bit dodgy, so take care on that.

A Sadler's Wells project, the Breakin' Convention kicks off its festival dates at the London theatre on Saturday, May 3rd through to the 5th. A full list of other dates and further info can be found here.

And finally, fancy a holiday but can't afford/don't have time for a two week break? Remember those soul weekenders we used to love? They've evolved - try the Summer Salsa Weekender! It's being held at the Wigana Casa de la Musica - that's the Britannia Wigan Hotel to you 'n' me - on 4th to 6th July (that's got to beat freezing on the Norfolk coast in April and October, yes?) with over 50 hours of Latin loveliness. Full details and booking links can be found here.

Snippets: So You Think You Can Dance, Camilla

Camilla Dallerup launches the UK's first free dance directory.

And Trav's thoughts are in for the recap and encores of So You think You Can Dance - Alex and Twitch: O.M.G - if you watch no other, make sure you watch that one, it's incredible!

Snippets: Glee, Diversity, Hip Hop, Breakdancing, Swing

The all-singing, all-dancing show Glee will soon be available in book form - presumably with audio books to follow, or did they not think of that? And the series creator , Ryan Murphy, has promised that even though new cast members are making headlines, the second season will focus on the original cast, with the newbies more of a catalyst to storylines.

The 9th annual World Hip Hop Dance Championship is headed for Vegas! And an interview with English former European breakdancing champion, Andrea Stockburn.

Diversity unveiled a plaque in tribute to Michael Jackson, as tribute show Thriller Live opens at the Lyric Threatre.

The Royal Albert hall are holding a swing night - no, not that sort. Honestly - no, In Full Swing is a proper back-to-the-forties night of good oldfashioned fun and dance to top bands and DJs. It's a part of the Big Dance 2010 events.