Free Professional Classes in Dundee!

I am delighted to announce that we will be offering a week of FREE professional dance classes in Dundee as part of my creation residency for Plan B for Utopia.

 

The classes will start at 10.30h at Scottish Dance Theatre’s studio at Dundee Rep Theatre (Tay Square, Dundee DD1 1PB) between Monday 30 March and Friday 3rd of April.

 

Spaces are limited. Please email info@joanclevilledance.com to book your space.

 

The classes will be informed by the current creation process of Plan B for Utopia. They will explore the relation between breath, voice and movement, as well as improvisational tasks and set material.

On residency at The Work Room & Dance Base

Two weeks ago it was The Work Room, Glasgow's studio for independent dance artists at the Tramway Theatre. This week, I am on residency at Dance Base, Scotland's National Centre for Dance in Edinburgh, working on the creation of Plan B for Utopia.

The piece is a new full- length work with dancers Solène Weinachter (Scottish Dance Theatre, Lost Dog, Gecko) and John Kendall (balletLORENT) exploring the cycles of hope and failure that drive our personal and collective lives.
 


After an initial period of research in summer and autumn 2014, this is our second week of creation and we have invited playwright Ella Hickson to come into the studio as dramaturgy advisor. I met Ella working in a project at Nuffield Theatre (Southampton) with choreographer Ben Duke. She has won several awards (including a Fringe First for Eight, her first play back in 2008) and currently writes for some of the major theatre companies in the UK, including the National Theatre in London and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Join us for work-in-progress sharing and Q&A session with the creative team on Friday 6th of March at 4pm. Dance Base, 14-16 Grassmarket, Edinburgh EH1 2JU.

Achilles II fotos and reviews!

I am very excited to share Nicole Guarino's pictures from my performance of Achilles II at Resolution! last January.

This is a new version of the solo originally created in June 2013 for the RepNet Hothouse choreographic platform in Malmö, Sweden. This extended version also featured a new striking lighting design by Emma Jones, which Nicole captured brilliantly in these shots.

The work was warmly received by the audience at The Place's Robin Howard Theatre. Here are some of the reactions from audience members and the reviewers Hailey McLeod and Sanjoy Roy:

'A portrait of anguish. Tender, extreme, astonishing', audience member.

'I was mesmerised and moved. Brilliant and thought provoking - beautiful', audience member.

'a powerful performance', Sanjoy Roy.

'I was joyously mesmerized by his other worldly gold and glittery trousers', Hailey McLeod.

© Nicole Guarino

© Nicole Guarino

© Nicole Guarino



© Nicole Guarino

© Nicole Guarino

Winter Again (Again)

© Maria Falconer

A few weeks ago I was invited to perform with Scottish Dance Theatre in Jo Strømgren's Winter Again. The piece was created in 2013, when I was a member of the company and part of the original cast. Dancing it again felt like stepping into your old shoes, but the performances at Dundee Rep and Edinburgh Traverse were actually an unexpected opportuity to discover new facets of this dark, slightly surreal, Nordic tale...
 
The work is part of a double-bill programme with Dreamers, a brand new work by Anton Lachky, one of the founding members of the Belgian collective 'Les Slovaks'.

You can catch the rest of the tour at Dance City (Newcastle) on 23 and 24 of April and at the Taliesan Arts Festival (Swansea) on 30 April. More info HERE.

Below is a 4-star review by Kelly Apter at The Scotsman:

Making a welcome return, Jo Strømgren’s Winter, Again bears a repeat viewing. Nine distinct characters, few of whom you would deem trustworthy, see out a winter together. In the absence of fresh snow, everything is a dirty, spattered grey. The music – Schubert’s Eine Winterreise – sounds pure of voice, but there is little purity on stage.
 
Guns are brandished, animals are killed and one poor girl even loses her eyes. Yet Strømgren has a lightness of touch that turns such macabre content into easy viewing. Once again aided by the current strong crop of performers, and in particular guest dancer, Joan Clevillé and his almost Vaudevillian sense of melodrama.