New York!

As you know me and some of my fellow students booked up to go to New York on the 11th of April to take part in dance classes and see shows etc. We put in a lot of hard work to ensure we were getting the most out of the experience and what an amazing experience it was.  Through out the week we took classes at Broadway Dance Centre, Peridance, Alvin Ailey and did a workshop with Peter Kyle.  We did a variety of styles including contemporary, contemporary jazz, jazz, hip hop, gaga, voguing, flexibility and modern.  In every class we started with an intense warm up and went into a routine that was taught rather quick so it meant having to pick things up faster and asking more questions.  I found the first hip hop class we did a bit of a struggle but as the week went on i realised there was no time to be a perfectionist over the movement and it was the feeling of the choreography that took over, especially in the contemporary classes the passion that the choreographer was projecting whilst teaching the movement was inspiring and the experience of having everyone so in the zone created such a great atmosphere and I thought at that moment I never wanted to leave!

also before we left we emailed Peter Kyle as a group as we had been informed that he worked here at Telford with previous BA's and he was more than happy to set something up for us in New York as he wasnt doing any drop in classes at the time.  He was so lovely and enthusiastic and managed to find a space where he did a workshop with us and a live musician.  His friend who is an artist was also there to sketch some things which was a really nice idea.  The workshop was extremely challenging as he did a lot of technique work with us aswell as sequences which challenged our co-ordination and use of direction.  It was a great workshop and he has taken all our email addresses to stay in contact which I thought was really nice of him.

The gaga and voguing were completely new experiences and I am really glad we got a chance to try them out as I have never come across anything like that in the UK.  The gaga was very strange but quite theraputic in a way, it's all about being aware of the body and analyzing the movement and connection between effort and pleasure.  I found myself letting go of any tension and it was really strange because it looked like we wernt rly doing anything physically demanding but my body felt like id had a full on work out!  and the voguing was fantastic, the choreographer Benny Ninja was hilarious and so much fun to work with.  I couldnt quite get the hang of the movement to be honest but I loved Benny Ninja :) he was fab!

we also did a lot of sight seeing, one of them being the 9/11 memorial which was so inspiring, it was quite emotional and we got a tour which allowed us to hear stories from people who were involved in the events that day, it was amazing to see what their plans for the future hold and the way it has been thought out was really touching.

I really didnt want to leave...dance was everywhere and there was so much oppertunity to better yourself as an artist.  I would really love to go back and take more classes and hopefully next time see a show as we just didnt have enough time and money to do everything this time round.