When I Took Company Class

I had the opportunity to take company class twice, led by two of the company’s dancers who were teaching contemporary. The class starts out easy going with stretches and exercises to higher the heart rate to get us ready for the class. Both classes included exercises for tendues, developpes and a series’ of sit ups and press ups.  It is clear that the dancers take influence from Bawren’s choreography and material to formulate the sequences in their company classes; this shows consistency in their vocabulary and a relation to the work which they are performing. Also giving the attendees of company class an insight into how the company works, even if they are not attending class held by Bawren Tavaziva.

It is useful to have the dancer who is teaching the class observing the pairs as they dance travelling sequences, so they can give corrections which one can put in place on their next go across the floor. All sequences are learnt on the right and then performed both on the right and left, getting your brain into gear and getting your body used to the movement. The sequences which we learnt were also accompanied by travelling movements from corner to corner, which included skipping jumping and leaping, these worked on balance, technique and stamina. The dancers chose their own music for their classes, be it pop, African or even Christmas songs, which always make it fun and exciting, and the classes take any form the dancer who is teaching chooses, so you could be taking a contemporary, ballet or African class (except on Tuesdays when the class will always be Ballet with Denzil Bailey). I thoroughly enjoyed company class and am hoping to attend a class taken by Bawren when the company returns to the Bernie Grant Arts Centre.

There are three weeks this month where you can attend company class (4^th -20^th) before the dancers start the spring tour of Double Take. If you would like to attend please send your CV to admin@tavazivadance.com where I will send you a booking form and you can chose the dates which you would like to take class. The Dancers will be back rehearsing for their autumn tour from September; therefore there will be opportunities to take company class then. Look out for updates on our website!

Sophie