I attended this year’s Move It! At Olympia on Sunday 13th March, as Bawren was teaching a masterclass in the afternoon. I arrived at and the exhibition was in full swing, the space had been transformed into a hub of stalls, stages and individual dance spaces. I headed over to the Maoam freestyle stage which was hosted by Hakeem of impact dance. It was great to see people of all ages signing up to dance in their different styles, some in groups and others as soloists.
Move It! Attracts people of all dance styles and abilities, there are classes in many different styles for the absolute beginner up to pro. What’s great is that you can observe dance classes from the side and when looking around the stalls you don’t feel obliged to sign up to or buy anything, you can just browse.
I spent a while watching the main stage which had performances from the numerous dance schools such as Stella Mann and Bird College, and there was also a fashion show advertising the latest dance wear from specialists such as Bloch. A special guest performance from Akai, the ten year old winner of this years Got to Dance proved very popular with the crowd.
Bawren’s workshop was at in the Harlequin masterclass studio, which was a room just off from the main activity of the exhibition; where they had put down a large dance floor. Bawren took a lively warm up accompanied by his travelling drum, then taught a fast paced contemporary sequence. Anna then taught a dynamic section of rep from Double Take which got the participants focused and working hard. They repeated the sections with Anna and then had to do them on their own in separate groups. For the last section of the workshop, the two groups had to perform the rep facing each other, so that they could feed off each other’s energy, and it made for quite an interesting sequence. The participants thoroughly enjoyed the workshop; feeling tired and like that had given it their all at the end.
In other news, everyone is very excited about the two dates this weekend at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre; see below some of our publicity for the shows. See you there!
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
DOUBLE TAKE AT THE PLACE, LONDON WC1
Donald Hutera, The Times
March 9 2011
The few snippets of advance information available about 'Double Take', the new autobiographical touring show by Bawren Tavaziva’s eponymous company, tell us that this evening-length work represents two sides of the thirtysomething choreographer’s life. One was his “hectic, traditional and religious” existence in Africa (he was born in Zimbabwe), while the other represents the impact of his relocation to the UK in pursuit of a dance career.
Tavaziva himself never appears on stage. What he’s done instead is to distribute his history among the members of his company; it’s as if the most fervid kinetic elements of his personal experience have been poured into their bodies. Their response is sometimes a joy to behold.
Composed of seven women and one man, all clad in mottled grey shorts and loose matching tops, the ensemble is sprinkled with outstanding dancers. Take Kristina Alleyne and the feisty, magenta-haired Lisa Rowley. The former is the epitome of serene strength while the latter moves like flame. In size and build this compact duo are practically each other’s mirror image. Cantilevering off each other in a first-act duet, they demonstrate just how gutsy Tavaziva’s writing can be.Tirelessly alert, all of his dancers lope, dive, shake, swing and slap their way across the stage to a soundtrack of township music and hymns.
‘Double Take’ displays Tavaziva’s prodigious, almost profligate, gift for strikingly quirky movement invention. He appears to bedeveloping his own visceral brand of swift, coiled and calisthenicclassicism that connects ballet, contemporary and African traditionaldance into one playful yet fierce, space-eating language.
The show as a whole was a tad confusing, partly because of the undefined presence of Tsungai Tsikirai. Wrapped in a black bedspread, this fine vocalist spends the first act praying and lamenting rather than singing. Tsikirai (who won’t be present at all the tour performances) runs through a gamut of states: sorrow, anxiety, fear while occasionally offering the dancers succour or guidance. But I was unclear about her role, nor did her emotional journey seem of much interest against such fiercely articulate dancing.
Double Take
Published Wednesday 9 March 2011 at by
Neil Norman
Bawren Tavaziva’s company specialises in work that fuses contemporary choreography with African dances, particularly those of his birthplace Zimbabwe. His latest project is highly personal, tracing his evolution from the townships of his childhood to his current status as a major contributor to the UK dance scene.
Using young boys from local communities for the first few pieces, Tavaziva reveals aspects of the Muchongoyo dance, a stamping, militaristic, formation dance typically performed to prepare for battle and post-battle celebration. The boys perform with gusto and commitment against a colliding soundtrack of drumming (live) and sacred music (recorded). Quickly shifting gear to a school environment he introduces girls who thereafter dominate the stage.
Tavaziva harnesses the speed and energy of his muscular dancers with consummate skill, creating patterns of collective movement and individual architecture that is endlessly inventive. Rooted to the earth, with the tribal stamp never far away from the explosive bursts of physical action, the dancers ricochet around the stage and off each other, creating visceral relationships between themselves and the audience. An extended duet between two girls - one black, one white - is by turns loving and ferocious, tactile and ritualistic. Accompanied onstage by the Greek Chorus-like figure of vocalist Tsungai Tsikirai - who moves from dialogue-based song to desperate prayer with ease - these powerhouse dancers deliver a memorable and exciting exploration of two cultures.
Production information
The Place. London, March 8, then touring until March 24
Composer/choreographer:
Bawren Tavaziva
Producer:
Tavaziva Dance
Cast includes:
Kristina Alleyne, Katie Cambridge, Lisa Rowley, Petros Treklis, Anna Watkins, Chevon Edwards, Serena Morgan, Hannah Spencer
The day that Tavaziva Dance performed at ‘The Place’ was a busy one and an important show as it was their London premiere and the press were present. Everybody both from the company and The Place worked extremely hard to make this day a success.
I arrived at The Place on the morning of Tuesday 8th March and was told to go to the sixth floor to the back entrance of the auditorium. I entered a pitch black room feeling my way around to find the seats and seeing just a chair in the middle of the stage it felt quite eerie. All was soon to be revealed when Antony our lighting designer cued the technician from The Place and the chair was awash with colour, I realised that I had stepped into the technical preparations of the lights for Double Take.
(Antony our lighting manager)
The dancers arrived in the auditorium at to start warming up for their class before tech rehearsal, which I took part in; we were also joined by three of LondonContemporaryDanceSchool’s third year students. The class was fast paced and energetic, thoroughly warming up the dancers for the day ahead. The class included exercises for stretching, a section of rep from Double Take as well as Bawren’s contemporary sequences infused with African steps and beats.
Next was the technical walk through, when the dancers had to go through all the positions for the piece and Antony stopped and started them at different points to make changes or repeat certain sections, and microphone problems with Tsungai the singer were sorted out. The dancers then had their technical rehearsal which was photographed so they had to be in full costume, it astounds me how they can go so quickly from the walk through to doing the piece full and performing all the relevant intentions behind each section.
At about 4pm, 48 children from local schools (who had attended workshops with the dancers to create curtain raisers for the show) arrived and filed into the studio next to the auditorium to warm up and practice; ready for their tech rehearsal. The pieces were varied but equally as excellent, they kept true to the repertoire and emotions of Double Take, with one even including live drumming from the students.
After the schools’ tech rehearsals there was just a little time for me to set up my table by the entrance of The Place before the audience started arriving. I really enjoyed being at the front of the house, talking to the audience and getting them to sign up to the mailing list, unfortunately a lot of people weren’t able to get tickets as the show had sold out the day before. For those people and everyone else out there, remember that we have two other London performances at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre this coming Friday 18th and Saturday 19th March at 7.30pm (nearest tube: Seven Sisters on the Victoria line) book your tickets on: 020 8365 5450 or online at www.berniegrantcentre.co.uk.
The show was exceptional; it seems to change every time I see it and the dancer’s energy was higher than it had ever been before, they seem to explode onto the stage with passion and energy. After the show numerous audience members relocated to the café downstairs where there was a talk led by Lucy Field. Many of them were itching to ask Bawren and the dancer’s questions about the piece, the creative process and the work in general. There was a general consensus that the evening was a huge success and the company felt that they had achieved something great, whilst also knowing that the hard work isn’t over yet, as the tour still has five tour dates left!
Double Take received two great reviews in The Times and The Stage, I will publish these in my next post.
The intensive day that took place last Thursday 24th at Paddington Arts Centre was an initiative set up by Jenny Hammond our education manager; it was the first time the company has done anything like this so the fourteen participants were the guinea pigs if you will. The day was lead by Bawren Tavaziva and three of the company’s dancers Chevon, Hannah and Kristina.
The day started off with class taken by Bawren Tavaziva, which I took part in; it was a jam-packed hour and a half, starting off with a warm up including tendues, jumps and pliés, moving into a contemporary sequence that was influenced with African movement. I thoroughly enjoyed the class and I felt pushed and my memory was challenged with the fast pace. It was nice to rehearse and perform this section in twos as we got to use the whole space so we could make our movements full out.
(Dancers in class with Bawren)
After a quick break we had a session learning some repertoire from ‘Double Take’ taught by Kristina. It was great to be able to learn a manageable chunk of the new piece and it was very helpful having Bawren there to remind us what certain sections meant and the particular way in which they should be performed. The solo we learnt was about struggle and grief so included lots of sharp movements with our hands and strong jumps, the solo ended with a strained movement leading to a release, showing that the weight of the struggle had been lifted.
Learning a duet from a section of ‘Double Take’ that Bawren adapted made up the final section of the day which I observed. The dancers loved this part as they were able to really get to grips with the material and interact with one another. The duet required strength and style to make it look slick, and after having learnt it Bawren went through the intentions for each part, after this it was great to see how things changed in the way some of the dancers executed the movement. The dancers repeated the duet a few times and each time it was possible to see them improving and becoming more comfortable and confident with it.
(Bawren and Kristina demonstrating movement)
(The Duet)
To sum up the day in three words: professional, intense and eye-opening, it’s definitely something that the participants would do again and hopefully next time we can get even more people involved. The feedback from the class was excellent, with most of the dancers wanting the day to be longer and in a bigger space; this is an initiative that the company will look into offering again as it was so successful, watch this space!
Jenny and I arrived in Barnsley at on Friday 11th February, took a taxi to our lovely hotel and then sped off to The Civic to join Bawren and the dancers. When we arrived at the theatre the dancers were just finishing their tech rehearsal with Antony our production manager up in the booth controlling the lights and sound. It had been a tough day already; the dancers had worked very hard but were positive about the evening’s performance.
(The view from our hotel)
Jenny and I handed out programmes and questionnaires before the show, and it was great to talk to different audience members. A lot of them were big fans -of dance and others had never experienced contemporary dance before but had decided to come along to try something new.
(our board outside the theatre)
The show was brilliant, there were new parts I had never seen before that Bawren had changed in the rehearsals between shows, so this made it doubly exciting for me. That is what I find so thrilling about dance, it can be changed at any moment or taken in another direction so easily that even if you don’t feel right about it the first time you choreograph, there are always chances to rearrange and reorganise your material. The dancers had great energy throughout the show and are brilliant and capturing the right emotion both in their face and their movement for the different sections of the piece.
The comments we got about the show afterwards were tremendous, people left with smiles on their faces and we were inundated with comment sheets with very positive feedback. Many people were glad to catch Bawren so they could shake his hand and tell him a hearty well done for such brilliant choreography. The atmosphere from an audience like this leaves you feeling as if your work has been well done, and the dancers were especially pleased upon reading the comments that were made about them.
After the show we went to have dinner in the restaurant beside our hotel, it was great to chat to the dancers, hear stories about previous members of the company and about how Bawren works as a choreographer. The company has become so accustom to change over the years (be that change of dancers or starting a differently themed work) that it doesn’t phase them, it’s all in a days work for them.
Look out for a post soon were I will document a day in the life of a touring company when Tavaziva perform on the 8th March at ‘The Place’ in London!
The tag line a story of two worlds, a story in two halves couldn’t be more right when describing Double Take, as there is a strong contrast between the first and second half. As Chevon rightly stated ‘The piece is about joy but performed with a heavy heart’, it is clear in the first half that the dancers are burdened by hardship through their strong and grounded movements; and by the pounding heartbeat rhythm which accompanies a lot of the different sections. The first half is a powerhouse of moves, one as striking as the next, even when the dancers shout and rejoice it doesn’t come as a shock as it is so befitting to the rest of the piece. Tsungai Tsikirai lights up the stage with her authoritative but sweet voice and you can really feel the dancer’s adversity through her words.
There is an element of light and shade as the piece progresses into the second half; one can definitely feel the celebration and playfulness which is reminiscent of Bawren’s childhood, seen through the use of Muchongoyo and Zimbabwean dance. The dancers smile and laugh as duets turn into travelling sequences executed mischievously across the floor, it was hard to stop myself getting up on stage and joining them in what felt like a joyous party. My favourite part would have to be when the dancers perform a light-hearted sequence in a line at the front of the stage, with one moving rolling swiftly into another there is a real sense of community and passion in the way they dance, and hey who doesn’t just love a great bit of intriguing unison?
Unquestionably Double Take provides variety; solos, duets, group unison, and canon all make this piece a joy to watch, and with Tsungai the vocalist being involved in the dancing and the formations, you can really feel that the dancing, the music and the vocals are not separate entities that have been fused together, rather; they are one. I found myself knowing that Double Take was at its end when the dancers repeated a sequence from the beginning of the show, but this time sped up as they retreated into the wings. I really didn’t want the piece to finish and almost hoped the dancers would run on and surprise me with one last sequence.
For those of you that have seen Wild Dog, you may be able to spot similar motifs that are distinctive of Bawren Tavaziva, in a way, he is putting his stamp on the piece and is showing the audience how he can develop movement that just gets better with every new work. Make sure you get your tickets early for this poignant and emotional piece of contemporary African dance, because if you miss out, you will be disappointed.
Double Take is an intensely courageous double bill, surveying the impact of black dance and Bawren Tavaziva's contribution to the contemporary dance landscape in Britain.
Heavyweight choreographer and musician Bawren Tavaziva unravels an inspirational soundtrack featuring the sweet sounds of African vocalist Tsungai Tsikirai. Immerse yourself in this celebration of culture, hardship, agony and joy performed by eight of the UK’s most fantastically exuberant dancers.
Below are the dates and booking info for the 2011 Spring tour, book early to avoid disappointment!
