Dancing Days

Platforms, networking and beyond

2011-11-23T04:01:00.001-08:00

What an amazing time we had last week at our PPD. Company dancer Megan Griffiths embarked on her first piece of choreography for the company with Persona, a duet for PPD dancers Effie McGuire Ward and Charlie Dixon. A beautiful duet, inspired by quotations from Monroe, Jackie Kennedy and Hepburn.

Together with over 70 young dancers from the community, 3 emerging professional choreographers were invited to share their new works at a packed performance on Saturday evening at The Met. We welcomed Charlie Dixon Dance Company, CODA Dance and Lucille Teppa. Audience feedback for their work was fantastic! They were all a joy to work with.

Our dance faktry groups were all amazing, some as young as 2 and a half, they brought us back to our dance roots - always a good place to go..

Special thanks to Laima Jones of SCARF Dance for her excellent back stage management.

And so on to networking. A great evening with The Best of Newport at The Mint Leaf Indian Restaurant and Lounge as part of a networking event with a curry tasting session. Some great contacts made and hopefully some openings in to the hotel business for ff.un special events.

Another lovely contact was made with Kim Fordwoh of ArTournament Gloucester who really loves our work and will be programming us in 2012.

Networking is such a vital lifeline in the arts in business world - please help us by telling everyone all about our work and pointing them to our website.

Please keep in touch and enjoy this wonderful time of advent.

Collaborations

2011-10-04T04:07:00.000-07:00

September is always crazy busy, and this year has been no exception.

July and August can be really frustrating from a management perspective as the holiday period seems to make the industry grind to a halt. Links in the chain of organisation are missing and set the whole pitch off balance. So September is catch up time.

The beginning of the month sees the return of all our community dancers coming back to our weekly classes and this year, we have record breaking numbers of young people wanting to dance with us - which is fantastic. Waiting lists are not the ideal way of coping with supply and demand, which has led us to apply to Nat West for community funding to run more projects - please vote for us on our website or Facebook page.

Collaborations with photographers Paul Trask of Newport and Jim Markland of Cheltenham have been one of the highlights of the month for me. We spent 3 marvellous days in the theatre shooting images of the dancers, which we will be using for marketing and advertising our brand new double of work for touring 2012.

Some tasters can be found on our website http://www.ffindance.co.uk

I have now finished Five Dances, with stunning music by Jenny Jackson and it's ready to take on the road. We will be blessed at some venues with Platform 4, who will be playing live for the performance.

And for my next collaboration - Gary Lambert. What more can I say? I have hero-worshipped the great Mr Lambert for many years as a performer, teacher and creator of work, and will now be collaborating with him for the company's second work of the new double bill. So very exciting ....

Lots of new projects coming up before we tour - keep your eyes peeled on the website and please get in touch with us and tell us what you're up to.

Another One Bites The Dust

2011-09-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

A good week in terms of admin, 2 funding applications completed, our brand new website launched, our insert going live on The Best of Newport, our photo shoot for new marketing material organised and some great feedback about our work.

This summer we saw the launch of ff.un special events: this is our brand new team of dancers who will be making and performing work to be performed at weddings, corporate events, birthday parties and anything else that needs an event being taken to a special level - it would be great if you know of anyone who is managing events, to pass on our info. Our first event was at an inauguration of a new church where they commissioned ff.un to make it a unique service - we certainly did that. Video link can be see on our website

Next week sees the start of our studio period with the company where we will complete my new piece Five Dances, to gorgeous music written for us by Jenny Jackson. The dancers and I are all very much looking forward to that.

Please take a browse at our new website if you haven't already done so - designed for us by artisan website specialists Kilroy James - I can personally recommend their work.

Onwards and Upwards

2011-09-06T09:53:00.001-07:00

So back to work with a vengeance.

Having just returned from a short break in a wonderful little traditional mountain village in Sicily, I feel refreshed and inspired for the new season ahead.

Just completed the company annual accounts and a rather hefty end of project report, and started on a new 20 page funding application. But now to real work!

We recently had the privilege of working with Sheffield based composer Jenny Jackson and 3 sublime musicians from Platform 4 - Tom Owen, Tom James and Chris Noble. We will be previewing the piece (Five Dances) at Theatr Soar in Merthyr on October 8th at 6pm. This piece will form part of the double bill that the company will be taking out on tour from March 2012.

Summer Intensives was an exceptionally good one this year, which saw company dancers Mike, Megan and Aurélie re-working my piece In A Three for 5 young professional dancers. We look forward to more committed work with young professionals in our Professional Performance Development opportunity in November 2011.

I am very excited to be working with photographer Paul Trask later this month: Paul will be working with us in the studio to create some mean moody images of the dancers.

Lots of new exciting things coming up - one special addition to our work is a new team of professional dancers who will form the ff.un special events outfit which will be performing at weddings, conferences and functions.

I hope that like me you are looking forward to a great new season, please continue your support for FFIN DANCE as I know you will.

With best wishes.

On The Road

2011-04-05T01:06:00.000-07:00

On The Road

Opening night is a scary time, it's the ultimate in letting go and trusting your team.

This year FFIN DANCE opened the Spring tour in Aberystwyth Arts Centre as part of the open platform scheme. A one day get-in followed by a show the same night is not an ideal situation, but one which smaller companies have to deal due to various constraints, mainly financial ones!

Our production manager, Mark Read led the technical team brilliantly and really came up with the goods. I was thrilled by the exceptional lighting plan that he came up with. The 2 pieces looked stunning.

Of course dancers are used to hard work: in spite of ripped trousers, aching bodies, bruises and the clock ticking away against us, the performance was first class. Audience loved it and chief technician for AAC was really effusive in his praise for the work - this is a rarity!

So, on to North Wales this week where we work for 3 days with Helen Barton Academy of Dance and Holyhead High School. We perform on Saturday evening at the splendid Canolfan Ucheldre Arts Centre on the island - one of our favourite venues.

Hope to see you there..

Secrets and Syncopations

2011-02-19T04:31:00.001-08:00

Finishing a piece of work off is always sad as you watch it grow over such a long period of time. The idea starts as a tiny seed and then it develops and realises and eventually you have to give it away. That's always scary as a choreographer ; giving the work to the dancers and then ultimately to the audience is terrifying as you never know quite what will happen to it!

Secrets and Syncopations is a double bill which will go on tour in late March 2011. I have collaborated with designer Steve Denton to produce the 2 pieces - Confessions (music by Tom Waits) and In A Three (music by Cornish composer Graham Fitkin)

The 2 pieces are both very different from one another in lots of ways and will form a very balanced programme.

The new company members have all settled in well and we have had an amazingly good time in the studio creating the work.

Working with the complex rhythms of Tom Waits' songs has been a challenge to us all, together with working inside 4 tents which represent the confessional, has been exciting and we can't wait to share that with you all.

In A Three is a lovely trio for 3 women, again exceptionally challenging layers of music combined with technical dancing and chic vintage inspired silk costumes is just crying out to be on stage and admired. The composer Graham Fitkin may well be making an appearance at one of the gigs - fingers crossed on that one!

So now down to serious marketing and networking.

Hope to see you on the road, look out for our posters and flyers and of course social networking sites.

Just A Quick One

2010-12-09T01:50:00.001-08:00

Hello all, I felt so bad about the time that had lapsed in between my last few blogs, I am making every effort to be a little more organised with my blog writing.
We had some great news this week - the Wales Millennium Stadium Charitable Trust will be making a grant award to the company to continue our work in Wales. Obviously we are delighted as this means we can now afford extra studio time to improve upon production values. The company will now also be able to spend an experimental time with Jenny Jackson, the composer who is writing music for my new piece for 2012 touring. This collaborative period will start in the summer of 2011 - we're all very excited to be working with Jenny and having a commissioned score.

The company welcomes Liz Peck back to Wales after a short break where she has been working on her own choreography in London. We have had some fabulous comments already about her stunning image on our website.

This week I met with Alun Davies AM; we had a most positive time talking about the company and its place in Wales and the vital education and outreach work that is being done in the Abertillery area. As a result, Alun is going to sing our praises in the Assembly and beyond - a champion at last!

A Winter Epistle

2010-11-30T01:56:00.001-08:00

And so winter is upon us once again, and with a vengeance too. The snow has come early this year to the valleys and caught us out a little. Winter always use to be this cold when I was a child but more recently we have been subjected to milder more wet winters. I must say, winter should be cold really to get rid of all those nasty germs and make us rejoice when spring comes to cheer us up.

And so to business. I have begun work on the first of my new pieces for the company - In A Three. It's a trio for 3 women set to a delightful score by living Cornish composer Graham Fitkin. The second of the pieces is a quartet which is a little different for me, using more of a narrative and is more theatrical in its treatment. Accompanied by Mr Tom Waits. Steve Denton and I have again teamed up on the design side of things, and you will I am sure, be delighted with the results.

We are joined by 2 new dancers for next season: Liz Peck, who returns to us and Mike Williams who will join us for the first time. We first worked with Mike last winter on our professional performance project, and from there he joined FFIN2 our second company. The biogs are on our website http://www.ffindance.co.uk/
Our senior dancer Lisa Hood has now left us, so the company comprises, Liz, Mike, Megan and Rebecca.

FFIN2 now has a double bill of work which had its first airing at Aberystwyth Arts Centre last month. As a result of a new partnership struck by FFIN and National Youth Dance Wales, the Peer Group of NYDW will be performing their work by Errol White and our two works as part of a new triple bill which will tour next season - exciting stuff.
Our 3rd annual winter dance faktry festival was one of the best festivals we have staged. We played to a near sell-out audience at The Met and the performances were first class. We were thrilled that Errol, Davina, Suzie and Pauline joined us for the evening. The Peer Group opened the show to a delighted audience and our own dancers on the professional performance development course ended the show with a first class performance of ATD. In between we saw performances by community and youth groups with which we work, all again first rate.

The Christmas holidays will see our volunteers group - New Ground, taking holiday clubs and free workshops into the community. A most worthwhile venture.

I'd like to take this oportunity to wish you all a most happy Christmas time with your loved ones and a peaceful but successful 2011

Please catch up with us on our website which is updated regularly.
Many thanks for all your support in 2010.

A Thousand Pardons

2010-08-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

Many apologies for being absent from my blog for so long! No excuses...
So much has been going on, I don't really know where to start.
I was so pleased with our Spring Season and Easter Intensives, both in terms of quality and indeed participation and audience figures. Looking at our evaluation sheets, it seems that we are hitting the spot for our audiences and the people who join us for classes, workshops and projects; which leads me nicely to Summer Intensives.

Ah! Summer Intensives. We were hoisted out of our home at The Met because of the all-consuming National Eisteddfod and moved just around the corner to Ebenezer Chapel Studio, a lovely old chapel, conveniently placed behind my favourite coffee shop. The studio is on the upper level of an old Victorian chapel which still meets to worhsip with a very active and dynamic bunch of people every Sunday. The original vaulted ceiling is splendid old Cedar wood and the iron girders form wonderful architectural lines creating a wonderfully evocative studio space. The new work created by Lisa - ATD, was an excellent piece of choreography, performed by the Intensives at The Beaufort Theatre on the last evening. Some excellent dancing all week, rasing the game for future similar professional opportunities.

As I sit waiting for 10 funding applications to come in (hopefully they will all be successful), there will be lots of new and exciting projects and opportunities to enable dancers at all levels to be working with us in our home studio through the autumn and winter. I'll report these as and when they surface.

A new youth company - Abertillery Youth Dance Company - will be born in September as we audition for youth dancers at The Met and of course we will continue with our ever-growing groups of community dancers in the area.

New apprentice dancer, Megan Griffiths, will be joining the company too as we start work on 2 new pieces designed by the stylish Steve Denton.

So, off for a quick break next week to my beloved Tuscany, where I will be preparing my latest piece of work over some glasses of Chianti Clasico produced at the local fattoria and some good olives.

I promise not to leave it so long next time. Thanks for your continued support - here's to a great season 2010/2011
Ciao.

End of Spring Tour 2010

2010-03-29T05:27:00.001-07:00

Spring Tour 2010 has finally ended, but I still feel as if I should be packing cases to head off somewhere new all over again.

I am feeling more than happy with the fact that we have reached over 900 people with our 2 new works, Google Women and Sweetheart Roland. As I would have expected comments have been varied in regard to the work - some enjoyed the athleticism for which FFIN DANCE is becoming famous, others enjoyed the use of music, while others commented that they found the work refreshing - a return to pointed feet and technical dancing that much of today's newer work seems to lack.

Admittedly these are all factors with which FFIN holds very passionately to the heart of our work.

Other comments included audience members feeling challenged, not "getting" it and the usual one - "how do they get their legs so high" !!

We made some lovely new friends along the way and also met up with some familiar friends - our ever growing FFIN family.

So now to re-charging my batteries and preparing for the Easter Intensives course next week, where I will be collaborating with Stevie Denton of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Stevie is a final year design student, who has designed some amazing costumes and set for the Easter Intensives dancers - later this year she will also be designing for Alternative Routes with National Dance Company Wales (formerly Diversions)

Some highlights of our tour then:

really special ambience at Canolfan Ucheldre in Holyhead
great audience comments at The Haunch of Venison Gallery
meeting up with the FFIN family in London
playing to very large home audience at The Met

Here's to some good bookings now for the autumn tour 2010

FFIN DANCE in Mayfair

2010-03-09T08:58:00.000-08:00

Having just returned from travelling to the Haunch of Venison Gallery in Mayfair, I am tired but still buzzing with excitement at the company's latest venture - performing at the very prestigious event held in aid of Women For Women International at The Royal Academy of Arts.

Performing at events organised by a corporate body is very different to that of theatre events in so many ways. Our dancers had to be made up and have hair stylists dress their hair, and a clothes stylist needed to check that our costumes would work in the context of the gallery and within the context of the whole event - that was a first! Then there was the security list and check in, followed by a visit to the space in which we were showing Google Women.

Meeting other performers is always interesting and overhearing conversations between a choreographer who wanted his dancers to wear pointe shoes with no ribbons and couldn't understand why they had a problem with that, was engagingly contageous.

Performance time eventually comes and we show Google Women in an emmense large white space with exhibits. The acoustics are amazing, the dancers in black costumes against the white walls, the beauty of human movment with still artefacts is dazzling! BBC cameras, celebs and the London 10% made for a truly magnificent performance.

Other performances were special in particular The Dream by Mimbre.

What a great experience, one which would definitely be in our top ten of magical moments as a company. Capped off by some of the nicest Pr0secco ever tasted and fab canapes.

The funniest moment however was when the organiser's assistant spied our technical assistant when we arrived and said "he is going to change later isn't he? " - he did scrub up well and became suitably suited and booted!

travels and touring

2010-02-21T02:03:00.001-08:00

After an exceptionally busy few weeks, spending time in the studio with my dancers has been such a treat. We have welcomed two new dancers, Elizabeth Peck and Robert Mennear to our team this week and they have been learning (and creating) new roles in Google Women and Sweetheart Roland - they look amazing!
As we prepare for our spring tour, we anticipate meeting lots of new people along the way.
Our first stop is at Canolfan Uchledre in Holyhead, North Wales - one of our favourite venues. As well as performing our double bill, we will be creating a new curtain raiser for the Helen Barton School of Dance.
Then to London, where we perform Google Women to a celebrity audience at the Haunch of Venison Gallery at the Royal Academy of Arts for International Women's Day.
Travelling back to South Wales and working with groups at our home base at The Met, which is always a great occasion performing to our home crowd.
Then on to Collyers College in Horsham where we will be working with Head of Dance, Andrea Martin (one of my ex pupils) which is going to be good to share our work with her students and the dance audience that is associated with the college.
Finally we perform extracts of Sweetheart Roland at Cloud Dance Festival in Islington, London

Then to Easter Intensives with FFIN DANCE which is now fully booked up. We are most excited to be welcoming Andrew Smith and his dancers who will be performing at the faktry festival, and I will be creating a new work for FFIN 2, collaborating with Stevie Beddoe a third year design student at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama - more about that coming soon

For more information about our tour dates, please visit www.ffindance.co.uk/tour/

I will be blogging on our travels, please join us

Getting back to normal

2010-01-13T05:32:00.001-08:00

For many of us who have been affected by the recent adverse weather conditions, business is very slow in getting back to normal after the festive season. Many meetings cancelled, venues shut and transport (both public and personal) severely disrupted, have resulted in loss of working time. Trying to get anything off the ground has been virtually impossible.

However on a positive note~ carbon footprints are smaller and people do actually appear more caring for their neighbours.

Time is money as they say, so how to use it wisely one might ask? I have been doing all those jobs that sometimes get left until they're urgent like booking travel for tour, writing funding applications, writing funding applications, taking books back to the library and of course writing funding applciations. Hopefully, we can have good downpour of rain to wash away all the snow
and soon get back to normal (whatever that is!)

Looking forward

2010-01-02T06:20:00.000-08:00

So the Christmas holiday period is nearly over and it's time to get back to the studio and start new things.

For many of us the Christmas holiday, although long and eagerly awaited, can be a scary time. Time away from class, routine, disciplined eating patterns can be a daunting prospect to many dancers. In spite of the moaning about early class, long days, healthy eating and life styles - most of us would agree that we actually thrive on it, and like a bad head ache, when it goes we miss it badly!

Just when that feeling was getting a grip on me during the dark cosy evenings in front of the log fire, I watched the new documentary by Sting regarding his new album. A long time ago, I watched a South Bank special on TV where Sting was chatting to Melvyn Bragg about his then new album, Mercury Falling. I remember being so inspired by the musicians on that programme. They were so motivated and focussed, but above all LOVING their work with such passion. It stayed with me for years.

Similarly, the programme the other night, has really lifted my spirits. Watch it if you can! this link is for the programme on BBC i player

So in this climate of economic uncertainty, Arts Council cuts, so many unpaid jobs on the arts notice boards - go back to your dance roots. Remember your first class and how you felt, go back to the buzz it gave you and made you the person you are now. Strip away the serious stuff and recall the passion. Here's to a successful and happy new decade for dance

All aboard

2009-12-18T03:59:00.001-08:00

What an amazing week it's been. After a recruitment drive for our Sweetheart Spring Tour 2010, I am delighted to announce that our line-up is complete. The full team is Lisa Hood, Elizabeth Peck, Ross Carpenter and Robert Mennear, their biogs can be found on our website
We start rehearsing in February and you can find all rehearsal and tour dates on the site. When the company is in our home studio at The Met, we welcome professional dancers to come and do class with us - send your cv to FFIN DANCE, The Met, Mitre Street, Abertillery NP13 1AL stating which date/s you would like to come and visit.

On another note, I spent a very interesting evening at The Space in Dundee watching the end of term performances of the Scottish School of Contemporary Dance. Work by Matthew Robinson, Sarah Blanc and Peter Royston/Laura Scott provided a varied triple bill of work, with the latter being the most interesting for me personally. Using snatches of text by Dylan Thomas and Alan Bennett interspesed by luxuriant portions of John Taverner, the piece was a little lost on the audience, not always finding the intricate detail of the choreography. Some outstanding performances by Andrew Smith and Catrin Lewis flying the flag for Welsh dancers!

rounding it all off

2009-12-10T01:48:00.001-08:00

At the end of a very interesting and varied year, it's time to look back but also move forward. It all started with us being turned down funding by the Arts Council of Wales (yet again!) only to be told by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust that we were eligible for their funding which they granted to us to spend time creating work in the studio with the truly amazing Sheron Wray. This was a great experience for the company, as Sheron has so much to give in terms of both vocabulary and humanity. I also created my new work Sweetheart Roland for the company which we will tour in Spring 2010

Easter Intensives and Summer Intensives forged some very good relationships with professional dancers and dance graduates from all over the UK. The standard was excellent and some stunning work was created based on my pieces Duetti and Sweetheart Roland. This carried on in the veins of our new second company FFIN 2 during a successful week long professional development project where senior company dancer Lisa Hood created a new work for the dancers.

The dance faktry is growing from strength to strength with 2 platform performances in April and December, packing out the auditorium at The Met on both occasions. More young dancers coming through our doors.
Partnerships with community groups have developed into regular classes now happening throughout Blaenau Gwent and links with Abertillery Comprehensive and St Illtyd's Primary all becoming stronger and more effective.

Perhaps a highlight of the year was performing Sheron's work Google Women at the Touchwood season at The Place. A very large and appreciative audience together with an excellent review from Libby Costello made us all very happy.

So on to next season: touring, applying for funding, expanding the faktry, applying for funding, developing FFIN 2, applying for funding, get the picture?

My mission is to make the valleys ring with the sound of dance. Heavy industry is dead, long live the dance

after the show

2009-12-07T01:35:00.001-08:00

So after an amazing week, it's back down to earth with a bump and back to playing catch up. The book launch last Monday was a resounding success with a lot of local and more widespread interest in the book and also the company. The dance faktry festival on Friday evening beat the record in terms of audience figures and the resulting performance was fantastic in spite of all the technical challenges that we faced. Putting a show that has been choreographed for a pros arch stage on to the floor with audience seated on 3 sides was quite a challenge in terms of lighting, sound, spacing ........ and on and on. The performers did well, some of them only 3 years old!

The birth of FFIN 2 was in itself another new venture for us, one that we will be repeating again in the spring and summer. More about that in another blog.
Both professional groups were amazing and left the audience in a state of wanting to see much more.

So, it's back to the desk, planning and scheming - moving onwards and upwards. Hope you make the journey with us!

the big day has arrived

2009-11-30T06:48:00.000-08:00

The day is here at last. The launch of our new book by Maria Farrelly and the start of our professional development project.

Having taught class this morning, my guess is that the week is going to be a special one. The dancers all rearing to go (except one who hasn't arrived, she has swine flu!) represent a real mixed bag of talent. Bringing many and varied skills to the pot, the resulting work will I'm certain, be amazing.

Chatted to Maria, and we are all set to unveil the book this evening in a reception held at our home base, The Met. The banqueting tables are up, the Apple is posed ready for action (a very beautiful dvd of the images set to music), the Prosecco is chilling, and the smoked salmon is being rolled into tiny morceaux. We just need our guests now to complete the performance.

But first - off to rehearsals with a group who will be performing in our dance faktry festival on Friday evening.

the show goes on

2009-11-27T08:05:00.000-08:00

Fast approaching the end of the week and lots done, always more to do though! Having spent time doubling up with office work, I thought things were going swimmingly, how wrong was I? Just as I was becoming complacent with myself, disaster struck in the form of a two-edged sword. The theatre technician had fallen and torn ankle tendons and is off work and the structural engineers have decided that the lx bars need to be reinforced on stage before the faktry festival show next Friday. Oh boy! This means welding, drilling, banging and the rest while the poor dancers are working in the theatre studio. Hey but, the show will go on ...

With all that to deal with, the book launch on Monday keeps me motivated and terribly excited. The idea that the company is actually launching its first book still hasn't really sunk in yet. The town library contacted me today to say that they would like 2 copies, wow.

The prosecco and smoked salmon is chilling in the theatre cellar and now we await our guests' arrival on Monday. Can't wait.

playing catch up

2009-11-25T02:24:00.001-08:00

Playing catch up in the office is something that we all dread, once we've been away from our desk for a length of time. Consequently, this week I have been trying to get two weeks of office duty completed in order to be free from duty next week. Those of you who are following the company will know that next week is a crazy one for FFIN. On Monday it's the book launch with a reception event, also starting on the same day is our professional development project (in which I have the privilege of teaching class to 6 new dancers that I don't know) and then on Friday it's the FFIN dance faktry Christmas dance festival with a cast of over 100 dancers, one of our biggest platform events of this season. Quite a week eh?

Yesterday I met with a most interesting freelance artist who specialises in marketing and print, whom I hope will be designing for us next season. He had some amazing ideas and will hopefully be designing our new web site for us - watch this space!

So it's back to some more office duty for me - I actually enjoy it

Invites Issued

2009-11-20T07:44:00.001-08:00

After a tough job of shortlisting some very good applications, the successful dancers have now been contacted for the FFIN DANCE Professional Development Project

The rehearsal schedule is drawn up and decisions about costume, production and marketing have been agreed. The work will be very challenging for the dancers, both in terms of technique and limited time. Taking dancers away from from their comfort zones can be both rewarding and terrifying! We all like to do our "safe" stuff: Sue Davies once challenged me to make a piece without a rond de jambe in it. I have to say that was a tough challenge.

Now my thoughts are turning to the launch of our new book, a soft cover packed with images of some of our dancers by award-winning photographer Maria Farrelly. Our launch needs to be organised in terms of invites, catering (I will just have to taste the Champagne first to make sure it's good enough for our guests) and distribution. What a nice task!

Incidentally, I did make that next piece without a rond...

Planning the programme

2009-11-19T04:09:00.000-08:00

One of the (there are many) great parts about my job, is indulging myself in music and putting together a programme of work that will please returning audience and also attract new audiences for the future. I am thinking of the people in the audience whom may never have seen any contemporary dance before and thinking that they may identify with Aphex Twin and Cascada, and then the more ardent FFIN DANCE fans will hopefully enjoy Philip Glass, Kevin Volans and traditional Welsh folk by Allan Yn Y Fan.

Now to put together the programme in terms of variation to keep everyone in their seats. We have 2 professional works, some very good quality youth dance and some absolute beginners in the same programme. It sounds crazy, but we have a found a lot of success in this sort of platform in spite of the criticism that we had from a few snooties! We still manage to pack the auditorium with satisfied customers who come back to support our other programmes too...

So back to the old mac book it is

Getting organised for the professional development project

2009-11-18T06:45:00.000-08:00

It's amazing that after all these years of knowing how crazy it is putting on shows at Christmas time, that I still do it to myself. But this time it's different!! (trying to convince myself)

FFIN have put together a nice project to commission a piece for professional dancers to be made in a week of intense rehearsals and performed at the end of the week alongside other work that the ffin dance faktry has made during the term.

I am just shortlisting applicants, of which we had some excellent applications.

I'll update you as I go......