Earthfall have been working alongside Cardiff Metropolitan University (CMU) to deliver a series of workshops to all three years, across the academic calender. On the 25th and 26th September Earthfall led four workshops at CMU as part of their fresher activity.
Thursday 25th Sept, Workshops 1&2:
Fri 26th Sept, Workshops 3&4:
Led by two teams of 2, Billy Brown and Jennifer Johannson along with Joanne Young and Cêt Haf. The workshops were based around a range of elements such as technique, improvisation and lifts and were specially designed to engage and inspire all three years and to encourage collaboration between the year groups.
Led by Sally Varrall the CMU dance course is a three year BA (Hons) Dance, covering all spectrum from pedagogy to performance. The course is located on the CMU sports campus, so they can benefit from the expertise within the well established sports departments and can utilizes the skills and resources available.
At the end of each academic year there is a showcase combining all three years, with performances open to the public. You can find out more about the course, check out their website.
Earthfall have a long standing relationship with CMU, this year we are leading on conditioning evening classes to improve fitness levels to a professional performance standard and we also lead audition workshops to help prepare the dancers for professional dance auditions. The students will also engage with the company through attending performances and rehearsals where possible.
Earthfall Apprenticeship
And last, but by no means least, we would like to introduce you to Sara McQueen.
Here’s a little bit about her in her own words:
“I have been dancing from year dot, beginning with tap, modern and ballet, and then in my early teenage years having some incredible tuition and mentorship during five years under the CAT scheme at Swindon Dance. After completing English, Maths and History at A-level, I took a two year dance Foundation course at Liberatus School of Performing Arts, focusing more on musical theatre and commercial styles, before enrolling in the degree course at Northern School of Contemporary Dance, from which I have just graduated with a First class degree.
I am so excited to be involved with Earthfall Dance, where the physicality and multi-faceted arts appeal to both my previous experiences, and the ways in which I aspire to develop as an artist. As a new graduate, this is an amazing opportunity to be involved in the early stages of development of new work, and to learn from the highly experienced and talented members of the company.”
This R&D period has been an opportunity for her to work with the Earthfall company and to input creatively throughout the process.
This week we would like to introduce you to the one and only Tal Weinstein.
Taking a brave leap across the ocean, Tal headed from Los Angeles, USA to the UK when she joined Trinity Laban and graduated with a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Dance. She then headed north from London to Leeds, to receive her Post-Graduate Diploma from NSCD’s post-graduate company, VERVE. Along the way Tal has worked with various choreographers such as: Lea Anderson, Ben Duke, Bernadette Iglich, Henrietta Hale, Rahel Vonmoos and has recently finished working with immerse film-production company, Secret Cinema. She auditioned for the Earthfall apprenticeship scheme and was successful, headed to Cardiff and joined the Earthfall family at the start of September.
“I am extremely excited to be surrounded by an incredible team of choreographers, artists and performers, and i am looking forward to working one on one with the company members as well as the choreographers Jessica Cohen and Jim Ennis. I know i will gain a lot of experience, knowledge and most importantly, inspiration by working alongside them. Along with teamwork comes growth and having this opportunity to learn from the dancers as well as the Earthfall Company as a whole, will help me further myself as well as push me to where I see myself being in my career.”
We look forward to the next couple of weeks and having Tal as part of our creative team of performers.
Stories from a Crowded Room is now in it’s second week of R&D so it is more than about time we introduced you to one of our apprentices:
First up is the incredibly talented Rachael O’Neill.
Rachael, originally hails from Glasgow, but graduated from Northern Contemporary Dance School (with a 1st Class Honours) and went on to perform in Verve, the postgraduate performance company 2013/14 where she toured works by Ben Duke, Lea Anderson and Jamaal Burkmar nationally and internationally. Following that she managed to squeeze in working for Watkins Dance, doing the R&D for Four Walls, before coming to join us in the beginning of September. A busy summer, but she did have this to say about her successfully achieving one of the three Earthfall apprentice positions:
“I’m very much looking forward to working with Earthfall to explore their creative process, meet new and exciting people and to be part of this new project.”
And we are certainly enjoying working with her creativity and enthusiasm.