LONDON,
ENGLAND
May 8- May 12, 2007
5/8:
~ Arrived in Heathrow
Airport
- Be ready to wait in line at customs, and know where you
are going to stay, for how long, etc.
- Nicole was ready to turn around and go home after waiting
in line for almost an hour...
~ Took the Heathrow Express train service to Paddington in
the center of London (www.heathrowexpress.com)
- 100 mph train that runs every fifteen minutes daily from
5:10 am - 11:40 pm
- Rates: 15 pounds ($27) each way in economy class, 24
pounds ($43) for first class
~ Got off the train, found the taxi cue, waited in line to
hail a taxi
- A taxi from Heathrow to Central London would have cost us
about 65 pounds ($117)...so we decided to take the train to
the center of town then take a taxi to the hotel, which was
definitely faster and cheaper
~ Arrived at the Sanderson Hotel (50 Berners St., London
W1P 3AD. Tel: 800/697-1791. Web: www.sandersonlondon.com)
- This is a very expensive hotel, not our usual price
range, but it was a wonderful gift from a family
friend...(Thank you!)
- It features the longest bar in London, the restaurant
Suka with arguably the best chef in the world, and a
soothing modern, chic design
~ Enjoyed a
lovely dinner at Suka to celebrate Abigail Axelrod's
(pictured below on the left) birthday, and got some sleep
for the busy days ahead!
- Check out Abby in our dancer's circle. She transferred
from FSU in Tallahassee, FL to The Place in London.
~ Went out to experience the London nightlife at "China
White."
________________________________________________________________________
5/9:
~ Went to a local
Walk-in-Clinic past Soho Square
- Nicole had a minor medical problem to check out, but
there was at least a two hour wait and a 35 pound fee!
~ Picked up some fresh paninis at a very small restaurant
called Shelley's, and walked back to Soho Square to enjoy
our lunches and soak in the London scene.
~ Stopped at a local office store to pick up a converter
for our computer for only 4 pounds!
- Be sure to either purchase converters for each country
prior to the trip or be prepared to do some searching when
you get there.
*** Note: 2
or 3 prongs on your American plug, also American plugs tend
to have one prong bigger than the other but on most
converters both prongs are the same
size***
~ The Tube is the British subway and is the most convenient
way to travel around London. Don't be afraid to ask the
ticketing attendants for help, they were great!
~ Bought a daily tube pass, 5 pounds/person and took a
short ride to Euston for some sightseeing, but stumbled
across The Place instead!
~ The Place is one of the United Kingdom's most renowned
centers for dance. It is a place to train, create, perform,
and guide you toward a successful career in dance. The
London Contemporary Dance School is part of The Place, and
is where Abigail Axelrod has been a student for the last
two years. For more information on The Place, visit the
website: www.theplace.org.uk
-At The Place, we found the Artist Development and
Videoworks offices. Bonus! With a subscription to Artist
Development & Videoworks, you gain access to a unique
resource, unrivalled expertise and specialist help with
your career in dance.
Resources include:
* JUICE - your monthly listings magazine
* Dance industry periodicals and publications
* Fact sheets on: Agents, auditions, trusts and foundations
that support dance, UK agencies and organizations,
choreographic platforms, dance film festivals, and key
contacts in Europe
* Latest news on auditions, jobs and other opportunities
* Greater London rehearsal space directory
* Discounts on weekday and evening professional classes,
and short courses at The Place, Final Cut Pro Studio
software, DVD and tape copying services, and DVD
authorizing services
~ Artist Development and Videoworks
The Place, 17 Duke's Road, London WC1H 9PY
Artist Development +44 (0)20 7121 1040
******************************************************
*Performance Review*
~ Later returned to the Place's Robin Howard Dance Theatre
to see State of Emergency perform Mission Re-Position
- Choreographers: Jeanefer Jean-Charles, Menelva Harry,
Louise Katerega, and Zezé Kolstad
- In general we found the dancers to be better performers
than skilled technicians
- The 1st piece, "Rosa Moments", included three benches as
the set, which were wonderfully manipulted throughout. "An
interview with Rosa Parks" was interspersed with music. The
piece was obviously based on cultural heritage and included
intense foci, use of breath, tension and release.
- The 2nd piece, "Nature V Nurture", was a comment on
Carribbean immigrants' lifestyle change upon arrival in the
U.S. The music, Funkadalic,
had an out of
place pep and funk that went on monotonously. The mens'
partnering work was amazing! They had great chemistry; a
level of comfortability that revealed itself in
inventivness and smooth transitions.
- The 3rd piece, "Between
the Stones and the Stars", utilized four hanging ropes
draped from center stage that trailed off into the wings.
The dancers rolled and tangled themselves into the ropes.
They showcased some inventive partnering, but I wasn't
impressed with their use of the prop. They also had a
projection/gobo of abstract stones and stars that Aline
noted didn't exactly reflect the shadows of the ropes on
the stage.
- The 4th piece, "The Total of Four Women", celebrated
women; it was a look at life from four very different
female personalities/perspectives. They were all
wonderfully animated and shined as individual performers!
******************************************************
~ In our inspired state of
mind, we decided to go grab a drink at the Salt Yard on 54
Goodge St. They have the absolute best epresso martinis!!!
________________________________________________________________________
5/10:
~ Grabbed some breakfast
at Cafe Tosca (delicious fruit, chocolate
croissants...everything here is so fresh! The people are
friendly too!)
~ Nicole went to an audition for cruise ship dancers for
the company Stiletto Entertainment at:
Pineapple Dance Studio
7 Langley St.
Covent Garden, London, England WC2H 9JA
(which is kind of like the Broadway Dance Center of London
)
~ Met Abby to go see Nederlands Dans Theatre II at the
Sadler's Wells Ballet Theatre
- Stand-by tickets were only 15 pounds, and ended up in the
sixth row, center!!
- The show was absolutely
exquisite...breathtaking...life-changing. The best
performance I have ever seen.
******************************************************
*Performance Review*
- Sleepless by Jiri Kylian
- white vinyl panels lined up in a diagonal upstage create
a wall of illusions. One single female dancer began hunched
over in a contraction, and began ungulating her upper body
and arms. She watched her shadow on the screen behind her.
It was difficult to determine if it was really her shadow,
or a projection of her silhouette that she was following.
She reached her arms out, parallel to the ground, and her
shadow appeared to slowly pull the fabric back. She walked
closer towards it, and snuck into the black void between
the two panels. The fantastic entrances and exits through
the panels made a definite division between the two worlds,
in front of, and behind the 'wall of illusions.' All of the
movement was clearly technically challenging, yet with the
sensuality and ironically quirky moments that Kylian is
renowned for, the viewer is able to comprehend the human
qualities within each individual dancer. An excerpt within
the program quotes Kylian stating that "the nature of
moving is such, that if you move toward something, you
automatically move away from something else. Are we really
clear in our intentions? Are we really sure, that we want
to move towards, or away from? These questions have great
influences on our existence, our intentions, and our
passing through life."
- Sleight of Hand by Lightfoot Leon
-The visuals in this piece were phenomenal. The dancers
began in a horizontal line across the stage. They wore
black tights with a nude bikertard that covered their arms
all the way to their fingertips, drawing your focus to
their upper bodies. They individually improvised for a
certain amount of time, creating a rhythm that complimented
the musical score. When they came together in perfect
unison, banging on imaginary doors, the viewer was given a
satisfying break between the complex improvisational
movement of each dancer. The next section of the piece was
a string of duets filled with fascinatingly peculiar shapes
and lines and inventive partnering. Impeccably
transitioning into a new idea, six men entered the stage.
They were wearing only baggy white pants to underline the
strength of their upper bodies. They got a bucket of green
paint, kneeled on the floor, meticulously placed their
hands into the pail, and smeared the mixture from their
foreheads down to their thighs, ungulating their torsos to
show the sensuality within their masculinity. The movement
was almost primal or ritualistic, and defined the strength
and beauty men can embody.
- Spit by Ohad Naharin
- Two dancers splitting center upstage stood on stilt-like
objects, high above the audience. They wore black coats to
enhance the unusual proportions of endless legs with normal
upper bodies. Despite this, their torso movement was as
extensive as the length of their legs. The other dancers'
movement was luscious and intricate. The use of gestures
was inventive and allowed for a perfect balance to the
balletic through line of the choreography. Three men
entered from below the front of the stage by walking up a
lit glass staircase. The overall tone of the piece was
dramatic and dark, but indescribably satisfying.
******************************************************
~ Found an Italian restaurant in the rain for drinks and
light food. Funny, but they would only allow each of us one
alcoholic drink because we only ordered appetizers!
________________________________________________________________________
5/11:
~ Abby met us to go to breakfast at Harvey Nichols, a high
end clothing, food, and home store. The food was amazing.
Nicole had the light eaters sampler of a few different
traditional English foods: porridge with honey, fruit,
pastries, and a strawberry/banana/pineapple smoothie. Aline
had eggs benedict.
~ We continued the day with some sightseeing: Buckingham
Palace, the National Gallery, The Tate Museum of Modern Art
~ Went to
an Indian Restaurant for dinner (supposedly England is one
of the best places to eat traditional Indian cuisine...and
it was!)
________________________________________________________________________
5/12:
~ Abby came to the hotel to escort us to the Paddington
train station. We took a cab there, had traditional English
bacon sandwiches for breakfast, and said our goodbyes
before heading off to the Heathrow Airport on the Express
train to our next destination: Dusseldorf.