Dance Highlights Term 2 Dance Matters Another busy period in the Dance Department last term. Here are some of the highlights. Enjoy and please come and talk to us about future opportunities. Inter House Dance Competition In February 2014, we witnessed Lister's first Inter- House Dance Competition. The battle was on between the Houses with tough competition. Students had to create a House dance sequence using music provided by the Dance Department. House dances had to be a minimum of 1 minute and 30 seconds and Houses could have as many students representing their House. Leading up to competition day students were rehearsing before school, break times, lunchtimes and after school and Dance Captains were feeling the pressure. Students took on their responsibility in a positive and mature way and the dances created on the day were amazing. Each House brought to the competition their own fresh, creative interpretation which really touched the dance team and proved how much Dance talent is within Lister. Winners of the Inter-House Dance Competition were Shelley in First position and Hawking in second. This was a great event and I'm really looking forward to the next Dance Competition next Year. Dancer of the year 2013/14 The following Year 11 GCSE Dance candidates were awarded as Dancers of the Year. The winner, from Hawking House needs no introduction. The 2 Runners up and the winner gained the awards for their hard work and dedication in class. The boys also got their award for assisting in teaching lunch time clubs. 'I think the awards gave them extra talent and passion as they achieved remarkable grades in their practical Dance exam' said Ms Coke Year 7 Theatre School Dance Workshop with Jummy Year 7 Theatre School had a great street dance workshop with Jummy from EV Arts. They learnt various dance styles from the Harlem shake to the shuffle or 'cutting shapes'. The students were taught a few set pieces and then had fun working in their own groups incorporating Jummy's actions and adding their own actions to create a routine. They were really good at 'stomping' which Jummy said came from the traditional Gum boot dance from the mines in South Africa. The students were assessed on the work and you may see a few of the sequences being performed in the dance show.
Pick Up the Pace Revisited: FREE Boys Dance Festival on Saturday 22 February 2014 Louisa Pestell at Laban was impressed by the talent and maturity shown by year 9, 10 and 11 male Dance students. Boys from Year 9 Specialist and GCSE Dance groups attended the annual Blaze Day of dance at the famous Laban Dance conservatoire. Students took part in various dance workshops which included street dance, contemporary, capoeira and breaking. Students were also invited to watch a show after their hard work. Rymel said that the day of dance was inspiring and fun. He also commended Jesse Jones for showing good leadership skills on the day. He said that the best part of the day was the show of course. Ignite at St Angela s Ursuline secondary school Some of our year 9 students were invited to St Angela s for their annual dance show Ignite which showcased dances created by years 7- A Level students at dance clubs, in class and exam pieces. Lianca said that she enjoyed the show and that it that it was good to see work from GCSE Dance through to A Level. Dance with Haseeb Hearn Some of the year 9 boys were treated to a B-Boy workshop with one of Lister's finest ex dance students, Haseeb Hearn. The Year 9 boys managed to learn the skills incredibly well in the short 2 lesson workshop. They learned the top rock, flares and six step amongst other things. Haseeb drew the line at teaching the boys somersaults and 'suicides'. Ms Coke attempted to join in but only lasted as far as the warm up, she said that ' the workshop was far too difficult.' Adenekan said 'It was very entertaining'. Joel thought it was good to learn new things and Rytis said that he learnt that 'you mustn't give up'. We hope to have Haseeb back to do more workshops. Haseeb and his crew may perform at the annual Dance Show on 18th June, but before then he is off to Holland and Slovakia to compete in International Breaking competitions. Haseeb is a member of Raincrew. He left Lister in 2010 and after achieving an A* in Dance has continued to dance. His style is free style and B- Boy including breaking. Haseeb recently came back from both Egypt and Thailand where he was doing research on the B- Boy scene for the British Arts Council. We all gasped when Haseeb span on his head! Zain Talat said that the workshop was 'awesome" and Matthew
Border Tales at the Place Theatre All GCSE dance students in year 10 and 11 and two year 8 boys went to see Border Tales at the Place (the London School of Contemporary Dance) in Euston recently. Border Tales explored issues ethnic people sometimes face in the UK. Be honest, how do you really feel about other people who are not the same race as you? What judgments lay beneath the smile? Could a simple hello, make a difference? Personally I am proud of the fact that London is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. It was refreshing to watch something so honest and different on stage. All of us, teachers included and the audience were left to question personal opinions on racism. It was cool that race issues were played out through dance in a way that everyone could relate to. Stories of twelve dancers from different cultures were played out right before our eyes. Dance movements were amazing energetic and possibly the best I have seen!! They had lots of solos combined with exciting contact work where they had to really trust each other. Actions were continuous, almost never-ending and nerve wrecking. You didn t know if the dancer would be caught when they were thrown in the air. It was amazing; I got lots of ideas for my GCSE choreography pieces. Protein Dance Company is definitely a company that I think everyone could relate to as there were people of all ethnic groups. They also take risks to produce unusual actions. What I truly like about them is their raw emotional and ability to draw the audience in. Border Tales wasn't only dance, it included acting and live musicians as well. The main musician was phenomenal, he could play percussion instruments, guitar, pan pipes and used his voice. He was from Columbia and was very amusing. The performers included the audience into the performance by talking to us, asking us questions, making a lot of eye contact and making the audience laugh. I liked the way the dancers looked like they were enjoying themselves. They worked so hard that one dancer ended up bleeding as he cut his foot, but continued to dance. We were sat in the round so you could see all the small details. This was the first performance I have seen that combined all the performing arts in an original way. I LOVED it. Everyone should watch Border tales. Joseph Toonga and Ricardo DaSilva ex-lister students who studied at the Place were in the audience too. I would like to thank them for looking after us and inspiring us. Having them there made it feel as if the Place is our home too. By Maya Amina
Bollywood in the studio Veena our Bhangra/Bolywood teacher came in to show year 8 and 9 girls some work that has recently ended up in a Bollywood movie. How cool is that? On top of that girls got the opportunity to learn the dance. Fouzia, said, I loved it, it was so much fun, can we do it every term, please. Bhangra/ Bollywood is on every Friday lunchtime in the Dance Studio. connectingvibes* (City and Islington College aka candi) Trading Places DANCE COLLEGES COMING TO LISTER!!! Last half term we had LESOCO (Lewisham College). This term we had City and Islington College s resident dance company connectingvibes* who came in to perform 4 pieces from their current tour. Their set included Jump Up, a piece they toured the Caribbean with. Jump up is roughly 4 years old and also performed by connectingvibes* USA, their sister company. Dancers from the company are all in their final year of their dance course. We were lucky to also have been given a free workshop where dancers taught African, Afro-Caribbean and contemporary dance styles. Years 8, 9 and 10 enjoyed their day with connectingvibes*. Some year 11s were also able to meet the leader of the dance course at the college and network. Three Year 11 dance GCSE students are heading to Candi. Let s Shine Project with Just Us Dance Showcase at NewVic It was a sad evening for ex- Lister student Joseph Toonga as Let s Shine Project came to an end with. NewVic were kind enough to lend the company their stage. Pieces from the project have been performed at the Place, Greenwich, Leeds and soon Paris. Ms Coke and Ms Lungu were incredibly proud and touched to witness old and new Lister sharing a stage. Lister students were amazing you could not tell that they were sharing a stage with dancers currently in their final year at the Place completing their degrees. Their technique and performance skills have come a long way since the first performance. The good news is that Joseph will continue to mentor Lister students and has vowed to give even more back to the school that first inspired him to Dance.
Dance Inter House Year 7/8s Girls. Competition was fierce amongst the girls. The brief was to create a sequence within 16 footsteps of House dance actions. Congratulations to Da Vinci who won by miles in both year groups and King who came second. Ms Colquhoun was very proud of her girls; she came in before the competition to wish them luck and tell them that if they lost they would have a detention that day. No pressure then. Thank you to Ms Hylton from UEL who came in to teach us some house actions. NewVic Fashion Show and Newham Carnival 2014 Once again NewVic invited the Specialist Year 9 Dance to attend their annual fashion show which featured ex Lister students who were also dancing to open and close the show. Year 9s were commended for their behaviour which impressed Rachel Bradbear so much so that at the end of the show she offered them a place in the Newham Carnival on Saturday 12th July 2014. Students will work with an artist to create costumes and dance teachers to create a samba style dance, which will feature in the carnival. Watch this space for more information. Eddie Playfair NewVic Principal Boys Dance Day 2014 My name is Muhammed Bah, last half term I took part in a boys dance workshop for the day with other students in Years 8, 9 and 10. The dance day was an opportunity for students to experience dance styles taught by external dance professionals. We experienced Contemporary, Capoeira, Street and Break dancing. The main part of the workshop focused on break-dance with David from Breakout Crew. We were taught some of the basics such as the top rock and bottom rock. Once we mastered the basics, we moved on to freezes and slides, the freeze we learnt is called the baby freeze, which some students got straight away and others took slightly longer. At the end of the workshop we were split into two groups and battled. It was exciting watching younger student battling, which showcased their fresh and experimental talent.
Royal Ballet School and Royal Opera House The 2 GCSE dance groups and invited year 9 students went to the Royal Ballet School in Covent Garden as part of their controlled assessment. We had a tour of the school which included seeing the various studios, common room, A level art work and the historical foyers. We were taken across the bridge of inspiration which is high above the buildings and links the Royal Ballet School with the Royal Opera House on Floral Street. This is used to make it easier for any students studying at the school to run between both buildings if they are performing in a production at the Royal Opera House. Once a student from the school is accepted to the Royal Ballet Company they take the incredible step from one building to another. We saw a demonstration of a ballet class from the barre, to centre work, travelling, enchainment (short sequences of steps) and then pas de deux work. Pas de deux means dance for 2 (a boy and a girl) where the male dancer lifts and supports the female. The students we watched were from the first, second and third year. Then we had the opportunity to ask the students questions about their life in the school and what they have learned so far. Many of the students were from other countries, so as well as studying ballet they were learning English and getting used to living far away from their families. This trip was truly inspirational and has made me want to learn ballet. BLAZE 2014 On Tuesday 4th March a select group of boys from years 7-11 had the great opportunity to watch a performance called Blaze at the Peacock Theatre in Holborn. The performance was an adrenalin, fuelled dance performance which showcased a variety of street dance styles fused on the big stage. The dancing was explosive and the music was fresh and exclusive. What complimented the performance was the amazing set design and lighting effects. This International dance company sensation Blaze, blew our students away. The performance was hugely entertaining and inspired most of the students because for some was their first experience watching dance at this level. What was really positive on the trip was witnessing a mixture of boys from different Year groups have a discussion about dance and how they were going to practice their dance skills and questioning each other what moves could they do from the performance. This was a spectacular performance and an enjoyable trip.
Resolution 2014 at the Place In February many Lister teachers past and present went to support our ex-students performance and choreography as the closing act of Resolution 2014 at the Place. Resolution is a performance platform for emerging choreographers. Just Us Dance Company lead by Joseph Toonga and Ricardo Da Silva choreographed a piece for three women entitled 'I Am Woman'. This is a testimony to the role of women in society. Their piece closed the night and the whole event which runs for a month. It was a very emotional night as staff that taught the boys / young men since they were 11 turned up to support them. Of course this included Ms Coke, Ms Lungu and Mr Gordon but other supporters in the audience were Mr Foley, Ms Brown, Ms Bourne (who used to be their Head of Year) and Ms Rama, as well as teachers from our Dance partnership institutions - NewVic, Lewisham College (LESOCO) and Lincoln University. It was an amazing night. The boys or shall we say men continue to make their mark. Cheer and Dance Spring Showcase On Friday 21st March our Street Dance Teams and Cheer leading teams again did Lister proud at the Cheer and Dance Showcase at the ExCel Centre. This Showcase was the biggest to date, with 22 East London teams and 400 athletes competing. With Sir Robin Wales, the Mayor of Newham in attendance, all the teams wanted to perform to their absolute best. The performances by each team were of a very high standard. Cheerleading has taken me all over the world and given me some fantastic opportunities" Kali Seitzer, Team USA Athlete / World Champion. Gold Award and Grand Champions for the Inclusion Team Our Teams were once again commended for their excellent performance audience skills. Showcase is always a fantastic event, and the young people get so much out of competing against their peers and watching and appreciating others work, said Sammie Bromley, Grange Jaguars Coach. In addition to the Mayor of Newham, there were additional VIPs in attendance at the Spring Showcase. There were two Team USA athletes that demonstrated some top level Cheerleading stunts and tumbling giving an inspiring and thrilling performance for all. "It's so great to be invited to such a fantastic event. It is always good for young athletes to see the more difficult skills... Cheer Results: Silver Award for mainstream team. The new Year 9 team, who only had 3 lessons Gold Award for the Inclusion Team. Gold again for this hard working team. Yay!!! Street Dance Results: Gold Award for Lister Girls Street Dance Crew The teams and Dance Department would like to thank the teachers and support staff for giving up their time in the clubs and also at the event. The Dance Department would also like to thank the following coaches Gareth for Inclusion cheerleading, Sammy for mainstream cheerleading, Tolu for Inclusion Street Dance and Jade for Mainstream girls Street Dance.
Introducing Undergraduate Teacher our Placement My name is Sashane Hylton, I have just finished studying for a BA (Hons) in Urban Dance practice at East London University. I first came to Lister in November to complete one of my modules, 'Dance in the community', with other students where we taught the year 9 Dance Specialist group different urban dance styles. Then I decided to come back for my 90 day work placement. The majority of my time was spent leading warm ups and supporting the GCSE groups to make progress. Reflecting on my teaching experiences here, I appreciate the immeasurable impact that the Dance teachers make on the lives of the young people at Lister Community School. I also realise that the skills and knowledge acquired in the classrooms, will be used by young people throughout their lives. Therefore, as an aspiring teacher, I hope to be a role model that cultivates and opens young people's minds and gives them the knowledge and ability to look at the world critically, and make positive contributions to society. With this goal in mind working in the Dance Department has given me the knowledge and opportunity to visualise where I want to go with my future career as a dance teacher. I would like to thank the Dance Department for giving me the opportunity to work with the GCSE students and making me feel a part of the team. Good luck for the students with all their GCSE exams and for the annual dance show. DANCE CLUBS TIMETABLE DAY CLUB WHEN WHERE TUESDAY PRACTICE YEARS 7 & 8 DANCE FUSION YEARS 7 & 8 REHEARSAL (BY ARRANGEMENT) WEDNESDAY GCSE DANCE YEARS 10 DANCE FUSION YEARS 8 10 REHEARSAL YEAR 10 THURSDAY DANCE PRACTICE YEAR 9 BOYS DANCE ALL YEARS LISTER STREET CREW FRIDAY BHANGRA/BOLLYWOOD REHEARSAL (BY ARRANGEMENT) 7.50-8.20AM LUNCHTIME 3.15-4PM 7.50-8.20AM LUNCHTIME 3.15-4PM 7.50-8.20AM LUNCHTIME 3.15-4PM LUNCHTIME 3-4PM FORTHCOMING DANCE EVENTS The Dance Show 18 th June, 5.30 pm Performing Arts Festival for students and staff, visit the Dance Team for information or speak to Senior Dance captains Aurelija and Sherrian in King house Trips to Pineapple Dance Studio Partnership programme with the Royal Ballet School The Lister Community Fair on Saturday 5 th July The Newham Carnival on Saturday 12 th July Trips to see: o Flash Mob o Brasil Brasilero A range of Performing Arts events as part of the Performing Arts Festival 18 th June 5 th July. Watch this space!