Behind the Scenes : BBC Radio 4

A very good series of short audio documentaries about international contemporary stage directors whos work can be seen in the UK. This week 15/05/19 the work of British director Robert Icke is looked at.  Icke is famous for his re-invention of the classics texts. This documentary follows him while working on productions in London and Basel.

Black Men Walking by Dawn Walton

The series investigates the work of other such directors such as Miroslow Balka, Robert Lepage, Akram Kahn and David Grieg. The programme is broadcast on Wednesday's mornings at 09.00 or 21.30.  You can also access all the series on BBC Sounds.

Click here for BBC Sounds

ARJ

Have You Come Across the Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Blog?

Stephanie Arsoska is a theatre maker and facilitator living in Scotland. She is currently studying towards an MEd in Teaching and Learning in the Performing Arts at the Royal Conservatoire Scotland.  We were excited to find that she has published a blogpost for the Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Blog; it's great to see our performing artists producing quality written work for all to see, so we thought we'd share the link here, too:-

"Training as a Ground for Creating Community", by Stephanie Arsoska, 4 Sept.2017

• Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Blog (homepage)

Resource of the Month: International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance

International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance

Every month we profile one of our best e-resources.  This one is a full-text database covering theatre, drama and dance including journals such as Dance Magazine, Modern Dance, Modern Drama, TD+T (Theatre Design and Technology).  Click on the link above, to start exploring this really useful resource.

Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Blog Artist Awards

We've just been informed about a great opportunity for artists, practitioners, students and freelance performance makers. Have you come across TDPT? (It stands for Theatre, Dance and Performance Training.) There's a TDPT Journal, and a TDPT Blog, but now it gets even better - there are TDPT Blog Awards too. We'll let the TDPT team tell you all about it: read on!
.

http://theatredanceperformancetraining.org/

The TDPT blog was launched last year to encourage a growing community of artists, academics, practitioners and researchers to share practice and debate issues that are currently alive within the disciplines of theatre, dance and performance training. In November to mark the one year anniversary of the launch of the site we will be launching a series of blog posts supported by the new TDPT Blog Artist Awards.

One of our aims was to engage a new audience for the TDPT journal while also creating an online space that encourages spontaneous and productive conversation and debate. We are grateful to everyone who has posted their work on the site to date and we are looking to further grow our network of artists, researchers and performance-makers. The blog currently has around 1000 visitors a month from around the world.

There's Cash!

We are keen to encourage artists, practitioners, students and freelance performance-makers to engage with the blog and are launching the TDPT Blog Artist Awards which aim to facilitate those not in full-time employment and students to be able to contribute to the site and the community. We have small pots of money (£50-150) to support artists who pitch an idea for a contribution to the site, either audio-visual, text-based or audio that disseminates an area of performer training that may be of interest to the wider community.

But You Have to Apply!

To apply, please write a short proposal (no more than 300 words) outlining your suggested submission, format and any media you intend to use. You should also include in your statement how you intend to disseminate your post to your networks and help build new audiences for the blog. Please email proposals to the blog editors:-

• Laura Bissell l.bissell@rcs.ac.uk, 
• Maria Kapsali M.Kapsali@leeds.ac.uk
• Bryan Brown B.Brown@exeter.ac.uk.

Frankenstein, Royal Ballet, and Ballet DVDs

Last week saw the world premiere of The Royal Ballet’s new production Frankenstein, a co-production with San Francisco Ballet, choreographed by Liam Scarlett. This is Scarlett’s first length work for the main stage where he teamed up with the American composer Lowell Liebermann and designer John Macfarlane to create a truly terrifying work. The ballet is based on the novel by Mary Shelley and Scarlett has focused on the theme of love throughout the work from Victor and Elizabeth, Victor and his mother and the craving of love from the creature to Victor that will never be returned. For more information about the production you can go to the Royal Ballet’s website where you can see clips of designer John Macfarlane showing you around the ballet's sets, including the full-size anatomy theatre, and Liam Scarlett in rehearsal with Laura Morera who talk about creating the character of Elizabeth.

As it happens, the Whittaker Library has just purchased a whole load of new Royal Ballet DVDs from classics such as Swan Lake and Giselle to more contemporary pieces like the Metamorphosis and the Winter’s Tale. What a coincidence! They feature the dancers Carlos Acosta, Tamara Rojo, Natalia Osipova, Edward Watson, Steven McRae and of course Darcey Bussell; as well as choreography from Ashton, Wheeldon and MacMillan. Take a look at our new additions to the collection here.