Professional development opportunities for dance and theatre practitioners alongside Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Tour of China 2009.

Venue: Xinzhi New Civil School & National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing  
Dates: Monday 12 – Friday 16 January 2009
Time: 10:00 – 16:30  

Following the successful Creativity through Dance Workshop delivered in partnership with the Royal Ballet and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), which has trained 25 Chinese teaching artists on teaching methodology and skills to develop arts education work in communities in June 2008, A five-day creative dance and theatre workshop, organised by the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy in partnership with the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Hua Dan  and the National Centre for the Performing Arts, will take place in January 2009. It is designed to further enrich the skills and knowledge of teaching artists working with a variety of communities.

The project will focus on participation, collaboration and creative dance and drama practice. And will be inspired by David Bintley’s ballet Beauty and the Beast, which is to be performed at the NCPA in January 2009. 10 Teaching artists are invited to work collaboratively with a group of 20 young people aged 7-9 from Xing Zhi New Civil School, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Hua Dan staff to create an original dance and theatre piece that will be performed at the NCPA.

Teaching artists will have opportunities to reflect on, analyse and discuss the process used when working in a community environment with groups of people who would not usually access such opportunities.

Project Aims

• To create an original theatre piece that explores, through dance and drama, the themes and ideas inspired by the ballet Beauty and the Beast.
• To provide opportunities for young people to engage with dance and drama – the making and performing processes.
• To offer professional development opportunities for teaching artists that will enhance their skills and confidence in delivering dance/theatre workshops in a range of community settings.

Application

We welcome applications from teachers, artists and practitioners from across the arts. Experience of dance is not essential; however, a willingness to participate fully and a commitment to attend all five days of the project will be necessary.

Please complete the application form (WORD format) and return it to arts.beijing@britishcouncil.org.cn by Friday 2 January 2009.  

The Partners:

1. Birmingham Royal Ballet
www.brb.org.uk

Birmingham Royal Ballet is an internationally known and respected company, performing,  traditional, twentieth century works and newly choreographed ballets throughout the UK and abroad. Together with this Birmingham Royal Ballet, has a nationally renowned dance education and community programme that offers a range of engagement opportunities for people of all ages. The dedicated Learning team often works in partnership and strives to ensure that all projects are inclusive, enjoyable and empowering experiences.

2. Hua Dan
www.hua-dan.org.

Hua Dan was founded in 2004 by Caroline Watson and is a registered non-profit organisation in Hong Kong. They are dedicated to enabling the personal, social and economic empowerment of China's rural and migrant population through participation in and leadership of inspirational arts-based projects.  Hua Dan is a leader in China for bringing high quality, participatory arts and creative practice into marginalised communities as a tool for positive change at both the individual and societal level.  Their work has significant impact in changing the way that people think about their role in society, giving them the capacity to express their ideas and feelings, collaborate with others and become agents for change in their lives and the lives of others.

The Birmingham Royal Ballet Education Team

1. Lee Fisher MA, FRSA

Born in Essex, Lee Fisher was educated at the Royal Ballet School before joining Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet (now Birmingham Royal Ballet - BRB) in 1988. In 17 year career with BRB, Lee became a soloist, performed many leading roles and had roles created for him by choreographers including Sir Kenneth Macmillan, Sir Peter Wright and David Bintley CBE. Despite retiring from a fulltime dance career in 2005, he continues to perform and has made guest appearances nationally and internationally.

In 2000, he obtained an MA in Applied Dance and has since authored and presented papers, for academic journals and at conferences nationally and internationally. For over ten years he has been delivering dance workshops across a broad range of education and community contexts and in 2002 he co-founded and remains Artistic Director to Birmingham Royal Ballet’s successful education and community initiative, Freefall Dance Company, a company that works with a group of young dancers with learning disabilities.

He is currently BRB’s part-time Head of Creative Learning, a freelance project director and choreographer and a consultant/coach at Lane4 – a performance development company working in the public and private sectors. In addition he is a Board member of Geese Theatre Company, Fox Hollies Performing Arts College and is a Specialist Advisor (dance and education) for the Scottish Arts Council. He was the Dance Fellow on The Clore Leadership Programme 2005/6, Creative Partnership’s Leading Edge Practitioner 2007/8, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and alumni of the Windsor Leadership Trust.

2. Jenny Murphy

Born in Hull, Jenny Murphy trained at the Royal Ballet School and joined Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2001.  Her repertory includes a wide range of works and many of the classics, she has performed at a variety of venues throughout the world, including the Royal Opera House in London.  Jenny has created choreography for Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Choreographic projects, on the Hippodrome main stage: The Planets, ‘Neptune’ and Dynamic Dance, ‘Much a dance about nothing’.  She has also taught and choreographed at BRB summer schools.

For several years Jenny has been involved with Freefall Dance Company, a company of dancers with severe learning difficulties, led by Lee Fisher.  In the summer of 2006 Jenny completed the Professional Dancer’s Teaching Diploma at the Royal Academy of Dance and in September 2007 she successfully completed the Dancers’ MA degree programme, run by the University of Birmingham.  Jenny ceased her career as a dancer in 2007 and joined Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Learning Department as Co-ordinator for Learning.  Since joining the department Jenny has run workshops at touring venues, developed the Ballet training strand, and set up Insight Days in Birmingham.  She recently helped lead a workshop with Lee Fisher for the NDTA conference at Laban.  Jenny has project managed the Selly Oak Arts Champions, which has built up links and worked closely with a particular community.  Following her year long support of the South Birmingham Dance Track Classes, Jenny will be teaching the North Birmingham weekly classes for disadvantaged children from September.  

Outside of BRB Jenny has taught on the Royal Academy of Dance Summer School in Fondo, Italy, for a week and has led repertoire workshops in Birmingham.  She has also taught at Rambert School in London and at Dance Xchange in the Hippodrome.

3. Pearl Chesterman – Director for Learning

After performing professionally Pearl followed her passion for teaching and opened her own dance school.  After successfully building up the business to include 3 branches and having seen many students progress to performing and teaching careers, Pearl joined Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2002 as Education Officer.  She has worked on key projects including BRB Summer Schools, Boys Only workshops, Dance Track and Freefall Dance Company for young adults with severe learning disabilities.  She was appointed Director for Learning in 2007 and is committed to further developing Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Learning programmes for the community.  On taking on the role she said: “I am excited by the opportunity to lead the department in identifying and utilising all the talent and skill BRB can offer to provide opportunities that are relevant and accessible for all communities”.

Pearl is an experienced  project manager , having managed many large scvale partnership projects.  She completed her MA in Applied Dance during which she evaluated and redeveloped the Dance Track programme.  Pearl is a member of the Royal Academy of Dance and Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance, as well as being a member of the Schools Committee for Council for Dance Education and Training.  

4. Andrew Kristy – Musician

Since turning professional in 1986 Andrew has had extensive experience both as composer and performer, appearing in performances of his own works on Radio 1 (The Andy Kershaw Show and The Friday Rock Show), BBC2 Network East, Channel 4 (Big World Cafe) with Nigel Kennedy and Nusrat Fateh Alla Khan.

He has worked as composer and pianist, under the auspices of Birmingham Royal Ballet, on numerous education projects including: Romeo & Juliet, Swan Lake , Penguin Café, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Theme & Variations, The Nutcracker, Coppelia, La Fille mal Gardee, Elite Syncopations and Nutcracker Sweeties, Hobsons Choice and Arthur Part 1 & 2. Andrew has also composed for The London Contemporary Ballet Company, Jiving Lindy Hoppers, Sampad, The National Youth Ballet, Kokuma African Dance Theatre, Chitraleka Dance Theatre and Tallia Teatrum. His music has been performed live at The Lichfield International Arts Festival, The Stroud Festival, Sadlers Wells Theatre and Birmingham Hippodrome.

TV and Radio credits more recently include “Chameleons of Truth” animation film (ITV), “News at 10” (2004), “African Safari” (BBC 2005), and “Ballet-Hoo” (to be broadcast in Sept 2006), and a pilot for a new children’s TV series, “Burkey Bear”.

His first work for full orchestra, 'Synapse', was commissioned by The Duke of Norfolk to open the first open-air fireworks concert at Carlton Towers, Yorkshire in July 1995. He has since written for members of the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Ballet Sinfonia and Bardi symphony orchestras, and arranged music for concerts at Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

He also mentors piano students from The Birmingham Conservatoire, and is a consultant for AS & A2 Music Technology.

Hua Dan Facilitators:

1. Caroline Watson, Founder and Director

Hua Dan was founded by Caroline in autumn 2004. Born in Hong Kong of British parents, Caroline returned to Asia in 2001 with a strong desire to contribute to a culture that has so influenced her upbringing.

Caroline brings to Hua Dan extensive experience of theatre training and workshop skills, having a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies from Lancaster University, UK, that included a particular focus on community theatre and participatory approaches to training and education. Her final year dissertation focused on the approaches and practises of theatre in prisons. She has facilitated and developed workshops and training courses in the not-for-profit sector, with government training programmes, the English language sector and in corporations in Spain, Hong Kong, China and India. She also has 5 years experience of English language training and examining in Britain, Spain, Hong Kong and China.

Caroline was recently selected as an 'Architect of the Future' at last  year's Waldzell Meeting.

2. Li Peng, China Programme Manager

Li Peng comes from China's westernmost province Xinjiang and is   Hua Dan’s  China Programme Manager. . He runs workshops with migrant teenagers at Daxing Xingzhi School in Beijing.

Previous experience in commerce and trade, academic research and freelance documentary filmmaking has given Li Peng a well rounded view of creative arts, business and development. From 2004 to 2007 he worked for the Association of China Society Research at Beijing University where he was involved in academic research of development issues.

Schedule (12-16 January 2009)
Daily transportation will be arranged for teaching artists and trainers to travel from the city to Daxing.