UPDATE NOVEMBER 2013
There have been a number of questions that parents and students have raised, some regarding the difference between the various YDA programmes others to do with activities and tutors for next year. These I will attempt to answer for you here:
1.What is the ethos of the YDA and why are the YDA programmes different?
The ethos and aims of the course can be found in the YDA handbook.
In summary the YDA aims to develop autonomous creative dancers of the future with a mentoring and coaching team that are working to develop the whole of the student - an holistic approach.
Each programme is very individual and has developed from a review of local and individual issues and needs.
The Exeter programme now meets fortnightly with the biggest issue being the geographical spread and the cost of covering travel especially with bursaries frozen for a fifth year. Keeping this programme small was a specific decision to allow the students more individual coaching and access to the role-models they work with.
The Swindon contemporary programme meets on a weekly basis because of the larger numbers. They get less access to that individual one-to-one time for example; Physiotherapy screenings takes twice as many visits by the physiotherapist as it does for the Exeter and urban programmes. However, the dancers improve and develop their knowledge and skill at a rate equal regardless of which programme they are training on. Just look at the results of the newly formed National Youth Dance Company in 2012; five of the YDA students were been offered places in the company two from Swindon and three from Exeter (considering the difference in numbers on these programmes this is a high percentage from the Exeter programme).
The urban programme is also kept small because of the specialist training urban dancers require. This programme is not for contemporary/jazz dancers that enjoy 'doing a bit of urban' - this is for the dancer whose natural style is pure urban. They have different issues i.e. there is not a clear training pathway. These dancers have to make a decision as to whether they specialise purely in urban dance or whether they also train in ballet, contemporary and/or jazz dance to enable them to enter vocational training. Unfortunately (contrary to popular belief) the urban dancer needs to continually hone and develop their skills - if they do not train they will lose them. 'Popping' is the ballet of the urban dancer, it has a universal progressional technique and an international vocabulary and just like the ballet dancer, they need to continually train to develop their skill. So an urban dancer who decides to follow the vocational training route will need to keep up the top-class training in urban styles and will also need to catch up very quickly to a high level in ballet, jazz and contemporary.
The smaller programme allows the team to cover those needs and individual goals, advice and guidance that each student requires.
2. The second question is how we devise the educational policy and activities across the three programmes - Exeter contemporary programme (ECP), Swindon contemporary programme (SCP) and Swindon urban programme (SUP)?
I review and plan each programme on a yearly and term-by-term basis with the team and I always start with the same question:
'What do the students need?'
This inevitably leads to a more flexible programme that is continually evolving and changing and leads to a focus on the needs of the individual rather than covering a set programme of study such as at college.
There is an overall ethos and set of aims as well as a basic curriculum (see handbook). but alongside this the YDA is flexible and allows changes depending on student need i.e. when auditioning, where they are auditioning, who has what experience, what skills and experience is required, what gaps do the dancers have in their 'tool kit', who needs further experience in for example; contact improvisation, more creativity, more precision and technique, to - what role models will best benefit the students, who are the role models that they will be able to work with that will inspire them, help them realise their dreams and give them the understanding of what skills they need to achieve those dreams and goals.
3. The next question is about the coaches and artists the dancers work with?
The YDA works with role-models from within the industry who have been or are currently at the top of their profession or on their way to achieving a high level of experience in the dance world.
I do not believe that someone who has never trained at a high national level, who has never experienced this level of work, who has never performed on a national stage, or experienced the physical and psychological pressures of professional performance or top level training has the knowledge or experience to guide and in-still the required knowledge into our students - how can you expect to guide and teach them if you have never had those experiences yourself? How can you pass knowledge onto someone that you do not have?
This does mean that those role models are not always available because they are teaching, choreographing, performing and/or running companies elsewhere.
The YDA has a lot of expertise and experience within it. The core team has either trained at a conservatoire or to an equivalent high level and performed and worked professionally within the dance world.
I work to ensure those guest artists, teachers and role-models who work on the YDA do so across all programmes especially between the Swindon and Exeter contemporary programmes so that the students gain as much exposure and experiences with artists across both contemporary programmes as possible.
Joint projects:
I would like to introduce more joint projects where dancers from different programmes have the chance to work together; often this aim comes up against, time, cost and other logistical barriers. I have managed to achieve a few projects in the past: Worldskills performance at the O2 arena, YDA audition toolkit, National Dance CATs audition toolkit, intensive week with Russell Maliphant and his dancers who come from both contemporary and urban backgrounds, and a special collaborative project with the Royal Ballet.
The YDA and musicians
It is embedded in the ethos of the YDA that the dancers work with live music for class and as part of the choreographic process. Students have had access to various composers and musicians with various performances having specially commissioned music.
Performance opportunities:
I always work to incorporate some performance opportunities into each programme each year, although the main aim across all the Centres for Advanced Training is one of coaching and preparation for a long term career in dance rather than a youth performance group or company.
Achieving the same performance opportunities for each programme is often difficult:
Performance opportunities vary across the region and each year and often are dependent on funding from the Arts Council England (ACE). Confirmation and changes in funding often happens on a short-term basis which means I am often unable to confirm dates until a few months in advance.
Of the number of students on the YDA, 127 students across the three programmes; 54 on the Swindon contemporary programme, 30 on the Exeter contemporary programme and 33 on the Swindon urban programme (as of (September 2013), the performance opportunities will vary from region to region for various reasons.
Projects proposed for the year (and please note these are still in the planning stages) include:
The YDA Roadshow; over the last 2 years the YDA has taken a small group of dancers from the contemporary and urban programmes out on tour into schools across the south west. This was made possible due to extra funding from the DfE – as yet it has not been confirmed if there will be funding for this to happen again this term.
Advanced dancers from the Exeter contemporary programme will be representing the YDA as part of Udance 2014, performing in the south west region in March 2014. The Swindon Youth Dance Company will also be representing Swindon Dance in this event. And the National Dance CATs (that is the whole of the Centres for Advanced Training) across the country are in discussion regarding a special event/performance at the national UDance performance in Nottingham 2014.
Dancers from the YDAplus (our graduate programme for 16+ dancers) and the Swindon urban programme will perform in a Christmas Cabaret at Swindon Dance 10th and 11th December 2013. Also performing in this event are a small number of contemporary dancers aged 11-14 from the Exeter and Swindon contemporary programmes who have taken part in a collaborative project with a small number of dancers from the Royal Ballet Mid-Associate programmes.
The YDA will also be taking part in an Easter performance at Swindon Dance in April 2014.
The Exeter contemporary programme will be working on a curtain raiser project with Yorke Dance in 2014 and also with ex-ballet dancer Rob Bell, contemporary and hip-hop dancer and choreographer Helen Parlour and jazz dancer and TV presenter Kerry Newell.
The Swindon urban programme will have the opportunity to audition for a special work experience project with Plague – training, working and performing alongside the Plague dancers. The YDA is also in the process of entering a number of pieces from the summer show into the Breakin’ Convention. Next term they will be working with Rannell, Frankie Johnson and Circus Space with visits from tutors at the East London University (urban degree) and Millennium Performing Arts (where our assistant coordinator Jack and our urban dancer Aggie are currently training).
The Swindon Contemporary programme has been working with Yael Flexor on a special curtain raiser project and you can see them in action at Swindon Dance on 15th November 2013. Other projects for this programme include the return of Glen Wilkinson from Rambert and Dirty Dancing, jazz with Zoe Humphries and a guest classical tutor.
Each programme has an open day at the end of the autumn and spring terms.
The Exeter contemporary programme will also have a 'pre-show' sharing on Sunday 7th July (a week before the summer show-case) for family and friends unable to travel to Swindon for the end of year show-case.
Students will also be working to create their own pieces to go forward for entry into the choreographic competition and end of year gala. There will be a winner form each programme plus an overall winner. The overall winning piece will also be performed in 'Dancing Pathways' Swindon Dance's VIP event, Monday 15th July.
A number of pieces from the summer show-case will also be performed at the Bristol Harbour Festival - if funding is received from ACE.
Everyone will be coming together for the Youth Dance Academy end of year show-case in July at Swindon Dance.
The end of year show will be held in our own theatre at Swindon Dance which is a fully functional professional small scale theatre. It is not financially viable for the YDA to spend a large amount of the students’ money hiring out a larger venue where seats are not filled or costs not recuperated.
The end of year show is a fantastic opportunity for all three programmes to come together to share the work covered throughout the year performing both professional and student pieces. The dancers are really starting to build up a good friendship across the programmes and enjoy coming together to meet each other and share their experiences. This performance also gives parents, funders, teachers and other VIP guests the opportunity to see the work across all of the YDA.
Seeing all the dancers from across all the programmes performing together shows that, although each programme is very individual the performance and creative standard of the dancers across them all is the same.
The National Dance CATs celebrate their 10 year anniversary 2014
2014 will be the 10 year anniversary for the national Dance CATs and there are discussions in progress regarding special events, promotions and performances nationally to celebrate this.
I hope that helps clarify what the YDA is and what our plans are for the near future. If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to get in touch: yda@swindondance.org.uk
Viv Slayford
Programme Manager