Dance Artist Sarah Vella – 22 November 2016
Dance Studies Studios at 20:00 – EUR 15 / EUR 12 dance studies students
For bookings contact francesca.tranter@um.edu.mt
Class description
This class encourages the participants to take their own decisions, so they can find their own way of playing with quality, musicality and dynamics and strengthen their individual expression as a performer. We will start with a warm-up, which gently and gradually increases the energy, emphasizing on continuous movement, flow and activating the fluids in the joints. Floor work and improvisation exercises (sometimes even in partners) will be an important part of the class. We will focus on the relationship with the floor and smooth transitions from up to down, exploring different ways of moving and breaking out of ones' 'usual' way of moving. This will then lead to physical phrases/shorter exercises designed to provide strength, stamina, coordination, stability and musicality. In the last part of the class, the participants will learn a combination that tunes the mind to possible approaches to space, the music and other dancers. The class encourages dancers to reach their limits, express themselves and dance without fear and hesitation using their physicality and full energy.
Biographies
Sarah Vella is a Maltese dance artist and speech therapist, currently living in Berlin. After graduating with a B.Sc. (Hons) in Speech Therapy, she moved to London to study at 'Laban Conservatoire of Dance'. As a choreographer, she has won awards in Malta and Italy. Over the years, Sarah has also done community work through choreographing and teaching dance in rehabilitation centres and youth groups and with 'Teatru Zazz', Malta, on a youth project that was presented as part of the 'Marinando' festival in Italy. Sarah performed with 'Red Tape Dance Company' in Malta and since moving to Berlin, she has worked on various dance and film projects including, few with JSLN productions, Matteo Graziano in the Opera 'William Tell' and 'Gauge Dance Theater'. In 2013, her choreography 'Iż-Żifna tal-Poeta' was performed in Malta for the Notte Bianca Festival (2013) and was premiered in Berlin as part of the 'Nah Dran series' in July 2014. This project was funded by the Malta Arts Fund. This performance was later accepted to be performed as part of the '100Grad Berlin Festival' in March 2015. In December 2014, Sarah took part in a month-long dance residency program (Play Practice Apprenticeship Program) in Bangalore, India where her main focus was to work on authenticity on stage when creating and improvising and the relationship between the dancer/performer and the public audience. In August 2015 and July 2016, Sarah was teaching and leading choreographic workshops in Malta and she was back in Gozo (Malta) teaching contemporary as a guest teacher during 'Living Dance' in September 2015. She will return as a guest teacher in September 2016. Her solo creation 'Lament', was performed in Berlin at the Kulturwerkstadt in Charlottenburg at the end of September 2015. Sarah is currently working on a new production 'ME(et) YOU' with Norwegian dance artist, Lisa Bysheim and collaborating with a Norwegian musician and French filmographer. The performance will tour in Norway, Malta and Berlin (2016/2017). She is also currently studying 'Dance and Movement Therapy' and continues to work as a freelance dance artist and speech therapist in Berlin.
Lisa Colette Bysheim is a Norwegian dancer and choreographer based in Bergen, Norway. She creates and performs her own dance performances and works for other artists and choreographers. Through solo works and collaborations with other dance artists an area of interest has been the body; how it is treated and viewed through the different experiences we carry with us. Bysheim is interested in revealing and enhancing the importance of individual experiences and stories by creating personal performances of her own. To date she has been involved in several dance projects for film, stage and site specific works. Her work has been presented at 'Frontlosjefestival 2016 in Bergen', Resolution 2016 in London, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Prøverommet during Meteor teaterfestival, in South Africa, Iceland and Norway the last year.
Mads Solberg (born May 1991) is a Norwegian composer, songwriter and musician, primarily associated with dream pop/post rock-ensemble Línt. His musical career started as a child, playing electric guitar, but at 16 he took an interest in classical music, and started playing classical guitar and piano. After high school he started composing small, minimalistic pieces that would eventually lead to putting together Línt, where he rearranged and reworked his compositions to fit a typical band-structure. As a composer, he was drawn toward experimental and alternative pieces, and is strongly influenced by modern electronic and minimalistic music, combined with his experience working within the borders of dreampop/post-rock. This untraditional approach to the field gives his works a distinctiveness and has been shown to work well with visual arts. Since his beginning as a performing artist in 2010, he has done several performances: silent movies, art shows and, recently, began working with dance performances.