Taking dance to new levels
DANCE BEYOND, Mediterranean Conference Centre
Dance Beyond, Dance Council Malta's latest project was innovative in many more ways than one. The event brought together a significant number of Maltese dance academies giving their young dancers the opportunity to perform to a public in a collaborative production that included performances also from students from The Hungarian Dance Academy, La Scuola di Ballo - Teatro di San Carlo, Napoli and the London Contemporary Dance School. This event was a first of what Tanya Bayona, president of the Dance Council Malta, hopes will grow into a series of such events.
In one of its roles, the Dance Council acts as a harmonising agent for the large number of dance schools present in Malta, and this was manifested in the production. Even though it was only in the finale that a number of dancers from different schools performed together, the production further developed the concept of Dance Power, catalysing collaborative efforts between the schools. Significant also was the inclusion of dance forms other than classical and contemporary, traditionally thought of as the "elite" of the dance forms. Especially with Pippa Gee Dance Studio's presentation of Latin Showtime came the Dance Council's recognition of the equal discipline, rigour and creativity required of the broadly categorised Latin dances. The participation, also in this number, of wheelchair dancing signified another important initiation which moved away from the exclusion of this form to specifically categorised events. And this number was again distinct on another count, and that was for the prominence of the male dancer in a show whose Maltese presence was almost exclusively female.
The performance was dedicated to dancers between the ages of 12 and 17. The dynamics of this age bracket meant that a significant number of these young dancers had consolidated strong technical foundations. However, the bracket was a large one considering the particular age group it encompassed, and the levels of maturity, and with it sensitivity to emotional expression, varied considerably.
Technical maturity emerged forthright in Deborah McNamara's School of Dance students' rendition of Ms McNamara's choreography Le Septuor. Clearly articulated movement was the key to the calibre of this performance. Equal technical precision was achieved in The Dance Workshop's Pictures In Sepia; even though this was slightly dilated by some of the younger dancers still developing their control over their bodies, the fuller stage meant for a richer textual quality to be achieved.
Aesthetical coherence achieved through a strong play of rhythms and the exploration of the dynamics between the dancers and their stage environment made the performances of Alison White Dance Studio's Ability To Swing and The College of Jazz Dance's Fusion X particularly vibrant and entertaining.
Indeed the standard achieved by many local dance schools has been rising steadily over the last years and was manifest in all the dances performed; the multiplication of such schools is testimony to the increasing importance being given to dance in young people's lives.
However, whereas there has been an increase in dance as part of children's holistic education, there has not been any significant development in the exploration of dance as an art form that should be taken to a professional level. A vacuum remains in Malta as regards the vocational possibilities for performance dancers. And it is because of these different circumstances that it becomes both not possible to compare the performances of the Maltese students and the foreigners at this event, as well as at the same time recognise the obstacle to the growth of
Maltese dancer's developed sensitivity and expression.
The difference in these dance contexts became immediately evident in the third part as the foreign guests took to the stage. With their performances came an ability to transgress a level of precise technical execution to reach that of performance. With specific reference to the London dancers, their effortless denial of the limits of their own bodies was accompanied also with a strong awareness of the sense they were giving their movement, which showed through their performative flow and facial expression. They are already professionals at a young age; and with the Hungarian Academy and Italian and English schools from which they hailed centred around vocational training programmes, one can only understand the difference.
Francis Zammit Dimech rightly pointed out in his opening address, dance gives form to a country's identity and self-expression. Building on such an understanding, it is time to invest further in dance specifically in the vocational development of performance in Malta. Hopefully, this event, which in the year celebrating intercultural dialogue had at its heart the promotion of an international sharing of the experience of dance, will inspire more Maltese dancers to aspire to become dance artists, as many on this night revealed they have the potential for it.
In one of its roles, the Dance Council acts as a harmonising agent for the large number of dance schools present in Malta, and this was manifested in the production. Even though it was only in the finale that a number of dancers from different schools performed together, the production further developed the concept of Dance Power, catalysing collaborative efforts between the schools. Significant also was the inclusion of dance forms other than classical and contemporary, traditionally thought of as the "elite" of the dance forms. Especially with Pippa Gee Dance Studio's presentation of Latin Showtime came the Dance Council's recognition of the equal discipline, rigour and creativity required of the broadly categorised Latin dances. The participation, also in this number, of wheelchair dancing signified another important initiation which moved away from the exclusion of this form to specifically categorised events. And this number was again distinct on another count, and that was for the prominence of the male dancer in a show whose Maltese presence was almost exclusively female.
The performance was dedicated to dancers between the ages of 12 and 17. The dynamics of this age bracket meant that a significant number of these young dancers had consolidated strong technical foundations. However, the bracket was a large one considering the particular age group it encompassed, and the levels of maturity, and with it sensitivity to emotional expression, varied considerably.
Technical maturity emerged forthright in Deborah McNamara's School of Dance students' rendition of Ms McNamara's choreography Le Septuor. Clearly articulated movement was the key to the calibre of this performance. Equal technical precision was achieved in The Dance Workshop's Pictures In Sepia; even though this was slightly dilated by some of the younger dancers still developing their control over their bodies, the fuller stage meant for a richer textual quality to be achieved.
Aesthetical coherence achieved through a strong play of rhythms and the exploration of the dynamics between the dancers and their stage environment made the performances of Alison White Dance Studio's Ability To Swing and The College of Jazz Dance's Fusion X particularly vibrant and entertaining.
Indeed the standard achieved by many local dance schools has been rising steadily over the last years and was manifest in all the dances performed; the multiplication of such schools is testimony to the increasing importance being given to dance in young people's lives.
However, whereas there has been an increase in dance as part of children's holistic education, there has not been any significant development in the exploration of dance as an art form that should be taken to a professional level. A vacuum remains in Malta as regards the vocational possibilities for performance dancers. And it is because of these different circumstances that it becomes both not possible to compare the performances of the Maltese students and the foreigners at this event, as well as at the same time recognise the obstacle to the growth of
Maltese dancer's developed sensitivity and expression.
The difference in these dance contexts became immediately evident in the third part as the foreign guests took to the stage. With their performances came an ability to transgress a level of precise technical execution to reach that of performance. With specific reference to the London dancers, their effortless denial of the limits of their own bodies was accompanied also with a strong awareness of the sense they were giving their movement, which showed through their performative flow and facial expression. They are already professionals at a young age; and with the Hungarian Academy and Italian and English schools from which they hailed centred around vocational training programmes, one can only understand the difference.
Francis Zammit Dimech rightly pointed out in his opening address, dance gives form to a country's identity and self-expression. Building on such an understanding, it is time to invest further in dance specifically in the vocational development of performance in Malta. Hopefully, this event, which in the year celebrating intercultural dialogue had at its heart the promotion of an international sharing of the experience of dance, will inspire more Maltese dancers to aspire to become dance artists, as many on this night revealed they have the potential for it.