Day Two - Re:Generations

Day 2… Began with reflection of yesterday’s learning over what we individually thought was most important. We were made aware of the differences between external motivation representing short term changes and internal motivation implying the long-term motivations we should strive to change an aspect of how we think, ideally our key learning should be internalised.




The keynote today was given by Dr Thomas F. DeFrantz who spoke about ‘Dancing the Afrofuture’. For me personally, this presentation doesn’t have much relation towards my particular practise, however I did take away some key ideas that were presented which I am going to bullet point below:

·        Cultural divides can determine how individuals communicate through dance.

·        In the US, teaching dance is respected for sustainability of a working dancer. It could be a transitioning job or the dancer’s entire career.

·        The idea of post human critique combines science fiction and fantasy. It suggests humans will turn less human and be more focused on being seen as strands of data to create a whole being.

·        We need to bend the ability of technology- that’s how styles such as hip hop and jazz were created as they bent the classics.

·        Despite religion/ disabilities/ beliefs these don’t determine your choice on what you do with your body. If you want to create art that is entirely up to the individual as they master their thoughts.

The next talk focused on the results of a survey mapping the dance of the African Diaspora (DAD), created by One Dance UK, using survey money to create the results of the map and findings. London was found to be the major hub where most respondents came from. ‘Contemporary’ was the practise dominating the sector with over 50% participants describing their practise in this way. The survey asked what support is most needed within the arts and funding was the biggest desire. It was also said safe spaces were limited, especially for those emerging dancers. There were six emerging themes that were created from the maps results:

1.      Visibility/ Platforms – to increase the understanding of cultural dance.

2.      Sustainability/ Funding – lack of awareness towards the arts.

3.      Marketing/ Promotions – digital communications and offer audience development.

4.      Education/ Training – desire from more engagement, especially with younger individuals.

5.      Legacy/ Archive – being able to create a history of the DAD.

6.      Knowledge/ Networks – creating collaborations.

We were then able to choose one of these themes and attend a more intimate talk around the topic. I decided to go to the education/ training discussion lead by Dr Funmi Adewole because I felt this would be most relevant to my personal practise having just come out of full-time training. Here we talked about how many educational courses in dance simply want to fill numbers due to meeting a certain number of applications for courses to be financed. This has led classes to being overfilled so artists aren’t getting enough attention to perfect their work. We agreed it should maybe be more selective with its applications which would also create a higher standard of artists. Accessibility was highlighted as the centre of the dance world, in the UK particularly, is London making it hard for artists who don’t live near the capital to access resources or jobs. We also spoke about the idea of institutionalised dancers being possibly more successful than technically sound dancers. Having a clear idea of how the industry works could be more important to a dancer entering the competitive industry than actually being a highly skilled dancer in one technique, highlighting how challenging the career can be. The ideas presented here really questioned my own training and made me thankful towards the institution in which I trained in, The Hammond, as I felt I was provided with the essential skills to take on the working world of a dancer.




The most interesting presentation I have attended so far had to be this next one, held by Matthew Wyon from Wolverhampton University who is holding research on injury and physiotherapy on hip hop and break dancers. He commented that although dancing was often low intensity, dancers worked for many hours (more than sportsmen) and had a higher skill range. His research found that performing these specific styles of dance left dancers with similar injuries to those who competed in contact sports. It was picked up that most injuries were due to overload, mainly through difficult choreography or fatigue. A question that was highlighted was whether dancers should push their bodies beyond their boundaries to be able to pull off advanced tricks or if safety should come first. In order to support his finding, Wyon has been using wearable technologies to monitor the science of a dancer whilst they dance. This does come with its limitations however as the equipment does affect the movement range of the dancer, suggesting the accuracy of the results could be lower than ideal. When comparing the results of studying dancers using this wearable technology, the consideration of the dancers training and practise had to be accounted for. For example, ballerinas dance for hours but have major dips in their heart rate as they have breaks throughout the whole show. In comparison, other styles of dance may perform a single dance which could range from half an hour to a few minutes but may be a higher intensity. From his findings, he was able to look closely at the way muscles move which could help in injury prevention as it can explain the reason movements are causing alignment issues. All dancers want to achieve the same movement, for example a double pirouette, however the movement has different effects on different bodies due to postural placement. A selection of dancers were picked and monitored doing a pirouette, all taught by the same teacher. Some pulled of quadruples whereas others only managed one. Each dancer performed it observably different through the computer watching back their turns despite the same instruction. This technology is incredibly useful for dancers as you are able to analyse why a specific movement isn’t working and how it can be improved.

There was only one idea presented by Matthew Wyon that I completely disagreed on. He suggested that dancers should work at 80% and then when coming to performance they have reserved that extra 20% to add on their artistry. I believe in order for dancers to look effortless and to perform to their highest ability, they should consistently be training at 100% in order to be the best artist they can be. I feel this suggestion is quite scientific and in that respect I understand where this idea is coming from, but as a performer myself, I disagree with the notion of not putting your whole energy into your daily practise.




To end the day we were all able to watch an International Mixed Bill Showcase. This contained six performances in total that showed off the African culture through the very core of the conference, dance. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the artists contrasting performances, however only a few stuck in my mind. A dancer named Nafisah Baba showed off two solos. Her incredibly sound technique which appeared to come from ballet/ contemporary allowed her performance to hold great control and flow. Her movements look effortless leaving the audience amazed at the stunning choreography she was able to perform. From the USA, Juel D. Lane and Munir Zakee created an unusual duo of having the DJ on stage alongside the dancer. This allowed the dancer to have more control over the music. The reason this choreography was so interesting was the relation to the sound and how different genres of music were used to express the dancer’s emotions, also enhanced by the fact the dancer had a stocking covering his face so the audience couldn’t physically see his expression. I found this very creative and individual which is why it has stuck in my mind as a memorable piece, highlighting the importance of music to support dance in general.  




Final day of Re:Generations tomorrow- I’m excited to see what is left to explore as well as consolidate my findings throughout this journey of seeking new knowledge towards a different culture.